Owatonna VFW advances to second straight state tourney

After last year’s state tournament was cancelled, Owatonna VFW Post 3723 proved its run to the state tournament in 2019 was no fluke by qualifying for the 2021 state tournament by finishing second in the recent District 1 Tournament.
Securing at least second place was critical as only the top two teams in the district tournament advance to the state tournament. This year, those teams are Owatonna and Austin.
The teams matched up against each other in the first double-elimination playoff game, which Austin won 7-4.
Head Coach James Dahlgren noted that the difference in that game was timely hits; Austin got them and Owatonna didn’t.
VFW Post 3723 bounced back in its second game beating Northfield 4-0 behind Chris Homuth’s complete game.
Not only did Homuth give up zero runs, he surrendered just one hit.
“We really needed it, because Northfield was the second half of back-to-back games,” he said.
The next day, Sunday, July 25, Owatonna secured its state tournament berth by beating Stewartville 12-2.
Dahlgren said the keys to that win were Matt Seykora throwing a complete game and Owatonna’s offense hitting the ball really well and stealing a lot of bases.
“Their pitcher was all out of sorts because we were so active on the base paths,” he said.
He noted that the fact that VFW Post 3723 was so active on the base paths also helped its offense because the opposing pitcher couldn’t solely focus on pitching.
“When you have to worry about baserunners it breaks your concentration of pitching,” Dahlgren said. 
Even though it already wrapped up a berth in the state tournament, Owatonna played Austin again to determine seeding in the state tournament.
However, once again, Austin won; this time 7-3.
Dahlgren noted that they won because they hit the ball really well.
“They had a lot of hits, they’d get a few bloop hits in and about the time we brought our guys in, they’d hit the ball over our head,” he said.
Even though they ended on a disappointing note, he was proud of how his team played throughout the weekend of playoff games.
“We had four games on two hot summer days so it was a little tough to pull it out. It took an all-around team effort. The guys were focused on the field and ready to make plays,” he said.
Post 3723 takes a 15-6-1 league record into the state tournament but it’s playing some of its best baseball of late. In fact, the team has won 10 of its last 12 games.
Dahlgren said that the team’s positive momentum is a credit to the players and their ability to come every day ready to play hard.
Thanks to that and other positive qualities about this team, he thinks his team has what it takes to succeed at the state tournament.
“I think we have just as good a shot as anybody else. We have great leaders, good pitching, good hitting, a deep bench and our starters are playing well and that’s a recipe for success. Everybody takes their role and does it well and that’s what makes a great team,” he said.
The state tournament begins Thursday, Aug. 12, and concludes Sunday, Aug. 15. It will be held in Austin.