VFW baseball clinches spot at state
Owatonna second baseman Gavin Saxton fields a ball hit to him against Red Wing. Saxton and the Owatonna VFW squad punched their ticket to the state tournament as the No. 1 seed in District 1. Staff photo by Johnnie Phillips
Owatonna VFW baseball clinched a state playoff berth last weekend with two consecutive wins over Rochester Mayo and Red Wing at home.
The VFW squad beat both teams via a 10-run mercy rule to earn their trip to the tournament.
“There were some ups and downs over the course of the year, but for the most part, the kids worked so hard to get here. We knew coming into the season that we had the pitching and some great hitters to make it to this point,” said Owatonna VFW head coach James Dahlgren.
Kicking off the weekend for Owatonna was an abbreviated game against Red Wing where the home squad took a 10-0 win after just 4.5 innings of play.
Owatonna’s bats were active from the very first pitch as the team scored five runs in the bottom of the first and an additional two in the second to take an early 7-0 lead.
Red Wing had no answers for pitcher Connor Wiese, who pitched four innings and allowed zero runs with one hit and eight strikeouts.
In the bottom of the fourth, Owatonna earned its final three runs after Red Wing walked in two runs and the third scored on a fielder’s choice ground ball hit by Tyler Sheehan.
Owatonna pitcher Jace Ulrich entered the game in the top of the fifth and blanked Red Wing with two strikeouts to close out the game.
Owatonna’s Tayte Berg led all hitters with two hits, two runs, and two RBIs.
Hours later, Owatonna lined up for its second game of the day, this time with a state playoff spot on the line against Rochester Mayo.
Mayo leaped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first with an RBI triple, but the momentum for the visitors was all but gone after the bottom of the first inning.
Owatonna came out swinging early once again, this time putting up a staggering nine runs in the first to lead 9-1.
After loading the bases with no outs, Berg doubled to left to score two runs to ignite the rally.
After Berg’s at bat, the next six Owatonna hitters either singled or doubled, leading to seven consecutive runs.
Neither side would go on to score again until the fifth inning, when Rochester Mayo began to find a glimmer of hope.
A slew of hits led to three runs for the Spartans and gave the opposition some life late in the game, but it was short-lived.
Owatonna led off the bottom of the fifth with two singles and a walk to set up the final five-run rally.
The game's final play came in dramatic fashion as Owatonna’s Andrew Mitchell stole home with two outs after Gavin Saxton forced a throw down to second by the catcher on a steal attempt.
Rochester Mayo’s attempt to catch Saxton stealing was unsuccessful, allowing Mitchell to cross the plate in time to score the game-ending run.
Owatonna’s first playoff game will be against Totino Grace VFW at Joe Faber Field in St. Cloud on Thursday, Aug. 3 at 2 p.m.