Photo by Paul Trende
M-C football and Cougar boys basketball each had their best seasons in decades. With mostly the same group of guys, Cougar baseball is doing the same. Paul Tollefsrud’s group sprung a first round upset, got smacked in the second round, and trailed massively in a ‘loser out’ game, but came up with a huge rally. M-C (11-seed, 11-10) took down United South Central (6-seed, 14-6) in the opening round. The Cougars scored all of their runs in the third and fourth innings to lead 7-1. The final was 7-2. Nolan Garness (5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K) pitched the win. Kale Eiken (2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K) finished the game. Milton Hutchinson (1-3) drove in three while Isaac Underbakke was 3-for-3 (RBI, R). Treyson Tollefsrud (1-3, RBI, R), Jayce Austin (1-3, 2 R), and Kale Tollefsrud (1-3, 2 RBI, R) helped. The Rebels won a meeting days earlier 10-4. In the 1A second round, M-C (11-seed, 12-10) took on Blooming Prairie (3-seed, 14-6). BP scored eight in the third. They started with three bloop hits and were aided by four Cougar free passes. Gabe Staloch’s bases-clearing three-run double (he was gunned down trying for three) made it 9-1. BP ended it in six innings by 11-1 final. Underbakke (1-3, RBI) and K-Tollefsrud (0-2, R) provided M-C’s one run. Cougar pitchers authored 11 free passes; six walks to the bottom three hitters. BP pitcher Carston Ingvalson (6 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K) pitched a two-hitter. M-C (11-seed, 12-11) then played Lyle/Pacelli (7-seed, 17-6). The Cougars entered having lost eight in a row to L/P. After one and a half innings, M-C trailed 9-1. But this group of Cougars has won a lot this year. M-C scored four in the third and another in the fourth to make it 9-6. Yet, they trailed 10-6 heading to their last at bat. But said inning started with four straight singles making it 10-7. After a strikeout, K-Tollefsrud delivered a two-run single to make it 10-9. Underbakke, poetically the football QB and 1,000-point scorer, was Mr. Clutch with a two-run game-winning triple! M-C lived on to play on Memorial Day by 11-10 final! It also clinched the Cougars (13-11) their first winning season since 2011. Underbakke was 5-for-5 (2B, 3B, 3 RBI, 2 R). He’s hit .818 in the playoffs (9-for-11, 5 RBI) and .610 in May. Darian Hershberger (2-3, R) drove in three runs. K-Tollefsrud (2-5, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 R) and Hutchinson (2-4, 2B, RBI, R) also had multiple hits. Eiken (1-3, 2 R), Austin (1-4, RBI, R), B-Tollefsrud (1-3, R), and Garness (1-4, RBI) helped. T-Tollefsrud (5 1/3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K) got the win. The Cougars will await the loser of NRHEG (1-seed, 13-5) and Southland (5-seed, 15-4).
Leave a Reply