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Sports

Minneapolis Southwest Edges Richfield To Advance to State Legion Baseball Tournament

Lakers lose first game Thursday to Richfield 7-6, but come back to take the nightcap 3-2 to gain a spot in the American Legion state baseball tournament.

It was far from easy, but Southwest Minneapolis is headed for the state American Legion baseball tournament

Minneapolis Southwest edged past Richfield, 3-2, in nine innings of the second game at Donaldson Park Thursday evening to advance.

The Lakers will play at 11 a.m. Friday, July 29 at Braemar Park in Edina against a team from District 6 (St. Cloud). The 2011 Division I state tournament will be hosted by Eden Prairie July 29 through Aug. 1.

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It is the first time Southwest had advanced this far in coach Joel Gotfredson's memory.

 

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"We were dead even," said Gotfredson. "We were dead even and it just came down to who wanted it more in the end. They wanted it as much (as we did), but I tell you I'm so proud of these guys."

"At the end it was just a team game," Gotfredson added. "When they got down, when somebody got down, made a bad play, made a bad baserunning error, the rest of them stepped up and made sure they got their head back in the game. These guys just battled all year like that and did just a great job of coming together as a team."

Southwest clipped Richfield, 10-9, on Wednesday in 10 innings in the first of a best two-out-of-three district playoff games. But Richfield came back in Thursday's opener to score a 7-6 win to set up the deciding third game.

"This is the sixth game we've played them this year and we've won two and they've won four, and they've all been one-run games," said Richfield coach David Boie. "It's just been a battle every time we play. It's come down to the last inning. It's fun when you've got two teams that know each other and kind of play up to each other.

"I couldn't be more proud of them," Boie said of his team.

The Lakers took a 1-0 lead after just a half inning in Thursday's second game and made that score stand up until the sixth inning when they added two more runs on a two-run single by centerfielder Quinlan Milne-Rojek for a 3-0 lead.

The Richfield Reds came right back with two runs of their own in the bottom of the sixth to close to 3-2 on back-to-back RBIs by Tyler Jestvig and Josh Zoellmer. The Reds could have had more in the inning as they knocked out starting pitcher Nick Kuhlman and loaded the bases with two out.

Off a pitch from Southwest's relief pitcher Nate Ferguson, Richfield's Joe Griffin hit a fly out to right field to end the threat.

Richfield again threatened in the bottom of the seventh and got Cameron Dearing to third base on a walk, a stolen base and a throwing error.

Rightfielder Dylan McCreary then bailed out the Lakers with a diving outfield catch of Richfield's Dan Beyel's shot to save two runs.

That was Richfield's last, best threat to tie the game as the Reds couldn't get anything going in either the eighth or ninth inning.

Southwest:  100 002 000 -- 3  5  0

Richfield:  000 002 000 -- 2  5  1

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