Minnesota Little League State Tournament Opens In Cloquet

Wes Vork-NSO

Click here for additional opening ceremony photos

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vs. Eastern photos

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Please check back for additional Hermantown 12 and Esko 13 photos

July 27

Dwight Cadwell-NSO

CLOQUET – The #1 seeded Cloquet 13 year old boys baseball team opened with a win at home in the Minnesota State Baseball Tournament with a 14-3 win at Braun Park in Cloquet. Cloquet used a nine run fourth inning to defeat Eastern by the eleven run margin in five innings.

Rob Sobczak and Austin Parenteau each had three hits in the Cloquet win Wednesday afternoon. Gabe Sorenson, Jeb Leone, and Koby Bender each contributed with two hits in the Cloquet win. Parenteau hit a home run in the first inning to get things going for Cloquet as he led the team with three RBI’s.

The double elimination format Minnesota
Little League Tournament is being held in Cloquet for the first time and will feature 19 teams in five different age divisions. Local teams competing for a state championship include Cloquet and Esko in the 13yr old division and Hermantown in the 10-11 year division. An opening ceremony was held on Wednesday at 5:30pm with longtime little league contributor Lyle Takkunen of Cloquet throwing out the ceremonial first pitch.

The 12 and 14 year old divisions compete not only for a state title, but for a chance to advance to the Little League World Series. The Hermantown boys’ team is representing the area in the 12yr old division. Lake Park is the closest area team in the 14yr old division and Greenway in the 9-10yr old play.

Other results from Wednesday included Coon Rapids-Andover knocking off Greenway 11-0 and Shoreview defeating Lake Park 6-5 in 10 year old play. The 10-11 year olds saw Plymouth knocking off Itasca 12-2 and Hermantown edging out Centennial Lakes West 7-6.

In 11-12 year old play it was Plymouth-New Hope 5 and Itasca 3, while Centennial Lakes beat Hermantown 7-3. In 13 year old action Duluth Central defeated Esko 13-3 while the 14 year olds saw Lake Park squeaking past International Falls by a score of 10-9.

The state tournament will run through Saturday in Cloquet. Cloquet had only one team ever reach the state tournament back in 1998 ( 13yr olds are not district format only, not state recognized), when the Cloquet 12yr olds went 2-2 in the state tournament, losing in the state championship game. That team was coached by current high school boys baseball coach Rick Stowell.

Cloquet, with the win over Eastern in the 13 year olds will face Central at 2:05pm Wednesday. The Hermantown 10-11 yr olds will play Plymouth-New Hope at 3:00pm. In elimination round play, Esko 13’s will square off against Eastern at 6:05 pm and Hermantown 12yr olds will play Itasca at 5:30pm with all games played at Braun Park.

In 14yr old action, International Falls will face Plymouth-New Hope at 6:00pm at Mettner Field in Cloquet.

Comments can be sent to dwight@northlandsportsonline.com