South Ridge Falls One Game Short

Ely came into the title series undefeated in tournament play and needed to win just once to win the championship. South Ridge already had one tournament loss and needed to win twice.

The Panthers came out on top 5-4 in game one with the help of five Timberwolves errors, which forced the deciding game.

Ivancich said he wasn’t overly concerned after game one, knowing he had Huisman starting game two. His senior pitcher was locked in from the outset, and “he was throwing hard and he was throwing well.’’

The key Ely runs came in the fourth when Andy Krunkkala reached on a base hit and was moved to third on a ground ball. He later scored on a wild pitch to stake the Timberwolves to a 1-0 lead.

In the fifth inning, Ely had Tyler Housey on third and Brendan Hill on first and brought Housey home on Gage Merhar’s fielder’s choice. Huisman followed that up with a high fly ball behind the pitcher’s mound, which dropped in and sent Merhar to third. From there, Ely successfully ran a balk steal, which forced South Ridge to balk and sent Merhar home with the third and final run.

The Class A State Tournament begins June 16 at Chaska Athletic Park. The top five teams will be seeded and the matchups have yet to be determined.

Game 1

South Ridge 5

Ely 4

At Hibbing, area baseball coaches repeatedly stress the importance of not allowing extra outs in an inning because they will undoubtedly lead to runs.

That was exactly the case Thursday in the first game of the Section 7A title series between the Panthers and the Timberwolves.

No. 1 seed Ely committed five errors in the contest and No. 2 South Ridge took full advantage to grab a 5-4 victory and force a second game. Ely was undefeated coming into the title series and needed only one win to earn the section title, while South Ridge needed to win twice.

The Timberwolves struggled out of the gate before coming up just short in the seventh inning.

Ely gave up an RBI single by Christian Houle that scored Mark Lisic in the top of the first.

Ely remained down 1-0 until the bottom of the third when they were able to manufacture a pair of runs. Dalton Schreffler started it off by drawing a walk and Gage Merhar proceeded to bring him home with a triple to the fence. Pat Huisman followed that up with a bloop hit that the shortstop couldn’t handle, which plated Merhar to give Ely its first lead of the game at 2-1.

The Timberwolves’ errors reared up again in the fourth inning when Houle reached again on a miscue and went to second on an overthrow. Cole Watkins subsequently reached on a fielder’s choice, while Ely seemingly had Houle caught off second in a rundown. However, the ball was dropped as Houle dove safely back into second.

Trey Karppinen loaded the bases with a single to left field and Nick Carlson put South Ridge back on top, 3-2, with a single to right field.

Ely tried to manufacture some runs in the fourth and had runners on second and third, but couldn’t bring them home.

The same was true for South Ridge, which loaded the bases in the fifth but came up empty.

The Panthers rebounded in the sixth to score two runs on one hit and one Ely error to take a 5-2 lead. South Ridge’s Nick Carlson reached on a walk, Lisic got on via error before Carlson scored on a wild pitch and Houle’s single to center plated Lisic from second.

Things were looking bleaker for Ely as they failed to score in the bottom of the sixth and had just one chance left.

Momentum changed for the Timberwolves in the seventh as Merhar walked and moved to second on a wild pitch. Huisman subsequently singled to center and Spencer Gaulke added an infield single to score Merhar, which cut the deficit to 5-3.

Ely was left with runners on first and second and Dylan Kienitz reached on an error, which brought home the Wolves’ last run of the game and left them one run short, 5-4.

Kienitz started for the Wolves and went five innings on the hill before giving way to Trevor Mattson. For the Panthers, Reid Clark started on the mound with Lisic throwing the last two innings.