SACRED HEART -- Three games worth of good weather ran out shortly before the Sacred Heart American Legion baseball team took to the field to play La Crescent in the first round of the State Division II Tournament Friday.
The teams waited out an almost two-hour rain delay to finish with La Crescent advancing to the semifinals, 3-2 in nine innings.
In the first three games, three-time defending champion Jordan beat Pipestone 3-1, Staples-Motley edged Red Lake County 7-6 in 12 innings and Ely beat Wheaton 3-1.
Pipestone will face Red Lake County at 9 a.m. today in the first consolation semifinal game and Jordan will play Staples-Motley in the first championship semifinal at 5 p.m.
The Sacred Heart-La Crescent game restarted at approximately 9 p.m. Friday night.
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La Crescent will play Ely at 7:30 p.m. in the semifinals and Sacred Heart will face Wheaton in the loser's bracket at 11:30 a.m.
Jordan 3, Pipestone 1
Tyler Oaks (7-2) twirled a two hitter with five strikeouts and one walk to quiet Pipestone's bats. Losing pitcher Greg Quist (4-1) was on target two until the fifth inning when the three-time defending champions erupted for all three of their runs. That overcame the 1-0 lead Pipestone established in the second inning. Quist notched nine strikeouts in 5Xc innings.
Staples 7, Red Lake County 6
Trevor Ness third hit of the game drove in the game winning run with two outs in the bottom of the 12th. Jordan Riewer (6-0) threw all 12 innings for Staples, allowing six hits and walking seven. Red Lake got to him for three runs in the top of the seventh to tie the game 4-4 and send it to extra innings. Both teams scored two in the 11th, which made it 6-6.
Steve Morinville threw the first six innings for Red Lake; Nolan Knott went the rest of the way and took the loss. Chad Beebe had three of Staples 14 hits, plus three RBI.
Ely 3, Wheaton 1
Ben Pohre's two-run home run in the third inning put Ely ahead 3-0 and Ely withstood a short Wheaton rally in the seventh.
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Ely pitcher Tyler Blomberg went the distance for the win, scattering six hits while striking out eight and walking one.
Wheaton's Zach Fridger also gave up six hits. He struck out three and walked one to pick up the loss.
