Weekend update
I know with a title like that it should be followed by a Saturday Night Live-style satirical update. This one isn’t too satirical, but with the busy time of the season, with the spring season wrapping up, nearly every program we cover is in some type of post season action.
This is a great time of the year to be a Sports Writer, simply because of the diverse and plentiful things to cover. Softball, baseball, tennis, golf (boys and girls), track and field (boys and girls) plus lacrosse wrapping up and rugby’s season drawing to a close. It’s also a fun time of the year because of the many emails I receive about past graduates from the area schools who are doing some great things in college or the post-secondary level. These items rarely make it into the paper though, simply because of the space we have on the pages…ok, enough on the ramblings, back to the more interesting sports stuff!
Softball: For the first time this season, Eagan’s to-ranked softball team surrendered more than two runs (TWO, 2 II, 1…2!!!) in a game. It happened to be a loss at the worst possible time, one win away from the Section 3AAA title. The 3-1 loss to Bloomington Jefferson came on the heels of a 1-0 win over the Jags in the upper-bracket finals on Tuesday (May 27). It snapped a 10-game winning streak dating back to a 2-0 loss on May 2 against Lakeville North. The two teams played the first two innings of the winner-take-all game on Thursday, but it was postponed to Friday due to severe weather in the area. Eagan led 1-0.
Baseball: Like Andy and I talked about on our podcast that we recorded today (May 30, it will be posted Monday) the Section 3AAA baseball tournament is a wide open free-for-all between Rosemount, Lakeville North, Burnsville and Eastview. Any of these teams have a legitimate case for winning the tournament, but in the same breath any of them could fall. Lakeville North survived a scare from Rosemount in the sub-section final thanks to Nick Judkins’ game-winning, two-out base hit that scored two runs. The Irish beat the Panthers in the first game of the day, forcing the second one.
Burnsville must have saved its runs for St. Thomas Academy. The Blaze beat the Tommies 12-0 in the first game of the sub-section finals, scoring all of its runs in the third inning. They hit three home runs in the inning including a grand slam and two-run shot by John Means.
