The Minnewaska Area baseball team edged Morris Area in a WCC battle, Thursday, 5-3, to earn sole possession of the conference title.  The second game between the Lakers and Tigers was called after 10 innings due to lightning and will not be made up.

The Lakers closed out the WCC schedule with a 13-0 conference mark to win their 11th WCC title.  In the results that follow is also information about the regular-season finale against Paynesville, another 5-3 Laker win.

Minnewaska also earned the top seed in the upcoming Section 3AA-North Baseball Tourney.  Minnewaska earned the top seed despite losing to NLS earlier this year.  The Wildcats lost a couple of games late in the season to drop to the fifth seed.

Paynesville (16-4) was seeded second, followed by Montevideo (16-4), Morris Area-CA (14-5), NLS (13-6) and KMS (11-7).  The Lakers and Paynesville both earned first-round byes and will host second-round games at 5 p.m., Thursday, May 30.  The Section 3AA Tourney continues June 1, 3, 4 and 6.  

Waska 5, Paynesville 3

The Lakers scored five runs in the fifth inning to earn a 5-3 victory over Paynesville in a section seeding game, Friday, May 17 at home.  Neither team could score until the Lakers plated five unearned runs in the fifth.

Ryland Martin improved to 4-0 on the mound with the victory.  He pitched the first four innings, giving up just four walks with five strikeouts.

Jack Majerus pitched the final two innings, yielding three hits, two earned runs and three walks with two more strikeouts.

Offensively, Dylan Alexander was 2-for-3 with a two-run homerun, while Alex Panitzke had a three-run triple and Austin Weber also had a hit for the Lakers.

Weber reached on an error to lead off the fifth and was sacrificed to second by Levi Weber.  Walks to Nathan Dell and Riley Dell loaded the bases and, after a strikeout for the second out, Panitzke delivered a three-run triple.

Next up was Alexander, who hit an 0-2 pitch over the centerfield fence for a two-run homer and 5-0 Minnewaska lead.

Waska 5, Morris Area 3

The Lakers beat Morris Area, 5-3, Thursday, to earn sole possession of the WCC title.  The second game was stopped after 10 innings due to lightning with the teams tied 11-11.

In the first game, Alex Panitzke earned the pitching victory with relief help from Nathan Dell.  Panitzke improved to 6-1 by pitching six innings and giving up three hits, three runs (one earned) and four walks with three strikeouts.

The Lakers went up 1-0 after one inning and 5-2 after four before Morris added one more run in the sixth.  Jack Majerus was 2-for-4 with two runs and another two stolen bases for the recordholder, while Noah Jensen was 2-for-3 with a run and walk.

Also coming through with hits for the Lakers were Panitzke, Dylan Alexander, Connor Erickson and Levi Johnson.

at Waska 5, Paynesville 3

Paynesville 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 — 3 7 1

Waska (15-2) 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 — 5 4 2

HITTING:  WASKA-Dylan Alexander 2-for-3, run, 2 RBI, HR; Alex Panitzke 1-for-3, run, 3 RBI, triple; Austin Weber 1-for-3, run, double; Nathan Dell 0-for-1, run, bb; Riley Dell 0-for-0, run, bb  . . . PAY-B. VanderBeek 2-for-4, RBI; B. Carlson 2-for-3, RBI, bb, double

PITCHING:  (ip-h-r-er-bb-so):  WASKA-Ryland Martin (W, 4-0)   5-4-0-0-4-5; Jack Majerus 2-3-3-2-3-2. . . PAY-E. Nelson (L)  6-4-5-0-2-9

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Waska 5, at Morris Area 3

Waska (16-2) 1 0 2 2 0 0 0 — 5 8 3

Morris 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 — 3 5 0

HITTING:  WASKA-Jack Majerus 2-for-4, 2 runs, 2 sb; Noah Jensen 2-for-3, run, bb; Alex Panitzke 1-for-3, run, RBI, bb; Dylan Alexander 1-for-4, RBI; Connor Erickson 1-for-3, RBI, bb; Levi Johnson 1-for-3, bb; Ryland Martin 0-for-2, run, bb  . . MOR-A. Marty 2-for-4, run, double

PITCHING:  (ip-h-r-er-bb-so):  WASKA-Alex Panitzke (W, 6-1)  6-3-3-1-4-3; Nathan Dell (Sv) 1-2-0-0-1-1 . . . MOR-L. Gibson (L)  3-4-3-3-3-3; J. Hallman 4-4-2-2-2-2

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