Shorts from the world of sports

By John Fragodt, Sports Reporter

•  Baseball and softball can be such rough sports — Baseball and softball can be such rough sports come tournament time.  Whereas other sports might give athletes a chance to get comfortable and to work their way into the postseason, the section opener for softball and baseball is a win or done situation.

Yes, if high school baseball or softball teams lose their first game, they are done for the season.  The other half of the teams continue using a double-elimination format, which makes things a little more comfortable for the team, knowing they can lose and continue playing.

Minnewaska Area beat Morris Area-CA twice during the last regular-season games to earn a share of the WCC title with Montevideo.  However, when the two teams met up again in the 3AA opener last Saturday, Morris Area put its top pitcher on the mound and he struck out 17 Lakers on the way to earning the 2-0 victory.  So much for having a few days to enjoy a WCC title.

Yes, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, making it to state as a team is very hard.  Take softball and baseball for example.  I cover the WCC, Camden and Central Minnesota Conferences in the Area Scoreboard and no softball team from those three conferences (26 schools in all) made it to state.

And, as far as baseball goes (29 schools), eight teams remain in contention for section titles going into this week’s action, but none from the WCC.

•  It’s sometimes not how good you are, but how good the competition is — The more I watch and cover high school sports, the more I realize that it’s not how good you are that determines your record or your postseason success, but how good the competition is.

Take the Benson-KMS boys tennis team as an example.  The Fighting Braves lost their first five matches and were dominated by the likes of Minnewaska Area, Litchfield and NLS during the course of the season.  However, when the dust cleared from the section tournaments, it was Benson-KMS and not the other three schools, that earned a trip to the State Boys Tennis Tourney.

Benson-KMS was recently moved to Section 3A and that section is very week this year.  That allowed the Fighting Braves to earn the top seed and Benson-KMS took advantage by beating Luverne, 4-3, for the section title.  Minnewaska meanwhile, lost to Fergus Falls in the opening round of the Section 8A Tourney, while NLS fell to Thief River Falls for the 8A title and the state’s sixth-ranked Litchfield team lost 4-3 to St. Peter for the Section 2A championship.

I’m very happy for the Fighting Braves.  As I’ve mentioned in the past, I had almost the entire team for our Fragodt Tennis Camps over the years, but there’s no doubt that if Waska, NLS, or Litchfield had been in Section 3A, they would be the champions instead of the Fighting Braves.

The difference in section tennis competition reminded me of when my sons were playing tennis and we could never get by Litchfield in the section team finals despite beating every other team in the area and winning several WCC titles.  Yes, it’s sometimes not how good you are, but how good the competition is.

•  There’s a lot of baseball-softball doubling up in polls — I was noticing in the spring high school state polls (page 4B of this week’s paper) that there are a lot of high schools that are doing great in both baseball and softball this spring.

Fairmont is No. 1 in AA baseball and No. 2 in softball.  Randolph is No. 9 in Class A baseball and No. 1 in Class A softball.  And, New Ulm Cathedral is No. 4 in Class A baseball and No. 9 in softball.

•  Seven athletes qualify to state track — What a great day it was for the Minnewaska track and field teams at the Section 5A Meet last Wednesday at St. John’s.  The girls track team qualified six athletes in five events, while the boys team qualified Maeson Tank in the 400 meter dash and 800 meter run.

In addition, Tank broke the school record in the 800, McKenzie Luetmer broke the school record in the triple jump and Luetmer also became the first MAHS athlete to qualify to state track in four events.

Wow, way to go Lakers!