Although the regular season didn’t progress as seamlessly as planned, New Prague’s cooperative indoor softball team won a berth in the state tournament Wednesday, May 6, with a big win over Anoka in the league playoffs.
The Trojans, the No. 2 seed from the southwest division, will open state tournament play tomorrow evening, Friday, May 15, 8 p.m., against Mahtomedi-Stillwater at Wayzata High School. A win advances the Trojans to the semifinal round Saturday, 12 p.m., at Wayzata High School. A loss will relegate the Trojans to the consolation bracket beginning Saturday at 9 a.m. The third-place game is set for Saturday, 3:15 p.m. and the championship game will begin Saturday, May 15, at 3:45 p.m.
Trojans 15, Anoka 5
New Prague won the truncated contest thanks to big innings and plenty of offense from the top of the batting order. The Trojans pounded out 119 hits in four trips to the plate, scoring fives times in the first, second and fourth innings before the 10-run-rule was implemented after Anoka’s fifth at-bat in the seven-inning contest.
Logan Bermel and Nikkos Patrin both had three hits for the Trojans. Carter Tupy, Sam Jensen and Ethan Woletz all added two hits. The Trojans matched the aggressive hitting with their base running.
“We came out very strong at the plate-balls were flying all over the place,” Trojans Head Coach Jeremy Kalal said after the game. “Our kids did a great job getting this game started on the right track. We were very aggressive on the bases and took a lot of extra bases when Anoka made a mistake. It was great to see our kids be so aggressive at the plate and on the bases.”
Defensively, the Trojans made a few mistakes, but they were always able to keep their mistakes to a minimum, not allowing Anoka get anything going offensively. Graysen Flaherty did a solid job pitching with plenty of offensive support.
“I feel great about how we played and if we can keep this going into the state tournament we are going to give any team a run for their money,” Kalal said.