They’re back!

Just one season after the Irish softball team earned its first-ever State Tournament appearance and made it all the way to the championship game, Maple Lake is going back to Mankato. It was a bit of de ja vu for the Irish last week as they faced Barnum twice on the road to the state softball tournament. In 2008, a first-round win in the section playoffs gave Maple Lake a chance to advance to state. But the Irish had to duel Barnum a second time to move forward. Maple Lake downed the Bombers 15-1. Last week, the Irish went to Whitney field to take on Barnum in the first round of the section playoffs. After a win for the Irish, Barnum dropped to the bottom bracket and redeemed itself, beating Osakis 11-3 to advance to the championship round. “We didn’t know what to expect,” said Irish head coach Tim Knudsen. “Osakis is a pretty good team, but Barnum had the advantage of a strong pitcher.” In the championship round, Maple Lake coupled strong hitting with solid defense to sweep the competition and head to the state tournament. Read about the road to the state tournament in this week’s issue of the Messenger and look for tournament results in next week’s paper.

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