By Matt Brown
The Maple Lake Lakers ended their 2024 season Saturday, Aug 17 in Green Isle with a loss to the Farming Flames. Litchfield was also sent home by Bemidji while Loretto advanced on a tenth-inning bases-loaded walk-off hit-by-pitch. Loretto will play Section 16 champs Sauk Centre Titans while Buffalo will take on the St. Joseph Joes in the second round of the tournament this weekend.
Maple Lake 1, Farming 4
Maple Lake got off to a slow start in their title defense, unable to figure out Flames starter Payton VanBeck until late in the contest. The Lakers’ first major threat to score came in the sixth when they had two on and no outs but a couple fly balls and some heads-up defense by Farming ended the inning and kept their lead at two. Flames added two more in the seventh to pad their lead. Down to their last set of outs, Matt Bergstrom and Logan Orazem singled and both advanced on a wild pitch, allowing Bergstrom to tag up on a fly ball by Luke Fobbe to score the lone Laker run.
The Minnesota State Tournament continues for the next two weekends, with the championship game held on Labor Day. The Lakers would like to thank all of the members of Laker Nation for their continued support. See you all in the spring! Go Lakers!