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La Crescent takes aim at American Legion state title

La Crescent has a veteran baseball team and is in the Division II American Legion baseball state tournament for the second time in three years. La Crescent will open play in the eight-team tournament on Friday.

Braden Abnet La Crescent Legion baseball.jpg
Braden Abnet, of the La Crescent American Legion baseball team, returns to the dugout during the Southeast Sub-State championship game against Chatfield. Abnet is a key pitcher and hitter for La Crescent and he is expected to start on the mound in either the first or second round of the Division II state tournament this week in Sacred Heart. (Guy N. Limbeck / Post Bulletin)

La Crescent had the goal of reaching the Division II American Legion baseball state tournament this summer, since the season started. With that accomplishment checked off the list, Post 595 has a bigger goal in mind.

“Win the state (champion)ship, that’s what we want,” La Crescent outfielder/pitcher Mason Bills said. “We just have to keep up the energy and keep our bats hot and keep the pitching and defense solid.”

La Crescent earned a state berth by defeating Chatfield in the the Southeast Sub-State tournament championship game.

The eight-team state tournament will be held in Sacred Heart (approximately 40 miles northeast of Marshall) from Friday to Sunday. It is single-elimination for the championship bracket and La Crescent will face tournament host Sacred Heart/MACCRAY at 6:30 p.m. Friday in the final quarterfinal game of the day.

Related: La Crescent had plenty of incentive to earn state berth: 'It's a weight off our shoulders'

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La Crescent enters the tournament with a veteran squad and this marks the team's second state berth in three years. And due to COVID-19, there was no state tournament a year ago.

“We’ve always had a good tradition in La Crescent and it’s just a matter of putting it all together at the right time and we are right now,” Post 595 coach Ryan Niedfeldt said.

La Crescent didn't get off to a hot start this summer, but as the weather warmed up, so did the team.

“The seniors that I have on the team have been amazing leaders,” Niedfeldt said. “We’ve just been riding our pitching and our defense and the timely hitting has been phenomenal lately.”

Isaac Peterson and Braden Abnet have been La Crescent's top two pitchers. Peterson is likely to start the state quarterfinal game while Abnet is expected to start the second game. If La Crescent wins in the quarterfinals, it would play the winner of Friday's third quarterfinal game, between Roseau and Holy Family, in the state semifinals at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. A first-round loss would send La Crescent into the consolation bracket at 11:30 a.m. Saturday.

“Isaac Peterson and Braden Abnet, I’ve been riding them the entire year,” Niedfeldt said. “They’re 1 and 1A and I have all the faith in the world in our Post 595 team.”

Peterson had two of La Crescent's three wins in the Southeast Sub-State tournament. He has also been a key hitter for Post 595, as have Bills and Abnet. Bills hit a pair of homers in sub-state play while Abnet hit one home run and had a key three-run double in the clinching 8-3 victory over Chatfield.

“We need to keep pitching, playing defense and staying hot with our bats,” Peterson said.

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The state title game will be at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, following the third-place game which is set for 11 a.m.

“We’re going to try and be loose, play hard and get dirty and we’re going to have some fun,” Niedfeldt said.

Quarterfinal games in the top half of the bracket will have Luverne facing Wadena at 9:30 a.m. Friday followed by Glenwood-Lowry vs. Tri Town at noon.

Guy N. Limbeck is a Rochester native who has been working at a daily newspaper since 1981. He has worked at the Post Bulletin since 1999. Readers can reach Guy at 507-285-7724 or glimbeck@postbulletin.com.

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