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A strike away from a shutout victory, Plainview-Elgin-Millville High School’s baseball team made errors on consecutive pitches and watched in disbelief as its season came to a heartbreaking end.
Cannon Falls walked away with an improbable 2-1 victory Saturday at Mayo Field in the Section 1AA playoffs. It was the second loss of the day for the top-seeded Bulldogs, who lost 6-2 to Rochester Lourdes in the opener.
“It’s about the worst feeling I’ve ever had,” P-E-M catcher Matt Pick said. “We should have won it.”
Indeed they should have.
Starting pitcher Clay Olstad recorded the first two outs of the seventh inning with ease, then hit No. 9 hitter Jared Erlanson. Leadoff hitter Jared Woodard followed with a four-pitch walk.
Michael Banitt worked the count full before popping up in foul territory between home plate and first base. Olstad and first baseman
Collin Buntrock closed in and collided, jarring the ball from Olstad’s glove.
On the next pitch, Banitt hit a high fly ball to right field that right fielder Tristan Morath overran and dropped. Erlanson and courtesy runner Isaac Peterson scored to steal the victory.
“It’s hard to end on that when you have two outs in the palm of your hands that just pop out of your glove,” Bulldogs coach Scott Flattum said. “It’s fundamentals — things we work on every day. It’s a couple of (players) out there who I know wanted that last out. It’s tough.”
P-E-M (14-9) grabbed the lead in the first inning and nearly made it stand up. After a triple by Ross Grobe, Pick singled up the middle for a 1-0 lead. Pick finished 3-for-3, while Mathan Kohn added a double.
Olstad made the lead stand up until the seventh, the Bulldogs turning two key double plays behind him. The sophomore right-hander allowed four hits, walked three and struck out two in 62/3 innings.
P-E-M had six hits off Woodard, a senior right-hander for Cannon Falls (17-8). The Bulldogs left eight runners on base, including a would-be insurance run in the seventh inning.
“We can’t just look at that last at-bat and put it all on that,” Flattum said. “We left a lot of guys in scoring position and had a guy thrown out at third. Those are keys to the game.”
The loss capped a frustrating day for P-E-M, which last weekend won the Section 1AA championship with a win over La Crescent.
The Bulldogs, the top seed from the East Sub-Section, were the first team eliminated. Rochester Lourdes had 13 hits and took advantage of five P-E-M errors to win the opener.
Cannon Falls, the top seed from the West Sub-Section, will play another elimination game at 5 p.m. Monday against Lourdes. The Bombers lost 2-1 in eight innings to Cotter in their opener.
“It was pretty tough being a (No.) 1 seed,” Pick said. “We made tons of errors and it came around and bit us in the hind end.”
