CANNON FALLS — Pine Island's Brady Braaten and Cannon Falls' Michael Monson waged an epic pitchers' duel on Tuesday in the Section 1AA West championship game, with Braaten and No. 2 seed Pine Island claiming a 2-1 win over the top-seeded Bombers.
Cannon Falls claimed a 1-0 lead in the second inning, scoring an unearned run. Pine Island responded with an unearned run in the fifth, and in the sixth, Braaten had an RBI double to plate what proved to be the game-winning run.
Cannon Falls coach Bucky Lindow said his team battled at the plate but came up short. "I was not disappointed in our at-bats," he said. "We only struck out twice, and we hit some balls very hard. Give Pine Island credit for making the plays."
Cannon Falls (17-5) will play No. 5 seed Dover-Eyota (7-15) at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the West subsection second place game and a spot in the section final four on Saturday in Rochester.
Pine Island (16-7) will face East subsection champion Lake City (12-10) at Hudson Field at 10 a.m. Saturday.
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SECTION 1AA WEST
Championship
Pine Island 2, Cannon Falls 1
Pine Island#000#011#0#—#2#5#3
Cannon Falls#010#000#0#—#1#2#1
No. 2 Pine Island: Braden Aakre 1-for-3; Bryce Hinrichsen 1-for-3, 1 R; Aaron Gillard 1-for-3, 1 2B; Matthew Lien 1-for-2, 1 R; Brady Braaten 1-for-3, 1 2B, 1 RBI. Pitchers:Brady Braaten (WP) 7 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K.
No. 1 Cannon Falls: Jason Traynor 1-for-3; Carter Reber 1-for-2. Pitchers:Michael Monson (LP) 7 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K.
