The Region 5C playoffs started this weekend in Cannon Falls at John Burch Field. The #3 Hastings Hawks started the tournament with a loss to #6 Stewartville/Racine Sharks 5-2, and a win over the #7 Owatonna Aces, 10-4. The seeding in the tournament and the fact that three of the four higher seeds lost in the first round goes to show how close all of the teams in the Classic Cannon Valley League and the Twin Rivers League are.

As the high seeds in their first two games, Hastings had the home spot on the scoreboard. Against the Sharks, Hastings fell behind early in the game 1-0 and a three run third inning extended the deficit to 4-0.

Hastings cut the Sharks’ lead in half in the fourth inning. The first run scored was off the bat of Jake Sandquist when he singled in Cole Benson, who had walked to start the inning. The second run two came one batter later, with Evan Khrin singling to knock in Jackson Tessman. The rally was cut short as the Hawks attempted to send Jake Sandquist home from third base on a flyout that wasn’t quite deep enough, leading to a double play that ended the rally.

Unfortunately for Hastings, that was all the offense they could muster for the game. Jordan Jeske was slated to start the Sunday game but key absences and a need to win the first game of the playoffs forced manager Shawn Matson’s hand to use Jeske early. Jeske came in and pitched three solid innings allowing only one run, but the game finished 5-2 in favor of Stewartville/Racine.

Of the four games played on Saturday, #1 Red Wing lost to #8 Dodge County Diamondbacks 8-5. #5 Cannon Falls defeated #4 Wanamingo Jacks 9-3. The #2 Austin Greyhounds were the only higher seed to win their game, defeating #7 Owatonna Aces 10-5 and the #3 Hawks fell to #6 Sharks 5-2. This set up an interesting consolation side of the bracket.

Before the focus moves to day two, it needs to be pointed out that Cannon Falls did a great job hosting the first weekend, especially with all the rain the field received on Sunday. The tournament moves mostly to Red Wing for the second weekend.

On Sunday, Red Wing eliminated Wanamingo, winning 10-0 and they will play Stewartville/Racine who lost to Austin in an 11-inning thriller 4-3. Cannon Falls defeated Dodge County 4-3 to move on to the championship game on August 12 at 4:00 p.m. against Austin. Hastings eliminated Owatonna 10-4 and will play Dodge County Friday at 8:00 p.m. in Red Wing.

Against Owatonna, Jeske took to the bump for the start. Jeske pitched well and worked out of two innings with bases loaded with only one run scored. In the sixth, he started to show signs of fatigue having pitched three innings the night before. The bases were loaded again with two outs, and he was relieved by Tommy Ritt after striking out six batters and allowing only two earned runs in five and two-thirds innings.

The Hawks offense got things started early, taking advantage of some Owatonna miscues. Jordy Horsch reached on an error to start the game, and after the Hawks just barely beat out a couple double plays, assisted on one of them by an Owatonna bobble at second, Jackson Tessman drove a base knock to give the Hawks the 1-0 lead. After a 1-2-3 second inning, the Hawks broke it open in the third. Horsch and Jackson Schaffer singled to start the inning, and Mitch Iliff was hit by a pitch to load the bases with nobody out. Cole Benson then slapped a two-run single just through a pulled in infield to move the Hawks lead to three. Two batters later, Benson came home on a wild pitch to make it 4-0. Then with two out, Noah Paulseth was hit by a pitch, Jason Greeder singled, and Cory Wolters greeted the Owatonna bullpen with a two run double off the wall to run the lead to seven, essentially putting the game on the shelf. Horsch, Schaffer and Tessman had run scoring singles in the fifth, sixth, and seventh respectively to complete the Hawks scoring on the day.

With going 1-1 for the weekend, Hastings has to win four straight games to earn the trip to state, including the game against Owatonna, any loss and the season is over.

August 11 at 8:00 p.m. starts the final three games to win for Hastings. The #3 Hawks will take on #8 Dodge County. The winner then takes on the winner of the Red Wing Aces and Stewartville Racine Sharks on August 12 at 1:00 p.m. The winner of that game goes on to face the loser of the championship game between Austin and Cannon Falls, August 12 at 7:00 p.m. The Hawks game on Friday will be back at John Burch Field in Cannon falls. Should they win that game, all the Saturday games will be played at The Athletic Field in Red Wing.