Longtime Park coach Tony Young couldn’t remember the last time a Park team went an entire game without a hit.

But it happened Saturday morning as second-seeded Eagan blanked the fifth-seeded Wolfpack 1-0 in a Class 4A, Section 3 semifinal at M Health Fairview Sports Complex in Woodbury.

The loss put the Wolfpack (15-8) in the section elimination bracket and a rematch against top-seeded Rosemount (20-4) Tuesday afternoon. The section finals are set for Wednesday at M-Health Fairview Sports Complex, field 7, with the first game starting at 3 p.m. and the second game, if necessary, starting at 5 p.m.

Rosemount defeated East Rudge 4-2 to advance to the elimination bracket finals against the Wolfpack.

The shutout loss to Eagan was hard to handle for the Wolfpack especially because it came on the heels of a thrilling 7-4 win over No. 5 Rosemount in the previous section game.

Eagan (14-8) scored its only run in the third inning on a one-out solo home run by Lillian Whipple.

Eagan pitcher Jocelyn McClary – a North Dakota State commit -- was just too much for the Wolfpack to handle Saturday, throwing a no-hit shutout.

It was as frustrating game at the plate as can be for the Wolfpack. Park batters struck out nine times, rarely hit the ball out of infield and the two line drives they did hit went directly to an Eagan defender. Park had just two base runners, both coming on walks and never advanced anyone past one stop at second.

After struggling at the plate much of the game, the Wolfpack then tried mightily to get runners on base, mainly through bunting, but Eagan’s defense held up the rest of the game.

Park pitchers Stella Fritsche and Ava Youngquist didn’t give up much to the Wildcats, just four hits and combining for six strikeouts. Park made two errors but neither ended up costing the Wolfpack.

“You know we can’t hang our heads and let this one game define our season,” said coach Young. “We’re starting to understand things a little bit better. We’re playing great team ball, just today … they got all the breaks. We hit a few balls hard, they just happened to be right at them. And they’ve got a really good pitcher over there that mixed it up well.

“There are no easy games in this section,” Young continued. “And so, I thought we were ready, but we’ll be all right. We’ll see them again. We’ve got to have a championship mind set and we’ve got to find a way to bounce back. This morning wasn’t our day. And we’ve got to stay locked in, stay playing for each other and we’ll be all right.”

Park 7, Rosemount 4

Park saved the best for last Thursday against the host, fifth-ranked and the top-seeded Rosemont Irish.

The Wolfpack pushed across three runs in both the sixth and the seventh innings to earn a 7-4 win in a Class 4A, Section 3 quarterfinal Thursday to advance in the tournament.

Park led 1-0 after two, then Rosemount tied it with a run in the third. Rosemount scored twice in the bottom of the fifth to take a 3-1 lead. But Park tied it at four-all with three runs in the top of the sixth, then won it with three more scored in the top of the seventh.

Park’s Ava Youngquist led off the sixth with a single, then after two fly outs, Park hit three straight run-scorers as Alayna Adamez doubled, Stella Fritsche singled and Peyton Moerke singled to tie the game at four.

Park then followed with a huge seventh inning. Lauren Osland reached on an error, Maddie Boothe singled, Mackenzie Darsow hit into a fielder’s choice, Adamez walked, Fritsche singled and Moerke hit a sacrifice fly.

Adamez had two doubles, a walk and scored twice to lead Park. Fritsche had three singles and one RBI and Youngquist had two singles

Rosemount banged out 11 hits in the game but could only manage just four runs. The Irish also hurt themselves with three errors.

Eagan got past East Ridge 2-0 in the other quarterfinal to advance to the championship semifinal.

As usual, the Suburban East Conference is showing its strengths in section play. Advancing to the section championships were White Bear Lake in 4AAAA, Forest Lake in 7AAAA, while Park in 3AAAA. Woodbury, Mounds View and Stillwater in 4AAAA remained alive in the elimination bracket.