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Chisago Lakes 6

Pine City 5

With two games left of the schedule before playoffs, the Wildcats felt the pressure. Trailing Mora in the standings, Chisago not only needed to win their final two games, but Mora needed to lose once. If that happened, both the ‘Cats and Mustangs would finish in a tie for first. Chisago would then get the nod based on their head-to-head record.

The ‘Cats were determined to do their part.

Facing off with Pine City last Tuesday at home, they did, coming back from a one run deficit to defeat the Dragons 6-5. The Wildcats opened the scoring in the first, striking for two quick runs thanks to RBI’s by Kyle Collins and Tony Mansk. However, Pine City quickly answered, scoring one run each in the second, third, and fourth, grabbing a 3-2 lead.

Batting in the bottom of the fourth, the ‘Cats roared back, taking control of the game for good. Danny Reed threw the first punch, connecting for a two-run home run to jump Chisago back in the lead, 4-3. After Collins doubled, Thomas Moody and Nick Taurinskas added to the score, each coming through with RBI singles, running the Wildcat lead to 6-3. Despite two Pine City runs in the top of the fifth, Zander Mueller closed the door on the Dragons the rest of the way, helping the ‘Cats hold onto a 6-5 win.

“Zander pitched a complete game, he did a nice job of spreading out their hits,” said Trent Grams, Chisago Lakes American Legion head coach. “They finished with 11 hits but he did a nice of job of getting outs when he needed them. It was a nice win for everyone, we definitely needed it.”

With the win, the Wildcats kept the pressure on Mora, running their season record to 9-7 overall and 6-4 in the conference. Not bad considering that the ‘Cats did all of their scoring in two innings, scoring a combined six runs in the first and fourth. Meanwhile, Pine City outscored Chisago 5-0 the rest of the way.

“It worked. I was getting a little nervous there but whenever you get to the top of our line-up, you feel a little at ease because they have all been so good this year,” remarked Grams. “Out hitters have done a really good job the second time through the order and I think that game was another example of what they can do. They study the pitcher, study his tendencies, his strengths and weaknesses, and then they adjust the second time through the order. That’s a sign of a good team.”

Chisago Lakes 5

Cambridge 4

Heading into their final regular season game of the year against Cambridge last Wednesday, Trent Grams didn’t need a calculator to calculate the odds or percentages. He didn’t need a pen and paper to do the math. The formula was as straight forward as can be. Thanks to a Mora loss the night before, all the Wildcats needed to do was win and the league title and number one seed would be theirs. That’s it, that’s all that need to be done.

Still, beating Cambridge wasn’t going to be easy. The Bluejackets handed the ‘Cats a 4-1 loss earlier in the season, and after the first inning and a half, it looked like history was repeating itself. Then in the bottom of the second, the bats began to click as Chisago exploded onto the board, scoring three runs to erase a 1-0 deficit.

Derrick Olson led off the inning with a triple before Taurinskas drove him in to tie the game. A few batters later, Danny Reed put the Wildcats in front with a two-run single, making the score 3-1 after two.

Cambridge, however, had one final burst left. Fresh off three runs by Chisago, the Bluejackets tacked on three runs of their own in the top of the third, re-taking the lead 4-3.

Facing the possibility of letting a district 10 regular season title slip through their fingers, the Wildcats responded like veterans, scoring the final two runs of the game to win the title.

Both runs were picture perfect.

First in the bottom of the fifth, the ‘Cats tied the game on a squeeze bunt off the bat of Levi Jones, allowing Moody to rumble in from third. Then in the bottom of the seventh, the winning win came on, you guessed it, another squeeze bunt from Jones. Like in the fifth, Moody scored. Same play, same players, league title.

“It worked. Levi is our best bunter. We had to try to take advantage of that situation,” commented Grams. “It was with two strikes and they brought their infield in so I think we caught them by surprise a little bit. Levi did a really nice job of making contact.”

The 5-4 win not only moved the ‘Cats record to 10-7 overall and 7-4 in conference, but it also was their first league title in Grams three years as head coach. As the number one seed, it also paired them with North Branch in the first round of the playoffs. The best two out of three advances.

“I think that the guys realized what was at stake and they came through. They did a nice job of battling back and they never lost their poise. They just needed a chance to make something happen. That’s what they’ve been doing all year,” replied Grams. “It’s a good sign with the playoffs next. Being able to win those types of games are going to be big.”

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