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Heading into last Thursday's home doubleheader against Andover and Forest Lake, the Wildcats needed to win one of the two games to earn the fourth seed and a first round bye for the Section 7AAA playoffs. The Wildcats took care of business in the first game, beating Andover 6-2. They fell to Forest Lake in the now-meaningless nightcap 14-1.

Before Thursday's games, the Wildcats were tied with St. Francis for the fourth seed in the section playoffs. St. Francis would have won the tiebreaker for the fourth seed, having beaten the Wildcats earlier this season. Early last week, the Wildcats added the game with Andover to their schedule to give themselves an additional opportunity to get a section win and get the fourth seed. St. Francis had games with two section teams remaining last week, but those games came after Thursday's deadline for use in the section seeding formula.

Sophomore Joey Reed pitched a complete game in the win over Andover. The win pushed St. Francis, now the number five seed, into yesterday's first-round matchup with Duluth Central. The Wildcats will take on the winner of the St. Francis/Duluth Central game this Saturday, May 31 at Grand Rapids.

Aaron Rivard's first career home run was the only highlight for the Wildcats in the 14-1 loss to Forest Lake. "We had already earned the fourth seed," said Wildcat head coach Pat Collins, "so it didn't make sense to show Forest Lake our best pitchers since we might be facing them in the section playoffs. Last year, we used our best pitcher against them in a similar situation, and they were ready for him come playoff time. And last Thursday's game also gave us a chance to sit some people to remind them to play hard all the time. It also gave us a chance to play some other players."

The Wildcats had been scheduled to play at Mahtomedi last Monday, May 19, but that game was rained out. The game will not be rescheduled since it was late in the season and had no bearing on section seedings or the conference standings.

SECTION PREVIEW

The Wildcats (12-6 overall, 10-4 conference) finished in a tie for second with Irondale in the North Suburban Conference. The two teams finished just a game behind conference champion Benilde-St. Margaret's.

Last year, the Wildcats were knocked out of the section playoffs by Forest Lake before the double-elimination portion of the playoffs began. This season, the double-elimination portion of the playoffs has been expanded from four teams to eight teams. Since there are 12 teams in Section 7AAA, this means the Wildcats will get a bye into the double-elimination portion of the playoffs and assure themselves of avoiding a repeat of last season's quick playoff exit.

Cambridge (19-1 overall, 15-1 conference) won the Mississippi Eight Conference this season and is the number one seed in Section 7AAA. The Wildcats are already familiar with the Bluejackets, having lost to them 5-4 in a thrilling extra-inning game just two weeks ago. Duluth East (16-4) is the number two seed and number three seed Grand Rapids (19-1) rounds out the top four.

"We appreciate having the bye in the first round," said Collins. "But at the same time, it's tough to go a whole week without playing any games this time of year. It's hard to find someone to scrimmage, since every other team is either done for the year or in the middle of the playoffs."

Collins assessed his team's chances to make it to this year's state tournament. He said "If we play like we're capable of, we have a good shot. We haven't been playing that well lately. I know we can hit, but we've got to catch the ball better."

The Wildcats will begin their playoff journey next Saturday against St. Francis or Duluth Central at Grand Rapids at 10 a.m. They'll play a second game Saturday, win or lose. If the Wildcats win at least on of their two games on Saturday, they'll continue on. They could play games on June 3, June 5 and June 6, with sites to be determined.

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