By Joey Hudson
The number one seeded Northfield Raiders defeated the eight seed Faribault Falcons 8-0 in game one of the section 1AAA section playoffs, Saturday, May 27th at Dundas Memorial Field. Senior Tyler Hughes started on the mound for the Raiders and pitched a complete game shutout, tallying 13 strikeouts.
The scoring started in the bottom of the first inning when Mellgren reached on an error, Kaiser walked, and Koep was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Sophomore designated hitter Seth Thompson ripped a line drive into right field that the right fielder caught for a sac fly, giving the Raiders a 1-0 lead.
In the top of the third, Ryan Kreager smoked a line drive single to left field for the Falcons first base runner of the game. Hughes sat down the next batter looking, and the next two after that swinging to end the top of the third.
In the bottom of the fifth, senior catcher Gabe Sawyer hit a lead off single to left field, Tegan Mellgren followed with a sacrifice bunt to the third baseman moving Sawyer to second. Jake Geiger singled to right center field increasing the Raider lead to 2-0. After Geiger stole second, Spencer Mellgren hit a ground ball over the top of third base that the third baseman couldn’t make a great throw on and the first baseman couldn’t pick cleanly allowing Geiger to score. Kam Kaiser followed up Spencer’s at bat with his third straight walk of the game. With runners on first and second, Koep singled on a ground ball to left field allowing Spencer Mellgren to score. The Raiders rally ended as Qualey came back to induce a pop out and a ground out.
In the sixth Spencer Mellgren lined a two-run triple down the right field line that scored Sawyer and Geiger to give the Raiders a 6-0 lead. Micheal Crone came into pitch immediately following the triple and the first batter he saw he threw a wild pitch allowing Spencer Mellgren to score, moving the Raiders lead to 7-0. Kam Kaiser drew his fourth consecutive walk on the next pitch after that and came around to score when Austin Koep hit a triple to deep center to give Northfield the 8-0 lead.
With the win the Raiders will host the Stewartville Tigers on Tuesday, May 30th for round two of the playoffs. The game will take place at Dundas Memorial Park with first pitch scheduled for 5:00pm. The game will be broadcasted on NorthfieldLive.com. Stay up to date with all Northfield activites by heading to NorthfieldLive.com and following us on social media @northfieldlive.