By AJ Reisetter
The Northfield River Rats defeated the New Prague 45’s in the first round of the sub-state legion tournament, Wednesday, July 19th, 1-0. Tyler Hughes went seven scoreless innings to propel Northfield to the second round. The River Rats will play seventh-seeded Lakeville North on Thursday, July 20th in the second round of the sub-state playoffs.
Hughes Lights Out
The New Prague 45’s had defeated the River Rats twice during the regular season, most recently on July 12th, 8-1. However in Hughes’ first start for the River Rats this season he put on one of his best performances of the year. With his off-speed dotting corners and blowing his fastball by New Prague batters, Hughes racked up five strikeouts in 77 pitches. On top of it all, he didn’t walk a single batter all day and only allowed two hits. The defense behind Hughes also played errorless.
Late Game Heroics Push Run Across
Northfield had many chances throughout the game to score runs, including loading the bases in the third inning, but the 45’s defense held the River Rats scoreless through five innings. Kam Kaiser led off the top of the sixth with a screaming double to right center. A batter later, Aaron Reisetter delivered a single to score Kaiser and give Northfield the 1-0 lead.
Hughes finished New Prague in the seventh to give Northfield the first-round victory.
What’s Next?
The River Rats will take on number seven Lakeville North on July 20th in the second round of the sub-state playoffs. The winner will move on to play the winner of Farmington vs Apple Valley on Friday. The loser will play the winner of Eastview vs Rosemount on Friday. You can catch the game against Lakeville North and all Legion games on NorthfieldLive.com and stay up to date with all Northfield activities by heading over to NorthfieldLive.com and following us on social media @NorthfiedLive.