12 St. Cloud area teams punch tickets to Class C town ball state tourney

Town ball teams finished up their second weekend of region tournaments with the top four teams in each region advancing to the state tournament. There was a lot on the line for a handful of teams in the St. Cloud area and there will be plenty of teams representing Central Minnesota at the state tournament.

These region tournaments had its fair share of upsets as well as domination by No. 1 seeded teams. There were many different storylines from the past weekend, so here's a small breakdown of these past few games.

Region 8C

The Region 8C championship game had its top-two teams battling for the top spot, but Nisswa was able to finish on top with a 6-4 win over Avon. The Lightning earned the No. 1 seed, while the Lakers received the No. 2 seed for Region 8C.

The loser's bracket had an upset in the semifinals as Buckman defeated St. Stephen with a 6-2 victory to clinch a spot at state. Pierz defeated Foley in a 5-1 game to reach the third-place game, but Buckman continued its hot streak and won 4-1 over Pierz.

Buckman will be the No. 3 seed for Region 8C and Pierz will be the No. 4 seed. The state tournament starts up this upcoming week and weekend as all the teams compete for the Class C state title these next few weeks.

Region 11C

Kimball and St. Joseph had to finish its game on Friday night after the rain paused its game from the previous weekend. Kimball earned the win to reach the region championship and had to play Monticello.

The Polecats and Express had a back-and-forth championship game, but ultimately, Monticello was able to come out with the 7-6 win and earn the No. 1 seed for Region 11C. The Polecats came into regions as the No. 3 seed for Sauk Valley and earned a few upsets to get to this position.

With the loss, Kimball received the No. 2 seed for Region 11C and will be heading to state along with Monticello. In the loser's bracket, Cold Spring and the Sartell Muskies were able to win pretty handedly to clinch a spot at state.

In the third-place game, Sartell showed off its offense with a 14-6 win giving the Muskies the No. 3 seed and Cold Spring the No. 4 seed for Region 11C.

Region 15C

It was a battle of the No. 1 seed teams for the championship game and St. Martin came out with the 5-0 win. Scott Lieser threw a complete game for St. Martin striking out 13 batters and not allowing a single run to earn the No. 1 seed for Region 15C.

In the loser's bracket, Watkins dominated to earn a spot at state with a 7-1 win over Luxemburg, while Richmond had to win in extra innings with a 3-2 final score over New Munich. Watkins used its offense in the seeding game to put eight runs across the board and win 8-5 over the Royals.

Richmond received the No. 4 seed for Region 15C and Watkins played Elrosa for the 2-3 seed game. The Clippers continued to battle all weekend and ended up winning to earn the No. 2 seed for Region 15C. Elrosa will be the No. 3 seed heading into state.

These four teams will represent Region 15C at the Class C state tournament starting next weekend. The teams will be challenged by some top teams in the state, but each team will stay focused on the goal of winning a state title.

Brian Mozey is the high school sports reporter for the St. Cloud Times. Reach him at 320-255-8772 or bmozey@stcloudtimes.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrianMozey.

Support local journalism. Subscribe to sctimes.com today.

This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: 12 St. Cloud area teams punch tickets to town ball state tourney