Quantcast
skip navigation

Jefferson dethrones Burnsville

By Brian Stensaas, Star Tribune, 06/03/11, 12:00AM CDT

Share

After a wild Game 1 and postponed Game 2, the Jaguars earn first state tourney berth


Bloomington Jefferson teammates greeted Nicole Tobon (10) at the plate after she hit a solo home run in the fourteenth inning. Carlos Gonzalez, Star Tribune

A day after 22 innings over the course of more than five hours wasn’t enough to decide the championship, No. 2 seed Bloomington Jefferson wrapped things up Thursday in less than 30 minutes over defending state champion and top-seed Burnsville at Eagan High School.

In the continuation of a decisive Game 2 called by darkness after seven innings with a 1-1 score, sophomore Cassandra Santiago’s one-out, bases-loaded hit to left field plated the winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning. It lifted the Jaguars to their first state tournament appearance.

“We prepared to play one inning,” said Santiago, who had been hitless in Game 2 but had the game-winning double in the top of the 15th inning of Game 1 on Wednesday. “It’s amazing. Pretty surreal right now.”

Section 3 final will need another day

The legend of Class 3A, Section 3 softball added another chapter Wednesday.

The double elimination tournament that in recent years has featured multiple extra-innings, walk-off heroics and tornado warnings in the championship round was a treat once again at Eagan High School.

And it’s not over yet.

Needing just one victory to advance to state after winning it all last June, top-seed Burnsville lost 2-1 to No. 2 Bloomington Jefferson in 15 innings. The 3 hour, 13 minute game forced a true championship Game 2, and it was suspended due to darkness after seven more innings weren’t enough to crown a champion.

The teams will resume the 1-1 game in the top of the eighth inning at 4:30 p.m. Thursday.

Game 1

Game 2

“I’m speechless. I’m tired,” Blaze coach Hillary Hansen said. “The kids played amazing. Everyone — our kids, their kids — I really don’t know what to say.”

As flabbergasted as Hansen was, it’s hard to imagine anyone as gassed as Burnsville pitcher Kelsey Anderson and battery mate Megan Threlkeld. The two teamed up for all 22 innings Wednesday. Anderson struck out 21 Jaguars in the first game and another four in Game 2.

“She’s a bulldog; her teammates have been calling her that since she was a freshman,” Hansen said. “She was going to throw. This is her show and she was going to finish it.”

The teams dueled for 13 scoreless innings in the first game before Jefferson junior Nicole Tobon crushed a home run to center to lead off the 14th.

Burnsville answered on a close play at the plate in the bottom half, but the elation was short-lived after the Jaguars took the lead for good on Cassandra Santiago’s RBI double in the 15th.

“All the back-and-forth is what makes it fun,” said Jefferson coach Penny Witzenberg, who shuffled in three different pitchers throughout the day. “It’s all about intensity.”

Related Stories