Elrosa Saints are heading to the 'Ship!

Don't look now! The Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team is heading to the state championship game! They now take on Fairmont in the Class C state title game. This game will be played at 6 p.m. tomorrow, Sunday, September 6 in New Prague. The site is Memorial Baseball Stadium, where Elrosa won its first two state ball games.

In tonight's game:
Tonight, in New Prague, the Saints faced Hanska in the state semifinals. They had a 5-2 lead going into the 9th inning. In the top of the 9th, the Saints scored one more run to make it 6-2. In the bottom of the 9th, Hanska loaded the bases on no outs with two walks and one hit batsman. Jared Cortez, a draftee from Norway Lake-Sunburg, entered as the second relief pitcher of the game. He proceeded to earn three straight strikeouts to seal the win!

Cortez, a Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg Class of 2024 graduate, is the son of James and Kris Cortez of Lake Johanna Township. Kris (Skarpness) is a B-B-E Class of 1996 graduate, while James was a 1996 K-M-S grad. Just for fun! Here's Jared's Southwest Minnesota State University baseball biography page: https://smsumustangs.com/sports/baseball/roster/jared-cortez/13611.

By the way! Fairmont's 2020 population is listed at 10,487. Elrosa's population stands around 230 people.

Here's a video from the state opener against Pierz back on August 23:


That video was recorded in the bottom of the fourth inning with Payton VanBeck pitching.

More to come...lots of game notes to review!