Baseball: Cougars trip Rangers, Huskies, lose to Anoka in section

BY BRUCE STRAND SPORTS CONTRIBUTOR

Brandon Pham 6-2, 6-0 on May 26 at the U of M. Centennial’s regular No. 1 doubles team, Joaquin and JJ Bliss, won two matches before losing in the third round. They beat teams from St. Paul Washington Tech and Irondale (a close one with two tiebreakers) and lost to the Mahtomedi duo 6-2, 6-2.

Three strong pitching performances netted Centennial two victories and a close loss in Section 7AAAA last week.

The No. 3 seeded Cougars beat the Forest Lake Rangers 4-0 and No. 2 Andover Huskies 7-1 to reach the upper bracket finals, where they lost to the No. 1 Anoka Tornadoes 3-2.

JON NAMYST | CONTRIBUTED Marina Allen, shown here earlier in the season, is a state qualifier.

Eighth-grader Taylor Thor had the next-best score of 87-86-173 as the Cougars placed seventh among 12 teams. Allen and Thor both made the all-Northwest Suburban Conference team. The state tournament will be held June 13-14 at Bunker Hills in Coon Rapids.

Boys Golf

Centennial’s season ended with a fifth-place finish in the Section 5AAA meet on Wednesday while freshman Cooper Daikawa barely missed qualifying for state. Daikawa shot 74-74-148, tying for seventh place, and was one of three in a playoff for the final state berth, which Champlin’s Bryan Terhaar won right away with a birdie. Brady Zins, eighth-grader, placed 20th with 78-79-157 for the Cougars. Tanner Youngbauer, a junior, was 23rd with 8078-158. Maple Grove was team champion.

Boys Tennis

Centennial seniors Sean Oslund and Zack Chaffey advanced to the state tournament in doubles by placing second in Section 4AA. They will compete Thursday at the University of Minnesota, and Friday if they advance.

Oslund and Chaffey alternated at one and two singles in the regular season. Oslund has an 18-5 record and Chaffey is 17-4. They defeated teams from St. Paul Central, Stillwater and Mounds View to reach the finals, where they lost to Mahtomedi’s Jack Allaben and

Softball

Centennial’s season ended with a pair of Section 5AAAA losses to Maple Grove and its ace hurler Maddie Whilm, but the Cougars won three of five behind excellent pitching from sophomore Riley O’Connell throughout. They finished 14-10. In 33 innings, O’Connell allowed just 19 hits and seven runs (three earned) and struck out 34. After a 9-2 win over Irondale (reported last week), the Cougars nipped Champlin Park 1-0 on May 25 with doubles by Adrianna Thomas and Celsi Burn (RBI) producing the lone run off Marissa Rothenberger in the fifth. Whilm tossed a two-hitter with 12 strikeouts as the Crimson stymied the Cougars 2-0 on May 26. The Cougars stayed alive beating Spring Lake Park 6-1 Tuesday, getting RBI’s from Peyton Corbin (double), Thomas (single) and Jordan LeMire (sac fly and ground out). In the finals Thursday, needing to beat Maple Grove twice, the Cougars lost 3-1 as Whilm had a three-hitter and 11 K’s. Corbin singled home O’Connell, who had singled, for the lone run.

Lacrosse

The Centennial boys and girls teams each opened Section 7 play with victories at home Thursday. The No. 2 seeded Cougar boys (10-4) beat Hermantown/ Proctor 17-7 will host No. 3 Duluth on Tuesday, 7 p.m., in the semifinals. The No. 3 seeded Cougar girls (10-3) beat Grand Rapids/Greenway 11-5 and will play at No. 2 Andover on Tuesday in the semifinals. Championship matches will be held Thursday evening. Scoring details were not available at press time.

Bruce Strand

Centennial (14-9) was slated to face either Forest Lake or Andover again Monday, with the winner advancing to finals against Anoka (17-5) on Tuesday, 7 p.m., in Forest Lake, needing to beat Anoka twice.

Against Forest Lake, Josh Lee twirled a four-hit shutout Wednesday at home. The lanky junior right-hander had no walks and five strikeouts. Aidan Lieser provided the big hits, a pair of doubles that knocked in three runs. Owen Hackett and Sam Menne also delivered RBI hits.

At Andover on Thursday, Will Whelan struck out 16 batters, allowing just three hits, including a homer by Teddy Heller, and two walks. Whelan, a Gophers recruit, improved to 6-1 with a 1.85 ERA. He also had a double, single, and RBI in three at-bats. Vinny Wry was 1-for-3 (triple, two walks, RBI), Lieser and Menne had RBI hits, and Tyler Escobedo was 1-for-1 (walk, two runs). Josh Novak took the loss for Andover (14-8).

In Anoka’s 3-2 win over Centennial, Matt Hoheisel limited the Cougars to five hits, walking none, with three strikeouts, at Forest Lake on Saturday. Wry hit a solo homer and was 2-for-3 with two runs for the Cougars. Lee pitched three innings, giving up three runs, and Jack Dagostino threw three scoreless innings.