Champs! Pitching spurs Totino-Grace baseball to state title

It was a season that began with frustration, unable to get little bounces to go its way in an 0-5 start.

The tough start gave way to resilience midway through the spring, winning 12 of 15 the rest of the regular season.

It ended with perfection for Totino-Grace baseball, the final team standing in Class AAA. The last standing, and then celebrating, crashing together in a swarmed heap of jubilation at the center of the Target Field diamond June 22, state champions after taking down Mahtomedi 2-1 in the Class AAA finals.

“The feeling of watching the guys celebrate after the final out was indescribable,” Totino-Grace head coach Mike Smith said. “I am really proud of this group of guys! They have worked really hard for this incredible achievement. So fun to be a part of it all.”

The Eagles got on the board in the top of the first inning, taking a 1-0 lead on a Noah Hill RBI single. Hill added another run-scoring hit in the top of the third, giving Totino-Grace a 2-0 lead it would carry into the bottom of the sixth. Mahtomedi plated a run in the bottom of the sixth to cut the gap to 2-1, but Totino-Grace starting pitcher Tommy Heifort closed out a four-hitter in the seventh, Heifort’s second complete-game win of the tournament.

“This is a very special group,” Smith said. “They really enjoy being around each other, they are really even keel, and they love to compete. I will always remember this group for how they embraced their role and how selfless they were for the good of the team.”

Persistent rain postponed the championship game twice for a total of five days.

For a team that had the Eagles’ start to the season, overcoming a little adversity was nothing new.

“To get off to an 0-5 start was a little frustrating,” Smith said. “We were playing pretty well, but we were just missing a few small details. When the guys really started to trust each other, trust the process and really embrace the role that they were filling, a lot of things changed.”

The Eagles reached the state finals via back-to-back shutouts, defeating Little Falls 4-0 in the quarterfinals June 13, then taking down top-seeded Benilde-St. Margaret’s 2-0 in the semifinals June 14. The pitching dominance followed a Section 5AAA title run in which the Eagles only allowed three runs in four games.

“Especially at the end of the season, our pitchers did a great job! They were so focused on making good pitches and competing,” Smith said. “They were able to keep things simple and not try to do too much.

“In the state tournament our entire roster of guys were awesome! The guys on the field were dialed in and our dugout was incredible — it was a total team effort!”