Prowlers fall to Yellowjackets in Section semifinal

by Sports Editor Scott DCamp Defending Section 8AA champion Perham defeated Thief River Falls 6-1 Monday afternoon in the semifinal round of the Section 8AA playoffs at Tuffy's Stadium/Al Krueger Field in Perham. "Winnable game, just one bad inning," said Co-Head Coach Xavier Gonzales. "If you look at the scoreboard, it's a 1-1 game and a pitching dual. They put the ball in play when they had the bases loaded and we didn't." The Prowlers were aggressive and scored runs early, which has been a regular occurrence during the 2024 playoffs. Caleb Rosendahl and Noah Gonzales hit back-to-back singles with one out in the inning. Cleanup hitter Bodhi Mossestad hit a soft liner to short. Perham shortstop Alex Blume caught the ball on a line and attempted to double-up courtesy runner Joe Kelly at second. Kelly beat the throw, which was mishandled by the second baseman, allowing Rosendahl to score from third. The Yellowjackets answered with a run on three hits in the bottom of the first to tie the game. The Prowlers had opportunities to regain the lead in the second, with the bases loaded and one out, and both the third and fourth innings, with two runners on in each inning, but they came up empty all three times. "Second inning, we had the bases loaded for the top of our lineup," Xavier Gonzales said. "We just didn't execute. We weren't aggressive with our secondary lead and we get thrown out at the plate." The Yellowjackets waited for their opportunity, and it came in the fifth, with five runs on four hits, that were aided by a pair of errors. Perham's Ashton Detloff pitched a complete-game seven-hitter to pick up the win. He walked just two batters and struck out eight. Gannon Zutz kept the Yellowjackets off balance through four innings, but he couldn't get through five. He allowed six runs (three earned) on seven hits, with two walks and five strikeouts. Logan Kriel pitched one and two-thirds scoreless innings in relief. Tuesday's elimination game between Thief River Falls and East Grand Forks has been postponed from Tuesday until noon on Wednesday in Perham due to forecasted inclement weather. The winner of that game will face Perham at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.