HEALTHY CUT — Martin County West's Wyatt Williamson takes a healthy cut against Sleepy Eye St. Mary's during a Section 2A elimination bracket baseball game Tuesday night at ISG Field in Mankato. The Knights went on to end the Mavericks' season with a 4-2 victory. (Photo by Bob St. John)

MANKATO — The No. 6-seeded Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s Knights plated two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to snap a tie and fend off the No. 7-seeded Martin County West Mavericks, 4-2, in a Section 2A elimination-bracket championship game at ISG Field in Mankato on Tuesday.

Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s shut out city rival Sleepy Eye High School 3-0 in an elimination bracket game played earlier Tuesday at ISG Field.

No. 1-seeded New Ulm Cathedral faces Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s in the Section 2A championship game at 5 p.m. Thursday at ISG Field in Mankato. St. Mary’s has to beat New Ulm Cathedral twice to win the title, while NUC needs only one victory to be section champion.

The Mavericks, 14-9 overall, had only two hits.

“I thought Zach (Anderson) pitched well, but we didn’t give him any offense,” Martin County West head coach Phil Rotunda said. “They had a good pitcher going for them and we just couldn’t get any offense going.”

Knights’ Talan Helget was the winning pitcher, throwing the first six innings, giving up two runs, two hits, three walks and striking out four. Brandon Schmitz tossed the seventh inning to pick up the save, retiring the Mavericks in order, striking out one.

MCW’s Anderson went seven innings, giving up four runs, 10 hits, no walks and striking out two.

Jacob Fiala and Jesse Potts generated MCW’s two hits, while Owen Weiss, Kaleb Wait, Schmitz and Kameron Kosak each had two hits to power St. Mary’s. Carson Domeier and Mark Anderson also had hits for St. Mary’s.

The Mavericks led 1-0, scoring in the top of the second inning, but the Knights came right back with two runs to take a 2-1 lead after two complete innings were in the books.

Brice Enter had an RBI in the second inning when his fielder’s-choice grounder scored Fiala.

MCW tied the game 2-2 in the sixth inning when Fiala drove home Christian Bachenberg on a sacrifice fly.

Bachenberg led off with a walk, stole second base, advanced to third on a passed ball and came home on Fiala’s fly ball to left field.

St. Mary’s had three straight singles in the sixth inning, scoring two runs to take the lead for good.

“We had a strong sectional with some very good teams competing,” Rotunda said. “This season was unbelievable. The guys have legion ball this summer to get better and they can use this experience to want to get back in this spot next year.”

MCW 010 001 0 — 2 2 1

SESM 020 002 X — 4 10 0

Zach Anderson (LP) and Christian Bachenberg. Talan Helget (WP), Brandon Schmitz (7, Sv) and Kameron Kosak.

LOB–Martin County West 4, St. Mary’s 6. SAC–Mark Anderson (St. Mary’s). SF–Jacob Fiala (Martin County West).

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Prep Softball

North Union 13, Lake Mills 3 — Maggie Engelby doubled twice, produced three RBIs and scored two runs to help the Iowa Class AA No. 3-ranked Warriors collar the Bulldogs by the run-rule during prep softball action Monday night in Lake Mills, Iowa.

Sam Nielsen went 4-for-5 with three runs scored to top North Union’s 14-hit offensive performance, while teammate Naomi Jones went 3-for-4 with a triple and three RBIs.

Cassie Beadle delivered a double and a single, Libby Stevens slugged a home run, and Emily Meyer belted a two-run single for the Warriors, who erupted for nine runs in the top of the sixth inning.

Meyer recorded a game-best nine strikeouts, did not issue a walk and allowed three unearned runs on three hits in six innings pitched to earn the complete-game victory.

North Union (10-1) travels to Spencer, Iowa, on Thursday night.