Bayside Chatter: Softball polls released

Talk about it

The first state softball polls came out last week and Silver Bay is currently No. 4 in Class A, according to the Minnesota Fastpitch Coaches Association.

New Ulm Cathedral sits at No. 1. Nashwauk-Keewatin and Cherry/Cotton also received votes while Barnum received none.

It’s too early yet for these to have much meaning as they are mostly based on last season’s results.

Unfortunately, the season is usually too short to get enough data to make the polls meaningful, but the early spring may change things this season. The other top teams were Pipestone in AA and Hastings in AAA.

It is the same as last year in that no team from Section 7A is a top team because they don’t have the dominant pitching to win it all.

Baseball and softball

The second baseball polls of the season had St. Michael-Albertville in AAA, Litchfield in AA and MACCRAY in A in the top spots.

Chisholm is at No. 8 in A and Deer River, Ely and Northland received votes. Likewise, these polls are too early to have much meaning.

Only four Polar League softball teams are also in Section 7A in Carlton, Cook County, Floodwood and Silver Bay. Barnum, McGregor and Cromwell are in 5A and Esko, Moose Lake and Two Harbors are in 7AA.

Section 7A remains the same as last season with the exception of adding Duluth Marshall.

In baseball things are a little different as Barnum, Carlton, Cook County, Cromwell, Floodwood and McGregor all join Silver Bay in 7A, with Esko, Moose Lake and Two Harbors in 7AA. Duluth Marshall also joins 7A for baseball this season.

Hockey

USA Hockey held its first national high school hockey tournament last week at Chicago. It was only for USA Hockey affiliated teams, which meant no high school teams that are members of a state athletic association.

There were 24 teams representing 21 states at the event and New Trier of Illinois defeated St. Thomas Aquinas of Florida 5-0 for the first title.

The former Chicago Showcase was also held last week at Pittsburgh without Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin and North Dakota. It was won by New Jersey Red with a 10-3 victory over Illinois in the championship game.

Minneapolis will be down to one high school hockey team for boys starting this upcoming season. At one time there were 11 Minneapolis teams. In 1970 Minneapolis Southwest went undefeated and won it all with an overtime victory over Edina.

Eight Minneapolis schools in Central, Edison, Patrick Henry, Roosevelt, South, Southwest, Washburn and West played in the state hockey tournament.

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