Tollefson, Granite foil Cottonwood

By Andy Rennecke

COTTONWOOD - Taylor Tollefson is a crafty pitcher.

The Granite Falls Legion hurler mixed his curveball in well with an effective fastball in his team's 6-2 win over Cottonwood in the first round of the Division II District 7 Southwest Section playoffs.

"They were trying to jump on our first pitch a lot. I was trying to hit the outside with my curveball. I just tried to keep them off balance," Tollefson said.

Tollefson's catcher, Phil Johnson, said he and Tollefson knew the plate umpire was going to give them the outside corner.

"We tried to go out as much as possible," Johnson said. "It worked to our advantage. Taylor was locating really well and we were on the same page the whole game. Whatever I put down, he threw and threw it wherever he wanted to."

Tollefson has been throwing to Johnson since the two were in sixth grade.

"He knows what I'm going to throw every time," Tollefson said. "He knows what works best for me."

Granite Falls moves on to play Sacred Heart in the winner's bracket at 10 a.m. Saturday. Sacred Heart, the top seed in the section and host to this weekend's games, beat Montevideo 7-6 Thursday night to advance. Cottonwood will take on Montevideo at noon Saturday in Sacred Heart in the loser's bracket.

After Granite took an early 3-0 lead in the first inning, Cottonwood chipped it down to 3-1 going into the bottom of the fourth.

Cottonwood beat Granite Falls 11-0 earlier in the season.

"Everybody was loose and ready to play tonight," Granite head coach Nick Richter said. "It's fun to see. This is the team I've seen most of the year. We came down (to Cottonwood) earlier and they were the better team that night. We had to play well to win. We had a couple of errors, but stuck with it. It was a good team win."

But in that frame, the right-hander for Granite buckled down. With the bases loaded and nobody out for Cottonwood, Tollefson struck out Jeremy Labat, got Nathan Mauland to ground into a fielder's choice that scored Cottonwood's second run and forced Tony Ross into a 4-3 groundout to get out of the jam. Cottonwood never got a runner past second base after that inning.

"Tollefson was the key to stopping us," Cottonwood head coach Bill Ross said. "We just didn't hit the ball. We had chances to score. We didn't have a hit from our No. 3 or No. 4 hitters. If they're going to go 0-for-7, we're not going to win a lot of games. Those guys are the heart of the order. We need them to perform in order for us to win. We just didn't have any offense.

"I'm not going to throw in the towel, though. We have enough pitchers to make a run. We just have to hit the ball better."

Tollefson limited Cottonwood (8-6) to five hits while striking out six and walking one. He ended the game by blowing a fastball by Cottonwood No. 3 hitter Josh Ramos.

"We needed to get off to a good start for the playoffs," Tollefson said. "This might be the biggest win we'll get because winning the first one doesn't put you in the loser's bracket."

Granite (9-5) started the game with an offensive surge against Cottonwood starting pitcher Tyler Peterson. It started with a home run off the bat of Tyler Sand. Granite scored two more runs on a groundout and RBI single from Andrew Walters.

Peterson settled down after that inning and didn't give up a run again until the fifth when Braden Lee scored on a Cottonwood error to put Granite up 4-2.

An RBI single by Johnson and an RBI triple by Tyler Flattum gave their team two more insurance runs in the top of the seventh for the final margin.

Peterson went six innings for Cottonwood before being relieved by Ramos. The two runs in the seventh were both charged to Ramos. Peterson, who took the loss, gave up four runs on six hits, struck out four and didn't walk anybody.

For Granite, Johnson went 2-for-4 with two singles and Sand went 2-for-4 with a Texas League double to go along with his home run.

Peterson doubled for Cottonwood and Ross went 2-for-4. Cottonwood scored its first run on a RBI groundout from Ramos in the first inning.

Granite Falls hadn't played in two weeks before Thursday. Cottonwood had almost two weeks off. Despite the layoff, Granite didn't appear to be showing any signs of rust.

"I think it helped us to get a little bit of a break and practice," Johnson said. "We really got to work on our hitting. We showed up to play. I think we're going to buckle down and show what we're made of. We have the talent to go a long way."

Granite lost to Sacred Heart earlier in the season and Cottonwood lost to Montevideo earlier in the season.

Granite Falls 300 010 2-6 9 2

Cottonwood 100 100 0-2 5 4

G-Taylor Tollefson. C-Tyler Peterson, Josh Ramos (7). WP-Tollefson. LP-Peterson. 2B: G-Tyler Sand. C-Peterson. 3B: G-Tyler Flattum. HR: G-Sand.