Undefeated Waterville-Elysian-Morristown #4 Seed at State

The Waterville-Elysian-Morristown Buccaneers enter the Class A State Tournament Thursday the only high school softball team in Minnesota without a loss.  Coaches involved in the tournament today awarded them the #4 seed.

My guess is the coaches took a look at the non-conference schedule and saw one Class 2A team Waseca.  The Blue Jays were a 2 win team. It's also a slap in the face of the Gopher Conference which has produced some pretty good champions over the years.  New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva was pretty good this year.  Four time defending Section 1A Champion Hayfield moved to the Gopher this year which certainly made the conference tougher but how many coaches really know that?

The other non-conference wins were against fellow Section 2A teams Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton and Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart.  Both teams had 7 win seasons.

Still, wouldn't you think the coaches would take more stock in the fact Waterville-Elysian-Morristown is the only remaining undefeated team in the entire state?

I'm sure Head Coach Crystal Lamont will have no trouble using this as a motivator for her team.  Rankings mean nothing (latest had WEM #2 in Class A) and seeds really mean nothing.  The only thing that matters is what the teams do between the lines.

The Buccaneers got a tough draw with Badger/Greenbush-Middle River (21-4) their opening opponent.  The game will be on POWER 96 Radio Thursday at 12:45 p.m.

New York Mills with two losses received the top seed and opens with South Ridge (18-5).   The Randolph Rockets (22-2) only losses were to Class 2A state ranked and perennial power Zumbrota-Mazeppa and to Class 4A state ranked Coon Rapids.  The Rockets are the #2 seed.

Randolph did not allow a run by their opponent in section play outscoring their competition 49-0.  Three of the five games they scored double digit runs.  Randolph plays Isle (18-3) in their first game on KDHL Radio beginning 12:45 p.m.

The other Class A first round features #3 seed Edgerton/Southwest Christian (18-4) against New Ulm Cathedral (22-2)