Ely's American Legion baseball team showed up to its Division II state tournament third-place game against Stewartville on Sunday morning in Sacred Heart, Minn., expecting to play one final contest that would cap a successful summer.
Upon arriving at the ballpark, however, Ely coach Tom Coombe was greeted by a tournament official who had some stunning news. Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton, which clipped Ely 4-3 in a Saturday night semifinal, had been disqualified from the tournament. Thus, instead of playing for third place, Ely and Stewartville would jostle for a spot in Sunday afternoon's state title game against Plato.
"I've never seen anything like that before," Coombe said.
Wes Snyder, a pitcher and first baseman on the team, was the first player to learn of the disqualification from his coach. His initial reaction? Skepticism.
"At first I didn't believe it," Snyder, 18, said. "I didn't believe him because when does that ever happen?"
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DGF was sent home "over some conduct issues" at the team hotel, Coombe said, opening the door for his club to play in its second consecutive state final.
Then the tournament got really strange.
Ely got off to a strong start against Stewartville, but had to hang on for a nerve-racking 7-5 victory.
"We just couldn't put Stewartville away," Coombe said.
Playing its fourth game in three days, Ely was tied 2-2 with Plato in the top of the seventh inning of the championship game when Sean Fisher laced a one-out double. Fisher eventually scored on a wild pitch, and Ely was within three outs of a state title.
Then the unthinkable happened.
Ely pitcher Riley Bernsdorf gave up a leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh before retiring the next two Plato hitters. Oh-so close to the state championship that narrowly eluded it a year earlier, Ely was a single strike away from edging Plato when Adam Prehn jumped on a 3-2 Bernsdorf offering and hammered a two-run walkoff homer over the left-field fence.
Despite the deflating ending, Ely still qualified for this week's Division II Central Plains Regional -- the state's top two teams make it -- in Wahpeton, N.D. And the resilient squad left its coach brimming with pride. Coombe admitted that it's a daunting task to prepare teenagers for third-place games that are, essentially, meaningless. But his players were upbeat Sunday morning.
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And when they found out they were playing for a berth in the final?
"Our kids perked up," Coombe said. "Our guys responded very well. I couldn't be prouder. You want to talk about an emotional roller coaster."
Asked if his team was playing with "house money" once it beat Stewartville, Coombe said: "I think so because we were already moving on."
Ely (29-9) plays its first regional game Thursday against a to-be-determined opponent.
Coombe said he will have a shorthanded squad -- but for a good reason. Ely's VFW team, which owns a 29-6 record, will be immersed in this week's state tournament in Mankato, Minn.
Regardless of what happens at the regional playoffs, Coombe said his players created a lifelong memory in Sacred Heart. Ely won its tournament opener 2-1 against Paynesville, followed by the come-from-ahead loss to DGF on Saturday night, the too-close-for-comfort triumph over Stewartville on Sunday morning and, finally, a storybook finish in a state championship game that nearly didn't materialize.
"I don't think you could draw a better script for a state championship game," Coombe said. "Our kids will be talking about this when they're 35, 40, 50 years old."
