MINNEAPOLIS — There’s a first time for nearly everything in life.
There’s a first car. A first heartbreak. A first house.
Madelia baseball had a first on Monday in the form of a state championship trophy. Oh, and the Blackhawks only needed six innings to claim an 11-1 mercy win over reigning state champion Red Lake County at Target Field.
“It feels unbelievable,” Madelia senior Noel Davila said. “Like, it doesn’t even feel real. We’ve been waiting for this moment since we were freshmen. Just grinding every day. It came to life.”
The Blackhawks had the bases loaded and no outs in the bottom of the sixth with a 10-1 lead in hand. All senior Dalton Tatro had to do was get on base to seal the mercy win.
It didn’t matter if he walked. It didn’t matter if he got hit by a pitch. It didn’t matter if he found a gap in the outfield or belted a pitch over the left field fence like Byron Buxton.
Tatro swung at the first pitch he saw, a fly ball to right field. Rebels junior William Warne made the routine catch for the inning’s first out.
Then senior Tate Becker, who will soon take his talents to Southwest Minnesota State, tagged up at third base.
All that stood in the way of Madelia’s first state title was Becker beating the throw from the somewhat shallow portion of right field. A 90-foot dash for the senior that probably felt like an eternity.
Becker bolted and dove head first into home plate, rotating from his stomach and onto his back while making sure at least one of his hands touched home plate.
He finally looked up after never feeling a tag from the glove of catcher Colin Taggart. By the time Taggart caught the throw from right field Becker was already sliding into home plate.
Becker was called safe. The 11th and final run to complete the 10-run mercy.
Becker chucked his helmet into the nearly fully blue sky. The Blackhawks dugout spilled out onto the field and began the usual celebratory dogpile.
Madelia, finally, earned a state title.
“It feels like a dream,” Tatro said. “That moment when we’re in that dogpile… Tate and I are interlocked in a hug, I’m upside down and someone’s getting crushed. That’s something we’re going to remember for the rest of our lives.”
Tatro’s RBI sacrifice fly was one of many key moments in the batter’s box for the Blackhawks.
There were RBI singles from Zach Jacobs and Davila in the second inning. An RBI triple from Tony Zaleski and RBI sacrifice fly from Davila in the fourth. A second RBI single came from Jacobs in the fifth.
Then came the sixth and final frame that put everything away. The frame that not only had Tatro’s RBI sacrifice fly, but a two-run double from Bryce Borkenhagen and RBI single from catcher Miah Garza.
“We got hot at the right time,” Davila said. “Throughout the state tournament everyone’s been hot. There’s nobody that just did not hit the ball. We put the ball in play, and good stuff happens.”
The Rebels entered Monday’s championship showdown with a 26-1 record, allowing seven runs or fewer in all 27 games.
They also committed three errors defensively. And while they also didn’t struggle to put pressure on Becker, they really couldn’t break through with the big-time hit.
RLC had runners on first and second off back-to-back walks in the first inning. Then came three-straight outs.
The Rebels put two runners on in the second frame. Pitcher Will Gieseke planted a single to right field for an RBI knock to tie the game 1-1.
That wound up being the only clutch hit the Rebels mustered off of the Blackhawks.
Becker faced a bases-loaded jam with one out in the top of the fourth. He got Ben Gullingsrud and Taggert to swing and miss at strike three to extinguish the threat.
The Rebels loaded the bases with one out again in the top of the fifth inning. But a weak ground ball off the bat of Cain Cardinal was scooped up by Madelia third baseman Brayden Grev, who immediately fired to Garza for the force out at home plate. Garza then fired a rocket of a throw to first base to get Cardinal out.
A double play. And one of the many moment the Rebels wanted back after stranding 10 runners on base in the loss.
Becker finished his final outing in a Madelia orange uniform allowing an unearned run off four hits and six walks with nine strikeouts across 5 2/3 innings. He was met with a thunderous ovation when he fired his 115th and final pitch of his high school career. Jacobs struck out the only batter he faced in relief.
“It’s pretty awesome,” Becker said. “Just to bring (a state championship) to Madelia… like, half of our town is closed today so they could show up here. The whole town was behind us.”