Giantvalley completes encore run on the diamond

IN THE ZONE by MATTHEW DAVIS

Similar to Minnehaha Academy’s state baseball title run, Giantvalley Legion (3751 Minnehaha Ave. S.) baseball finished its mission too.

Giantvalley (16-9) captured the state Division II title on July 31 in a comeback victory over Glenwood in Le Sueur, 3-2. The Legion team associated with Minnehaha Academy came close the past couple years with close losses to the eventual Division II champion.

“It was just a blast to go back to state in Legion and finally to make the first regional tournament in our school’s history,” Giantvalley pitcher Jesse Retzlaff said.

Finishing third last year after falling to the champion from Foley, Giantvalley made it back to the state tournament on July 29-31. Giantvalley cruised through its first three games at the tournament before what looked like a potential third-straight loss to the eventual champion.

“There was a couple of spots where I was a little nervous in that championship game where we were behind for a while and battled back late in the game,” Giantvalley coach Sean Toomey said.

Glenwood built a 2-0 lead in the fifth inning and held it into the sixth with two outs. Then, Giantvalley got its bats going, which culminated in Justin Evenson’s game-tying RBIs.

“They stayed focused, and they battled,” Toomey said of his team. “They never let up they never gave up. That was the important part to that win.”

Giantvalley sealed the title in the final inning with Nicholas Terlizzi’s RBI single in the top of the seventh and Retzlaff’s pitching to close the game in the bottom of the inning. Fittingly, Retzlaff ended Giantvalley’s season the same way he ended Minnehaha’s on June 20 for the Class AA state baseball title.

Retzlaff started the MSHSL championship game at Target Field and thew 12 strikeouts and allowed just two hits for the game. He closed the Legion state title game after Andrew Wolpert pitched the first five innings.

Either way, Retzlaff help completed unfinished business for both Minnehaha and Giantvalley. The Redhawks, similar to Legion, fell to last year’s Class AA champion and came up short at state the year before that.

Minnehaha completed its stellar 27-3 spring at state in similar fashion to Giantvalley. The Redhawks trailed 1-0 in the fifth inning against Belle Plaine before the bats took over for a 5-1 victory.

Baseball didn’t end for a Legion state champion with the tournament, though. Giantvalley advanced to play in the Central Plains Regional at Waupun, Wis. on Aug. 5-6.

It made for an uncharacteristic ending with two losses against Wisconsin teams, including the eventual regional champions from Viroqua. Giantvalley fell 5-0 in that game after a 3-1 defeat against Menasha to open the tourney.

“[We] kind of came out flat that first game, and it carried over into the second game a little bit,” Toomey said.

Nonetheless, Giantvalley’s players completed a rare run where they won both a high school and Legion state title in the same year. It last happened in 2011 when Eden Valley Watkins won both the Class A crown and the Division II Legion crown.

“We never get down on anything,” Retzlaff said. “We battle through games, and we got lucky with some. We pulled out some big wins over the run.”