An exciting weekend got a little more exciting for the Albert Lea VFW baseball team after a 3-1 win over Northfield in the championship game of the district playoffs.

The victory sent Post 447 to the state tournament in Perham and concluded two days of heart-stopping action.

Albert Lea staged a seventh-inning rally, with two outs no less, against Winona Saturday to set up a possible state berth with a win over Northfield. One win Sunday and Post 447 would advance.

Albert Lea (23-7) went about the game with workman-like fashion, scoring a run in the first inning when Luke Grossman crossed the plate on a single by Jordan Cooper. J.T. Bellrichard drove in what proved to be the winning run in the second inning with an RBI single. Cooper added a run in the fifth inning when he scored from third on a wild pitch en route to the 3-1 win.

“I’m proud of my whole team,” said Post 447 coach Jack Kortan, still beaming. “It feels great.”

It was, an all-around team effort in every sense for Albert Lea as it earned its sixth-straight win. In the field Post 447 played exceptionally well. Albert Lea committed only one error but made all the routine plays.

“Some times they look more routine for a lot of people, but some of those kids made some tough plays,” Kortan said. “On the run, throwing on the run … defensively we made the plays.”

In the fifth inning Albert Lea turned a 4-6-3 double play to end a Post 439 threat and preserved a no-hit bid for starter Aaron Klatt.

“Aaron pitched great,” Kortan said. “They’re a good-hitting team and to shut them down like that was good.”

Klatt lost his no-hitter and shutout in the sixth inning when Nick Young singled home Eric Pittman, but it was the only hit of the game for Northfield as Klatt went seven innings and struck out four.

Post 439 rarely hit a ball out of the infield as Klatt induced 12 ground ball outs and only three flyouts to the outfield.

“I just wanted to come back from yesterday … and do better,” Klatt said. “I had great defense behind me. I threw strikes and they made the plays like they did.”

Carter Kortan was responsible for nine put outs in the game and Cole Sorenson and Cory Hansen both made nice running catches in the outfield.

“Our whole defense played pretty good,” Carter Kortan said. “He (Klatt) kept the ball low so we could get the ground ball outs.”

The bottom of the lineup gave Post 447 a huge lift through out the weekend.

“Josh Eisenbraun, Cole Sorenson, J.T. Bellrichard, they’re not in the top four of the lineup, but that doesn’t matter,” Kortan said. “Hitters go in streaks and those three, they hit the heck out of the ball this weekend.”

Combined, the trio went 8-for-16 with four RBIs. Eisenbraun knocked in the game-tying run against Winona and finished with three RBIs in the game. Against Austin, Sorenson had two hits and scored three times. He finished the weekend with five runs scored.

The production at the top of the order was still there as well. Grossman went 6-for-9 in three games and drove in four runs.

Albert Lea will play against host Perham Aug. 7 in the state tournament. Perham automatically qualified for the tournament as the host.

Albert Lea 3, Northfield 1

Northfield – 000 001 0 – 1 1 1

Albert Lea – 110 010 x – 3 4 1

WP – Aaron Klatt 7 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K

Albert Lea 7, Austin 3

Austin – 000 300 0 – 3 5 1

Albert Lea – 001 033 x – 7 9 1

WP – Jordan Cooper 7 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 5 K

Albert Lea 7, Winona 6

Winona – 001 101 3 – 6 9 1

Albert Lea – 200 201 2 – 7 11 0

WP – Aaron Klatt 1/3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 K