By Bruce Karnick

Saturday September 5th, Shakopee MN. The Miesville Mudhens are no strangers to the Class B State Baseball Tournament, they seem to make it to the tournament more than they miss it, at least in the last decade plus. This year would be no different. The Hens are part of the Classic Cannon Valley League. A 9-team league consisting of five Class B teams, Miesville Mudhens, Hampton Cardinals, Dundas Dukes, Northfield Knights and Rochester Royals and four Class C teams, Hastings Hawks, Lake City Serpents, Red Wing Aces and Cannon Falls Bears.

Normally, each team would face their class opponents twice plus each of the other class teams once. That means each of the CCVL teams would play 11 games that count in the standings. The COVID, shortened season forced the amateur teams to only play two games against their class in 2020. The best a Class B team could do in league play would be 8-0 and the best a Class C team could do would be 6-0. Miesville finished the regular season 6-2 in league play which gave them the number one spot out of the CCVL Class B teams.

The Mudhens advanced through sections and regions to play in the State Tournament. Their first game was against the Coon Rapids Redbirds. Jacob Dickmeyer notched the 5-0 win on the mound for the Hens allowing only four hits with four strikeouts. Nate Hammes went two for four with two RBI’s, Joey Werner, Austin Ledoux and Brian Sprout knocked in the other three runs. Sprout had the only home run in that game.

Miesville’s next opponent was Champlain Park. The Mudhen’s would have almost the same box score as the previous weekend. Jacob Dickmeyer earned the complete game win on the mound, this time he allowed two runs on seven hits but also struck out seven. Austin LeDoux and Brian Sprout both knocked one over the fence and led the team with two RBIs each. The final, Miesville 5, Champlain Park 2.

This is where Miesville would run into trouble. Chanhassen would defeat the Hens 2-1. “We just couldn’t get the offense going,” pitcher Deryk Marks said after the game. “My arm felt great. I felt I was able to spot up against the righties and keep them off balance with the slider.” With the low-scoring game, he did keep them off balance almost the entire game. Chanhassen took the lead 1-0 early in the game, “I made one bad pitch and it went over the fence,” Marks said. After the one run second inning, the game remained a pitcher’s duel until the top of the seventh when Miesville tied the game. Entering the eighth, Marks was still on the mound and the Red Birds finally figured him out enough to score one more via the small ball game. The loss put the Mudhens in the loser’s bracket of the double elimination tournament. Making their road to a championship much more difficult. For Miesville to win state, they now had to win four games in a row over two days.

The Cold Spring Springers would be Miesville’s final opponent of the 2020 tournament. A strong pitching performance along with an active offense proved to be too much for the Hens. Cold Spring took a two-run lead in the top of the first and never looked back. Miesville did score one in the bottom of the first but would not score again until the bottom of the eighth, by then, the damage had already been done. Joey Werner scored both runs for the Hens. Cold Spring would eliminate the Mudhens by a score of 7-2. Miesville finished the season 14-9 overall.

Deryk Marks flies out to right in the bottom of the 3rd inning of the Mudhens final tournament game of the 2020 season. Miesville was eliminated from the Class B state tournament by Cold-Spring 7-2. Photo submitted