Cloquet team makes history in clean sweep

Using stellar pitching, defense and hitting, a youth baseball team from Cloquet brought home a historic state title last weekend, winning its age group in the Gopher State Tournament of Champions.

An unbeaten run through the tournament in Sartell, near St. Cloud, saw the Cloquet Lumberjacks 12-and-under AA baseball team beat Osseo-Maple Grove in the title game Sunday, 15-3.

In doing so, it became the first baseball team in the history of the Cloquet Youth Baseball and Softball Association to win a state crown.

The league confirmed the team’s status in a social media post Monday.

“Expectations were high,” coach Dustin Moreland said. “Our mindset was to go down there and win it. … The boys bought into that concept and it paid off in the end.”

The team had been to the tournament each of the previous two campaigns, and made a commitment to prove they belonged with the best teams in the state, Moreland said.

The tournament started on a high note with Wesley Tuura pitching a no-hitter and Cloquet winning, 10-0, in four innings over Rogers-Otsego.

The highlights kept coming from there:

• The ’Jacks beat Edina, 5-3, and finished pool play 3-0 by downing Chaska, 14-4.

• Cloquet got back-to-back, over-the fence home runs from Liam Sievert and Sullivan Nelms to start bracket play, beating Forest Lake, 9-3, before dispatching Monticello, 14-4.

Things almost unraveled in the semifinal, when Minnetonka took advantage of uncharacteristic Cloquet errors in a five-run fifth inning to lead, 6-5. But Skylar Kuss struck a two-run single in the bottom of the sixth to give the ’Jacks a walk-off 7-6 victory.

The Lumberjacks rode a two home-run game from Sievert in the title matchup against Osseo-Maple Grove, and finished the tournament 7-0. Cloquet outsourced opponents, 75-20, while making only seven errors.

Cloquet will be recognized with championship rings at an Aug. 27 Twins game at Target Field. The 12-and-under team will join the other age-group champions in a parade of champs at the game.

Moreland described the tournament as the best of the best. Unlike some events that allow any team to enter for a fee, Gopher State requires teams to earn their way in by placing first or second in qualifier tournaments earlier in the season. Entering play, the coaches had ranked Cloquet as the eighth-seeded team among 40 entrants.

“The tournament itself was a complete team effort,” Moreland said, noting that pitch counts mean teams can’t ride one or two prized hurlers.

“You need to be able to go in with at least six or seven kids that can pitch,” Moreland said. “They need to be able to handle the moment and trust the defense behind them. They did just that.”

The team has two tournaments left in the season, including the Northland Classic in Cloquet this weekend from Friday to Sunday. The tournament includes 60 teams in the 9- to 14-year-old age groups. Games will be played at Braun and Pinehurst parks and Athletic Park at the corner of 14th Street and Prospect Avenue.

Moreland noted the 12-and-under traveling team is sponsored by BP Builders, Truss Financial, Parsons Electric, NuLuxe, 218 Taphouse, UpNorth Mini Storage, Hank’s Sports Bar and Grill, Eagles Club, Fond du Lac Headstart and Community Printing.

Practice began early this year for the championship team, which sharpened its skills in gymnasiums prior to getting outdoors on dry fields. The Cloquet team opted for league play in the highest division, against mostly older teams featuring 13-year-olds.

It made for some lumps along the way, the coach said. But the state title was all the sweeter because of the hard road. “There were some tough games, but it never rattled them,” Moreland said. “They just kept working every day to get better.”