Owatonna Legion Post 77 celebrates after Hunter Theis (1) draws a walk to win their first playoff game against Stewartville 11-10 in July. The team went onto win the sub-state championship to advance to state. (File Photo — Owatonna.com)
Christmas Eve is upon us as winter is in full swing, but the Owatonna People’s Press is taking a look back at the spring and summer seasons for baseball as part of our year in review.
Baseball teams saw success in 2025, with the Owatonna and Blooming Prairie high school teams having deep playoff runs in the spring and Owatonna’s Post 77 American Legion team making it to state. Because of the great baseball that came from those three teams, the sport is our third biggest sports topic of 2025.
Large senior class leads Owatonna to success
After starting the season 1-1 with a road win against Austin and a home loss to Rochester Mayo, the Owatonna baseball team then went on a seven-game winning streak before facing the Mayo Spartans again on the road.
The Huskies ended up losing again to Mayo, this time on a walk-off in the eighth-inning. Owatonna got their revenge against the Spartans in the postseason, but not before they completed a memorable regular season that saw them win 16 games before the playoffs began.
The Huskies had nine seniors on the active roster, with most of them being starters. They had a few key underclassmen contribute to the team as well, most notably sophomore Nolan Rolloff, who excelled as the team’s shortstop and as an option on the mound.
Owatonna had four pitchers pitch in 29 or more innings during the season, with senior Tanner Smith leading the pack with 39.2 innings pitched. Smith ended the season with a 6-3 record on the mound and had great performances, including a 1-0 shutout against Lakeville South in the playoffs. He also pitched a complete game on May 1 in a 5-1 victory.
“Tanner had the best game of the year for us against Mankato East on Thursday,” Owatonna head coach Tate Cummins said on May 3 after a 10-0 win over St. Paul Cathedral.
Senior Connor Wiese also had a great season on the mound for the Huskies. He pitched a five-inning shutout against St. Paul Cathedral, striking out six batters and giving up just three hits and two base on balls.
“Just an outstanding game,” Cummins said about Wiese’s shutout. “Just like hitting is contagious, your teammate goes out and pitches a seven inning complete game, you kind of want to do the same thing. Connor kind of probably felt a little bit of that competition today within and did a good job for us.”
Wiese also had a great year at the plate, contributing to solid offensive play from the senior class along with Jack Meneguzzo, Gavin Saxton, and Blake Davison. Seniors Zach Haarstad, Hunter Theis, Andy Mitchell, and Tyler Sheehan also contributed to the team in big ways offensively and defensively.
Connor Wiese was one of several senior stand-outs for the Huskies in 2025, which resulted in a great season that saw them go on a deep playoff run in Section 1AAAA. (File Photo — Owatonna.com)
Along with Wiese and Smith, Rolloff and junior Jace Ulrich also saw significant time on the mound. Both underclassmen excelled as pitchers, with them having a sub-3 ERA on the season.
Rolloff was also a reliable starter at shortstop for the Huskies, with him and junior Bently Arvig being great position players as underclassmen among a field of seniors. Both players were named to the Big 9 all-conference and 1AAAA all-section teams along with Wiese. Meneguzzo was also named with all-conference honors as an honorable mention.
Come playoff time, Owatonna finished the season with three straight victories. They earned the No. 3 seed in Section 1AAAA and went up against New Prague at home to start the playoffs. They ended up falling to them 5-0, but bounced back with back-to-back wins in the elimination bracket.
Their revenge against Mayo came right after the loss to the Trojans on the road, with them winning 9-3, eliminating the Spartans from the playoffs. Owatonna then hosted Lakeville South the day after in the elimination bracket quarterfinal. Smith pitched seven scoreless innings, with the Huskies walking it off in the seventh inning on a walk with the bases loaded.
The 1-0 win had them travel to Dundas to face Lakeville North. Unfortunately the Huskies’ season came to a close with a 5-3 loss, with the Panthers moving on to the elimination bracket final.
The Huskies’ playoff run was their best finish in Section 1AAAA since 2018, where they also went 2-2 in the playoffs.
“Awesome group, really fun group of kids to coach,” Cummins said about the Owatonna players. “You know they’re skilled for one but they’re great listeners, they’re very competitive they work hard everyday, and so that’s all you can ask.”
Nolan Rolloff was a standout for the Huskies in 2025 as a sophomore. (File Photo – Owatonna.com)
Blooming Prairie finishes as Gopher runner-up and 3rd in 1A
Steele County’s three Gopher Conference teams all found success this season, with Medford being just one seed away from hosting a section playoff game and NRHEG winning their first playoff game at home as the No. 7 seed in Section 2AA. But Blooming Prairie found the most success, being the No. 2 seed in Section 1A and making a deep playoff run.
The Awesome Blossoms started the season 6-0 and saw them jump to a 9-1 record at the start of May. They went on a losing stretch near the end of the regular season, but ended the regular season with an 11-1 home victory over Medford.
Blooming had a great mix of senior and underclassmen talent, with them having four seniors on the team: Brady Kittelson, Alex Lea, Bo Zwiener, and Carter Bishop.
Kittelson and Lea were offensive forces at the top of the lineup for Blooming. Both were also great on the mound, with Lea being a great starter for them along with sophomore Gabe Staloch and Kittelson providing great relief work.
“He came back for baseball as a sophomore,” Blooming Prairie head coach Matt Kittelson said about his son Brady after an 11-2 victory over JWP at the beginning of the season. “That year he kind of struggled at the plate and was kind of down on himself, but he’s just a really motivated kid, you know, he’s a competitor.”
“He’s just a kid that’s always going to give you everything he has and put the team first,” coach Kittelson said about Lea. “You don’t get many kids like that and obviously when this is all over it’ll be sad to see him go, but we’re going to ride it out as long as we can and enjoy it.”
Carter Bishop congratulates Alex Lea during the regular season after a wild pitch that scored Lea. The two ended their careers as Blossoms in their senior seasons along with Brady Kittelson and Bo Zwiener. (File Photo — Owatonna.com)
On top of the great senior seasons by Lea and Kittelson, the Blossoms also had great seasons by Staloch and junior Carsten Ingvalsen. Lea, Kittelson, and Ingvalson were named to the Gopher all-conference team while Staloch was an honorable mention. Ingvalson was a menace on the base paths, stealing 32 bases for a new single season school record and Staloch had many memorable games at the plate and on the mound, which included a one-hitter against Triton at home on Tuesday, Apr. 29.
The Blossoms were an all-around great team though, with every starter contributing to the team in huge ways.
“Everybody contributed in some way, whether it was a hit or a walk or whatever, that’s what we need,” coach Kittelson said after a 10-1 victory over Spring Grove on Apr. 26. “We can’t just depend on two, three, four guys to do everything.
The Blossoms finished with an 11-5 record in a regular season that saw the weather not cooperate with their schedule, leading to postponements and a cancellation. They earned the No. 2 seed in the Section 1A playoffs, with Hayfield being the No. 1 seed. The Blossoms lost to them 3-2 in their only meeting in the regular season.
After wins against Kenyon-Wanamingo and Spring Grove, the Blossoms lost 3-2 in the quarterfinals. They then picked up wins in the elimination bracket against Wabasha-Kellogg and Lewiston-Altura to go up against Southland in a rematch. Southland ended up eliminating the Blossoms after Blooming beat them 12-4 on the road in the regular season.
Southland ended up losing to Hayfield in the section championship, with the Vikings not seeing the Blossoms in an anticipated rematch between the teams. The season was still a success for Blooming, as they finished with a 15-7 record and a third-place finish in the section.
The Blossoms huddle together before a playoff game. (File Photo – Owatonna.com)
Post 77 goes perfect in section playoffs en route to state
The summer seasons of baseball saw plenty of success and headlines for Owatonna, as the Aces won a playoff game, the VFW teams had a great year with young coaches at the helm, and the American Legion Post 77 team went to state after a dominant and exciting run in the section playoffs.
Post 77 had a terrific season under the leadership of Cummins, which saw young players players step up, players return for one final season in the Owatonna baseball program, and a player return from injury, which all led to a state appearance.
Owatonna started the season with a 6-1 road loss to Mayo, but they quickly rebounded with two home games and continued to pick up wins throughout the season. The team especially found its footing in the middle of July, with commanding wins against Waseca, Byron, and Kasson on the road.
Owatonna then opened the playoffs as the No. 4 seed in the sub-state 1 playoffs, hosting No. 5 Stewartville. Things did not look good, as they were down 8-5 going into the bottom of the seventh and were coming off of an 11-0 loss to the Rochester (Century) A’s to close out the regular season.
Owatonna then scored a run to make it 8-6 before Wyatt Frantesl came to the plate and hit a game-tying double. The game then went into extra-innings, with Stewartville scoring two runs in the top of the eighth. Owatonna scored three in their half of the inning though, walking it off on a walk by Hunter Theis.
“A lot of kids played a role in that game,” Cummins said about Post 77 in the playoff-opening contest. “Just a lot of really good things when we needed something. Guys stepped up late in the game.”
Owatonna then once again beat Rochester Mayo in the playoffs, as the Redhawks fell to Post 77 6-1. Wiese pitched a complete seven inning game, with him being a key piece to Owatonna’s team once again.
Post 77 then faced the Rochester A’s and beat then 6-1 in the rematch from their regular season finale. Mitch Seykora, who graduated from Owatonna in 2024, got the win on the mound, pitching 6.2 innings and giving up just one run. Seykora returned to the Post 77 team for one last season while also being on the Owatonna Aces during the summer.
“I think we played good as a team,” Seykora said about 6-1 win. “They had some errors that helped us get some runs and then I just tried to keep the game where it was at.”
Post 77 then faced the Mayo Redhawks again and ended up winning 12-2 to win the sun-state championship to move onto state. The sub-state playoffs were double elimination, but Owatonna didn’t need it as they went 4-0 to secure the championship.
“It’s just incredible,” Cummins said about the championship. “The kids played so well in this tournament to go 4-0 in the field. I thought Rochester Century and Rochester Mayo were high caliber teams. We were able to play better baseball than them when it mattered the most.”
The championship was extra-special to Tate Berg, who was a senior for the Huskies in the spring season but was unable to play due to a wrist injury.
“We had a really good spring season, and it was kind of always in the back of my head that I wasn’t able to help the team win [while] seeing them have all the success,” Berg said after the win over the Redhawks. “So being a part of this is just the best feeling ever.”
Post 77 huddles together after their sub-state championship victory. (File Photo — Owatonna.com)
Owatonna went onto lose to Hopkins 8-2 and then St. Michael 2-1 at state, ending their incredible summer season. The excitement of baseball will return in just three short months, with teams in the area looking to make headlines once again.