Before the CI (cognitively impaired) Division adapted softball tournament even began, Dakota United coach Mary Hautman lamented it was going to be tough.
The northern teams, she said with a sigh, are just too darn tough.
That proved to be the case last weekend at Coon Rapids High School as Anoka-Hennepin won its third consecutive CI title with a 7-2 victory over the Hawks. It's Anoka-Hennepin's eighth consecutive championship, including titles won in adapted soccer and adapted floor hockey.
In the championship match, the Mustangs kept their record perfect -- no Anoka-Hennepin CI team has lost a match since November 2009, in fact -- while handing Dakota United its first loss of the season.
The Hawks put only six players on base through six innings and didn't score until the seventh. Anoka-Hennepin turned two double plays and also benefitted from multiple stellar plays on defense.
Dakota United had little trouble getting to the championship. The Hawks defeated Minneapolis Roosevelt and Burnsville/Farmington/Lakeville by a combined 29-11 in the first two rounds. Burnsville/Farmington/Lakeville wound up taking third. Minneapolis Roosevelt bowed out in the consolation bracket, the same fate as Chaska/Chanhassen/Prior Lake/Shakopee.
Dakota United's PI (physically impaired) Division team won the consolation bracket with a 10-1 victory over South Suburban.
Tourney timeApple Valley's girls' lacrosse team scored an upset in the Section 3 championship with a 9-7 victory over host and No. 1 seed Lakeville North. It doesn't get any easier for the Eagles from here.
