Minnesota high school baseball sections present challenges for metro powers

It's section tournament time in high school baseball. Here's a look at a few postseason situations:

*The path of most resistance is through Class 4A Section 4. The tournament includes Cretin-Derham Hall, ranked first in Class 4A, plus No. 2 East Ridge, No. 7 Woodbury and unranked Stillwater, all with 13-7 regular-season records and all from the Suburban East Conference.

*The second-best conference in the state, the Lake, finished with two teams ranked in the top five that could meet in the Class 4A, Section 6 final: No. 3 Wayzata (15-5) and No. 4 Edina (13-7). They split their two regular-season matchups. Section 5 will also be intriguing. No. 5 Champlin Park (15-4), the Northwest Suburban Conference champion, could have to prove it's better than Mounds View (11-9), a team that tied for third place in the Suburban East.

*In Class 3A, don't expect section favorites to stumble as No. 4 Benilde-St. Margaret's (12-7) looks to defend its state crown.

*No. 1 Fairmont (17-1) appears primed to repeat as the Class 2A champion. The Cardinals' lone loss was to Class 3A Marshall (14-3) by one run in the second game of a doubleheader. No. 10 St. Agnes (17-4) and No. 9 Rockford (15-3) are heavy favorites to represent the metro from Sections 4 and 5.

*In Class 1A, No. 9 and defending state champion Randolph (13-6) will have its hands full with No. 6 New Life Academy (15-5) in Section 4. New York Mills (16-4) holds the top spot in the state rankings.