Des Moines, Iowa — Undefeated Remsen St. Mary’s coasted to an 11-1 win in five innings over Burlington Notre Dame in the final Class 1A quarterfinal game Saturday at Principal Park.
The second-seeded Hawks join the 5, 6 and 8 seeds in Thursday’s semifinals. The first three 1A quarterfinal games were decided by a total of four runs.
The seventh-seeded Nikes took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on singles by Jeron Conner and Nicholas Skerik, a sac bunt and a wild pitch.
St. Mary’s countered with two runs in the bottom of the first, then added two more in the second, three in the third and four in the fifth.
Xavier Gallas had two doubles to lead the Hawks. Levi Waldschmitt had a triple and three RBIs.
#2 seed St. Mary’s (20-0) will meet sixth-seeded Newman Catholic (18-5) in the semifinals Thursday at 1:30 pm. Newman Catholic eliminated #3 Council Bluffs St Albert 6-5. The other semi will match #8 Kingsley Pierson (16-2) against #5 Don Bosco (18-1). That will be the first semifinal at 10:30 on Thursday.
The Nikes ended at 14-3 after making their eighth state tournament trip and first since 2002.
Blaine Harpenau tossed a three hitter as second ranked Remsen St. Mary’s cruised to the win.
Remsen St. Mary’s took advantage of five Notre Dame errors. Hawks coach Dean Harpenau.
It was Notre Dame’s first trip to the tournament in 18 years and senior third baseman Drew Chiprez says given everything that has happened he appreciates it even more.
