The Pirates’ Daniel Woodall gets high fives from his teammates after hitting a home run against Waterville.

The Blue Earth Pirates advanced into the final round of the Region 4C Tournament by defeating the Waterville Indians 12-2 on Sunday, Aug.3.

The win put the Pirates’ record at 31-2 for this season and just a step away from the State Tournament.

After a scoreless first inning, Blue Earth scored four runs in both the second and third innings. They added a run in both the fourth and fifth innings, and two more in the sixth.

They pounded out 13 hits to Waterville’s seven.

Daniel Woodall led the way going 3 for 3 including a home run. T.J. Schmidtke and Trent Sonnicksen both were 3 for 4 at the plate, while Cody Sukalski was 2 for 4.

Lee Hodges pitched five innings for the Pirates, giving up the two Indian runs on five hits. He was the winning pitcher.

Sukalski came in for two innings of relief and gave up two hits while striking out four batters.

Both Pirate pitchers walked one batter.

The Pirates were next scheduled to play at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 9, in Waterville. They faced the winner of an earlier game that day, either St. Patrick or Waterville. They played again on Sunday.

If they won Saturday night, they are in the State and played on Sunday for seeding purposes only. If they lost Saturday, they had to win Sunday to get into the State.

Details on those two games will be in next week’s Register.

The State Class ‘C’ Tournament is slated for Aug. 14-17, 22-24 and 29-31 in Chaska and Shakopee.