Ely’s Junior Legion team wasn’t about to be left out.
Just one day after the Senior Legion team returned home from the state tournament, the Junior squad punched its own ticket to state - defeating Aitkin 5-0 in Sunday’s Division II Northeast Substate final.
Owen Marolt fired the complete-game shutout, just as he did a week earlier when the Senior Legion team blanked Proctor to advance to state, and a five-run sixth inning outburst secured Post 248’s 15th win in 16 games this summer.
It also gave Ely its third straight state tournament berth, with Post 248 set to take on BOLD on Friday, after deadline, in a quarterfinal game at Parker Prairie.
State tournaments are almost old hat for this Ely group, with 10 of the 12 rostered Junior players also suiting up - and with many playing prominent roles - on the Senior Legion team.
That experience seemed to pay off in the Junior’s substate run, which started with a come-from-behind victory over Mt. Iron in their first playoff test and a few hairy moments against Aitkin, which took an 18-5 win into the final.
“Those are the types of games that good teams win,” head coach Jim Wittrup said moments after the victory.
Aitkin, which handed Ely its only regular season defeat, could never get to Marolt, who worked into and out of trouble during the contest.
A second-inning throw from rightfielder Tyde Brecke nailed a runner trying to score from third base, while an inning later Aitkin put two runners aboard with no outs and came up empty.
Marolt’s most impressive escape came in the top of the fifth when Aitkin loaded the bases with one out. This time Marolt responded by fanning Aitkin’s number-three hitter and getting the cleanup man to ground out.
Ely wasted a leadoff double in the third, but did not waste its opportunity in the bottom of the sixth.
Evan Leeson reached based on an error and Owen Marolt walked.
That brought up Sean Merriman, who drove a Karson Hasskamp pitch deep to the gap.
Merriman raced all the way to third with a triple and both Leeson and Marolt scored.
But Ely wasn’t done. A third run scored when Grant Chittum reached based on an error, while DJ Johnson’s single to right plated two more runs for a 5-0 lead.
That was far more support than Marolt needed, as the senior-to-be lowered his earned run average to 0.52 and completed the shutout with a one-two-three seventh.
Marolt finished with a four-hitter, 10 strikeouts and only one walk.
Brecke had two of Ely’s six hits.
The win set the stage for another trip to state and this time Ely went looking for hardware.
On top of the Senior Legion team’s 0-2 finish at state last week, the Junior went 0-for-2 in consecutive appearances in 2024 and 2025 at St. Charles and Hayfield, respectively.
With Ely set to take on BOLD, from southwestern Minnesota, also on the same side of the bracket were Royalton and Bagley.
Norwood, Sleepy Eye, Caledonia and Parkers Prairie round out the eight-team field, with both consolation and championship play set for Saturday, and the consolation, third place and title tilts all taking place Sunday.
