Grand Rapids walks off North Branch, Hermantown rolls past Rock Ridge
Grand Rapids needed nine innings and a walk-off to survive North Branch, while Hermantown seized control early and never let Rock Ridge back in.
The Section 7AAA bracket opened with two very different kinds of pressure in the Northland: Grand Rapids had to grind through nine innings before edging North Branch 4-3, while Hermantown turned its first-round game into a quick statement with a 7-1 win over Rock Ridge. For St. Louis County baseball fans, the results showed how thin the margin gets when the playoffs arrive.
Top-seeded Grand Rapids, which entered the tournament on a three-game winning streak, had to earn every inch against No. 8 North Branch before finally closing the game with a walk-off in the ninth. That finish mattered because it showed the Thunderhawks could survive a tight, low-scoring game and still deliver under late-inning pressure, the kind of poise that usually separates a contender from an early exit. Grand Rapids advanced to host No. 5 Chisago Lakes in the quarterfinals Thursday, May 28.
Hermantown’s opener looked different from the start. The No. 3 Hawks scored four runs in the first two innings against No. 6 Rock Ridge and built a 4-1 lead before adding three more runs for insurance. That early burst put the game under control before Rock Ridge could settle in, and it fit a season pattern Hermantown already knew well. The Hawks had beaten Rock Ridge 13-2 earlier in the season on April 10 in Virginia, a result that gave them a clear edge in confidence and matchup familiarity.
The other half of the bracket tightened as well. No. 2 Cloquet shut out No. 7 Duluth Denfeld 1-0, and No. 5 Chisago Lakes beat No. 4 Hibbing 6-1, setting up a section path that quickly filtered the field toward the semifinals. In a tournament where one inning can flip a season, the first round suggested Grand Rapids can win the bruising kind of game and Hermantown can win with early force.
Grand Rapids’ postseason résumé adds more weight to that opener. The Thunderhawks later won their fifth straight Section 7AAA title and their 23rd overall, and the program’s 23 state tournament appearances stand as a Minnesota State High School League record. That standard makes the walk-off over North Branch feel less like an upset scare and more like another chapter in a team that has built its identity around surviving May baseball in Minnesota.
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