Class 1A bracket: New London draws CAM

CARROLL — When the Class 1A baseball tournament begins at Merchants Park on Monday, The Union will have a dog in the fight.

The New London Tigers enter the state tournament at 28-1, the second best record in the field of eight. That mark earned the Tigers the No. 3 seed in the Class 1A tournament. The Tigers take on No. 6 seed CAM (Cumberland, Anita, Massena) at 4:30 p.m.

The Tigers earned their spot in the bracket after an 11-1 win over Moravia in the Class 1A, Substate 6 final. CAM won its substate final by the exact same mark, 11-1.

Those results were typical of Tuesday’s Class 1A substate finals. Top-seeded St. Mary’s won its substate game 12-2 over West Harrison. Fifth-seeded Kingsley Pearson won its substate final 10-1 over Tri-Center, and seventh-seeded North Linn wiped out Lynnville-Sully 13-3.

Only two Class 1A substate games went down to the wire. Second-seeded Newman Catholic had to battle for a 2-0 win over Bishop Garrigan, and eighth-seeded South Winneshiek upset Kee by the same score.

The Tigers are one of seven Class 1A qualifiers with five losses or less. Only South Winneshiek (23-8) has fallen more than five times. St. Mary’s is the only unbeaten team, at 33-0.

Like New London, St. Mary’s was in the state tournament last year, as was Lisbon. In fact, the two teams both return to Carroll with the exact same seed. St. Mary’s took the No. 1 seed to the semifinals last year. Lisbon was eliminated by eventual champion St. Albert 9-3 in the first round.

As many Tiger fans know, New London suffered a 4-3 loss in a first-round nail-biter against Kee last season. The Tigers were the No. 5 seed in 2021, making them the only team to improve on their seeding this time around.

The winners of Monday’s Class 1A quarterfinals will play on Wednesday. The winners of those semifinals play at noon on Friday.