Austin jumped out to a first-inning lead and never trailed while upending top seed Owatonna in the district tournament final 9-5 Sunday at Fuller Field at Dartt's Park.

Austin held off several Owatonna comebacks to win the district championship and advance to the state tournament. Post 3723 scored two in the second inning to pull within 3-2. Austin added one in the third inning for a 4-2 lead.

Owatonna plated two in the fourth to tie the game at 4-4, but Post 1216 answered with four in the bottom of the inning to lead 8-4 and added an insurance run in the sixth. Owatonna scored one in the seventh but the rally ended there with a 9-5 loss.

Austin had defeated Owatonna on Saturday evening to push Post 3723 into the elimination bracket, where they topped Winona on Sunday 4-3 to get a rematch with Austin. Owatonna would have had to beat Austin on Sunday to set up another game on Monday.

Owatonna went 2-2 over the weekend after winning the sub-district last weekend with a 3-0 record. Owatonna won the regular season district standings to earn the top seed for the postseason. Post 3723 went to state last summer.

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