Summer Sports Update: Dodging Raindrops, Earning Wins

The summer sports schedule has been about as spotty as your windshield as of late, but that hasn’t stopped amateur teams that call the St. Michael and Albertville area home from piling up some recent success.

In the North Star League, the Albertville Villains have recovered from a slow start to win four of their last five, moving up to 4-5 on the season and in the thick of things in the league’s North Division.

A Level “C” town team, the Villains knocked off Cokato (3-6 overall) 8-0 on Sunday, a day after falling to the West Division leading Dassel D-C squad by a run.

Christian Hess, with five doubles, and Dave Borchardt are leading the Villains at the plate, while Todd Klaers anchors the squad at third.

The Villains will travel to Watertown Wednesday, June 29.

The St. Michael Saints, meanwhile, have had a week to cool off after an unprecedented start to their 2011 campaign. They have the North Division’s best record at 8-0, and have a two-game lead over Rockford in the division standings.

In Section 8, the squad is even with Coon Rapids with a perfect record of 2-0.

The Saints haven’t played since June 12, when it rolled to a 6-4 win over Rogers, following a 13-3 drubbing of Rockford back on June 10.

Leading the way at the plate is Duane Carlson, who is batting an even .500 to lead the North Star League.

On the hill, Josh Dehmer and Aaron Sperl each have a pair of wins for St. Michael, and Sperl leads the Saints with 14 strikeouts in his two appearances.

The Saints will play at Delano – the No. 2 team in the East Division – Friday night (June 24), before heading over to Blaine for a Section 8 matchup on Sunday. They will be home again on Wednesday, June 29, when Rogers comes to town.

Come on You Kings!

Meanwhile, on the soccer field, the deuces are wild for the Minnesota Kings men’s team, who have put together a 2-3-2 record thus far in the National Premier Soccer League (semi-professional league soccer).

The Kings have split their last two home games, a win over the Chicago Fire, and a loss to the (Twin Cities-based) TwinStars.

They’ll be on the road for the next three weeks, heading to Wisconsin for a weekend to take on Milwaukee and Madison, before heading to Chicago for a match with the Chicago Fire (a Major League Franchise) lower-division squad.

The women, meanwhile, are hoping to rebound from a tough start. After impressing back on June 1 with a 1-0 win over Chicago, the Kings have lost three of four, including two straight home losses last weekend in St. Michael vs. Milwaukee and Iowa.

They’ll travel to Iowa and Madison over the next week, before closing out with a series of games in Chicago in July.