GRANITE FALLS — Earning the third seed out of the Corn Belt League and looking for its 29th state tournament appearance, the No. 3 Granite Falls Kilowatts will open their postseason run this weekend in the Region 2C Tournament.

Composed of four teams out of the Corn Belt League and 12 from the Tomahawk East for a 16 double-elimination tournament, Granite Falls will take on TE No. 6 Gibbon on Saturday in Springfield at 1:30 p.m.

Granite Falls’ tournament appearance was cut short last season with a 4-1 loss in 10 innings to Norway Lake-Sunburg in an opening single-elimination game.

Coming out of the CBL this season with a 6-8 record, the Kilowatts have had an up-and-down regular season, but will look to take advantage of their pitching depth and talent in the tournament.

Bryce Sneller, and Nikson and Bennett Knapper are among the Kilowatts that have seen a lot of time on the mound this year.

In recent games, Bennett threw 13 strikeouts with three earned runs and six hits against the Wabasso Jaxx on June 27 while pitching a complete game.

Nikson started on the mound in the Kilowatts’ regular-season finale against the Milroy Irish on Sunday for the first five innings, tossing five strikeouts while allowing two earned runs and five hits. He also pitched six strikeouts in four innings with two hits on June 1 against Wabasso.

Sneller has been one of Granite Falls’ key players this year on both ends of the field. Particularly, he tossed a nine-strikeout shutout pitching performance while allowing just three hits and no walks through six innings in the Kilowatts’ 11-0 mercy-rule win over Sacred Heart on June 18.

In the same game, Sneller also hit his first-career grand slam.

Both Sneller and Bennett were also named to the Corn Belt League-Tomahawk East League All-Star Game that was played earlier this month, and will look to continue leading Granite Falls to tournament success.

The All-Star appearance was Bennett’s fourth nomination, and Sneller’s first.

Granite Falls is coming off a pair of losses to the Marshall A’s, 7-0, last Wednesday, and dropped a close game on Sunday to the Milroy Irish, 2-0.

Gibbon enters the region tournament 7-9 overall, and will be competing to make it to state for the first time since 2017, which also was its first appearance since 1964.

Also experiencing a mixed season, Gibbon dropped its first two games of the season before winning its next three straight. Yet, the Reds continued on an up-and-down pattern to finish in the middle of the Tomahwal East final standings.

There will be four state qualifying games in the semifinals of both the winner and loser’s bracket.

If Granite Falls wins its first game on Saturday, the Kilowatts will play the winner of Tomahawk East’s first-seed Courtland, and No. 11 Essig on Sunday at Springfield with a 4:30 p.m. first pitch. With a loss, Granite Falls will drop to the elimination bracket to play the loser on Sunday at 11 a.m. in Sleepy Eye.