extended sports coverage for the B-B-E community brought to you by the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper in Brooten, MN. (Address: P.O. Box 250, Brooten) http://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com. ALL VIEWS posted are strictly and without exception the opinions of the newspaper owner and no one else; they're written in first hand format. Please submit feedback in writing to the address posted above. **This is Minnesota's oldest varsity high school sports blog. We hope to keep it going into the future!
Friday, July 18, 2025
17-U fastpitch Jaguars seeded for playoffs!
The B-B-E Jaguars 17-U fastpitch teamhas earned the No. 2 seed for the upcoming Sub-Region tournament. They travel to Minnewaska Area next Thursday, July 24 to face No. 3-seeded Albany. Game time is at 5 p.m.! Win or lose, the Jaguars play again that night at 6:30 p.m. After the regular season, the Jaguars hold a fine 5-2 overall record. Awesome!
That's all I've got time to post. I'll get more updated tonight. I'm out scaring up some business for Lincoln's Restaurant in Brooten! They are serving food until 9 p.m. tonight.
In Urbank in state tournament pool play action today, the B-B-E Jaguars Babe Ruth team defeated Frazee 10-0. They have one more pool play game tonight, when they face Ottertail Central in Urbank.
UPDATE! Good grief! Don't look now, but the Jaguars are 2-0 at the state tournament! They defeated the OTC Black team 13-3 tonight. Now the rest of the pool play state games have to be played tomorrow, and then the state tournament will be seeded for Saturday. That's all I know right now. The B-B-E Babe Ruth team is 16-2 overall this summer! Amazing.
The Babe Ruth state tournament games on Saturday and Sunday will be played in Henning at Tony Kawlewski Field. Based on the state bracket I have, B-B-E is the No. 1 seed from the tournament's National pool. This means they would play at 1 p.m. on Saturday in a state quarterfinal game. The state quarterfinal games are single elimination, and the Final Four features third-place and championship games. (I confirmed all that...the Jaguars play at 1 o'clock in what will be the third game in Henning that day.)
Another update to this information is posted to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website. Click here: https://shorturl.at/PVU4V.
In business news...
Lincoln's Restaurant is open this weekend on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. You can read more by clicking over to the newspaper website: https://shorturl.at/ffQJx. My family enjoyed time there on Friday and Saturday last weekend during Bonanza Valley Days. Please come out and enjoy what they have to offer! Here's their website: https://lincolnsseafoodsteak.com.
The Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's community calendar has been updated and edited...click here to see that and stay in the know! https://shorturl.at/uy0yu.
Here's a shout out to Earthy Elements of Brooten, one of our newest locally-owned businesses and a new advertiser in the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. Here's Ashley's business website: https://earthyelementsmn.com. She was featured on page 10 in a business article in the July 10 issue.
Bonanza Valley Days grand parade and Babe Ruth baseball heading to state (VIDEOS)
As reported in the July 10 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper, Brooten Electric LLC was the grand marshal of the BVD grand parade on Sunday. Brooten Electric, LLC, is owned by two B-B-E graduates: Adam Imdieke (Class of 2001) and Adam Heinze (Class of 2013).
Here's a rough video on a hand-held camera of the Brooten Electric parade unit:
It was a simply outstanding day that we had to wrap up the BVD "Feeling Alive in 2025" yesterday. Day IV included a pancake feed, Catholic Mass, the grand parade and then the Miss Brooten pageant.
Here's another video from the grand parade in Brooten yesterday:
Unfortunately for me, I took over 1,000 pictures across the four days of Bonanza Valley Days. This will create a challenge to go through and pick the best ones for the printed newspaper! Yikes! You think I would learn?
After tonight, my daughter's fastpitch softball summer season is over. This will free up time for more sports blogging and to focus on the newspaper. We'll see how this week goes and what comes of the July 17 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. Fingers crossed!
In sports news...
The B-B-E Babe Ruth (7th-8th grade) team qualified for their state tournament by winning the region tournament last weekend in Paynesville. This is a first for the program. They open state at Urbank at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday this week with pool play games. The state tournament playoffs run on Saturday. B-B-E's Kaden DeRoo, a 2024 graduate, is their coach.
Another update:
The Brooten city council meets on Monday night, and the agenda can be found here at the newspaper's editor's blog: https://shorturl.at/2ywwy. Also, the B-B-E school board meets on Monday night at the elementary school. It will be just the 2nd school board meeting in 10 years that I won't be attending. I'll be in Osakis on Monday night with the 11-U Jaguars fastpitch team for their playoff games.
Here's what's been consuming much of my free time! (VIDEO)
Goodness! Gosh! Goodness sakes! Oh, I have so many words of thrill and excitement...I can say it over and over again: nothing of value can be earned without hard work! This is obviously true in the world of sports.
I have to get outside in the garden to add more cages to our tomato crop right now, as it appears we are in for another round of rain tonight. I've got video uploaded from New London-Spicer high school from a Pepsi League girls' basketball game, so I'll leave you with that before I can expand on other sports-related news. The contest featured in this video shows Class of 2032 players (6th grade) taking on Sauk Centre.
Action from late in the second half with the game in the balance!
In that video, both my daughter and Coach Moscho's daughter made huge close-range buckets that ultimately helped propel their team to a hard-fought 8-6 win. The teams played 40 minutes of basketball to combine for a total of just 14 points. It was crazy. With 1:21 left in the game, Willow (my daughter) shot a basket near the right block that tied the score at 6-6. Ava Moscho's go-ahead layup swished through the net with roughly 45 seconds remaining.
What made it really intense was that the Jaguars overcame a 6-2 deficit in the closing minutes. Needless to say, field goal shooting was difficult the entire game. B-B-E's first 2 points were both scored on free throws.
All this comes on the heels of 2 days of preparation last week and then a good portion of Saturday spent focusing on Hoops by the Lake 3-on-3 basketball, which was also in NL-S Wildcat Country. It's been a rush, and now we shift gears 100 percent towards Bonanza Valley Days in Brooten.
Speaking of Bonanza Valley Days!
**TO STAY up to date with Bonanza Valley Days, reach for your nearby copy of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper! Also, you can see additional BVD coverage at the newspaper's website: http://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com.
On the home diamond today in a battle of teams tied for second place in the Stearns County League North, the Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team prevailed 4-3 in 10 innings against New Munich. The Silverstreaks held an early 2-0 lead before the Saints cut the deficit in half with one run in the 5th inning.
Elrosa then pulled ahead 3-2 in the eighth inning. New Munich tied the game with one run in the top of the 9th inning. A sacrifice fly-RBI by Peyton Winter drove home Derek Wiener for the walk-off win in the bottom of the 10th.
To close out the regular season, the Saints host Meire Grove on Friday, July 11 with first pitch at 8 p.m. New Munich hosts Greenwald on Sunday, July 12 for their last regular season game. The SCL division playoffs start on Saturday, July 19 at the high seeds. Richmond will be the SCL-South's top seed, and Spring Hill is the No. 1 seed in the SCL-North.
Here's a video from the bottom of the 5th inning:
The Region 15C tournament coming in August will be hosted by Spring Hill.
In Bonanza Valley Days news...
I finally have Clay City posted at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website. You can read all the details for this exciting event (for all ages - especially children age 10 and younger)...by clicking here: https://shorturl.at/Tfrjc.
And in other news...this morning, our home garage received garage door repairs from Excel Overhead Door of Willmar. I was super impressed by their work! So here's my shout out to their company. Their website is https://www.exceloverhead.com.
Due to the sketchy weather forecast for Saturday, the 28th annual Hoops by the Lake has been moved to the New London-Spicer high school. This wildly popular event is normally set up to be played at Green Lake in Spicer in the parking lot next to Zorbaz. It was a tremendous experience to be a part of last summer. I'll be coaching my daughter's team at NL-S today, and their first pool play game is at 8 a.m.
Update: our mixed grades 5-6 team went 2-1 for a successful time at the Hoops by the Lake tournament. They did great! And a huge thank you to Angela Jenniges for stepping in and providing great coaching for the girls! I quickly stepped into an assistant role. She is a former standout Minnewaska Area athlete who played for Coach Arden Hyland in the early 2000s. It is always great to see student athletes give their very best, find success and learn ways to improve themselves
Let's shift gears to Bonanza Valley Days...
On Friday, July 11, a big Great River Regional Library event is coming to BVD in Brooten. The event is called "Now. Make. Art. Clay City" at the Brooten City Park. This will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. All the details are here: https://events.griver.org/event/14740737?hs=a. It is for ALL ages! But it has a special emphasis for children ages 10 and younger. Please, pass the word!
