Hoops By the Lake moved to New London

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!

Saints blank Cubs

The Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team defeated Greenwald 5-0 today in a Stearns County League North division game. A hitting advantage by a 12 to 5 margin, including a home run by Ashton Dingmann, was key to the win. Ethan Mueller started and pitched 8 innings for the win on the mound. Luke Illies closed in the 9th inning.

The win pulls the Saints into a tie for second place in the SCL-North standings with New Munich. A huge game is on deck next Sunday, when Elrosa hosts New Munich at 1:30 p.m. The winner gets a jump on earning the No. 2 seed for the division playoffs, which start on Saturday, July 19.

Smilin' D Arena held a Ranch Rodeo on Friday night; here's a video from that night:


From Thursday morning through Saturday evening, we received a full 5 inches of rain around the Brooten area.

Regulation-inning game, but another tough loss to the Chargers

The Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team hosted Spring Hill and suffered a 3-2 loss in regulation innings. The Chargers pushed the game-winning run across in the top of the 8th inning. For the game, a whopping 30 baserunners were left stranded: 13 by Spring Hill and 17 by Elrosa.

Elrosa scored once in both the first and second innings and rode the early 2-0 lead into the fifth inning. In the top of the fifth, the Chargers tied the game at 2-2. In the top of the 8th, Luke Dehmer hit a one-out single for Spring Hill. He made it a 3-2 lead for the visitors on Ethan Meyer's grounder to shortstop.

Next: the Saints travel to Greenwald for a Stearns County League North division border battle on Sunday with first pitch at 1:30 p.m.

Bonanza Valley Days men's 3-on-3 tournament

Bonanza Valley Days in Brooten is coming in just two weeks!

Related to BVD in Brooten...
The BVD Men's 3-on-3 tournament at the elementary school in Brooten is coming on Friday, July 11. Organizer Chris Anderson highly recommends that teams get their registration mailed in ahead of that week so the games can begin at 6 p.m. sharp that night. If registering on site, he asked that teams arrive by 5 p.m. Registration is $40 for teams pre-registered by July 3 and $50 after that. He can be contacted by email: canderson@bbejaguars.org.

The Brooten Farmers Market will run until 7 p.m. tonight! See more here: https://shorturl.at/1tXaR.

Bonanza Valley Days added event! And youth activity this week Thursday

The B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch program is trying their first-ever weekend tournament for Bonanza Valley Days. The 14-U team is reaching out across the area to get 7 teams included for an 8-team schedule. The date is Sunday, July 13. I've had this in the back of my mind for the last 3 years, and it's finally coming to fruition as Coach Logan Funk got the ball rolling for a 14-U tournament. It will include 3 games, with a winners and losers bracket. Registration is $200. Spread the word to other schools!

Tuesday afternoon notes...
You are kindly asked to share this news with area youth that you know around Jaguar Country who are entering grades 7 to 12 this fall! This is brought forward by the Free Spirits youth group at Big Grove-Crow River-Grace Lutheran Parish: https://shorturl.at/PvtLe.

This is a non-denominational youth activity. Another non-denominational activity is taking place on Sunday this weekend in Elrosa. That's been promoted heavily across the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. You can see the poster for the church social on page 3 of this week's issue.

That's all for now. Tonight is another busy night that includes the fastpitch program's 11-U squad hosting a triangular tonight starting at 5:30 p.m.

Elrosa endures extra-inning loss (VIDEO)

In their Elite 8 tournament championship bracket semifinal, the Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team lost 5-4 in 8 innings last night to Courtland.

Here's the playing of the National Anthem on Friday night:


The Saints play today at 2 p.m. against Waterville in the third-place game. The championship game features Courtland facing the Pierz Brewers at about 4 p.m. today.

UPDATE: in the seventh-place game today, New London-Spicer defeated Veseli by a 3-2 score. The fifth-place game is underway in Elrosa, and that contest features Fergus Falls and Royalton.

Update...in the third-place game, the Elrosa Saints and Waterville Indians settled for a 0-0 tie after playing a 7-inning game.

In case you missed the events in Terrace...
You can get a glimpse of the Saturday events in Terrace by clicking over to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper: https://shorturl.at/506MJ. Additional coverage is coming in the June 26 issue of the newspaper.

The Brooten city council meets in regular session on Monday night. The meeting agenda can be found at the newspaper editor's blog by clicking here: https://shorturl.at/F1eqk.

Elrosa Saints win tournament opener (VIDEO, UPDATES)

The Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team won their 9th game of the season by defeating Royalton 3-0 tonight in the opening game of their Elite 8 tournament. The Saints will play in the semifinals at 8 p.m. tomorrow (Saturday) against the winner of the Courtland vs. Veseli game. Those two teams square off at noon tomorrow in their tournament opener.

In the night cap, Waterville defeated New London-Spicer 7-3 to advance in the championship bracket.

Here's a short video recorded during the postgame handshakes...


I hope you can make it to Elrosa and/or Terrace this weekend!

Saturday night baseball update:
Veseli faces the New London-Spicer Twins at 10 a.m. tomorrow for the 7th place game. Following that, Royalton will play Fergus Falls at noon in the fifth-place game.

Update: the Elrosa Saints lost 5-4 in 8 innings to Courtland in the championship semifinals. They play at 2 p.m. on Sunday in the third-place game against Waterville.

Elite 8 tournament in Elrosa opens tonight

The Elrosa Saints open their Elite 8 amateur baseball tournament tonight with two games at Saints Field for the opening round. They face Royalton at 6:30 p.m. in the first game. First, they will honor our country with the National Anthem, which I hope to get to in time! This is a busy weekend with events also taking place in Terrace.

Here's a video featuring the final out recorded last year in the Elite 8 tournament championship game:


The Saints defeated New London-Spicer by an 11-4 score to claim the Elite 8 title last year.

More to come later tonight.