Jaguars Fastpitch Vanquishes State-Ranked Maple Lake 6-5 in Sub-Section 5A-West Championship -- First-Ever Sub-Section Title for B-B-E Fastpitch

Holding the championship trophy moments after the award ceremony.



The Jaguars will take a top seed out of the west half of Section 5A and a 14-5 record for the Final Four round, which begins next Tuesday at 5:00 at the Whitney Fields fastpitch complex in St.Cloud.

The Jaguars will face the champion out of Sub-Section 5A-East, either Barnum or East Central. They faced off tonight for that championship bout.

This win was HUGE! It increases the Jaguars' chances of winning Section 5A by a huge amount. Basically, here's how it goes... the Jaguars will face the east champion at 5:00 next Tuesday. If they win that game, they will then most likely face Maple Lake again on Thursday, if Maple Lake gets out of the loser's bracket by winning two games on Tuesday night. Then on Thursday, the Jaguars would only have to defeat Maple Lake once to advance. The Irish would have to beat the Jaguars in two games next Thursday night to advance. Just like in baseball, it's much better to stay in the winner's bracket and control your own destiny. Tonight's win by the Jaguars does just that.

My records show that B-B-E was runners-up in the district/sub-section in 1989, 1990, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2000, and 2007. That's eight 2nd-place finishes, making it the most snake-bitten program of our Jaguars sports in sub-section berths.

That jinx was broken tonight in a thriller, one that became a nail-biter in the final two innings when the Irish attempted to overcome a 6-2 deficit after three and a half innings of play.

Maple Lake is 19-2, and they were the #3-ranked team in Minnesota for Class A teams. Their only other loss of the season was to St.Michael-Albertville, a Class AAA team that finished 12-11 after going 1-2 in the Section 5AAA playoffs. They had won 3 one-run games in Central Minnesota Conference play this season (6-5 over Rockford, 5-4 over our Jaguars, and 3-2 over Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted). It was their turn to lose a 1-run game.

The Jaguars have now played in 7 games decided by 1 run, and they are 4-3 in such games.

Good things come in pairs tonight I guess... I just heard that the Paynesville Bulldogs won the Sub-Section 6AA-19 championship tonight against Rocori by a 6-3 score. They are now 15-3 for the season. They will face Becker in the Section 5A tournament, who is state-ranked and 22-1 overall. Becker defeated Milaca 11-1 in the Sub-Section 6AA-18 championship.

Tomorrow... The Jaguars boys and girls golf teams tee off at the Section 5A meet at the Little Crow Country Club at NL-S at 9:00. It is the first time in school history that both golf teams are at sections in the same season.

Tomorrow night at 7:00, the Jaguars baseball team opens playoffs with a home game at Saints Field. They will play Holdingford. The Jaguars are the top seed in Sub-Section 5A-South, with a 14-4 record. Their "strength of schedule" ranking has them at #5 out of all 158 Class A teams in Minnesota.

Holdingford 13, Osakis 2. The Huskers won their 4th game of the year in their playoff opener, the Sub-Section 5A-South play-in round. The win gives them the right to play our Jaguars in the sub-section quarterfinals. They went 2-12 in the CMC, winning against HL-W-W once and against Eden Valley-Watkins once.

Baseball scores:
Sauk Centre 10, Minnewaska 5
NL-S 5, Benson 2
Wheaton 9, Morris 7

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