Jaguars fastpitch wins playoff opener for the 10th straight year

First baseman Maggie Gruber catches the 6-3 throw against Swanville today. She is the lone senior starter on the team.

A 6-3 put out from Raeann Sorenson to Maggie Gruber ended the top of the second inning in this clip.

A final score from a home game today in the Sub-Section 5A-West playoff fastpitch opener: B-B-E 3, Swanville 0. The 8th-seeded Jaguars fastpitch team scored once in the first inning and then tacked on two more runs in the second. Michelle Sanders pitched the six-hit shutout, issuing no walks while striking out five Bulldogs batters. Raeann Sorenson led the Jaguars at the plate with three hits on four at bats.

The Jaguars (4-17) now face Osakis (18-0) in Osakis on Friday at 5:00.

Two scores from Elrosa today, in a Central Minnesota Conference baseball double-header: HL-W-W 6, B-B-E 3. HL-W-W 10, B-B-E 2. The Jaguars baseball team is next in action at Sauk Centre on Monday with a 4:00 non-conference game against the Mainstreeters. The Jaguars close the regular season with a CMC double-header at Rockford next Tuesday.

A quick sidebar on Jaguars girls' golf...both Peyton Miller and Amy Knutson earned All-Central Minnesota Conference honors with their performance this season in CMC meets. To be All-CMC, you have to finish in the Top 10 individually out of all conference team members. Both the Jaguars girls' and boys' golf teams will open the playoffs when they travel to the Minnewaska Golf Course next Wednesday, May 25. The Sub-Section 5A-North meet begins at 9:30.

Noteworthy...kudos to the Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg Fighting Saints fastpitch team... K-M-S routed Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 13-0 and 8-1 Thursday to win the Camden Conference softball title outright. Eileen Suter, the Fighting Saints' only head coach in the program's history, notched the 300th win of her career in the first game. Sam Dunn pitched a five-inning no-hitter in the opener. The Fighting Saints finished 14-0 in the conference and are 16-0 overall. I'm not 100% sure on this but I believe the K-M-S fastpitch program was established in 1992.

Area fastpitch results on May 19:
Upsala 8, St. John's Prep 0 (Sub-Section 5A-West game)
Holdingford 7, Kimball Area 0 *CMC game
Holdingford 27, Kimball Area 0 *CMC game (Holdingford wins the Central Minnesota Conference title outright...this is the first spring since 2005 that Maple Lake did not win the CMC fastpitch crown. The Huskers were 12-2 this spring in the CMC, while Maple Lake and Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted tied for second at 11-3)

Area baseball results on May 19:
Holdingford 6, Maple Lake 3 *CMC game (this win gives a share of the Central Minnesota Conference title to Holdingford)
Maple Lake 1, Holdingford 0 *CMC game
Eden Valley-Watkins 10, Kimball Area 2 *CMC game
Eden Valley-Watkins 15, Kimball Area 5 *CMC game
Upsala/Swanville Area 4, Osakis 3
Melrose Area 14, Foley 5
Albany 8, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 2
Minnewaska Area 4, Lac qui Parle Valley 1
Paynesville Area 8, Benson 1
Montevideo 12, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 11
St. Cloud Cathedral 3, Sauk Centre 0

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