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!
Saturday, June 30, 2018
Regal wins
On Friday night, Regal beat Starbuck 1-0 in a County Line League game.
Don't forget that today (Saturday) has a jam-packed list of activities in store for Elrosa's Saints Field starting at 2 o'clock with the Little League All-Star game. That is followed by a Central Valley League/Stearns County League home run derby at 4 o'clock. The amateur All-Star game between the CVL and SCL begins at 6 o'clock. The night wraps up with the Mitch Gordon Band at 9 o'clock in Elrosa.
The Gary Fauskee Memorial Scholarship committee is excited to announce the upcoming Gary Fauskee Cup nine-hole tournaments set for Sat., July 14 of Bonanza Valley Days. Two scholarship tournaments will take place at Prairie View Community golf course in Brooten, starting at 9 a.m. and then approximately noon. Teams will be drawn and assembled randomly prior to the start in four-person, scramble format. The $35 entry fee per tournament includes golf, cart and scholarship contribution. Games and prizes will also be held at the course, as well as non-golfer activities.
Anyone with questions are encouraged to call Prairie View for more information (320-346-2677); contacts are Mickey Braun, Glenn Miller, Joe Steffensen and Gary Anderson; contact them if you wish to be a prize, hole or tournament sponsor.
Here's video from the fifth game for the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team in Wisconsin Dells on Wednesday morning. This was at the University of Wisconsin-Baraboo campus.
The Elrosa vs. Spring Hill amateur baseball series continued tonight with the Battle for the Keg rivalry game, a series that dates back to 2007, at Saints Field. Elrosa punched across three runs in the first inning, and a two-RBI homer by Cody Eichers made it a 5-0 lead after two innings were in the book.
Final score: Elrosa 6, Spring Hill 0. Aaron Vogt earned the win, starting for Elrosa and going eight innings. He threw 96 pitches and earned 10 strikeouts!
Below, a short clip from the top of the eighth inning:
Next for the Saints (9-5, 7-2 SCL-North) is an exhibition game in Elrosa on Friday, July 6 against Starbuck.
At the Green Isle/Hamburg Miller Lite tournament, the Regal Eagles blanked the Hamel Hawks 10-0 on Friday night. Starter Jordan Wosmek pitched five innings and gave up just one hit. Next for the Eagles is the Chanhassen Red Birds on Saturday in Green Isle under the lights at 8 p.m.
In their first game of the final day at the Shootout at the Dells, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team defeated Cumberland (Ill.) 48-30.
Below is video from the first half of the Cumberland game. The Jaguars were on their way to a 23-18 halftime lead.
...and another video clip...the Thursday games were played at Portage high school:
The Jaguars lost 49-46 in their second game of the morning. A half court shot at the buzzer by Evan Wiener rimmed off.
*Update: Xavier of Appleton, WI handed the Jaguars their second loss of the tournament. They won 72-54, and the Jaguars head home with a very fine 4-2 record. They were the smallest school in the tournament. Xavier is a private Catholic school in Appleton, which has a population of 74,653.
Video coming.
In other news...I heard late Wednesday night that the Elrosa Saints Little Dipper baseball team defeated visiting Roscoe 3-0 in Stearns County League action. This win clinched at least a share of the 2018 regular season SCL title. Their next game is at home on Wednesday, June 27 against New Munich.
Here's three-week old video featuring B-B-E's track and field sensation, Kyle Felling, in the Section 6A long jump championships. A week later he earned two medals at state.
I haven't looked back far enough in the archives to see if or when the last time the B-B-E track and field teams had a student-athlete compete in three events at the state meet. The program is over 35 years old (dating back to the 1983 track and field season).
Shown is video from the final moments of the sixth game of the tournament for the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team. The Jaguars were in a back-and-forth battle throughout the second half, and a shot by Grace Illies with 12 seconds left put them on top for good in a 40-37 win! B-B-E led 20-10 at halftime but gave up a 9-0 run to start the second half. They trailed by as many as four points in the second half before putting the hammer down in the final stretch to protect the unblemished record.
And adding to the excitement, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team won all three of their games on day one of the Shootout at the Dells.
On day one (of two) at the Shootout at the Dells tournament in Wisconsin, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team won all three of their games by wide margins.
The varsity boys' basketball team begins their tournament games in Wisconsin Dells tomorrow.
*Update: the girls' basketball team finished with a 6-0 record at the Dells! They had a crazy ending to game six on Wednesday and won by a 40-37 score.
The Regal Eagles won their semifinal game against Bemidji this morning by an 8-3 score. They will face Elrosa in the tournament championship at approximately 4 o'clock today.
*Update: Regal defeated Elrosa by a 4-3 score in a fantastic championship game to wrap up the tournament on Sunday night. The Saints (8-5) left the bases loaded in the ninth inning. Regal also emerged as champions of this tournament last year.
Here's an announcement of an upcoming Summer Youth Retreat in Belgrade: https://bit.ly/2I1G1ew.
In their opening game of the Elite 8 tournament, the Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team clipped Buffalo 12-2 in six innings with Aaron Vogt going the distance for the win on the mound.
Sartell and Lamberton are playing this morning in Elrosa, and the winner of that game will face the Saints tonight at 6 p.m. **Update: Sartell beat Lamberton 14-1 in five innings.
In other news...congratulations to the Maple Lake Irish baseball team, as they are the 2018 Class 2A state champions! They just defeated Duluth Marshall at Target Field around 18:00 tonight.
**Update: the Elrosa Saints defeated Sartell 1-0 in a rain-shortened game tonight; the game was called after five innings of play, as a "pretty decent" thunder/lightning storm passed over the area.
The Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team kicks off the Elite Eight tournament tonight (game two of today actually) with an 8:30 p.m. start time against the Buffalo Bulldogs.
Regal starts at 6:30 p.m. against the Clinton Cards.
After both days of the Class 1A state golf meet were completed, Jacqueline Gossen and Jaden Gossen earned Top-12 finishes with glowing performances on day two. Jayden Miller took 27th place in the boys' division at state.
The Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team suffered just their second defeat of the season with an 8-7 loss at Richmond on Sunday afternoon. Cody Eichers and Ethan Vogt each had back-to-back home runs, and rookie Jackson Peter had a bases-loaded triple.
The Royals improved to 6-1 in the Stearns County League South division and are the only team in the SCL with one or fewer losses.
Elrosa is 6-2 now in the SCL-North standings (6-4 overall) heading into the Elite Eight tournament at Saints Field next weekend. The tournament opens up on Friday, June 15 with Elrosa hosting the Buffalo Bulldogs at 8:30 p.m.
Also, make sure this is on your calendars! Saturday, June 30 - Elrosa hosts the Central Valley League vs. Stearns County League All-Star game. The schedule is as follows:
2:00pm - Little League All-Star Game
4:30pm - Home Run Derby
6:00pm - amateur All-Star Game (SCL vs CVL)
9:00pm - Band: Mitch Gordon and the Unleaded Band
In two preliminary races of the Class 1A state track and field meet at Hamline University, senior Kyle Felling earned a Top-Nine finish and advanced to Saturday's finals in the 400 dash (49.92 seconds). He did not make it in the 200 dash (23.41 seconds).
On Saturday, Felling competes in the long jump championships as well as the 400 dash finals. Great job!
**Update on Saturday night: at the Class 1A state track and field meet, Kyle Felling placed sixth in the 400-meter dash to earn an All-State medal. His time was 50.26 seconds. In the state long jump championships, Felling had a best jump of 21 feet, three-and-three-quarters inches. This was good for seventh place and another All-State medal. Great job!
And mark your calendars: the Bonanza Valley Days 2018 celebration in Brooten will be July 13, 14, 15. Spread the word! The schedule will be released soon.
Parkers Prairie's baseball team is going to state for the third straight year. They pounded New York Mills 14-2 in six innings tonight to claim the Section 6A title.
Wow.
In the first game of the Section 6A championship series, played Thursday night after the Panthers ended B-B-E's baseball season, Parkers Prairie defeated New York Mills 11-4.
So put it together, in two games, Parkers Prairie battered the Eagles with 25 runs to just six over a span of 13 innings of baseball. I doubt NYM saw that coming, because I sure did not!
Game updates will be posted here from this afternoon's elimination game of the Section 6A baseball tournament. The B-B-E Jaguars baseball team faces Parkers Prairie at 2:30 p.m., and the game will be aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood.
*Update: the Jaguars built a 6-0 lead going into the sixth inning. The Panthers scored twice and now trail 6-3 with bases loaded on one out.
*Update: the Jaguars now trail 8-6 heading into the top of the seventh inning. They are three outs away from either extending the game to the bottom of the seventh or seeing their season end.
*Update!! the Jaguars scored two runs in the top of the seventh inning to keep their season alive! They left two stranded and now are set to play the best defense of the year and push the game to extra innings.
From the bottom of the seventh...absolutely amazing...the coaching staff of Parkers Prairie talked the umpires into calling a balk call. The game-winning run is at second base, another runner is on first and the Jaguars have earned just one out. The next batter hit a line shot straight to left-fielder Thaniel Cebulla for a pop fly and the second out.
*Final score: Parkers Prairie 9, B-B-E 8 in regulation innings. Parkers Prairie (16-9) advances to the Section 6A championship series for the third straight year. They face New York Mills (19-3) and will have to beat the Eagles tonight to get another shot at them tomorrow, as tonight's game will be another elimination game.
B-B-E finishes the year 12-12 overall.
Below is video from the Border West game in Morris:
Now all that's left for spring sports are the three state golfers and also Kyle Felling heading to the state track and field meet.
Also, congratulations to the Paynesville Area Bulldogs baseball team (19-4) as they advance to the Class 2A state tournament. They went 1-1 in the Section 3AA championship series against Luverne, handing them the section title.
Here's video from the New York Mills baseball game that was played on Tuesday this week at Minnewaska Area high school:
And a quick shout-out to all the business supporters of our news and sports coverage! We couldn't be here without you doing what we do best: sharing the good things happening across the Bonanza Valley area.
The B-B-E Jaguars baseball team lost 11-4 to New York Mills in the semifinal game of the Section 6A tournament tonight. They entered the seventh inning trailing just 6-4 while sitting with 10 hits compared to six by the Eagles. The top of the seventh was ugly, however, with NYM posting five additional runs.
The Jaguars (12-11) move on to the elimination bracket final on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. to face defending section and state champion Parkers Prairie for the right to play in the section championship series.
The Panthers ended Border West's season in a 9-5 win tonight. West Central Area lost earlier in the day by a 7-4 score to Parkers Prairie. Border West ended Pelican Rapids' season by a 6-3 score.
That's all for now. Video and other information coming tomorrow.
In Section 6AA, Pierz has advanced into the championship series to face St. Cloud Cathedral. The Pioneers beat Albany and Foley tonight by identical 2-0 scores to improve to 20-5 overall.
The baseball playoff game at Minnewaska Area high school will be aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood. First pitch against New York Mills is at 5 p.m. This is the winner's bracket final!! This game is HUGE! The winner gets a pass to the Section 6A championship series that will be played on Thursday also at MAHS. The loser will have to battle through the final game of the elimination bracket in Section 6A, with that game also on Thursday at MAHS (2:30 p.m.).
The Eagles are 18-3 overall and went 12-2 to take second place in a tough Park Region Conference that was won by Wadena-Deer Creek. They will undoubtedly have revenge on their minds, as B-B-E has ended their baseball season in 2016 and 2017. The Eagles were runners-up in Section 6A in 2015 and were champions and a state finalist in 2014 (second place at state after a 5-4 loss in the state title game to New Life Academy).
NYM took third place at state in 2013, fifth at state in 2012 (with just one loss overall) and went 0-2 at state in 2011.
Here's a video taken six days ago at the Brooten American Legion Memorial Day program. It was a simply fantastic morning for this event, and best of all, it was well-attended in my opinion.
Great job to everyone involved in it or who attended this!
