(HD VIDEO) The Fallen honored at Grove Lake

Here's a video of Taps being played at Grove Lake Township park yesterday afternoon:


I hope you've operated with more class than Vice President "Enjoy the long weekend" Harris has this weekend! It's important to know why we have a Memorial Day in the U.S.A. It's very unfortunate that she is holding that office. It would behoove her to read up on Memorial Day. Perhaps click over to the History channel and get educated: https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/memorial-day-history.

I digress.

Meanwhile, where I come from, our town of Brooten is proud to have donated over $1,000 to the Brooten American Legion Auxiliary Poppy Drive. This includes donations from businesses and individuals. What a tremendous effort! Read more about that in the June 3 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice.

Enjoy that sunshine, today, Jaguar Country! 

Inactivity = don't go there! (VIDEO)

We'll always promote the opposite of what can be described as a "sedentary lifestyle" and here's a video from a podcast that outlines why physical inactivity is such a bad thing:


I hope you've been busy and active on this extremely wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

The more you know!

Eleven-inning win! (recap)

Here's a recap of notes from the B-B-E Jaguars baseball team's game at Hancock on Friday.

The Owls took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first, and the Jaguars got one run back in the top of the third. They tied it at 2-2 in the top of the sixth, and the 2-2 score stood up through the 11th inning.

B-B-E posted three runs in the top of the 11th and held the Owls scoreless in the bottom of the frame to win the game.

In the 11th, Tanner Shelton hit a leadoff single and advanced on back-to-back fielder's choice at bats by Luke Dingmann and Wyatt Steffensen. Shelton and Dingmann then both scored on an error. Will VanBeck hit a single, and Steffensen then scored the last run when Easton Hagen hit a ground ball to the pitcher. Peyton Winter then walked, but Hancock got a strikeout and another ground ball to leave two stranded.

Will VanBeck earned the win in four innings of relief. He surrendered just one hit, no walks and fired seven strikeouts. Peyton Winter started and went three innings, and Wyatt Steffensen pitched four innings.

B-B-E out-hit the Owls by a 13-to-5 margin. Earning doubles were Luke Dingmann, Will VanBeck and Andrew Weller. B-B-E had three errors, and Hancock had two.

At Lake Henry yesterday, the Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team lost 5-3. Next for the Saints is the Omann Insurance tournament in Sartell on June 5 and June 6.

Here's video from Friday night's game against St. Martin:


More to come later. It's time for church.

**This is exciting! Here's a web article promoting the upcoming Sunburg Fire Department street dance! Mark your calendars! (Just $10 gate!) link =  https://bit.ly/3p3GQKI.

Fastpitch, baseball playoffs set (updated)

The B-B-E Jaguars baseball team has earned a home playoff game with a No. 3 ranking in Sub-Section 6A-South. The Jaguars (9-10) host No. 6-seeded Ortonville (5-11 overall, 4-8 Pheasant Conference) on Tuesday, June 1 in a sub-section quarterfinal game. First pitch at Saints Field in Elrosa is at 5 p.m.

If the Jaguars beat the Trojans, they advance to play in the semifinals on Thursday, June 3 at the Clinton baseball diamond. That game would begin at 2:30 p.m. and marks the start of the double-elimination portion of the tournament. Win or lose, the Jaguars would play at 4:30 p.m. again on June 3 in either the winner's or loser's bracket.

Perennial state power New York Mills (17-2) is the top seed in Sub-Section 6A-North. Once-beaten Ashby (19-1) is the No. 2 seed. They are also both ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in the Class 1A state QRF rankings.

2021 Sub-Section 6A-South baseball seedings:

1. Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg (17-0)

2. Upsala/Swanville Area (17-2)

3. B-B-E (9-10)

4. Border West (10-8)

5. Hancock (9-9)

6. Ortonville (5-11)

7. St. John's Prep (2-12)

The No. 8-seeded B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team faces No. 9-seeded Ortonville in a play-in round game on Tuesday, June 1 at Benson's softball complex. First pitch is at 3 p.m. If the Jaguars win, they would play top-seeded Benson (13-6) at the same location that same day at 5 p.m.

2021 Sub-Section 6A-South fastpitch seedings:

1. Benson (13-6)

2. Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley (13-5)

3. Hancock (12-6)

4. Upsala (8-9)

5. West Central Area (8-11)

6. Swanville (5-12)

7. Wheaton/Herman-Norcross (7-13)

8. B-B-E (2-17)

9. Ortonville (1-16)

Benson went 8-4 in the West Central Conference and tied Sauk Centre for second place. C-G-B went 10-3 in the Pheasant Conference to take second place alone.

*Another reminder! Bring your family to Grove Lake on Sunday (tomorrow) for their Memorial Weekend parade. It begins at 1 p.m. and you can share this link to tell others about it = https://bit.ly/3vy2pWj. 

Another reminder: you can always get a quick overview of upcoming activities in the B-B-E and Bonanza Valley area by clicking over to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper community calendar (short link) = https://bit.ly/3peFGfL.

More to come.

Saints vs. Martins; and Jaguars win!

The Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team is hosting Saint Martin tonight in a Stearns County League game.

Through four Innings, the Martins have a 2-1 lead.

Final score: St. Martin 4, Elrosa 1. The Saints were out-hit by a 13-to-3 margin. The Saints play tomorrow (Saturday) at 1:30 p.m. at Lake Henry. St. Martin improves to 5-0 with the win.

**Update: at Hancock today, the B-B-E Jaguars baseball team won in 11 innings by a 5-2 score to conclude the regular season.

More to come. I have much to update regarding playoffs for next week!

No radio show today; *two more sad funerals

We have another sad, heartbreaking funeral coming today. This is for a dearly beloved "Grandpa" in Jaguar Country. Today we say good-bye to Jim R. Anderson, Belgrade high school Class of 1971, who passed away last week. He is a father to four B-B-E graduates (in the 2000s) plus grandpa to multiple grandkids who are current and future B-B-E students. I could go on and on and on...one big thing to mention is how he was a faithful and reliable person to the B-B-E athletic department to be a basketball referee in the winter. This was especially important this past winter during the COVID era, when finding referees grew difficult across the state. This is a big blow to the athletic department as well.

Jim was only 68 years old and was certainly a "youthful" man for his age. He will be dearly, dearly missed.

I've got more to post, but right now I have to get ready for the funeral, which is at 11 a.m. at Trinity Lutheran in Brooten.

And tonight / tomorrow, friends and family say good-bye to B-B-E Class of 2006 graduate Spencer Otteson. He was a three-sport athlete at B-B-E high school, and his days as a Jaguar just barely pre-dated this sports blog (founded in October 2006). In high school, he was a star athlete on the cross country, basketball and golf teams. He lost his battle with colon cancer and died on May 25 at home in Canby. His viewing is tonight in Marshall, and the funeral is tomorrow (Saturday, May 29) at 10 a.m. at Grace Life Church in Marshall.

This is a very, very sad time in Jaguar Country.

And BOOM! The number is zero

Thirteen days after we became "wide open" at the Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa school district, the newest weekly COVID-19 zip code number shows ZEROES across the board! 

Zero!

Zero!

Zero!

The May 27 report shows no new COVID-19 cases were reported in the zip code areas of Belgrade, Brooten and Elrosa for the period of May 20 to May 26. The population is approximately 4,300 people.

This is fantastic news. We held a basically wide open indoor graduation ceremony (due to threat of bad weather) on Friday, May 14. Not a soul appeared worried. We've gotten vaccinations out to vulnerable people, school staff has been vaccinated and we are off and running with a very, very good summer in Jaguar Country!

Even more good news: the surrounding area shows exceptionally good numbers, with many zip code areas also reporting zero new cases in the last week. See below.

Glenwood - 3
Kerkhoven - 1
Murdock - 1
Sunburg - none
New London - none
Spicer - one
Melrose - 4
Paynesville - 2
Sauk Centre - 5.

More to come later (hopefully) if I get back to blogging. Busy day once again. The gardening is paused while it rains. And it's a much-needed rain! The high temperature today appears to be 45 degrees.

*Also: the B-B-E Jaguars baseball team's game at Hancock has been postponed to tomorrow. Also, the third and final session of Jaguar youth tennis will be tomorrow instead of today at the high school tennis courts.

Section 5A, Section 3AA golf opening rounds (UPDATED)

*Video added below.

The B-B-E Jaguars boys' golf team competed at the opening round of the Section 5A tournament today at Oak Creek Golf Course in Willmar. The Jaguars sit in fourth place in Section 5A after the opening round of action. As a team, they will advance to the section finals, but they have a steep hill to climb. Benson sits in first place after shooting a 349 today. Lakeview is in second with a 354, and Renville County West is in third with a 363. The Jaguars shot a 365.

Gannon Walsh led the Jaguars with an 86.

On hole No. 2 at Oak Creek, Spencer Lundberg shot a hole in one (his 10th hole of the day.) Coach Goodwin reported that he hit an 8 iron at 150 yards and got the ace! Good job! Lundberg scored an 88 after his 18 holes were complete.

The second round, state-qualifying day is on Tuesday, June 1 back in Willmar.

In Section 3AA, the Minnewaska/B-B-E girls' golf team has a commanding lead after the first round of action. They shot a 345 on day one, while second-place Redwood Valley shot a 379. New London-Spicer is not far off in third place with a 382. Luverne is in fourth with a 391, and Litchfield is in fifth place with a 392.

M/B-B-E's Annika Stensrud was the leader of the pack with a score of 80. Ava Hanson of NL-S had an 81 to sit in second place, and M/B-B-E's Berkley Steffen is in third place with an 82.

B-B-E's Paige Rupp, a junior, shot a 93 to tie for 10th place.

The Section 3AA meet is being held at the golf course outside of Buffalo Lake.

I learned that on Tuesday this week, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City's baseball team swept Maple Lake by scores of 10-0 and 10-5 to finish in a tie for first place with Royalton in the Central Minnesota Conference.


Here's video from the bottom of the fifth inning in the Melrose game on Tuesday at the home fastpitch diamond:

More to come.

One run loss in fastpitch

The B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team was Oh-So-Close to earning a win against neighboring rival Melrose Area on Tuesday in a non-conference home game. The Jaguars and Dutchmen were locked in a 6-6 tie after five innings. Melrose earned the game-winning run in the top of the sixth inning for a 7-6 win.

At Sunburg yesterday, the B-B-E Jaguars baseball team lost 14-5 to undefeated Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg. They are 8-10 overall heading into the final regular season game, which is tomorrow (Thursday) at Hancock.

More to come. Still lots of newspapers to deliver! The 14-page May 27 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice is hot off the press! Also, a new post will include an update from the Section 5A golf meet.

Tonight is the B-B-E National Honor Society induction ceremony. I'll update after that later in the evening. 

Coming this week Monday and Tuesday (VIDEO)

This blog post will be updated on Monday, but it will include information about events for Monday and Tuesday, May 24 and May 25. Lots of catch up work to do! I also want to add more to the Elrosa Saints blog post that was added earlier today.

Here's video from the Marv Meyer track and field invitational last Thursday in Morris:


Here's video from the girls' 800 run at the track and field meet in Morris last Thursday:


Running for B-B-E in that video clip are Mhina Reed, Amber Stephani and Adrianna Galaviz. I am very limited on what I have for results from the Morris meet, because only the top 10 finishers in each event were reported.

And! The Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's spring sports photo galleries are coming together. Now I'm only about a couple weeks behind. Here's the link to view = https://bonanzavalley.smugmug.com/BBE-Jaguar-spring-sports-2021.  

Monday, May 24 is a straight practice day for B-B-E's varsity spring sports. No competitions are today. Also, multiple youth sports teams are getting practices rolling for their summer seasons. That is very, very exciting! Tonight the summer fastpitch 10U, the baseball 10U and baseball 12U teams gather for the first time. 

Notes for Tuesday, May 25 action will be added here tonight.

TUESDAY EVENTS

The B-B-E Jaguars track and field teams are geared up for the Central Minnesota Conference championships! It is exciting! The CMC championship meet is Tuesday, May 25 at Maple Lake high school. Field events start at 3:15 p.m., and the running events start at 4 p.m.

The B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team (2-16 overall) hosts neighboring Melrose Area in the final regular season game. That starts at 4:30 p.m. at the elementary school diamond. The Dutchmen are 5-11 overall and 5-5 in the West Central Conference.

The B-B-E Jaguars baseball team (8-9 overall) travels to Willy Reigstad Field in Sunburg for a non-conference and sub-section game with Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg. First pitch is at 4:30 p.m. The baseball team is setting themselves up for a No. 3 seed in Sub-Section 6A-South. They are in what I'll call a very good position for a deep playoff run!

That's it for now. Soon the full-throated roar of the weekly newspaper tsunami will be upon me as I get the May 27 Bonanza Valley Voice issue ready for press. I can already hear it approaching.

Absolute crazy: I just saw that the expected high temperature for this Thursday is 47 degrees! Brrrr!!! And it's expected to drop to 36 degrees overnight that night.

One run loss (VIDEO)

The Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team saw their three-game winning streak come to an end today. Meire Grove led 5-1 and 8-4 in the game and held on for an 8-7 Stearns County League win.

Two highlights for the Saints included Kevin Kuefler's two-run home run (360 feet) and Derek Wiener's solo home run (320 feet) in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Elrosa's next game is their first home game under the lights of Saints Field: Friday, May 28! They host St. Martin.

More to come. Video will be added here from the game later tonight.

And here's video from the bottom of the sixth inning, when B-B-E Class of 2008 graduate Josh Roelike took over pitching duties for Meire Grove:


Here's video featuring part of the eighth inning and the ninth inning. Early in the video, you can see Kuefler and Wiener's home runs.


More to come. Remember: Elrosa hosts a game next Friday night under the lights! It's a great event to bring your family to!!

New COVID number (May 20 report) is 11

A little late on this weekly report...this is my first major delay in reporting this since last fall! Yikes. I have just been intensely super busy, and I will admit...the garden is a big excuse for that! Our family garden is soon approaching 30 percent planted.

In the May 20 report released by the Minnesota Department of Health, the zip code weekly COVID-19 case counts increased by 11 for the zip code area of Belgrade, Brooten and Elrosa. This is our biggest increase since the April 15, 2021 report...and that week the number was 25. That April 15 number represents what I'd call the "peak" of our local spring surge.

Here's the break down of new cases for the reporting period of May 13 to 19:

Brooten - 6

Belgrade - 4

Elrosa - 1

As they say: all good things must come to an end! The incredible streak of NO covid cases reported in Elrosa dating back to mid-December 2020 has ended. Their May 20 report showed an increase of one COVID-19 case. The population of Elrosa is now 210, by the way, which I found to be pretty gosh darn exciting! Their 2020 cencus number showed an increase from 197 to 210. And with the May 20 MDH report, their cumulative COVID-19 case count since January 2020 is now 18 cases.

In order, by zip code, are other area weekly increases:

Willmar 56201 - 37

Benson 56215 - 7

Hancock 56244 - 4

Kandiyohi 56251 - 3

Kerkhoven 56252 - zero

Montevideo 56265 - 6

Morris 56267 - 12

Murdock 56271 - 1

New London 56273 - zero

Pennock 56279 - zero

Spicer 56288 - 3

Sunburg 56289 - zero

Alexandria 56308 - 31

Cyrus 56323 - 2

Glenwood 56334 - 4

Greenwald 56335 - zero

Melrose 56352 - 9

Osakis 56360 - 5

Paynesville 56362 - 4

Sauk Centre 56378 - 9

Villard 56385 - 1.

That's all for now.

Saints edge Eagles

The Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team defeated Regal 5-3 today in a late afternoon exhibition game. They won in spite of leaving 12 runners stranded and having the game's lone error. The Saints scored twice in the second inning but fell behind 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh. They scored three runs in the top of the eighth inning to claim their third straight win.

B-B-E Class of 2022 member Gavin Kampsen earned the pitching win in three innings of relief. He also hit a one out solo home run as part of Elrosa's 10-hit attack. The homer ignited the three-run top of the eighth to tie the game at 3-3. Brandon Roelike scored the game-winning run when Blaine Fischer drew a fourth consecutive walk in the inning.

Shane Radermacher, B-B-E Class of 2005, along with Nathan Meyer and Blake Karsch scored Regal's three runs.

At any given time, Buddy Beier Field in Regal was loaded with current or former B-B-E Jaguars. Elrosa played 11 Jaguars, while Regal had five Jaguars (all graduates) in action.

The Saints (4-3) host Meire Grove tomorrow (Sunday) in a Stearns County League North game. First pitch is at 1:30 p.m. 

For Regal, they resume County Line League action when they travel the short trip east to the home of the Paynesville Pirates for a 12:30 p.m. Sunday game.

And! Congratulations to the St. Cloud Technical and Community College Cyclones baseball team, who is the 2021 NJCAA Region 13 champions! B-B-E Class of 2020 graduate and current Elrosa Saints team member Jackson Peter is a key contributor on the team. He's played in 21 games this year with 60 plate appearances and has 17 hits in 49 at bats (.347) with nine RBI. I recall hearing that he had SCTCC's first hit of the 2021 season during the season opener on March 11 at U.S. Bank Stadium against Hibbing Community College. They lost that game 10-9, but they've won 25 of the 28 games played since that day while also going 11-1 in their conference.

The No. 9-ranked Cyclones defeated No. 5-ranked Century College 8-2 in a winner-take-all game of the Region 13 championship series on Saturday at Dick Putz Field. The Cyclones (25-4 overall) begin the College World Series on May 29. You can catch up on recent Cyclones baseball news at their college website: https://www.sctccathletics.com/sports/bsb/2020-21/news.

A new, local COVID-19 report is coming in a new blog post. 

A wonderful youth event coming on Monday

I am thrilled to share the good news of a non-denominational youth event coming to the B-B-E community on Monday, May 24 at the Belgrade city park. This is for all B-B-E area youth. It does not matter what church they normally go to. It does not matter if they have never gone to church. The organizers just ask that they come prepared to have fun with outdoor activities in a God-focused atmosphere.

Dubbed "Middle School Madness" and sponsored by the Open Door Church of New London, the event is geared for children in grades 5 through 8 taking place between 5:30 and 6:45 p.m. When I first learned about this, I was overjoyed to hear of God-focused youth activities taking place for local children. It is about time!  Over the past year, more and more B-B-E students have been participating in youth ministry activities at Open Door. Bravo to their staff for welcoming them! 

Other dates for Middle School Madness are June 14 and 28, July 12 and 26 and then August 2 and 9.

You can read more about the Open Door church ministry at their website: https://theopendoorcc.com.

I will get more information on this published in the May 27 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice. You can expect to see some coverage of the May 24 Middle School Madness in that issue!

A close loss, and track and field action (VIDEO)

The B-B-E Jaguars baseball team lost a heartbreaker by a 1-0 score to Upsala/Swanville Area tonight. They suffered multiple errors and left too many stranded to defeat the top-ranked team in Sub-Section 6A-South. The Cardinals scored their only run in their first at bat and finished with six hits to just three for B-B-E. The Jaguars are now 8-9 overall, while U/SA is 14-2. B-B-E's next baseball game is at Willy Reigstad Field next Tuesday, May 25 in Sunburg.

In a home game tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team fell 12-5 to neighboring rival Sauk Centre in a non-conference contest. One big highlight for the Jaguars included junior Kailey Fischer's first career home run of her career! The Mainstreeters (9-7, 8-4 West Central Conference) led 10-3 after four innings. Kylie Winter led the Jaguars with three hits, two runs scored and two stolen bases. B-B-E travels to Upsala tomorrow for an important sub-section game. The Cardinals are currently 4-9 overall (1-6 Prairie Conference) and the No. 4-ranked team in Sub-Section 6A-South.

At Morris, the B-B-E Jaguars track and field teams had very good showings tonight in their first eight-team meet of the spring. Multiple Jaguar student-athletes beat personal records!

Video from Morris to come.

Here's video featuring sophomore Sam Mastey running through the 300 hurdles tonight in Morris:


Here's video from the girls' pole vault event...to start the clip, Grace Jackson is shown clearing the bar. I don't know what height it was at.


More to come later.

Today (Thursday) in sports

The B-B-E Jaguars baseball team hosts Upsala/Swanville Area in a big Section 6A match up. That starts at 4:30 p.m. in Elrosa. The U/SA Patriots are 13-2 overall and the top-ranked team in Sub-Section 6A-South. The Jaguars are currently the third-ranked team at 8-8 overall.

The B-B-E Jaguars boys' golf team competes at the Benson Golf Club today. They are looking to gain momentum as they head into the Section 5A tournament beginning next week.

The B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team hosts Sauk Centre today in a non-conference game. First pitch is set for 4:15 p.m. at the elementary diamond. They are also looking to gain momentum as they gear up for playoffs. The Sub-Section 6A-South tournament starts on June 1.

The B-B-E Jaguars track and field teams compete at Morris at the University of Minnesota-Morris campus. The meet is set for 4 p.m. although field events may start sooner.

It's exciting to look across the border to the west and see that in South Dakota, they reported just 38 new COVID-19 cases in a state of almost 900,000 people. (That's yesterday's report.) In their state, they never forced children to be masked during sports competition. Not for one second. 

Legitimately

I am legitimately taking today off from blogging or reporting of any kind! Just some regular Wednesday office paperwork, and that's it. I finally have a day of rest before I jump back into the storm and start preparing the May 27 issue for press!

One comment: if you can, please put the Memorial Weekend parade in Grove Lake on your calendar! It would be a wonderful event to take in with your family. You can see that and other local events at the Bonanza Valley Voice community calendar (page 2 every week) or online at (short link): https://bit.ly/3hF0Hhy. (Helpful note: the Memorial Parade is Sunday, May 30 at 1 p.m. in Grove Lake.) That's the last item posted right now on the web calendar.

I've got some updating to do with the online web calendar. That will happen tomorrow. I am excited to get some graduation video clips posted tomorrow as well.

The family garden is calling!

Fastpitch Jaguars defeat A-C-GC

The B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team made it a series sweep against Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City today. The Jaguars won 17-7 in six innings. More technical issues at the office...hoping to get video posted soon.

Next: the Jaguars host neighboring rival Sauk Centre on Thursday this week. First pitch is at 4:15 p.m., as this game has been moved earlier somewhat due to scheduling issues for the umpires.

*Here's video from tonight's game:


No results yet from the track meet at ACGC.

Monday night results

The B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team lost a well-played game by a 9-2 score to undefeated Browerville, who is now 10-0 overall. The Jaguars host Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City tomorrow in a Central Minnesota Conference game at 4:30 p.m.

At Kingery Field in Atwater, the B-B-E Jaguars baseball team lost 10-0 in six innings to the A-C-GC Falcons. The game was scoreless until the Falcons scored one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. A-C-GC (13-2, 9-2) then put up five runs in the fifth and four more in the sixth to end the game early. Josh Kingery fired a one-hitter, earning 16 strikeouts with no walks. B-B-E fell to 6-8 in the CMC and 8-8 overall.

I want to start plugging this event coming a month from now in Elrosa...for youth baseball players in the area. Click to read about the Starz of Tomorrow Baseball Academy youth camp on Friday, June 25: https://www.starzbaseballcamp.com/camps/detail.php?campid=101.

I'm writing up an Elrosa Saints baseball story and this jumped out at me. How good was the pitching on Sunday? So good that each team had just one batter walked all game. In a grand total of 68 at bats in the nine-inning game, just two walks were issued.

Today (Monday) in sports

The B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team hosts Browerville at 4:30 p.m. They also have a home game tomorrow with Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City.

The B-B-E Jaguars baseball team travels to Atwater to Kingery Field to play the A-C-GC Falcons in a Central Minnesota Conference game. First pitch is at 4:30 p.m., and the JV team plays at the ACGC high school. The Jaguars are 8-7 overall and 6-7 (fifth) in the CMC. Royalton is leading the CMC with a 10-2 record, while A-C-GC is in second place at 8-2.

The B-B-E Jaguars boys' golf team participates in an 18-hole invitational at Koronis Hills golf club in Paynesville. They also golf at an invitational at Benson later this week on Thursday.

The B-B-E Jaguars track and field team's next meet is tomorrow at A-C-GC high school. They travel to Morris on Thursday. The regular season concludes with the CMC championships at Maple Lake on Tuesday, May 25.

The next event for the Minnewaska/Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa girls' golf team is the Section 3AA "preview" meet on Thursday, May 20 at Oakdale Golf Club in rural Buffalo Lake.

Sunburg Syttende Mai (VIDEO)

I'll get some video posted here from yesterday in Sunburg. It was a great day! The weather was outstanding. For the record, the Sunburg Fire Department served upwards of 450 at the hamburger feed that followed the grand parade. Also, The Local Pantry in Brooten supplied the potato salad for the supper, and I learned today that they used 125 pounds of it! That's awesome!

Click on the following short link and you will be re-directed to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website, where I've got the full grand parade video posted: https://bit.ly/3w9Tzhh.

In a new blog post, I'll get today's sports schedule up.

Saints win again! It was a nailbiter

A nail-biter played out today in Elrosa, where the Saints amateur baseball team prevailed 3-2 over visiting Richmond in a Stearns County League contest. Elrosa led 2-0 after the first inning, and the Royals got on the board with one run in the top of the seventh. The Saints added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth, and Richmond tacked on one more run in the top of the ninth to fall short. The Saints overcame two errors against an error-free Royals defense. Richmond also out-hit the Saints by an 8-to-7 margin.

Ethan Vogt got the win on the mound in eight and two-thirds innings. He fired 115 pitches and earned four strikeouts with one earned run and one walk given up.

Next: the Saints, 3-3 overall and 3-2 in the SCL, host Meire Grove one week from today on Sunday, May 23 for a 1:30 p.m. game.

More to come tonight. It's time to drive back to Sunburg! Remember: the grand parade starts at 3:30 p.m.

UPDATE: here's a link to click on so you can watch the grand parade! The 36 minute long video has been uploaded and is ready to view = https://bit.ly/3w9Tzhh. It has been a grand, grand, wonderful day in Sunburg, Minnesota.

Tomorrow: the B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team hosts Browerville in a key Section 5A match up at 4:30 p.m. at the elementary diamond. Browerville is currently 9-0 and the top-ranked team in Sub-Section 6A-North. The Jaguars begin the playoffs as part of Sub-Section 6A-South.

Saints in the win column again (And please go to Sunburg today!)

On Saturday morning at New Munich, the Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team got back in the win column with a 6-1 win over the Silverstreaks. B-B-E Class of 2019 graduate Peyton VanBeck earned the complete-game pitching win with eight strikeouts and four hits. Younger brother Will VanBeck had a two-RBI double, and Kevin Kuefler and Peyton Winter each earned two hits to help lead the offense.

They evened their Stearns County League North record to 2-2 with the win. The Saints (2-3 overall) host Richmond today at 11 a.m.

Today is a fast and furious day!!!...mostly centered around Syttende Mai festivities in Sunburg. Remember! The grand parade is at 3:30 p.m. I encourage you to bring the family to watch! It's our area's first full town celebration parade since 2019. The schedule was published this week on page 6. Also, it was a full-page ad on page 7 in the May 6 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

Also! The Chippewa Falls Lutheran church has a drive-through/take-out Syttende Mai Norwegian smorgasbord dinner. Their advertisement was on page 5 this week, and they serve today from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Below is video featuring the graduation seniors car parade on their last jaunt through Brooten before they traveled to Elrosa on Friday night:


They were an excited bunch! We are so proud of our 2021 B-B-E high school graduates!

More to come.

(LIVE VIDEO) High school graduation

Here's the link to view tonight's graduation = https://bit.ly/3uNSonq. It begins at 7:30 p.m. at the high school gymnasium. *It has been moved indoors due to the threat of rain.

*Saturday NOTE: we are working on the technical difficulties as of Saturday afternoon. I think we are making progress! Stay tuned. If you didn't hear, we had an AWESOME graduation ceremony last night! The fireworks were really, really great! Fingers crossed...hope to get video posted here tonight.

ALSO: the Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team was in New Munich this morning. They return to the home diamond in Elrosa to host Richmond on Sunday, May 16 at 11 a.m.

ALSO: remember that tomorrow is the big day in Sunburg! Syttende Mai, the town's 16th annual celebration of Norwegian Independence Day.

More to come later. The garden is yelling at me.

(LIVE VIDEO) B-B-E Class of 2021 graduation

The Class of 2021 graduation ceremony is tonight, Friday, May 14...the graduating kids left Brooten in the senior parade at 18:10. They'll get back to Belgrade before 7 p.m.

Also! Here's where you can go to see the live video player of graduation. The ceremony has been moved indoors = (short link) https://bit.ly/3ojUoBi. It will begin at 7:30 p.m.

High school students are asked to be at the high school by 7:15 p.m. to get lined up for the ceremony. Moving it indoors looks like a great idea, because after 7 p.m. the forecast calls for an 87% chance of rain in the B-B-E area.

High school graduation (LIVE VIDEO)

The Class of 2021 graduation ceremony is tonight, Friday, May 14...the graduating kids left Brooten in the senior parade at 18:10. They'll get back to Belgrade before 7 p.m.

Also! Here's where you can go to see the live video player of graduation. The ceremony has been moved indoors = (short link) https://bit.ly/3ojUoBi. It will begin at 7:30 p.m.

High school students are asked to be at the high school by 7:15 p.m. to get lined up for the ceremony.

(LIVE VIDEO) B-B-E graduation is tonight *Moved indoors!

Click on this link to the Bonanza Valley Voice website to see the video player that goes "live" at 7 p.m. tonight. (short link) https://bit.ly/3eNVeDr.

The footage starting at 7 p.m. will be a slideshow of photos of the seniors.

I will get updates posted here that show when the seniors leave Brooten and when they leave Elrosa, so we know approximately when they'll arrive in Belgrade.

*UPDATE: the students left Brooten at 18:10 sharp...and! Please pass the word that the graduation ceremony has been moved indoors due to the threat of rain.

Thursday action recap: CMC sweep

Thanks in large part to a five-spot put up in the top of the second inning, the B-B-E Jaguars baseball team earned a 10-2 win in game one of their doubleheader at Irish Stadium in Maple Lake yesterday. B-B-E had eight hits to seven for the Irish. In game two, the Jaguars out-hit the Irish by a 9-to-2 margin to earn a 4-2 win and complete the series sweep. This lifts the Jaguars above .500 to 8-7 overall (6-7 Central Minnesota Conference).

More to come later this morning. Time to get ready for my radio show in Glenwood...starts at about 9:15 a.m. on Smooth Magic 107 FM (here's the web link = https://www.kmgk1071.com. You can listen via their website!)

The B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team lost two games to conference-leading Maple Lake on Thursday. They fell 15-0 in the first game and 12-0 in the second game.

And graduation is tonight! I'll get more on that posted this afternoon. It will be live streamed, and it begins at 7:30 p.m. Life is still in the fast lane.

Here's video from the fastpitch game:


That's it for this blog post.

The new number is FOUR! (May 13 COVID)

For some reason this blog has experienced technical issues. Néw posts aren't visible. We're working on it. Graduation was held on Friday night, and it was awesome!!!! Here's the web article that included the live video player: (short link) https://bit.ly/3uOXqjN. For now I will have to post updates at that web article while I keep trouble-shooting what's happening to my Jaguars Sports blog.

*Here's video from the fastpitch doubleheader on Thursday night:

**Note: this is the fourth of four new blog posts for today (as of mid-afternoon).

The new weekly number is FOUR for the B-B-E zip code area of Belgrade, Brooten and Elrosa. In today's MDH weekly COVID case number report for the period of May 6 to May 12, the Brooten 56316 area with 1,466 citizens reported a total of one new case. For Belgrade 56312, their population of 2,622 reported three new cases.

As has been the trend since mid-December, Elrosa 56325 has reported no new COVID cases. That population totals 197. B-B-E's zip code area totals about 4,285 children and adults. Cumulative, since January 2020, this area has reported 475 "confirmed" or "probably" cases of COVID-19. That works out to about 11 percent of the population.

Brooten's 1,466 people have had 153 total cases for 10.437% saturation. Belgrade's 2,622 people have had 305 total cases for 11.63% saturation. Elrosa's saturation rate is 8.63%, where it's been since December. (Is that enough for herd immunity? Appears so!)

I just learned that active COVID cases in South Dakota fell below 1,000 for the first time since  August 7, 2020. As of yesterday, South Dakota reports 936 active COVID cases. They also reported just 81 new cases today compared to 1,011 for Minnesota. Our state population is about 6.3 times higher than South Dakota. If you do the math, our per-capita COVID case number growth today is twice that of South Dakota, where they've had far fewer restrictions in place than we have this past spring. ALSO the majority of their school districts do not have mandatory mask rules in place for school children. And they've NEVER REQUIRED student athletes to wear masks during competition. But...their state health department isn't ran by insane people like we have at the Minnesota Department of Health.

**UPDATE: well, well, well! We are on par with South Dakota, finally, in one area...in regards to masking, either tomorrow or Saturday, Minnesota's mass masking mandate ends - this was announced tonight by Governor Walz. I do enjoy having to retract complaints about those in power! It is tremendous when those in power LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE.

BAM! And just like that, I've caught up on a ton of blogging. You've got some reading to do with today's new posts!

West Central Conference champions!

The Minnewaska/Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa girls' golf team has earned the 2021 West Central Conference championship. They repeat as champions after winning the WCC in 2019, the last season of girls' golf. The M/B-B-E girls' golfers won the final WCC meet held on Wednesday (yesterday) at the Benson Golf Club. They shot a 191 to beat second-place Melrose Area's score of 202. B-B-E's Paige Rupp scored a 50, and B-B-E's Morgan Schwinghammer scored a 51.

Earning the co-medalist title were Minnewaska's Annika Stensrud and Benson's Alissa Maurer, each shooting a 44.

I'm still tracking down overall WCC team standings.

Today (Thursday) in Jaguar Sports (VIDEO)

The B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team hosts Maple Lake (12-2, 8-0) in a Central Minnesota Conference doubleheader today. Action begins at the elementary school diamond at 4 p.m. I haven't seen fastpitch action in awhile, in fact, the last fastpitch game I watched was on April 29.

The B-B-E Jaguars baseball team travels to Maple Lake for a doubleheader that also starts at 4 p.m. They play at Irish Stadium, which also hosts their amateur baseball team at 215 Oak Avenue South.

Here's a long video clip that begins in the top of the fifth inning during last Satudray night's game against Sauk Centre in Elrosa:


One more new blog post coming today that announces the new weekly COVID case numbers, as well as announcing the girls' golf conference champions.

Winter post-season awards

The crazy pandemic school year continues, and now in mid-May we are getting post-season winter awards. That's not a criticism of anyone involved, just stating that up is down and down is up, but we are getting through it! We are getting through it and keeping our heads up. Today is the last school day of B-B-E's 2020-2021 school year. It is incredible how well we all got through it.

Here's some B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball conference awards...Central Minnesota Conference 1st Team All-Conference: Luke Dingmann, Ashton Dingmann, Kaden Pieper; and the 2nd Team All-Conference honors are to Will VanBeck and Ryan Schwinghammer.

I'll get more posted here as I learn of the awards. A new blog post is coming with updates on today's varsity events.

Getting back on track

The graduation section has been published with information on all 48 graduating seniors at BBE. It's always a difficult project to complete, and this year was no different.

All I found was one big mistake in the paper's layout. That was on page 16 in a photo caption. 

Central Minnesota Conference champions!

For the first time in 18 years, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' golf team has earned the Central Minnesota Conference title. The Jaguars won the final CMC meet today in an 18-hole invitational at The Lynx National Golf Course in Sauk Centre. They scored a 324 to beat second-place Kimball/Eden Valley-Watkins, who had a 334. 

I also learned that the Minnewaska/B-B-E girls' golf team has a huge lead in the race for the West Central Conference title. More on that later.

*Update: the B-B-E Jaguars baseball team came away with a split in their CMC home doubleheader with Paynesville Area today. The Jaguars won 10-9 in game one over the Bulldogs and then fell 8-2 in game two.

Today in sports

Today the B-B-E Jaguars baseball team hosts Paynesville in a doubleheader starting at 4 p.m. in Elrosa. Also, we have a home track and field meet starting at 3:30 p.m.

The varsity fastpitch team is at Paynesville.

More to come.

Boys' golf maintains first place

The B-B-E Jaguars boys' golf team is down to the final 18 holes of the Central Minnesota Conference schedule with their eyes still set on the championship. They had a strong finish to take co-champion honors with Osakis at Koronis Hills of Paynesville today with a score of 174. That maintained their 17-stroke lead over the Silverstreaks in the CMC race.

More to come later tonight. Brooten city council and a host of other activities is chewing up my day.

Sunday action, catching up

The Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team fell by a 7-1 score in a home game today with New Munich. Ty Reller was overpowering on the mound for the Silverstreaks to handcuff the Saints at the plate.

Elrosa (1-3, 1-2) is next in action at New Munich next Saturday, May 15 at 1:30 p.m.

*Here's a four-plus minute video clip from the Sauk Centre win last night:


More to come either later tonight or in the morning. We're continuing to play catch-up here at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

Second straight win (VIDEO added)

The B-B-E Jaguars baseball team won another close game to wrap up the Max Bats wood bat invitational by defeating neighboring rival Sauk Centre 7-5 on Saturday night. The Jaguars led 2-0 after the first inning and then 5-3 after two innings were complete. After going ahead 6-3, the Jaguars gave up two runs to the Mainstreeters. They then scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Wyatt Steffensen got the pitching win with four-and-one third innings of work with four hits, five strikeouts, six walks and three earned runs. Will VanBeck was the closer, and he gave up no hits, no runs, three walks and five strikeouts.

Leading the Jaguars with two hits each were Blaine Fischer, Peyton Winter and Gavin Kampsen. Kampsen and Luke Dingmann each had one extra base hit, both doubles.  

B-B-E is now 5-6 overall heading into next week's action; next is a home doubleheader with Paynesville back in Elrosa on Tuesday, May 11. The Bulldogs are 6-3 overall and 3-3 in the Central Minnesota Conference.

*Here's video from tonight's game that was posted on Sunday afternoon:

The newest teams in the CMC, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City and Royalton, are both leading the pack at 6-1 and 7-2, respectively.

Sauk Centre fell to 2-7 overall with their fifth straight loss. They lost 12-0 to Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg on Friday night.

(HD VIDEO) Walk off winners...and golf update

The B-B-E Jaguars baseball team got back on the winning track with an exciting extra-inning win over Browerville.

Trailing 3-1 going into the bottom of the seventh, the Jaguars tied the game at 3-3 to force an extra inning. The game winner was scored in the bottom of the eighth on no outs when Blaine Fischer ripped a base hit to right center field to score Will VanBeck from third base.

Here's video from last night from the bottom of the seventh:


**And! Here's the exciting video featuring the bottom of the eighth inning:

The Max Bats Invitational continues today in Elrosa. Today the first game is a JV contest between Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg and Browerville. The K-M-S and Browerville varsity teams then play at 1 p.m., and a JV game between B-B-E and Sauk Centre starts at 3:30 p.m. The night cap is a varsity border battle between the Jaguars and Mainstreeters.

The B-B-E Jaguars boys' golf team has opened up a 17-stroke lead over second-place Osakis in the race for the Central Minnesota Conference title. They have 27 holes left to golf before a champion is crowned. With four meets complete, the Jaguars have a cumulative score of 687 compared to 704 for Osakis. They golf nine rounds on Monday and the final 18 rounds on Tuesday. The Monday golf action will take place at Koronis Golf Course of Paynesville. Greystone of Sauk Centre hosts the final 18 holes to wrap up the conference slate.

In a CMC meet at Kimball on Thursday, Gannon Walsh finished in a three-way tie for first place as a tri-medalist. Walsh plus Chase Triebenbach of Osakis and Luke Ashbrook of K/EVW all shot 39s. The Jaguars earned a valuable win over Osakis with a score of 174 compared to 188 for the Silverstreaks, who took third. In second place was Kimball/Eden Valley-Watkins with a 184. Paynesville took fourth with a 196, and Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City was fifth with a 217.

More to come later.

Friday night updates

The varsity baseball team hosts the Max Bats Invitational tonight and tomorrow. The Jaguars face Browerville at 7 p.m. tonight.

I won't get more updates here until after dark.

*The Jaguars beat Browerville 4-3 in eight innings! More to come in the morning.

Thursday sports update

On Tuesday in a doubleheader at Watkins, the B-B-E Jaguars baseball team lost 12-4 and 8-4 to fall to 3-4 overall. Today the Jaguars host Royalton at Elrosa starting at 4 p.m., and they will play two games with the Royals.

The B-B-E Jaguars boys' golf team is at Kimball for a CMC meet today.

The B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team has a CMC doubleheader at Royalton today.

I'll check out the Minnewaska/B-B-E girls' golf schedule and report back. *The M/B-B-E girls' golfers host a non-conference invitational tomorrow at the Minnewaska Golf Club starting at 11 a.m. Other schools included are Detroit Lakes, Kimball/Eden Valley-Watkins, Lac qui Parle Valley, Osakis, Pequot Lakes, Rogers and Staples-Motley.

Today was the National Day of Prayer. I find that important, although it snuck up on me and I was unable to give mention to it in the newspaper last week or this week.

Five is our new number: it is progress!

The new COVID-19 case number for the approximately 4,285 people living in the zip code areas of Belgrade, Brooten and Elrosa (56316, 56312, 56325) is five. The number five is broken down with one new case reported in the 2,622 people of Belgrade 56312 and four new cases reported in the 1,466 people of Brooten 56316.

As has been the case since mid-December, Elrosa 56325 (197 people) has no new COVID-19 cases reported in the past week.

These figures are for the period of April 29 to May 5.

*Worth noting: for Paynesville's zip code area (56362), they saw a huge spike of new cases reported for April 29 with 36 new cases. For the May 6 report, their new case number was just 13.

On the other hand, Sunburg went up by five for the May 6 report. Nearby Kerkhoven had nine new cases, and nearby Pennock had six new cases. The ebb and flow continues.

More to come with sports in a new blog post.

Boys' golf second at Lakeview

At the Lakeview Invitational today, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' golf team ended up in second place by just one stroke over host and team champion Lakeview. The Jaguars shot a 365, while the Lakers shot a 364.

In a home game with Eden Valley-Watkins, the B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team fell 16-4 in five innings to the Eagles.

Today in sports

The B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team hosts Eden Valley-Watkins for a lone Central Minnesota Conference game at 4:30 p.m. at the elementary diamond. That's the only home varsity action today in Jaguar Country.  The game will be aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood.

The B-B-E Jaguars junior high football team hosts Holdingford at 4:30 p.m.

More to come tonight.

Boys' golf at Kimball

The B-B-E Jaguars boys' golf team edged host Kimball/Eden Valley-Watkins today in an 18-hole invitational at Kimball Golf Club. Led by senior Peyton Winter's score of 85, the Jaguars shot 358 to take fifth place over. K/EV-W shot a 395 for sixth place. Buffalo, a Class 3A school, won the team title with a 345.

Community calendar updated (*and Band/Choir concert)

There are important updates finally added to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website's community calendar...because, well, we are finally in May! Here's a short link to view that: https://bit.ly/2QHMJRf.

Many irons in the fire, although no home varsity sports today...the band and choir concert is tonight. I'll find the live video player and get that added in a new blog post.

Update: I found the link to view it, although I don't have an embed code...here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDyDYzg1cGg.

If you are...

If you are a parent, please hug your children a little bit longer this week than you usually would. 

If you're married, hug your spouse a little bit tighter than you usually would.

Let's continue making a world that the fallen among us would be proud of.

Saints suffer first loss

The Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team lost 8-2 on Saturday at Spring Hill. They host Dassel-Cokato at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday for their third game of the season and first out of Stearns County League play.

The D-C Saints are 0-1 this year. They lost 8-7 to the Watertown Devils on Friday night in their season opener.

(HD VIDEO) Joe's funeral

**Better-quality video with significantly sharper audio can be found here that also does not have buffering or delays from low Internet speed that hampered the live video stream. For example, at the 45-minute mark of the video embedded here, Father Jeff speaks, and in the live stream it was difficult to hear him. Part of the funeral was not included in this higher-quality recording, and it begins when the lessons were read by Mrs. Carol Sanders.

The live stream had nearly 100 viewers. When I looked as I took down my computer equipment, it said 93 cumulative viewers to that point.

Here's the video recorded in medium-quality HD at Elrosa:


The Mass of Christian Burial worship was very well attended. The funeral home staff said they had a count of over 275.

*Father Jeff's Homily on Joe begins at about the 9-minute mark into the funeral video.

Time to get in the garden! I don't think I'll make it over to Spring Hill for the baseball game. I'll try to get to tomorrow's home game in Elrosa.

Saturday town team action

The Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team travels to neighboring rival Spring Hill in a Stearns County League North game on Saturday afternoon. First pitch at Chargers Stadium is at 1:30 p.m.

Regal will host Watkins on Saturday afternoon, and first pitch at Buddy Beier Field is also at 1:30 p.m.

On Sunday, Elrosa hosts Dassel-Cokato in an exhibition game at 1:30 p.m. Roscoe travels to Lake Henry on Sunday for a 1:30 p.m. Stearns County League South contest.