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!
Monday, July 31, 2023
B-B-E high school tours during August Fest
BBE High school tours during August Fest
The public is invited to take in guided tours of the renovated Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa high school in Belgrade during the upcoming August Fest weekend. A major draw to the high school is a newly unveiled historical picture mural that visitors will see the moment they walk into the new entry, which is located coming off of the northeast parking lot. Tours led by school staff will take place from 2:30 - 3:30 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday, August 11-12. They do not last the full hour, and visitors may come and go as they are able to during that time. If you haven't been in the building over the past two years, you will notice a whole host of exciting changes to what BBE high school offers students in grades 6 to 12!
It's been a busy weekend with Jake's Day at the Belgrade sportsmen's shooting range, the Stearns County Fair and then the outdoor Mass held at Saints Field this morning in Elrosa. Clean up also has continued in Brooten in the aftermath of Tuesday night's storm.
Here's video of a member of B-B-E's Class of 2032 at the rifle range yesterday morning at Jake's Day:
The outdoor Mass today drew upwards of 500 worshipers to Saints Field in Elrosa. It was a wonderful experience to take in!
Video from Elrosa:
In that video, the final song is performed by the choir and crowd. Unfortunately, the video camera went dead before the song was completed. Look for more coverage in this week's Voice.
Reason No. 1,875 why the land of Rocks and Cows is the best place to live and raise a family! This reason I'm talking about is Jake's Day, an annual youth shooting/gun safety/conservation event sponsored by the Bonanza Valley Royal Strutters organization. This event runs until noon/12:30 at the Belgrade Sportsmen's shooting range.
Here's Joanna Carroll with her dad firing a muzzleloader rifle last year:
This is sponsored by a record-high 78 area businesses!!! Outstanding! Can you believe it? Last year they had 75 sponsors. It has been advertised all throughout the month of July in the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. And yes, I am one of those proud sponsors.
Here's a video from yesterday at the Stearns County Fair with Gig Noonan performing on the Sauk Centre Herald stage:
The Stearns County Fair continues today in Sauk Centre and concludes tomorrow (Sunday) at 6 p.m. The full schedule of events is in this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper on page 7.
The heavy lift continues in Brooten! (VIDEO) And the fair is underway!
So much to get caught up on! And the temperature is hovering near 90 degrees. As they say in Sunburg: UffDa!
Storm cleanup continues locally, and I am beyond impressed with the work everyone is doing, especially those helping the elderly and others who are not flush with their own family's built-in labor. The land of Rocks and Cows is the best place to live!! I still have more video to get to. We are in the midst of a heavy lift with getting regular work done plus clean up.
*Here's footage from southeastern Brooten about one hour after the July 25 storm had passed over town:
The Stearns County Fair is underway in Sauk Centre. Today is the first full day of events. I hope you can take in part of the fair with friends and family! Read more here: https://tinyurl.com/33p7fnva. A video was added to that web article featuring footage from the Stearns County Fair's Ferris wheel ride on July 31, 2021.
At approximately 11 p.m. on Tuesday night, the Bonanza Valley area got hit by a massive wind and rain storm.
I've lost count of how many trees I've seen snapped down in Brooten. It was wild. Highway 55 is still blocked with a downed power line as of 1:00 a.m.
On a brighter note, our family garden was battered but I believe it is salvageable for the most part. Other gardens in town did not fare as well.
Power on the newspaper's side of Main Street, Brooten has been out since about 11:30 p.m., and I was fortunate enough to get my computers set up at the Brooten Fire Hall so I can finish the newspaper on time! The wonders of modern technology has allowed me to stay on track!
Speaking of technology...the city of Brooten has multiple downed power lines all over town. Unofficially, there are 15 downed power lines as of 3 a.m. that will cause severe injury or death for anyone who comes into contact with them at just the wrong time.
As of 7 a.m., a huge portion of Brooten has no power. I am happy to report that the Brooten Bakery and the KaDe Shack have power!!! THAT is very good news for our town as we attempt to clean up.
That's all for now. I will get video posted later this afternoon. Currently I am pushing through what they call an "All Nighter" and have not slept since Tuesday morning.
**By 2:30 p.m., the newspapers were delivered to the Brooten Post Office!!! Success!! This was a huge, huge success.
Here's a video from downtown Brooten as the eye of the storm hit:
The clean up that's taken place in Brooten today has been amazing to witness.
Playoff division championship! Saints secure another title (VIDEO)
Video finally added here on Monday morning...
It's a renewed rivalry game today at New Munich, as the Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team is set to face Spring Hill in the Stearns County League North playoff championship. First pitch is at high noon!
MidMNsports-dot-com will live stream the game on their website.
Updates... Through two innings, the Saints have a 4-1 lead over the Chargers. Devon Orbeck's RBI-single in the top of the first gave the Chargers an initial 1-0 lead.
**Through 4 1/2 innings, the game is tied 4-4.
**Final: Elrosa 6, Spring Hill 5. The Saints won in walk-off fashion in the bottom of the ninth inning! Ashton Dingmann's RBI-single scored Blaine Fischer for the winning run. A solo home run in the bottom of the fifth by Derek Wiener sparked the offense after the Chargers tied it at 4-4. You can see that in the video below.
Now 15-3-1 overall, Elrosa takes the number one seed from the North Division into the region tournament. Ashton Dingmann also closed for Elrosa and earned the win in 5 innings with 4 hits, 1 earned run and just 2 walks. Elrosa had 13 hits to 7 by the Chargers.
Starting pitcher Riley Meyer limited Spring Hill to 3 hits and one run in the first three innings.
*Here's video from today's game in the bottom of the fifth, during which Derek Wiener hit his solo homer over left-center:
The Region 15C opener for the Saints is at 1:30 p.m. in Lake Henry on Saturday, August 5. Please spread the word!
*In the division elimination game, the Silverstreaks are ahead one to zero over Greenwald. Final: New Munich 10, Greenwald 0. Elrosa opens the Region 15C tournament with New Munich on August 5 (1:30 p.m.).
In the SCL-South, Richmond earned the No. 3 seed to regions with an 8-1 win over Roscoe today. Earlier, St. Martin defeated Lake Henry in another fantastic game by a 3-1 score to secure the No. 1 seed out of the south.
A determined, gritty Greenwald Cubs team came to town today for a border battle to open the Stearns County League North division playoffs. After drawing first blood with one run in the top of the third, the Cubs fell behind 5-1 in the bottom of the third when Gavin Kampsen hit a grand slam home run over the left field fence at Saints Field. His one-out bomb, which sailed 5 to 10 feet above the fence, gave the Saints a 5-1 lead.
**Here's a video featuring Kampsen rounding the bases and being greeted back at the dugout:
Down the stretch, the bats came alive for the Saints, who finished with two doubles and one triple to go with Kampsen's grand slam. Elrosa joins St. Martin as two SCL teams with tickets to the Region 15C tournament in Lake Henry/St. Martin in August.
Final: Elrosa 12, Greenwald 3. Ethan Vogt pitched six innings for the win with five strikeouts, one walk and three earned runs. Ashton Dingmann earned the save in three innings with just one hit, no walks and three strikeouts. Overall, the Saints had 12 hits to 10 for the Cubs.
NEXT: the Saints play in the division championship at noon tomorrow, July 23, at New Munich. Their opponent will be the winner of this afternoon's game between New Munich and Spring Hill. First pitch at the Silverstreaks' stadium is at 2:30 p.m.
At St. Martin last night, the host Martins defeated Richmond 3-2 in walk-off fashion after trailing 2-0 to earn a spot in the region tournament.
UPDATE on my Bonanza Valley Days coverage...we are entering the final week with BVD coverage to publish in the newspaper. The July 27 issue will have additional coverage from the BVD kiddie parade, kids pedal pull, Scouts BSA Waffle Feed, the Miss Brooten program and the grand parade. So far at the newspaper's SmugMug photo gallery, the BVD photo totals is 855 pictures from the big four-day celebration in Brooten. Of that total 371 uploaded photos are from the BVD grand parade. The direct link to the SmugMug folder that has all the BVD galleries is: https://bonanzavalley.smugmug.com/2023-B-B-EBonanza-Valley-area-events.
Today we have the Elrosa Saints hosting their playoff opener at 11 a.m., and the Belgrade Lions third annual golf tournament is being held in Brooten with a shot gun start at 11 a.m.
Baseball updates to follow.
**Through four innings, the Saints hold a 7-3 lead over Greenwald.
Final score: Elrosa 12, Greenwald 3. The Saints play next tomorrow in New Munich at noon in the division playoff championship.
*Update: Spring Hill defeated New Munich today to advance to the region tournament. They face our Saints tomorrow for the division playoff title.
Roscoe lost 8-3 to Lake Henry today, so the Lakers are also advancing to Regions, which they host.
Gary Fauskee Memorial golf tournament, BVD Walk-Run (VIDEOS)
The fifth annual Gary Fauskee Memorial golf tournament was held on Saturday of the Bonanza Valley Days weekend in Brooten. Additional coverage was published in the July 13 and July 20 issues of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. In the July 20 issue, a picture of the winning team was published.
*Below is a video of Glenn Miller speaking before the tournament got started that morning at Prairie View Community Golf Course:
Gary Fauskee, a 1976 Brooten high school graduate, was a four-sport student-athlete who quarterbacked the Buccaneers football team in his 11th and 12th grade seasons. He was a full-time starter in the fall of 1975 as a senior under head coach Keith Krebsbach.
The Bonanza Valley Days Walk-Run event had a great turnout with 61 participants this year. The B-B-E Wrestling Club organizes this event each summer, and it was held on Saturday, July 8 near St. Donatus Catholic church in Brooten.
Here's a video recorded at the start of the event:
The Tim Zimmerman and the Kings Brass performance tonight at the Brooten Pavilion was unbelievably good! Their group includes B-B-E Class of 2009 graduate Dr. Tony Sanders, who is a professor at Winona State University. It would be very difficult to pin down which was my favorite song of the night. They were that good. Their final song was a throwback to the Big Band era of the 1940s. The whole show wrapped up right at 9:10 p.m. Members of Trinity and West Lake Johanna Lutheran churches should be very proud for helping make this happen.
Here's the opening song of their second act tonight:
I'm very proud of the support our community showed tonight for this musical show! The crowd approached 200, and at least 27 different songs were performed. Additional coverage will be published in the July 27 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.
It's that time of the year! The B-B-E Jaguars football team will start selling softener salt tomorrow, June 19. They will deliver, fill the softeners and take the trash back out with them when they're done! For anyone interested, please contact any football player, or they can call Coach Moscho and leave a message: 320-254-8211, Ext. 1148.
Thank you for the support!
The 2023 season opener is on Friday, September 1 at Bagley high school with kickoff at 7 p.m. (In case you were wondering, it's a three-hour drive on a total of 162 miles; Highway 71 up to Park Rapids seems to be the best route...and it will run about $38 of gas in my Buick round trip!) The home opener is two weeks later against Benson.
Belgrade city council, B-B-E school board meets tonight
The Belgrade city council meets in regular session tonight. The full meeting agenda can be found at the newspaper's editor's blog by clicking here: https://tinyurl.com/4yn6647y. It is also great to see that the Belgrade Royal Ambassador program will have two ambassador candidates running plus three junior ambassador candidates. The Belgrade Royal Ambassador program is on Saturday, August 13 following the grand parade.
The B-B-E school board meets at 7 p.m. tonight at the elementary media center in Brooten. Items on the agenda include discussion of the long-term facility maintenance plan and also policy revisions stemming from the 2023 Minnesota Legislative changes. That last item will be very interesting to take in. I am hopeful that St. Paul is not going to mess with our school district to the point that we have to protest what is coming. *Update on Tuesday: the policy revisions adopted include a point that clarifies parents' rights to know what is being taught in the school's curriculum.
Also! Remember that the Elrosa Saints open the division playoffs on Saturday at 11 a.m. on their home diamond against neighboring Greenwald.
The Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team is playing at Spring Hill today to wrap up the regular season. After the first inning, the Chargers led 2-0. At stake in the game is possession of The Keg between the two teams. Beyond that, all that is on the table is pride, as the playoff seeding for the top three teams is finalized for the Stearns County League North division.
Elrosa went 10-3 in the SCL-North and takes a 13-3-1 overall record into the postseason.
Final score:Spring Hill 5, Elrosa 2. The visiting Saints finished with 3 hits and left 8 runners stranded. Spring Hill tallied 11 hits and left 7 runners on base.
Elrosa finished the regular season as SCL-North champions, while New Munich took second place. Spring Hill placed third, and they travel to New Munich on Saturday, July 22 for the division playoff opener.
NEXT: Elrosa hosts Greenwald on Saturday, July 22 in their playoff opener with first pitch at 11 a.m. at Saints Field!
New Munich won 12-1 in seven innings earlier today at Greenwald to wrap up their regular season.
The Richmond Royals won 7-0 today against visiting Farming today to clinch a playoff spot in the Stearns County League South division. They open the playoffs next Friday, July 21 at St. Martin in a night game.
St. Martin defeated Meire Grove 3-1 today, which ended Meire Grove's season.
The Brooten American Legion Post No. 288 baseball team entered the postseason as the No. 3 seed. Last Monday at Benson, Post No. 288 won at Benson-Hancock before losing in the winner's bracket to No. 1-seeded Glenwood-Lowry on Thursday night.
Last night in the sub-district championship series, Brooten suffered a heartbreaking 6-5 loss to Glenwood-Lowry to see their season conclude. If they won that game, they would have immediately played a second game last night in another must-win situation. Glenwood-Lowry now advanced to the West Central District tournament and plays in Parkers Prairie on Monday.
The full description of the playoff tournament for Brooten was the Division II West Central Sub-State Northeast pod. That is a mouthful, and I find it easier to just say "Sub-District" in my description.
Here's video from the fourth inning with Luke Illies pitching:
Today the Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team travels to Spring Hill for a 1:30 p.m. division game. This game will conclude their regular season.
Elrosa Saints win walk-off thriller, Legion Post 288 stays alive in sub-districts
The Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team has clinched the Stearns County League North division title, the 11th overall in program history. They did so tonight thanks to late-game heroics at the plate combined with speedy baserunning as they edged visiting New Munich by a 3-2 score. Blaine Fischer's RBI-single with no outs scored Will VanBeck from third base for the game winner.
New Munich had just tied the game with one run in the top of the ninth inning. Video from the end of the game is uploading.
Ethan Vogt started for Elrosa, and Will VanBeck was the closer. For New Munich, Ty Reller pitched all nine innings. Each team finished with 7 hits. Jackson Peter hit a solo home run in the bottom of the first.
*Here's video featuring the bottom of the ninth inning:
That was some rough video, but it's better than nothing. I had my Porsche camera in action for the first time at a night-time baseball game. I did not know what I was doing with it, although I have an idea now on what settings work best under baseball stadium lighting.
NEXT: the regular season concludes for Elrosa with a trip to neighboring rival Spring Hill on Sunday with a 1:30 p.m. contest.
Also, the Region 15C tournament will be hosted in Lake Henry with night games in St. Martin.
In a sub-district elimination game at Benson, the Brooten American Legion Post No. 288 baseball team defeated Benson/Hancock 4-1 to advance to the championship game. Luke Dingmann pitched a complete game with five strikeouts. They play tomorrow night at 6 p.m. at Minnewaska Area high school where they face Glenwood/Lowry. They need to win twice to advance to the district tournament.
COMING UP! The 121st annual Stearns County Fair is coming in Sauk Centre from July 26 to July 30. They will advertise in the Bonanza Valley Voice across the next two weeks.
With Bonanza Valley Days in the rear view mirror, more sports coverage can get posted in the next few weeks leading into the start of fall sports. BVD coverage is not over by any means, though, and the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper will have more on BVD in the July 20 and July 27 issues. Also coming: county fair coverage! More to follow.
The B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch 17-U team wraps up their summer season tonight at Osakis. First pitch is at 6 p.m.
The Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website is being updated later this afternoon. Http://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com. Three new web articles are added to the homepage as of this evening.
The 17-U double header is on hold at Osakis due to inclement weather. **It was cancelled...their season has concluded.
I learned from a friend that Belgrade received golf ball-sized hail that caused severe damage to property.
**In the winner's bracket of the Sub-District playoffs tonight, the Brooten American Legion baseball team lost 11-3 to Glenwood-Lowry. They play Friday night in Benson in an elimination game.
Tonight I stumbled onto the latest Minnesota Newspaper Association circulation figures that were compiled this past winter. The numbers show that the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper has circulation that makes it bigger than newspapers in Kimball, Paynesville, Kerkhoven, Benson, Clara City/Raymond, Clinton/Graceville, Eden Valley/Watkins, Granite Falls/Clarkfield, Long Prairie, Maple Lake, Minneota, Montevideo, Renville/Olivia, Redwood Falls, Wadena and Wheaton.
BVD grand parade, bean bag tourney and more from the weekend (VIDEOS)
Haven't had a chance to get through that much video or photos, and I'm still back on Friday mid-day for my Bonanza Valley Days photos...but here's a short clip of the B-B-E wrestling club and a local farm family in the BVD grand parade yesterday.
VIDEO:
*Here's a video before the Gary Fauskee Golf tournament got rolling on Saturday:
Added Tuesday morning...the BVD Bean Bag tournament saw a record turnout on Saturday night, and organizers ended up having to turn teams away after maxing out at 50 teams. It was unbelievable. The tournament itself lasted approximately four hours, and it ran remarkably well with just a couple hiccups.
Here's a video from the Final Four round as sunset approached:
The Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team made the most of a rare opportunity to play two home games on Sunday as they defeated both Lake Henry and Meire Grove to stay in the hunt for the Stearns County League North division title. In game one, the Saints beat Lake Henry 5-0 with Ethan Vogt earning the win in eight innings of work on the mound. In game two, the Saints won a thriller by a 4-3 score against Meire Grove with Will VanBeck earning the win in 7 innings.
Friday was Hall of Fame Night in Elrosa as the Saints were set to host Lake Henry. Retired player/manager Pat Illies, B-B-E Class of 1992, was inducted into the Hall of Fame. His late father, Duane, was also inducted posthumously as the Illies family was in the limelight for the incredible dedication and passion they have for the game of baseball and the Elrosa Saints program. Once the game got rolling, rain quickly interrupted the action, and it was called after the first inning before it restarted this afternoon.
NEXT: the Saints (12-2-1 overall, 9-2) host New Munich in a huge SCL-North division clash on Friday, July 14 with first pitch at 8 p.m.
That's all I've got for now. Time to shift back to the newspaper.
Miss Brooten royal court crowned for 2023-2024 (VIDEO LINK)
Here's the link to be able to watch the coronation program held today at the Brooten Pavilion: https://tinyurl.com/2skdu8db.
*Here's a short video from the Bonanza Valley Days Saturday night street dance held last night:
It's been a hell of a great weekend. That's just a fact! Also, it is never too early to start your plans to make BVD a huge success for next year! The dates for BVD 2024 are July 11, 12, 13 and 14.
I have much to get caught up on with the Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team (in a new blog post).
I don't have a winner written down, but I know that a team out of Osakis played a team led by 2018 graduate Nicole Wesbur in the championship match of the BVD Sand Volleyball tournament.
The Gary Fauskee Memorial golf tournament drew at least 22 teams.
**Here's video from today with just a few remaining snowmobiles on the north side of town:
Everything has gone far and away better than expected on Day III of Bonanza Valley Days 2024. The turnout is strong for Saturday night's street dance. This has been a great day for our small town!
Bonanza Valley Days youth baseball and more (VIDEOS*)
The B-B-E Jaguars 10-U baseball team took second place today at the Bonanza Valley Days youth tournament. They had an outstanding day! In the championship, the Jaguars lost 6-1 to a very good Willmar unit. B-B-E's opener against Minnewaska was a thriller, as they trailed 2-1 in the bottom of the fifth before scoring two runs and winning in walk-off fashion by a 3-2 score! The semifinals resulted in a 9-4 win against New London-Spicer's 9-U team.
Here's a post-game huddle with Coach Jesse Lieser and Coach Josh Eckstein after the Jaguars won in their first game of today's BVD tournament:
*Here's a video with Brooten fire fighters getting set up for the chicken BBQ last night:
Time to head to the Brooten Firemen's chicken BBQ supper!
UPDATE:they served nearly 700 at the chicken BBQ! We are receiving a light rain currently as of 8 p.m., and it appears that it'll be raining for the next hour or so. After that we should see clear skies by 10 p.m. Fingers crossed! We do need this rain.
**The Friday night Street dance will get started at about 9:30 p.m. on main street. By then the rain is supposed to dissipate. Multiple BVD updates are posted at the newspaper's website: https://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com.
And at 9:38 p.m., the semi trailer opened up, and DeeJay Sounds fired up the street dance!
The BVD Men's basketball tournament had 8 teams play at the elementary gym tonight. Coach Anderson was thrilled by the tournament that lasted right around 3 hours from start to finish. All teams had a great time and competed hard, which is all you can ask for with an adult team!
Remember! Tours of the elementary school will take place at 4 p.m. on Saturday! Read more here: https://tinyurl.com/67fj9zm2.
Final thoughts late Friday night...it was so wonderful to visit with a handful of children of the late Ozzie and Ruth Stepan. Throughout the day, a total of 8 of their 10 children were in Brooten throughout the day. Many of them were in the Brooten Pavilion tonight during the performing of polka music by Nathan's Old-Time Band of Albany. I had such a great time visiting with them!
With a limited supply, Bonanza Valley Days T-shirts are for sale at the newspaper office...details here! (Click) https://rb.gy/5b2id. The goal is to have them all sold by the end of Friday night! UPDATE on Thursday afternoon: the selection is running low for everything except adult XL, 2Xl and 3XL sizes! **Friday update: if you stop at the office for T-shirts, you will have to call my cell phone.
ALSO! A list of area job openings is listed at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website...you can see that by clicking here: https://rb.gy/a5sxv. Please pass the word!
Here's a link to read about the LifeLink III helicopter visit scheduled for tomorrow in Brooten: https://tinyurl.com/3nrv5uda.
I've got more updates on BVD posted at my editor's blog, which you can find by clicking here: https://tinyurl.com/2p835fbm.
Posted on Friday morning...the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website has a web article just added Friday that outlines all the food offerings across the final three days of BVD 2023. Click: https://tinyurl.com/ynaaehxh.
In baseball news...
Payton VanBeck, B-B-E Class of 2019, has signed with the St. Cloud Rox semi-professional team (that's a couple weeks old by now)...local baseball fans have organized a COACH BUS from Bucky's Bar in Elrosa for his team's HOME game tomorrow, Thursday, July 6. As of this afternoon, a few spots are available at a cost of $10 per rider. FIRST pitch is at 6:35 p.m. in St. Cloud with the Rox facing the Duluth Huskies. The coach bus from Elrosa departs Bucky's at 4 p.m. sharp and heading straight to Joe Faber Field. They will return directly after the game. Please text AJ at 320-333-8818 to reserve your spot!
Here's a clip of Payton VanBeck in action during the Region 15C opener last August at Meire Grove:
VanBeck and the rest of the Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team are next in action on Friday this week on the home diamond when they host Meire Grove with first pitch at 8 p.m.
And a flashback video! Just over five years ago on May 31, 2018 at Chizek Field in Morris...
Then a junior, Payton VanBeck was the closer for the B-B-E Jaguars in their third playoff game of the Section 6A tournament in relief of starter (and sophomore) Jackson Peter. B-B-E defeated Border West 3-1 in a winner's bracket game to improve to 3-0 in the postseason. They later lost 11-4 and then 9-8 in their next two games, however, to fall out of state contention.
Some quick math and a look at recent baseball seasons...the Jaguars are 26-11 in the Section 6A baseball playoffs dating back to the 2016 season when they made their deepest postseason run in school history to that point and finished third. They finished as Section 6A runners-up in 2019 in Payton VanBeck's senior year. In his younger brother's senior year (2022), the Jaguars finished in third place in Section 6A. This spring, as you all should remember, the Jaguars had their first-ever perfect run through the section playoffs with a 5-0 record. A school record six straight playoff wins landed them a spot in the Class 1A state Final Four for the first time ever.
A list of area job openings is listed at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website...you can see that by clicking here: https://rb.gy/a5sxv. Please pass the word!
In baseball news...
Payton VanBeck, B-B-E Class of 2019, has signed with the St. Cloud Rox semi-professional team (that's a couple weeks old by now)...local baseball fans have organized a COACH BUS from Bucky's Bar in Elrosa for his team's HOME game tomorrow, Thursday, July 6. As of this afternoon, a few spots are available at a cost of $10 per rider. FIRST pitch is at 6:35 p.m. in St. Cloud with the Rox facing the Duluth Huskies. The coach bus from Elrosa departs Bucky's at 4 p.m. sharp and heading straight to Joe Faber Field. They will return directly after the game. Please text AJ at 320-333-8818 to reserve your spot!
Because I am swamped by getting the July 6 newspaper done and preparing for the full force of Bonanza Valley Days, all I've got to share currently is this column by U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar...click: https://rb.gy/f4ls6. Below is a video from a past Bonanza Valley Days celebration that I haven't posted before.
Amanda Watkins and Cal Ecker perform at BVD 2022 last July 10...
This year's Saturday night street dance band is 32 Below, which draws their own crowd from town to town. We are going to have a packed main street in Brooten on Saturday night!!
The Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team earned two shut out wins this weekend. After beating St. Martin last night, the Saints traveled to New Munich this afternoon and came home with a 1-0 win. Against the first-place Silverstreaks, Ethan Vogt started and pitched eight innings to get the win with five strikeouts. Elrosa is now 7-2 in the SCL-North while pulling into a tie for first place with New Munich. Spring Hill is in second place with an 8-3 record. Will VanBeck got the save in the ninth inning.
Update for Bonanza Valley Days...due to the low registration for teams, the BVD 3-on-3 youth basketball tournament has been cancelled. The adult men's tournament is still set to go on Friday night at the elementary school.
