It is official! (*UPDATED Friday night to correct a big mistake)
The B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team has earned the No. 2 seed for the Sub-Section 3A-North playoffs. This is their best playoff ranking in over 23 years! Back in 2008, the Jaguars were seeded No. 3 in Sub-Section 5A-West. In both 2006 and 2009, they were the No. 4 seed. During the 2008 playoffs, the Jaguars had a 3-0 start to claim the school's only fastpitch subsection title. They earned a small upset in the sub-section finals by defeating No. 2-seeded Osakis. Then came the tall task: No. 1-seeded and No. 3-ranked Maple Lake in the finals. A 6-5 win over the Irish was the result, which handed the team the program's only sub-section title in a game I will never, ever forget at Minnewaska Area's softball complex. In fact, if you want to see my recap of that game played back on May 22, 2008, you can click here: https://bbejaguars.blogspot.com/2008/05/jaguars-fastpitch-vanquishes-state.html.
We will have to go back to at least 2000 before I'll be able to find a sub-section seeding list that has the Jaguars ranked No. 2. In the 2000 season, our top pitcher's mom, Amy Worms, was a sophomore in high school. In that season, the Jaguars took third place in the Section 5A tournament. I will look up what they were seeded that year.
This year, the Jaguars are ranked second out of eight teams in Sub-Section 3A-North. They host a four-team subsection pod with three games coming in Brooten on Tuesday, May 21. The Jaguars (8-11) have a 3 p.m. game that day against No. 7-seeded Ortonville. A total of three games will be played. The second game features No. 3-seeded Renville County West facing No. 6-seeded Dawson-Boyd, and that will start at 4:30 or later, depending on how long the B-B-E vs. Ortonville game lasts. The third game features the winners of both games, and that will start at 6 p.m. or later - again, depending on how long the first two games last. The losers in the first two games are done for the season. The winners of those first two games earn a pass to the third round of the Section 3A tournament, which will be held on Saturday, May 25 at the Marshall Area high school fastpitch facilities. The Saturday, May 25 schedule is complex - too complex for me to decipher now. Honestly, that day does not matter at this point, as the Jaguars have to focus on earning a win in the playoff opener next Tuesday against the Trojans!
More to come after I review all of the Section 3A bracket. We do need the forecast to change. As of now, it looks "grim" for Tuesday with a 72 percent change of rain and predicted rainfall totals of about one inch.
2024 Sub-Section 3A-North fastpitch seedings:
1. Lac qui Parle Valley (15-5)
2. B-B-E (8-11)
3. Renville County West (7-11)
4. Benson (6-13)
5. Yellow Medicine East (7-12)
6. Dawson-Boyd (5-11)
7. Ortonville (5-14)
8. MACCRAY (1-17)
Defending Section 3A champion and Class 1A state champion Edgerton/Southwest MN Christian (14-4) is the top seed in Sub-Section 3A-South. The No. 2 seed is Russel-Tyler-Ruthton (16-3). Those two teams each went 10-1 in the Red Rock Conference to share the title. Edgerton/SW MN Christian also won state titles in 2016 and 2019. They were state runners-up in 2017 and 2018 to New York Mills (both years). The Eagles have won the Section 3A championship every year since 2014. In 2013, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg swept through the Section 3A tournament, including two playoff wins vs. the Eagles, on their way to a fourth-place finish at state. K-M-S took fifth place at state in 2012 after also claiming the Section 3A title.
Here's a video from the pregame huddle before the top of the first inning yesterday against Upsala:
Backing up to Central Minnesota Conference fastpitch news...yesterday, the Holdingford Huskers lost 11-10 to visiting Royalton, which forced a three-way tie for fourth place between our Jaguars, the Huskers and the Royals. All three teams finished 6-8 in the CMC. The top three in the conference featured Kimball Area (champions), Eden Valley-Watkins (second place) and Paynesville Area (third place).
In Section 6AA, Kimball Area (19-1) got the No. 2 seed behind St. Cloud Cathedral. Eden Valley-Watkins (14-4) was seeded No. 5, Paynesville Area (10-10) was seeded No. 9, Royalton (7-12) was seeded No. 11 and Holdingford (7-12) was seeded No. 12.
