On Sunday...I'll get a handful of updates to this blog post. I'm juggling morning worship at West Lake Johanna Lutheran church, planting more garden plus preparing for a birthday party for my daughters in Litchfield with my wife's family. AND the Memorial Parade in Grove Lake! That's at 1 p.m., and I'm hoping they get a nice turnout. I promoted that event plus Memorial Day events on page one of the May 16 and May 23 issues of the newspaper.
**Updates from Marshall...on Saturday afternoon at their Schwan's Youth Athletic complex, which features four diamonds that can be utilized for both fastpitch and (youth) baseball.
We have a very close game playing out in Marshall against BOLD. Our B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team is taking on the BOLD Warriors in a Section 3A elimination game. It has been tense the entire way! The Warriors (13-8) feature mostly a young lineup but have numerous key players who were on BOLD's 14-U team that won a state fastpitch title last summer. Their main pitcher is eighth grader phenom Kaitlyn Flann. Through April 19 of this season, she had pitched 41 innings where she earned a whopping 48 strikeouts and just two walks.
I'll post the final score when it's over.
Final: B-B-E 3, BOLD 2! The Jaguars stay alive and now play the number one seed from the north half, Lac qui Parle Valley, at 3 p.m.
To win the game, Anna Jaeger fielded a deep hit to center field and made a perfect throw to her cutoff, Kacey Fischer, at shortstop. She then made a perfect throw to catcher Brooklyn Fischer, who tagged out the game-tying run at home plate. It was insane.
**Here's the postgame celebration immediately following the call made at home plate against BOLD:
Nursing a 2-1 lead going into the seventh, the Jaguars put the win in their sights when Lydia Primus advanced on an error at first base on what appeared to be a routine ground ball play. Ava Lieser's RBI single brought Primus home to make it a 3-1 lead before she was left stranded on a fly out.
In the bottom of the seventh, BOLD's leadoff batter hit a single that just got past a diving Kenna Lieser at second base. Mya Worms fired a strikeout, but the Warriors then earned an infield hit to push one runner into scoring position. Third baseman Taylor Shelton then caught a shallow fly ball along the baseline to make it two outs. The next BOLD batter, who represented a potential game-winning run, then gave the ball a ride deep into center field before the Jaguar defense shut the door with the incredible play at home base.
Here's a video from the bottom of the second inning against BOLD:
The Warriors left two stranded in the second inning, which preserved B-B-E's 1-0 lead.
**Game two update: the Jaguars scored one run in the top of the fifth inning to take a 5-2 lead. Earlier, they scored four runs in the top of the fourth inning to erase a 2-0 deficit.
**Game two update: the LQPV Eagles have a 6-5 lead in the sixth inning.
Final score: LQPV 10, B-B-E 5. The Jaguars finish a terrific season with a 10-13 overall record. This is their best record since the 2009 season, when they finished 11-9 overall and went 1-1 in the playoffs. This year's playoff run had the Jaguars advance into the top 6 of the 16-team Section 3A field. They advanced the deepest in a section tournament since 2018, when they finished 2-2 in the Section 6A tournament.
For LQPV, the Eagles improve to 18-6 overall as they are gunning to return to the Section 3A finals for the first time since 2022. This year, LQPV finished 12-1 in the Camden Conference to tie for the title with Minneota/Canby. In 2022, the Eagles lost in the 3A championship series to Edgerton/Southwest MN Christian. In a winner-take-all game, Edgerton/SW MN Christian won 3-0 to advance to state.
Earlier today, LQPV lost 4-0 to Russel-Tyler-Ruthton in a winner's bracket game. In the other winner's bracket opener, Edgerton/SW MN Christian defeated Renville County West 10-0 in five innings.
Also today, Wabasso ended Renville County West's season with a 7-2 elimination bracket win. Heading into the Section 3A Final Four are R-T-R, Wabasso, LQPV and Edgerton/SW MN Christian.
Time to head home.
Sunday updates to this blog post...they will be numerous...
I'm roughly caught up through May 10 for spring varsity sports photos at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's SmugMug online gallery. You can see all the uploaded spring albums by clicking here: https://bonanzavalley.smugmug.com/BBE-Spring-Sports-2024.
The baseball team has been seeded for playoffs. I'll get that posted in a new blog post on Sunday afternoon.
ALSO! B-B-E's Walker Winter has advanced to the Section 5A boys' golf finals, which will be held next Wednesday, May 29 at Eagle Creek Golf Course in Willmar. He is very much in the running for an individual berth in the Class 1A state tournament.
ALSO! Five members of the B-B-E Jaguars track and field teams have earned spots in the Section 5A state qualifer. I'll get more on that in the Sunday's blog post. Much to keep track of for our fans, which is terrific to say this late in May!
Area fastpitch playoff scores on May 25:
Mayer Lutheran 4, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 2 (Falcons finish 2-2 in the Section 4A playoffs)
Dassel-Cokato 7, Jackson County Central 6
Luverne 2, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 1
Windom Area 3, Litchfield 0
Pipestone Area 8, Minnewaska Area 3
MA/CA 6, Windom Area 0
