Willmar Stingers night for B-B-E Cub Scouts (VIDEO)

Tonight brought the annual summer Willmar Stingers baseball outing for the B-B-E Cub Scouts Pack No. 667. The pack and family and friends traveled to Willmar tonight to take in a well-played game of baseball at the spacious Bill Taunton Stadium. Adding to the excitement of the night was seeing the Stingers win 9-5 against the Badlands Big Sticks.

Here's a video from just prior to the start of the game with the Stingers defense taking the field for the top of the first inning:


The Big Sticks held a 1-0 lead early in the game and then expanded that to 2-0 before the Stingers pulled in front 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth.

It's been another busy, hectic week with very little sleep. On Tuesday morning, as I was getting this week's newspaper ready for press, I enjoyed a terrific half-hour long phone conversation with Brooten native Tony Hofmann. He was a senior on the 1983-1984 Brooten Buccaneers boys' basketball team that won the Prairie Conference title. In the spring under head coach Jim Dykema, Hofmann's Buccaneers baseball team earned third place in the conference. Tony Hofmann has lived an incredible life since graduating from Brooten in 1984. You can read more in the June 20 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

This week's June 13 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice features sports stories on the baseball team's run to the Section 6A finals for the third straight season. It also has a separate story featuring the Jaguar fastpitch team awards.

And speaking of baseball...the Parkers Prairie baseball team defeated Heritage Christian Academy 3-0 today in the state quarterfinals at Joe Faber Field in St. Cloud. The Panthers (24-1) now face Sacred Heart of East Grand Forks in tomorrow's state semifinals. That game is set to begin at Joe Faber Field at 11 a.m.