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!
Saturday, May 31, 2025
Elrosa Saints stung in 9th inning at Regal
A late 7-6 lead in the 9th inning could not hold up for the Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team on Friday night. Under the lights of Buddy Beier stadium in Regal, the host Eagles plated 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th for a walk-off 8-7 exhibition win. Pitching for Elrosa were Riley Meyer (starter), Torii Johnson and Luke Dingmann. The Saints out-hit the Eagles 8 to 7. Casey Lenarz was 2-for-4 for Elrosa, and Will VanBeck was 1-for-5 with 2 RBI.
The Saints (5-3 overall) jump back into Stearns County League action with a North division contest at New Munich on Sunday, June 1. First pitch is at 1:30 p.m. This game will be broadcast online at http://www.midmnsports.com.
Sunday afternoon update: the New Munich Silverstreaks led 3-0 after two innings. Through 4 1/2 innings, the score is 3-0. Both teams have 4 hits so far. Elrosa's starter is Will VanBeck.
In the top of the 7th inning, Elrosa came up empty on a bases loaded rally and still trail 3-0.
Final score: New Munich 3, Elrosa 0. Next: the Saints (5-4 overall) travel to Paynesville this week Wednesday (June 3) for an exhibition game against the Pirates, a County Line League team. First pitch is at 7 p.m. After that, their next game is an SCL game on Friday, June 6 at 8 p.m. on the home diamond against St. Martin.
In high school baseball news...
On Saturday in Marshall, the Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta Tigers baseball team suffered their first loss of the season. In the Section 3AA winner's bracket, the Tigers were manhandled by Luverne in a 16-5 loss. Now 21-1 overall, they are in the elimination bracket and face long-time rival New London-Spicer on Monday, June 2. The game site is to-be-determined, and first pitch between the Wildcats and Tigers is set for 5 p.m. UPDATE: the Region 3A officials need to be highly commended for their efforts at securing a game site much closer than Marshall for the MA/CA vs. NL-S game. While it could almost be considered a home game for NL-S, the game on Monday is at Paynesville's diamond at their high school. This is a far better drive for MA/CA fans than hauling down to Marshall!
NL-S is 14-8 overall. They went 11-4 in the Wright County West Conference, which was good for a tie for second place with Glencoe-Silver Lake. Rockford (18-4, 13-2) was the WC-West champion this spring. G-SL is in the Section 5AA winner's bracket final (the 5AA semifinal), and they face No. 1-seeded Providence Academy (16-1) on Monday in Litchfield.
For the B-B-E Jaguars baseball team, they travel to Chizek Field in Morris on Monday, June 2 to battle in the Section 6A elimination bracket. They play at 11 a.m. against Breckenridge. If the Jaguars win, they play again in Morris at 4 p.m. that same day.
Step III: Jaguars suffer a close loss, backs now to the wall (VIDEOS)
After earning a 5-1 win over Border West today, the No. 2-seeded B-B-E Jaguars baseball team suffered a 3-1 loss to top-seeded Upsala/Swanville Area in the Section 6A winner's bracket in Morris.
Ethan Mueller hit a solo home run in the top of the first inning.
The fifth inning proved costly, as U/SA scored twice to break a 1-1 tie. B-B-E's early 1-0 lead stood until the bottom of the fourth inning.
The Jaguars fall to 15-7 overall, and now they must battle the rest of the Section 6A tournament saddled with a loss. Next: the Jaguars travel back to Morris to Eagles Ball Park on Monday, June 2. That elimination bracket game starts at 11 a.m., and the opponent is to-be-determined. Please spread the word! If the Jaguars win that game, they play again in Morris at 4 p.m. on Monday. Update:according to how I'm reading the 6A bracket, the Jaguars face Border West on Monday in a win-or-go-home contest.
UPDATE again! in fact, the Jaguars will face Breckenridge in the elimination bracket. By this point of the tournament, they are cross-bracketing games between the north and south halves of Section 6A.
Here's a video featuring the last out being recorded in the bottom of the 3rd inning against U/SA today:
In the elimination game played today in Morris, Border West took out Ortonville by an 11-1 score. The Trojans finished the season 8-10 overall.
Here's another video from today; this was recorded in the top of the 4th inning against U/SA:
I'll get more updates here after 6 p.m. Currently, it is high time to get back to planting in the garden!
In Sub-Section 6A-North baseball action today at Browerville:
Parkers Prairie 12, Breckenridge 2 (five innings)
Parkers Prairie 10, Brandon-Evansville 0
Brandon-Evansville 4, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 3
Breckenridge 6, LP-GE 5 (LP-GE Thunder's season is done; they finish 18-3)
In other news...
A video from Grove Lake recorded this past Sunday has been posted to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website. The video features part of the Memorial programming held that afternoon. Here's a short link: https://shorturl.at/zzwyq. Additional online coverage featuring B-B-E graduation and more will be added to the newspaper website in the next day or two.
At the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's website, a web article/video was just posted tonight featuring coverage of B-B-E's graduation night. Click on the following short link to re-direct to that webpage: https://shorturl.at/aZl0L. A photo gallery has been uploaded featuring the graduation ceremony, and the direct link to that gallery is inclued in the above-mentioned Voice website article.
Around the area...fastpitch playoffs today:
In the Section 6AA fastpitch championship series, Kimball Area kept their season alive with an 8-5 win against top-seeded St. Cloud Cathedral. This forced a second game today at Miller Builder's Field in River's Edge Park in Waite Park. Unfortunately, St. Cloud Cathedral won the second game by a 10-4 score to win the section title and advance to the Class 2A state tournament. Kimball Area finishes a remarkable season with a 24-3 final record. The Crusaders head to state with a 23-2 record.
In Section 3AA...the fastpitch title for that section is on the line tonight in Marshall. Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta, champions of the West Central Conference, just defeated softball juggernaut Jackson County Central by a 2-1 score in 8 innings. This forces a winner-take-all contest that is also being played tonight in Marshall. Game two is starting at 7:16 p.m. The Schwans Regional Amateur Sports Complex has lights if needed! And that is a strong possibility. MA/CA won the coin toss, so they will be the home team for game two.
The MA/CA vs. JCC game is being aired on KMRS 1230 AM, which is also streamed online at https://streema.com/radios/KMRS. In game two, no runs have been scored through 1 1/2 innings. UPDATE: after 10 innings, the score of game 2 in Marshall is 2-2 between MA/CA and JCC. They have been playing under the lights for the past hour! Wild.
Update in Marshall late Thursday night: the Jackson County Central Huskies prevailed by a 7-2 score after 14 innings were in the book in game 2 of the Section 3AA fastpitch playoff series. They plated 5 runs on 4 hits in the top of the 14th. In the bottom of the 14th, JCC junior Hadley Wachal mowed down MA/CA's batters in order. She finished the game with 19 strikeouts. While they have been a juggernaut in the playoffs in recent years, this is JCC's first trip to state since 2005. They were Class 2A champions in both 2004 and 2005. MA/CA's last state tournament trip was as Morris Area back in the 1990s.
Area baseball playoff scores on May 29:
Foley 12, Kimball Area 2
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 27, Lester Prairie 7 (Falcons stay alive in the Section 5A elimination bracket)
Willmar 7, Rocori 3
Fergus Falls 2, Alexandria 1 (8 innings)
St. Cloud Cathedral 11, Albany 1
Dawson-Boyd 4, Lac qui Parle Valley 3
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 9, New London-Spicer 2
Montevideo 10, Minnewaska Area 1
Pierz 8, Royalton 3
Area fastpitch playoff scores on May 29:
Swanville 5, New York Mills 3
Swanville 5, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 2 (Bulldogs extend their season in the Section 6A finals)
Alexandria 11, Willmar 4
Wabasso 5, Edgerton/Southwest MN Christian 1
This is a big day for the B-B-E Jaguars baseball team, as they have key games to play in Stevens County at the Chizek Field complex in Morris. The first task at hand is No. 3-seeded Border West in the Sub-Section 6A-South semifinals, which starts at 11 a.m. today (May 29). I am not aware of radio coverage, but I will check with 95.7 KKOK of Morris. Border West enters the game 12-5 overall.
Win or lose that game, the Jaguars play again at approximately 12:30 p.m. at the same baseball park in Morris. If the Jaguars win, they play in the second game at Chizek Field (the main diamond at Eagles Park in Morris).
You can listen to the game on 95.7 FM out of Morris. They stream online too! You can listen online by clicking here: https://radiostationusa.fm/online/kkok-957-fm. Game commentary is being provided by Mark Torgerson, retired coach from Morris Area high school.
A short update on track and field...I looked up the day when Taylor Nelson will run in the state track and field meet. He will compete at state on Tuesday, June 10 at St. Michael-Albertville high school. The 3200 run will be the second-to-last event that evening. This day of track is designated as the Class 1A preliminaries. Most Class 1A running event finals will take place on Wednesday, June 11 at STMA H.S.
In the other game today at Eagles Park in Morris, Upsala/Swanville Area and Ortonville were tied 1-1, but the Patriots took a 2-1 lead right as the 4th inning was underway for B-B-E vs. Border West. While B-B-E's game was in the bottom of the 5th, U/SA expanded their lead over the fifth-seeded Trojans to 4-1.
Here's a video from the 5th inning in Elrosa on Tuesday in the playoff opener:
Game one updates in Morris:
At Rambow Field, the Jaguars are taking on the Buccaneers in the 11 a.m. game. Sophomore Aiden Mueller is B-B-E's starter. In the bottom of the first, Ethan Mueller just drew his team's second walk of the inning. After one inning: B-B-E 1, Border West 0, with the Jaguars scoring on Hayden Sobiech's sacrifice fly-RBI after they earned a pair of walks and a hit batsman.
The second inning is starting at 11:20. In the second...the Buccaneers had a threat going in their half of the inning, but Mueller fired a strikeout to leave one Border West runner stranded. For B-B-E, they are sending batters 6-7-8 to start the bottom of the second inning.
In the bottom of the 2nd, the Jaguars scored one unearned run and left three runners stranded. After two innings: B-B-E 2, Border West 0.
Border West's starting pitcher issued 6 walks through the first 3 innings of the game. In the first three innings, the Jaguars got their leadoff batter on all three times.
In the top of the 4th inning, Border West scored on an unearned run during a failed pickoff play at first base. They got another runner on with a second error. These were the first errors of the game for B-B-E. Ethan Mueller then fired his 5th strikeout of the game. Border West's next batter struck out as well, with the Buccaneers scoring off of one hit and 2 errors to go into the bottom of the fourth trailing 2-1 to the Jaguars. The bottom of the 4th inning will start at about 12:08 p.m.
To start the bottom of the 4th, the Jaguars are sending batters 9-1-2 to the plate. Noah DeRoo has B-B-E's only hit so far.
To start the bottom of the 5th, Ethan Mueller earned a leadoff hit. He was picked off from a 1-3-6-4 sequence in a run down. Hayden Sobiech then got a base hit, and Aiden Mueller earned an infield hit. After a fielder's choice got the lead runner, Aiden Mueller scored on a wild pitch for a 3-0 lead. Cameron Loe then earned a walk. The Jaguars pulled off a successful double steal as the walk was issued, with Loe making an attempt for second base. Now it's a 4-1 lead! The Jaguars have 3 hits and one walk in this 5th inning so far. Jack Lundberg had a sacrifice bunt, so the Jaguars left one stranded.
After five innings: B-B-E 4, Border West 1.
In the top of the 6th, Border West started with back-to-back infield hits. Ethan Mueller then earned his 8th strikeout of the game. B-B-E cleaned up the based with a 4-6-3 double play! Bang, bang! One stranded. Heading to the bottom of the 6th, the Jaguars will send their 9-1-2 batters. From the bottom of the 6th: the Jaguars are threatening to score on two outs with runners on second and third. Border West's starter has improved since his first 3 innings, and he has issued just 1 walk across the 4th, 5th and into the 6th. Hayden Sobiech is batting on 2 outs with 2 in scoring position. Border West got a runner boxed in during a pickoff play, but the Jaguars were able to get their runner in from 3rd base before the tag was applied. After 6 innings: B-B-E 5, Border West 1.
FINAL SCORE: B-B-E 5, Border West 1. In the top of the 7th inning, Ethan Mueller retired the side 1-2-3, and the third batter was struck out swinging.
Game two will begin at about 1:30 p.m. today in Morris at Chizek Field. That game will not be aired on 95.7 FM KKOK. Stay tuned for more updates. B-B-E's next opponent is Upsala/Swanville Area. The Patriots won their playoff opener this afternoon against Ortonville by a 9-1 score. As the top seed in Sub-Section 6A-South, U/SA got a first-round bye for Tuesday's games.
GAME TWO updates from Chizek Field in Morris! Let's go!!!!
Let's do this Jaguars! Now 14-6 overall, the B-B-E Jaguars baseball team is facing top-seeded Upsala/Swanville Area in a winner's bracket contest. The Jaguars and Patriots are long-time playoff baseball rivals. It is a RARE spring where these teams do not meet in the postseason. This game should start by about 1:50 p.m.
The U/SA Patriots are 15-5 overall after the Ortonville win. In the Prairie Conference, they finished 6-2 while earning second place alone behind Long Prairie-Grey Eagle. Osakis, a Class 2A school, took third with a 4-4 record. During the regular season, U/SA had a 6-game winning streak and then a 4-game winning streak.
More updates after 3 p.m. here!!!
**After 3 innings, B-B-E holds a 1-0 lead over the Patriots.
**After 4 innings, this game is tied at 1-1.
**After 5 innings, U/SA holds a 3-1 lead. The Jaguars have their backs to the wall now with just 6 outs to work with.
Boys' golf slips in Section Finals, Nelson advances to STATE! (VIDEOS)
While I don't have official numbers yet, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' golf team has slipped to fourth place today in the Section 5A finals. The final 18 holes of the state-qualifying meet is being held at Eagle Creek Golf Course in Willmar. The Jaguars entered the day with a one-stroke lead for first place over section favorite Lac qui Parle Valley.
UPDATE from Willmar: the Jaguars finished in fourth place at Section 5A with a score of 700. Day II was rough up and down the lineup. Lac qui Parle Valley ran away with the section title with a 658. The Section 5A runner-up team is Dawson-Boyd, who shot a 681. In third place was Central Minnesota Christian-Prinsburg with a 686.
Walker Winter led the Jaguars with a two-day score of 166. However, this fell 2 strokes short of qualifying him for the Class 1A state meet.
Results from the Section 5A track and field meet in Collegeville:
In the boys' 100 open, junior Kameron Hiltner placed fourth overall. His time was 11.3 seconds, which is .08 seconds below the state-qualifying cut.
The B-B-E Jaguars track and field team is being represented at Section 5A by four athletes.
Here's Kameron Hiltner competing in the 100 dash at the subsection meet last week:
Hiltner won the Sub-Section 5A-West title at Litchfield on May 22.
Also competing today at the section track and field meet are Bree Thieschafer (pole vault), Dominic Ramos (triple jump) and Taylor Nelson (3200 run).
Here's a 100 dash video from Litchfield featuring Miguel Santamaria:
More to come later.
Another update from the Section 5A track and field meet!
Exciting news!
B-B-E senior distance runner Taylor Nelson has qualified for the Class 1A state track and field meet. Nelson finished in second place in the 3200 run. I'll get more updated in a new blog post on Thursday.
In the Section 3A fastpitch playoffs today in Marshall...
Yellow Medicine East lost 4-1 in the elimination bracket semifinal to Edgerton/Southwest Christian. They finish their season with a 14-8 record. In today's winner's bracket final, Lac qui Parle Valley lost 10-6 to Wabasso to fall to the elimination bracket final. That game was played this evening between LQPV and Edgerton/Southwest Christian. Update: Edgerton/Southwest Christian defeated LQPV 10-6 to advance to the Section 3A championship series. The Flying Dutchmen are 17-8 overall.
The Edgerton/Southwest Christian vs. Wabasso series will begin at 4 p.m. tomorrow (May 29) in Marshall. If Wabasso wins that initial game, they claim the section title and advance to state.
In Section 3AA fastpitch, the Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta Tigers have advanced to the championship series. They have one loss, however, after suffering an 8-inning loss in the winner's bracket final to Jackson County Central.
Area fastpitch playoff scores on May 28:
Dassel-Cokato 1, Windom Area 0
Jackson County Central 3, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 2 (8 innings)
MA/CA 1, Dassel-Cokato 0
Step I: Jaguar baseball handles West Central Area, Boys' Golf leads at Section 5A! (VIDEOS)
To open the Sub-Section 6A-South playoffs, the B-B-E Jaguars baseball team picked up a 12-2 win in 6 innings tonight. The opponent, No. 7-seeded West Central Area, avoided losing in 5 innings by scoring in the top of the 4th inning. They added another in the top of the 6th.
Splitting pitching duties tonight were Luke Illies and Brett DeRoo. They issued no walks, and 9 of WCA's batters struck out.
Here's action from the bottom of the 5th inning tonight:
**There's no Carson Loe, not sure how I made up that name!! It was Cameron Loe.
The Jaguars scored 3 runs in the first inning and 2 more in the second. Their lead expanded to 6-1 in the fourth inning and then 10-1 in the fifth. WCA scored once in the sixth, but the Jaguars ended the game with 2 runs in the sixth. The game-winning run was scored on Cameron Loe's RBI-single.
B-B-E had 11 hits and 9 earned runs off of WCA starter Austin Bennett, who went the distance.
WCA finishes the season 2-17 overall.
Next: the Jaguars (14-6) advance into the double-elimination part of the Section 6A tournament. They play at 11 a.m. in Morris on Thursday this week. I have to check on the location in Morris. It is likely Chizek Field on the north side of town (north of the university campus). B-B-E will face either Border West or Hancock. Those two teams squared off tonight in another quarterfinal game that was played in Wheaton, as Border West was the higher seed.
UPDATE: Border West advances in the tournament with a 5-4 win against Hancock. They will be B-B-E's next opponent. The Buccaneers hold a 10-5 record. I don't know how accurate their online record is. According to what I'm seeing, they went 6-2 in the Little Eight Conference, but not all of Border West's scores appear to have been entered. That is strange!
Here's another video from the 5th inning tonight:
And now for some equally big news! This is awesome!
After the first day and first 18 holes of the Section 5A state-qualifying meet, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' golf team has themselves in first place with a cumulative score of 324. This is one stroke better than Section 5A favorite Lac qui Parle Valley's 325. In third place is Central Minnesota Christian of Prinsburg with a 336. Not far off the Bluejays is Dawson-Boyd's team, and the Blackjacks finished today with a 339. All four of these teams advance to the Section 5A finals, which will take place tomorrow back at Eagle Creek Golf Course on the north side of Willmar.
In the individual standings through the first 18 holes, B-B-E's Jaxxon Koetter is in a 3-way tie for third place after the eighth grader shot a 78. In a tie for eighth place is Owen Roering, who shot an 81. Walker Winter sits in 10th place with an 82.
For two members of the B-B-E Jaguars girls' golf team, Olive Olson missed a spot in the Section 5A finals by just one stroke. She finished today after 18 holes with a 106, which is a career-best score for the eighth grader.
In other subsection baseball games tonight in Section 6A...the No. 5-seeded Ortonville Trojans earned a 5-4 win at No. 4-seeded Benson to knock the Braves out of the tournament. They will play Upsala/Swanville Area (the top seed) on Thursday at 11 a.m. in Morris just as our Jaguars are playing in their next game.
In Sub-Section 6A-North, all four high seeds won tonight: Parkers Prairie, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle, Brandon-Evansville and Breckenridge.
Area baseball playoff scores on May 27:
Minnewaska Area 9, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 2
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 10, St. John's Prep 0
Area fastpitch playoff scores on May 27:
Swanville 11, Browerville 10
Swanville 12, Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 2 (6 innings)
Fastpitch season ends; Memorial Parade is in Grove Lake today (VIDEO)
If you are anywhere within driving range of Grove Lake this morning, please put their community on your schedule! They have a wonderful Memorial Weekend parade that starts at 1 p.m. at the Grove Lake Township Park. This is located south of the town and just south of Trinity Lutheran Church along Pope County Road 39.
The B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team lost 10-2 in the Section 3A tournament yesterday in Marshall. Their season wrapped up with an 11-11 overall record, which is a small improvement from last season. The 11 wins equals the total wins of the 2009 team, which was the last time the Jaguars surpassed 10 wins in a season. They were 10-14 a year ago. More to follow later. It's time to get ready for Grove Lake!
Remember what I said on page one this week! Memorial Day is not just a "day off" from work! Please honor this special day and weekend.
Sunday night updates...
At Marshall on Saturday in the Section 3A fastpitch elimination bracket, BOLD lost 6-3 to Edgerton/Southwest MN Christian. The Warriors finished the season 14-10 overall with a roster that featured no seniors and just 2 juniors. The majority of the BOLD varsity team was made up of 9th and 10th grade players.
In the winner's bracket, Wabasso defeated Yellow Medicine East 4-0. In the other winner's bracket game, Lac qui Parle Valley defeated Edgerton/Southwest MN Christian 2-1. Those two results set up the Section 3A winner's bracket semifinals, which will be played at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday in Marshall. The winner between Wabasso and LQPV will advance to the Section 3A championship series, which will be held on Thursday, May 29.
In the elimination bracket, No. 5-seeded (North) MACCRAY earned a big upset win by a 6-5 score against No. 2-seeded (South) Murray County Central. This set up a Camden Conference border battle with MACCRAY taking on YME in the late afternoon game. The Sting kept their season alive with a 2-0 win. YME plays next on Tuesday (May 27) at 4:30 p.m. against Edgerton/SW Christian in another win-or-go-home game.
Here's action from the YME game in Granite Falls last Thursday:
The video features action in the top of the 6th inning.
In baseball news...
TheB-B-E Jaguars baseball team earned the No. 2 seed in Sub-Section 6A-South. I really have no idea why they are not the No. 1 seed, as Upsala/Swanville Area was ranked two positions lower by QRF in Class 1A. Some things in life are simply a big mystery! As it stands, the Jaguars (13-6) open the playoffs at home in Elrosa on Tuesday, May 27 against No. 7-seeded West Central Area. First pitch is set for 5 p.m., so please spread the word!
Today, in Stearns County League action, the Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team suffered tough 3-2 loss at Richmond. The game was tied 2-2 through five innings, but the Royals scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth. Next weekend: the Saints travel the short trip south to Regal on Friday, May 30 for a night game. First pitch at Buddy Beier Stadium is at 7:30 p.m. On Sunday, June 1, the Saints resume SCL action with a game at New Munich.
The full Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's gallery has been uploaded for the Sunburg Syttende Mai parade photos from May 18. You can find that by clicking here: https://shorturl.at/k2SJi.
The B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team is well on their way south as I type this, while the Section 3A tournament gets underway at the Marshall Schwan's softball complex near their high school. Games begin at 11 a.m. in Marshall, but the Jaguars don't play until 1 p.m. B-B-E's opponent will be the BOLD Warriors, who have a 13-9 overall record.
BOLD is the No. 4 seed in what I call a "stacked" Sub-Section 3A-South, which has 5 teams with winning records at the start of playoffs. Their No. 5 seed, Adrian Area, entered the playoffs with a 13-7 record. Wabasso (16-6), who competes in the Tomahawk Valley Conference, is the top seed. BOLD entered the playoffs with the No. 20 ranking on the QRF. They have a slightly better defensive average (3.9 runs per game given up) than the Jaguars. Offensively, both teams score around 6 runs per game.
Track and field update...
Following the results of the Sub-Section 5A-West and the Sub-Section 5A-East meets on Thursday, the official scores have determined who advances for the Section 5A state-qualifying meet. For the B-B-E Jaguars track and field teams, they are sending 4 student-athletes to St. John's University next Wednesday, May 28. They include Taylor Nelson (3200 run), Bree Thieschafer (pole vault), Dominic Ramos (triple jump) and Kameron Hiltner (100 open).
Here's a triple jump video from the Sub-Section 5A-West meet in Litchfield:
Kameron Hiltner advances to sections as the champion of the 100 open at the Sub-Section 5A-West meet. He is a junior, while the other three B-B-E section qualifiers are all seniors.
Here's a video from the top of the 6th inning in the last regular season action for fastpitch (game one):
Luckily, we won't be playing fastpitch playoff softball today in 40 mile an hour wind! Yikes! That was an interesting night back on May 15 against Maple Lake.
Time to prepare for the road trip to Marshall. Game updates to follow here. Once I get to Marshall, I will check to see what we have for radio coverage of this afternoon's games.
GAME UPDATES for game one in Marshall for B-B-E: After 4 innings, the Warriors have an 8-1 lead.
Final: BOLD 10, B-B-E 2. Season over. The Warriors (14-9) racked up 12 hits. They play Edgerton/SW Christian today in another elimination game.
In Elrosa today, the Saints amateur baseball team defeated Farming 6-3. Next is a game tomorrow (Sunday) at Richmond at 1:30 p.m.
A NEW blog post will be added on Sunday. Today was exhausting. The rest of my Saturday has been taken up by time at Sibley State Park with family and then about 1 hour of evening gardening before I ran out of light.
Jaguar baseball earns redemption! Nabs share of CMC title
Breaking news!
The B-B-E Jaguars baseball team completed a series sweep against Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City today, which has earned them a share of the 2025 Central Minnesota Conference title. This is a remarkable achievement that has eluded the program since 1995. The 30-year drought is over!
Game one final score: B-B-E 12, A-C-GC 6. Game two final score: B-B-E 4, A-C-GC 0
In the pivotal game two, Luke Illies was the winning pitcher with these stat lines: IP-6 1/3 H-2 R-0 BB-1 K-4; Brett DeRoo was closer with 2/3 innings pitched.
B-B-E's baseball team needed every bit of mental toughness they could gather, as they woke up today coming off of two difficult losses last night that had vastly different complexions. The loss to Holdingford really bit, as it put their backs to the wall in the CMC race with the full task of beating A-C-GC twice today in order to earn a share of the conference.
The Jaguars finish the CMC with a 10-4 schedule, which lands them in a three-way tie for the CMC title with Paynesville Area and Holdingford. Royalton finished in fourth place with a 9-5 record.
Now 13-6 overall, the Jaguars wait to see where they will be seeded in Sub-Section 6A-South. Stay tuned! As of this afternoon, the Jaguars are ranked No. 7 in Class 1A by QRF, while the Upsala/Swanville Area Patriots are ranked No. 11.
The scheduled first round of the Sub-Section 6A-South playoffs is next Tuesday, May 27 at the high seeds. However, if the Jaguars are seeded No. 1, they receive a first-round bye and will open the playoffs on Thursday, May 29 in Morris. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, however, and instead wait until the seeding is official for Section 6A.
ALSO! I guess this isn't quite as exciting as a conference championship, but I am excited to share that the B-B-E high school's FFA garden nursery will remain open for an extra week. This was scheduled to wrap up this week with the conclusion of the 2024-2025 school year. Due to the rains of the past week, the FFA has made the decision to keep the garden store open into next week (open as they have available workers). Plants are marked 30 percent off! Please spread the word. They will be open tomorrow (Saturday) from 9 a.m. to noon.
That's all I've got right now. It is high time to prepare for the B-B-E graduation ceremony tonight!
And now it's late Friday night...
The B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team travels to Marshall's Schwan's softball complex tomorrow (Saturday) for a 1 p.m. game in the elimination bracket of the Section 3A tournament. Their opponent is the BOLD Warriors, who are 13-9 overall. In the regular season, BOLD went 10-4 in the West Central Conference, good for a tie for third place with West Central Area.
I saw that Holdingford's fastpitch team took out Paynesville today in the Section 6AA elimination bracket. This ends Paynesville's season. From what I see, the Central Minnesota Conference still has Holdingford, B-B-E and Kimball Area alive in the playoffs.
Area fastpitch playoff scores on May 23:
West Central Area 11, Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 4
Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 11, Hancock 4
Melrose Area 8, Eden Valley-Watkins 3
Holdingford 5, Paynesville Area 2
New York Mills 4, Parkers Prairie 3
W/H-N 3, Hancock 2
Lester Prairie 5, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 0
Swanville 9, Parkers Prairie 6
Browerville 10, Swanville 5
New York Mills 2, Browerville 1
C-G-B 4, WCA 2 (C-G-B improves to 21-0 with this playoff win)
Holdingford 5, Pequot Lakes 4
Pierz 4, Melrose Area 2
Fastpitch team stays alive in playoffs, baseball takes it on the chin (VIDEOS*)
Well! Tonight brought us a mixed bag of results. There is a lot coming to this blog post!
First, the good news!
According to the results I've seen, the B-B-E Jaguars track and field teams are sending at least 2 members to the Section 5A state-qualifying meet. The track and field student-athlete Jaguars competed tonight at the Sub-Section 5A-West meet at the Litchfield high school athletic complex. In the 100 open, junior Kameron Hiltner placed first with a time of 11:34 seconds to punch his ticket to sections, which will be next Wednesday, May 28 at St. John's University's Clemens Stadium (10:30 a.m.). Also, senior Taylor Nelson has qualified for the Section 5A meet by taking the silver medal in the 3200 run. He had a career-best time in that event of 10:02.15, which beat his seed time of 10:07.31.
Here's action from the subsection meet today in Litchfield:
Here's another video from Litchfield; this features both triple jump and long jump action:
And now for baseball and fastpitch results from today...as I said at the beginning of this blog post: mixed results!
In the Sub-Section 3A-North fastpitch playoffs today...
The Sub-Section 3A-North playoffs took place today in Hanto Township, Lac qui Parle County, rural Madison, as No. 1-seeded LQPV hosted one half of the teams with 3 games played. The other half of the subsection teams played along the shores of the Minnesota River in Granite Falls, where No. 2-seeded Yellow Medicine East hosted 3 games. At YME, the No. 3-seeded B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team tussled with No. 6-seeded Benson while carving out a 7-2 win. This advanced the Jaguars into the double-elimination portion of Section 3A, and they moved on to the second game at YME to face the host team. The Sting defeated No. 7-seeded MACCRAY 6-0 in their playoff opener. The YME vs. B-B-E game was a fan's delight. Unfortunately, the Jaguars suffered a heartbreaking 2-1 loss with YME scoring the game-winning runs on a two-RBI double punched deep into left field. The Sting advance into the winner's bracket, while the Jaguars move on to the elimination bracket.
In their playoff opener, YME defeated Ortonville 12-0. Winners of 5 straight, the Sting take a 13-6 overall record into Saturday's action.
Next for the fastpitch Jaguars: they play on Saturday in Marshall with a 1 p.m. game against BOLD.
Here's a video featuring action in the bottom of the 3rd inning against YME tonight:
At LQPV, the Eagles defeated neighboring Dawson-Boyd in their playoff opener by an 8-2 score. Also at LQPV in their playoff opener, MACCRAY won a border battle by defeating Renville County West 5-1.
In a unique Morrison/Todd County swing with baseball action...
A road trip through Morrison and Todd counties tonight was not kind to the B-B-E Jaguars baseball team. In the first game, which started at 4 p.m. in Holdingford, the Jaguars were looking to move one game closer to clinching a share of the Central Minnesota Conference title. Both teams were in the hunt, and the Jaguars could have knocked the Huskers into second place with a win. It was not meant to be, however, by a mile, as the Jaguars lost 16-2 in 5 innings.
Against Holdingford, Brett DeRoo, Jace Mueller and Lance Radermacher split pitching duties. The Huskers out-hit the Jaguars by a 13 to 5 margin. Five Jaguars had one hit each: Brett DeRoo, Luke Illies, Hayden Sobiech, Lance Radermacher and Jack Lundberg. Sobiech and Illies each doubled.
Hurting the Jaguars were 4 errors, while Holdingford had none.
In their second game of the night, the baseball team traveled to Long Prairie-Grey Eagle for a non-conference game. The Thunder and Jaguars locked horns, and LP-GE came out with a 6-5 walk-off win in the bottom of the 9th inning. Crazy! And brutal.
How the LP-GE game played out...
After two scoreless innings, the Jaguars took a 2-0 lead in the third inning and then made it 4-0 in the fourth. They scored an additional run in the top of the 5th, but LP-GE got 2 runs back in the sixth. Trailing 5-2 going into the 7th, the Thunder tied it with three runs to extend the game to extra innings. Neither team scored in the 8th, and LP-GE then scratched the game-winner across home plate for the walk-off in the bottom of the 9th.
Earning 2 hits each against LP-GE were Ethan Mueller, Jack Lundberg and Noah DeRoo. Brett DeRoo hit a two-RBI home run.
A win over LP-GE (17-1) could have solidified B-B-E's position at the top of the Sub-Section 6A-South standings. Instead, they have to push their way to tomorrow looking for redemption from today's tough losses. The Thunder went 11-0 in the regular season against Section 6A teams. They won the Prairie Conference title alone with an 8-0 record.
Next for the baseball Jaguars...they host Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City for a doubleheader on Friday (tomorrow) at noon at Saints Field. Game one is actually a continuation of a game that started on Monday this week. It continues with action in the bottom of the 3rd inning and the score of B-B-E 3, A-C-GC 2.
In fastpitch softball news related to the Central Minnesota Conference...tomorrow in St. Cloud at River's Edge Park, Holdingford and Paynesville face off in a Section 6AA elimination game.
In B-B-E related news...
As readers of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper know, the graduation ceremony for the Class of 2025 will be Friday, May 23 at 7 p.m. If you can't watch it in person, you can watch it online by clicking here: https://shorturl.at/CJr2R.
Sub-Section 3A-South playoff scores on May 22:
Wabasso 11, Russell-Tyler-Ruthton 1 (5 innings)
BOLD 4, Adrian Area 1
Edgerton/Southwest MN Christian 15, Lakeview 5
Edgerton/SMC 8, Murray County Central 7
Kimball Area 3, Pequot Lakes 0
Area fastpitch playoff scores on May 22:
Kimball Area 15, Eden Valley-Watkins 0
Pierz 2, Paynesville Area 1
St. Cloud Cathedral 12, Pierz 2 (6 innings)
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 14, Heritage Christian 6
Braham 9, A-C-GC 3 (the Bombers are the No. 1 seed in Section 4A)
A-C-GC 15, Ogilvie 3 (A-C-GC stays alive in the 4A elimination bracket; they play at Lester Prairie tomorrow to keep their season alive and improve on their 6-15 record)
St. Cloud Cathedral 10, Holdingford 2
Lester Prairie 5, Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 4
Dassel-Cokato 11, Montevideo 1
West Lutheran 8, Lester Prairie 2
New London-Spicer 1, Litchfield 0
Minnewaska Area 6, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 2
Pequot Lakes 1, Melrose Area 0
Swanville 12, Brandon-Evansville 2
Browerville 7, Upsala 6
Hancock 1, Rothsay 0
New York Mills 13, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 0
Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 9, Pelican Rapids 4
West Central Area 5, Ashby 0
Dassel-Cokato 3, New London-Spicer 0
Windom Area 6, Minneota/Canby 1
Redwood Valley 10, Luverne 9
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 5, Minnewaska Area 2
Pipestone Area 14, Redwood Valley 3
Jackson County Central 6, Windom Area 1
Area baseball scores on May 22: Red Lake County 5, Upsala/Swanville Area 3
U/SA 3, Red Lake County 2
Parkers Prairie 7, Browerville 4
Kimball Area 6, Foley 4
Montevideo 19, West Central Area 3 Ortonville 6, Hancock 1
Melrose Area 5, Benson 0
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 6, Minnewaska Area 5
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 6, Canby 0
Paynesville Area 5, Redwood Valley 1
Parkers Prairie 2, Brandon-Evansville 0
MA/CA 13, Minnewaska Area 4
Melrose Area 4, Benson 3
Sauk Centre 8, Kimball Area 6
Fastpitch playoffs underway, baseball in action plus track and field! (VIDEO)
We are underway in Granite Falls at the Vern Anderson Memorial Field, which is located along the scenic banks of the Minnesota River. While the Sub-Section 3A-North fastpitch softball playoffs are starting here, the B-B-E Jaguars track and field teams are competing in the Sub-Section 5A-West meet at Litchfield high school's athletic complex.
UPDATE from Litchfield: Kameron Hiltner has won the sub-section 100 open title! He finished with a time of 11.34 seconds, which was about "one step" ahead of the runner-up in his flight, fellow junior Brody Hooper of Eden Valley-Watkins/Kimball Area. Hooper's time was 11.55 seconds. In the triple jump, senior Dominic Ramos had an outstanding performance that broke 39 feet (I don't have his exact best jump's distance) and ultimately took fourth place.
In the girls' 100 open, seventh grader Alaya Robbin beat her seed time (15.04 seconds) and finished with a time of 14.73 seconds.
Fastpitch updates from Granite Falls...
In the playoff opener, the B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team was stuck in a scoreless tie through three innings against No. 6-seeded Benson. It is a must-win game in order to advance to the Section 3A tournament! More updates to follow.
UPDATE: in the top of the 5th inning, the Jaguars now hold a small 3-1 lead. This is good!
Final score: B-B-E 7, Benson 2. Hooray! The Jaguars are 11-9 overall going into game 2 tonight in Granite Falls. The second game should get going by 6:30 p.m.
Here's the last video I got from game 2 of the Maple Lake doubleheader one week ago tonight:
In that video, freshman Lillian Thompson grabs a pop fly catch in left field to record the third out in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Updates from the Yellow Medicine East playoff game will be posted after 8 p.m. Let's go, Jaguars!!! This game is huge!
Final score: YME 2, B-B-E 1. The Sting won it on a walk-off double. It was absolutely brutal! However, it is undeniable that both teams played an incredible game. The Jaguars (11-10) still move on, and they play on Saturday, May 24 in Marshall in the elimination bracket at 1 p.m. against BOLD (by the Marshall Area high school). More to come. It's time to hit up the DQ in Granite Falls!
In baseball news...
This is also a busy night in the baseball world. The B-B-E Jaguars baseball team traveled to Holdingford this afternoon for a huge Central Minnesota Conference game. The Jaguars were 8-3 going into the game with a "virtual" position of first place. That went by the wayside, however, as they lost 16-2 to the Huskers. Holdingford improved to 10-4 with the win to pull into first place. The Jaguars have their backs to the wall in the CMC race, and they have to sweep Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City tomorrow in Elrosa in order to clinch a share of the CMC title.
**This blog post is a wrap as of 9:40 p.m. on Thursday! Much more to post in a new blog post. Please hit refresh!
Fastpitch playoffs moved to Thursday; it rains all day Wednesday (VIDEOS*)
The same schedule holds for the Sub-Section 3A-North playoff opener, but it will take place on Thursday, May 22 instead of today. For the B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team, they will have Wednesday to prepare for No. 6-seeded Benson for their playoff opener, which is at 4:30 p.m. in Granite Falls. I still have to look up where their fastpitch teams play.
Since yesterday morning, the Brooten area has received in the neighborhood of 3 inches of rain! Oh, my! The memory of a drought is fading. That's all I've got right now.
A couple boys' golf updates were posted to the last blog post. Also, girls' golf notes were added from yesterday's CMC meet.
With the steady rain we've received this afternoon, practices for baseball, fastpitch and track and field were all moved indoors.
Here's a glimpse of varsity fastpitch practice today:
As of early Tuesday evening, I think we've surpassed 3 inches of rain in the last 36 hours.
Shifting on to Wednesday...
By Wednesday night, the rainfall totals in Brooten have surpassed 5 inches since sunrise on Monday morning.
In other news, the May 22 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice features the annual graduation section. This year, the newspaper's graduation section features 55 graduates with the B-B-E Class of 2025. Out of all 55 graduates, only 12 are committed to attending a four-year college. "Don't quote me"...but I believe this is hte lowest percentage (22 percent) of any B-B-E graduating class that is committed to a four-year college. Do you know what I call that? I call that progress!
At B-B-E elementary school on Wednesday morning, the staff and students held their year-end awards banquet. A special part of this event featured the Class of 2025 seniors joining the grades K-5 students for a few unique activities.
Here's a video featuring the Parents and Seniors Night 6 nights ago...
Thursday is the big day this week! The way things stand, I hope to see track and field action plus fastpitch softball action in both Litchfield and then Granite Falls. We'll see how the night goes.
I'd like to give a big tip of the hat to Maple Lake fastpitch coach Tim Knudsen, who has taught P.E. and coached at Maple Lake high school since 2004. In Maple Lake's game two win against our Jaguars last Thursday, Coach Knudsen earned his 400th career fastpitch win. That is a tremendous achievement! He is a 1981 graduate of Burlingame high school in California. Don't kid yourself: we need the CMC to continue being a strong and tough conference to compete in. This only makes our Jaguars stronger in preparation for the playoffs.
In the Section 5AA playoff opener, Maple Lake's fastpitch team lost 11-1 on Monday this week to Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted. The Irish finish the season 10-11 overall. They will graduate 6 seniors off of their roster.
In Section 6AA, Kimball Area (20-1) is the No. 2 seed out of 16 teams. Melrose Area (16-4) is the No. 3 seed, and St. Cloud Cathedral (19-1) is the No. 1 seed. Paynesville Area (14-7) is seeded No. 5, and Holdingford (7-13) is the No 9 seed. Seeded No. 10 is Eden Valley-Watkins (9-12). The EV-W Eagles earned an upset win to open the playoffs by defeating host Foley 8-5 on Monday. This avenged a 4-1 loss at Foley back on April 21, which was during a stretch where the Eagles started the season 1-8 overall. Their season seemed to turn around with a 12-2 six-inning win against visiting Osakis on April 29. EV-W is 8-4 in their last 12 games going back to that Osakis win.
Royalton (7-14) was the No. 13 seed, and they were eliminated from the playoffs on Monday in a 15-5 loss in 5 innings to Pierz.
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City (4-14) opens the Section 4A playoffs tomorrow as the No. 8-seeded team, and they face No. 9-seeded Heritage Christian.
To conclude the Central Minnesota Conference season today at The Lynx golf course in Sauk Centre, three members of the B-B-E Jaguars boys' golf teamearned All-Conference honors. They are Walker Winter, Hudson Reed and Jaxxon Koetter. ALSO! Let it be known that the boys' golf team earned CMC runner-up honors! They took second place with a cumulative score of 1,426. Paynesville Area won the boys' CMC title with a 1,343. In third place was A-C-GC with a 1,436.
For members of the B-B-E Jaguars girls' golf team, Olive Olson shot a 110 at The Lynx across 18 holes, and fellow 8th grader Kragen Wiener shot a 119. They are terrific scores considering they were golfing in 40 mile an hour wind. Yikes!
Other results and scores will be published in the next issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.
The schedule for the Section 5A meet may be altered due to the rain.
And a quick change of pace to a different subject...
Here's the last video I recorded on Friday night at Smilin' D Arena:
The Toby Keith Tribute Ranch Rodeo drew a huge crowd that night. The parking lot was almost full. That's great to see!
It will be difficult, if not impossible, to fit everything I have in mind for this week's paper to fit on the pages. We'll see how Tuesday goes. My sacrifice of not going to the golf meet in Sauk Centre paid off in a huge way: the Class of 2025 graduation section is done! All 55 graduates have a spot, and it's all shined up with just some editing to complete on Tuesday.
Chippewa Falls Lutheran church hosts their Syttende Mai Norwegian Smorgasbord dinner today from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in scenic Terrace, Minnesota. Can you just imagine the views in Terrace today! Bright sunshine, and everything is greened up!
Here's a short web article and video featuring Sunburg's Syttende Mai celebration: https://shorturl.at/ogS0B. Here's a direct link to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's SmugMug photo gallery for the 2024 Sunburg Syttende Mai parade: https://shorturl.at/DMbY9.
Currently, Sunday morning church is in the rear-view mirror, and now it's time to go check the rain guage to see what we got for rain since Friday night. I dumped our rain gauge in Brooten on Friday afternoon, and at that time, it said that we received about 1 3/4 inches of rain between Thursday morning and Friday afternoon.
Sunday night update...
The Sunburg Community Music players performed two outdoor concerts today as part of the town's Syttende Mai celebration. You can watch the first video I recorded of them near the former Sunburg Cafe by clicking here to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's website: https://shorturl.at/NVQEP.
Additional coverage of Sunburg's Syttende Mai celebration is forthcoming. I hope to get a nice spread of coverage in this upcoming issue of The Voice. Fingers crossed.
And a quick sports update...the B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch teamopens the playoffs with a 4:30 p.m. game on Tuesday, May 20 in Granite Falls. Please pass the word! The Section 3A tournament is set to last through Friday, May 29. First, the Jaguars have to win their playoff opener against Benson on Tuesday. After that, they will likely face Yellow Medicine East (the host team) that same night (May 20) at about 6 p.m. in the opening round of the Section 3A double-elimination tournament.
The B-B-E Jaguars baseball team is set to host a doubleheader on Monday (tomorrow) at 4 p.m. in Elrosa. The opponent will be Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City. I don't know how things will shake out with the weather. The rain is supposed to pick up at around 4 p.m. on Monday.
Circling back to last week...
Here's one of 5 video clips I got from last week's Class of 2025 awards/scholarship banquet:
The video begins with Nancy Young speaking about the Austin Young scholarship. Austin Young was a member of the Class of 2019. This year, the Austin Young scholarship was awarded to Kora Martinez.
For B-B-E's Class of 2025, we have 56 students who will graduate this coming week. The graduation ceremony will be at 7 p.m. on Friday, May 23.
MONDAY sports update...
The Sub-Section 5A-West track and field meet has been postponed to Thursday of this week, May 22. It begins at 3 p.m. at the Litchfield high school athletic campus.
For the second year in a row, the B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team earned a high seed in the playoffs. This year, the Jaguars take a 10-9 record into the Sub-Section 3A-North tournament as the No. 3 seed out of 8 teams. The playoff opener is in Granite Falls at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 20. Their opponent will be the No. 6-seeded Benson Braves.
Lac qui Parle Valley (16-4) is the No. 1 seed, and Yellow Medicine East is 11-6. The YME Sting will host one of the two sub-section pods next Tuesday. The other teams playing in Granite Falls will be No. 2-seeded YME and No. 7-seeded Ortonville, who face off in their playoff opener at 3 p.m. in Granite Falls. If the Jaguars defeat Benson, they will likely face YME in a 6 p.m. game in Granite Falls in what will be the opening round of the Section 3A tournament. At that point, the 16 teams who entered the playoffs will be cut back to 8 teams. Those 8 teams will play in the double elimination format of the section tournament, which continues in Marshall on Saturday, May 24.
The subsection rankings are posted below along with each team's overall record as of this morning.
Sub-Section 3A-North fastpitch softball playoff seedings:
1. Lac qui Parle Valley (16-4)
2. Yellow Medicine East (11-6)
3. B-B-E (10-9)
4. Renville County West (6-10)
5. MACCRAY (5-15)
6. Benson (3-17)
7. Ortonville (3-15)
8. Dawson-Boyd (1-14)
Here's a video featuring action in the bottom of the 1st in game 2 yesterday:
The video begins with the bases loaded and Maple Lake batting with one out. Mya Worms caught a pop fly near the home dugout for the second out.
Wabasso (13-5) is the No. 1 seed in Sub-Section 3A-South.
In other news...
A very special evening is coming tonight at the Smilin' D Arena in Colfax Township. They are hosting Toby Keith Tribute Ranch Rodeo Night 3 starting at 6 p.m. You can read more about the event and order tickets by clicking here: https://smilindarena.com/events/?event=229536.
Update on Friday night: click over to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website to see a video recorded tonight at Smilin' D Arena: https://shorturl.at/tBHGk.
The day of Saturday this weekend will be dedicated to multiple graduation parties. Then we have Syttende Mai coming all day on Sunday. The weather is supposed to warm up by Sunday, which bodes well for the big Norwegian celebration in Sunburg. Their pancake breakfast at Hope Lutheran church begins at 7:30 a.m., and an Ecumenical worship is at 9:30 a.m. in their church sanctuary. The grand parade is at 3:30 p.m., and parade staging takes place at the Hope Lutheran parking lot. The full schedule of events for Sunburg's Sunday activities was published on page 7 of the May 8 and May 15 issues of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.
Fastpitch battles elements, earns split with Maple Lake (VIDEOS*)
After pushing through technical difficulties, I'll get video added to this blog post on Friday morning. Also! Playoff seeding will be added in a NEW blog post late Friday morning.
Here's a video featuring part of the pregame huddle:
In a home Central Minnesota Conference doubleheader today with a wicked south wind blowing into the stadium, the B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team earned a series split with Maple Lake. They won 2-1 in game one before the Irish earned a 3-2 win in game two with a walk-off RBI deciding the game.
Going into the second game, both teams held a 7-6 record in the CMC. Maple Lake finished in third place alone with an 8-6 record, while the Jaguars took fourth place alone with a 7-7 record. B-B-E's 7-7 record is their best CMC record since the 2009 season. In 2009, the Jaguars finished 8-6 in the CMC, which put them in 5th place that year.
Here's a video from the top of the 7th inning as the Jaguars clinched the win in game one:
A few game statistics...
Taylor Shelton and Mya Worms each had 2 hits to lead the Jaguars at the plate in game one. Worms gave up 4 hits in a complete-game effort in the circle while giving up no walks and firing 4 strikeouts. In game two, Kenna Lieser was the leading hitter with a 2-for-3 effort at the plate with one run scored Kacey Fischer was 1-for-3 with an RBI.
Also! B-B-E's 10-9 overall record marks the first time since 2009 that they will enter the postseason with a winning record. This is an achievement they should be extremely proud of! Their 10-9 record improves on last year's 8-11 record they held going into subsections. The Sub-Section 3A-North tournament begins next Tuesday, May 20. That's all I know right now. I won't have firm information on the playoff schedule/locations, etc. until late tomorrow (Friday) morning.
B-B-E's home baseball doubleheader for today against Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City was postponed into next week. The stakes for next week are HUGE! Currently, the Jaguars sit alone in first place in the CMC with an 8-3 record. Paynesville Area and Royalton each finished 10-4 in the CMC but are both in the running for a share of the title. Holdingford, who the Jaguars are supposed to play tomorrow, is 9-4 in the CMC. If the Jaguars win 2 out of their last 3 CMC games, they will earn a share of the CMC title. If they go 3-0, they will be solo CMC champions.
That's all I've got right now. I am going to sneak in some garden planting before it gets dark. After tonight, I won't be able to do any proper gardening for at least 3 days, possibly more! The forecast for the weekend is awful. Cold, fall-like weather is on its way. Dang it! However, with this rough weather we're experiencing, we are getting some extremely valuable rain out of the deal.
Area fastpitch scores on May 15:
Parkers Prairie 10, Brandon-Evansville 4
Renville County West 15, MACCRAY 0
Yellow Medicine East 13, Dawson-Boyd 2
Edgerton/Southwest MN Christian 5, Murray County Central 0
Jackson County Central 12, Wabasso 1 (5 innings)
Home playoff hopes dim, but fastpitch salvages a split
After suffering a 14-10 loss in game one at Holdingford today, the B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch teamis in a situation where their backs are to the wall in order to host the opening round of the Sub-Section 3A-North tournament next week. They need to win game two in order to keep hopes alive to surpass Yellow Medicine East for the No. 2 playoff seed.
Update from Holdingford: the Jaguars salvaged a Central Minnesota Conference series split with the Huskers tonight. After losing game one 14-10, they came out strong in game two and picked up a 12-8 win. This puts them at 9-8 overall going into the last action of the regular season. Next: the Jaguars host Maple Lake in a big CMC doubleheader this Thursday, May 15. Game one is at 4 p.m. at the home diamond, and it will also be Seniors and Parents Night.
Maple Lake's fastpitch team is 8-7 overall and 6-3 in the CMC, which puts them in third place. They have a doubleheader tomorrow at home with second-place Paynesville Area.
More to come later, including B-B-E Jaguars girls' golf results from Paynesville's Koronis Golf Club. Update: the scores are in, and Kragen Wiener fired a 55 to earn 7th place individually at today's Central Minnesota Conference meet in Paynesville. The 8th grader's score of 55 is her best this season in a CMC meet. Olive Olson had a rough first hole (with a 10) but recovered from there and finished with a 61. Next: those two varsity girls' golfers travel to Benson tomorrow for an 18-hole invitational. The varsity girls' golf schedule includes 27 more holds of CMC golf, including 9 on Thursday at Kimball and then the final 18 at The Lynx in Sauk Centre next Monday. The Section 5A meet will be held on Wednesday, May 21 at Eagle Creek in Willmar.
Central MN Conference fastpitch scores on May 13:
Eden Valley-Watkins 10, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 8
EV-W 10, A-C-GC 6
Central MN Conference baseball scores on May 13:
Royalton 6, Kimball Area 2
Eden Valley-Watkins 3, Paynesville Area 2
Royalton 4, Holdingford 2
Area fastpitch scores on May 13:
Yellow Medicine East 4, Ortonville 0
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 14, MACCRAY 6
MACCRAY 11, K-M-S 10
Sauk Centre 5, Montevideo 2
Sauk Centre 3, Montevideo 2 (8 innings)
Melrose Area 21, Benson 0
Montevideo 2, Benson 1
Lac qui Parle Valley 12, Ortonville 1
Royalton 13, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 3
Kimball Area 14, Foley 0
Lac qui Parle Valley 12, Ortonville 0
Melrose Area 9, Benson 2
Fastpitch rights the ship, shuts out Falcons; baseball Jaguars win 7th straight
The B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team righted the ship, as they say, with an 8-0 win at Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City today. The Central Minnesota Conference win snapped a 5-game losing streak, as the team is 8-7 overall going into tomorrow's tough road trip to Holdingford for a doubleheader.
Mya Worms pitched a complete game win, as the sophomore surrendered 7 hits and 2 walks to go with 8 strikeouts in 94 total pitches. Junior Kenna Lieser, a 5th-year starter, surpassed 100 career hits today. She went 3-for-3 with one RBI, one walk and 2 runs scored. She achieved her 100th hit in her 4th and final at bat tonight in Grove City.
The Huskers are 5-11 overall and 3-8 in the CMC, which is good for a tie for sixth place with Eden Valley-Watkins and A-C-GC.
And now it is seven in a row!
This current winning streak equals what was accomplished across the latter portion of the 2023 season. Two years ago, the Jaguars won the last game of the regular season, won 5 straight in Section 6A to win the title and then won the state quarterfinal game for 7 straight wins. The Jaguars also won 7 straight games in the 2016 season, when they won 5 straight going into the playoffs and then the first 2 games of the Section 6A tournament. They ultimately settled for 3rd place in 2016, which was their best postseason run since 1995. In 1995, the Jaguars were runners-up in Sub-Section 5A-3 after winning the program's only conference title with a 12-2 record in the West Central South Conference.
Back to present-day...The B-B-E Jaguars baseball team stayed red hot as they defeated Eden Valley-Watkins 6-2 tonight in a home CMC game. This is their 7th straight win! Next: the Jaguars (11-4 overall) host A-C-GC in a CMC doubleheader this Thursday, May 15 at 4 p.m. However!! It is almost sacrilegious for me to say this on a sports blog, but I hope that it will be raining on Thursday. We are desperately in need of precipitation, and the forecast calls for rain and a thunderstorm on Thursday. We'll see how the week plays out. There's also rain in the forecast (53% chance) for Friday. As it stands, our cropland needs an inch or more of rainfall just to stay "relevant" in terms of getting crop germination properly underway. One inch would be terrific and more would be even better.
Against EV-W, Luke Illies started and pitched 5 innings; he gave up 4 hits, 2 earned runs and 1 walk with 2 strikeouts. Aiden Mueller made his pitching debut this spring as closer with no hits, no walks and 3 strikeouts.
More to come after dark...after more vegetables are planted in our family garden!
In track and field news...
The B-B-E Jaguars track and field teams will compete in the Central Minnesota Conference championships on Tuesday (tomorrow). The meet will be hosted at Kimball Area high school. Field events begin at 3:15 p.m., and the running events start at 4:30 p.m.
Central Minnesota Conference baseball scores on May 12:
Paynesville Area 13, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 3
Area baseball scores on May 12:
Upsala/Swanville Area 10, Osakis 2
Parkers Prairie 9, Ottertail Central 3
St. Cloud Cathedral 3, Melrose Area 1
Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 7, Benson 0
Fastpitch hits the road today, baseball hosts EV-W
The Central Minnesota Conference game at Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City high school later today will be aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood. The B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team takes on A-C-GC with first pitch at 4:45 p.m. The pregame show will begin at about 4:30 p.m. The Jaguars have fallen to 7-7 overall and need to come out firing today to shake their current five-game losing streak. The Jaguars have been outscored 65-11 in their last 5 games. It is time to right the ship! Losing is not an option!
The Falcons, a Section 4A team, are 4-11 overall with a 3-8 CMC record. In their latest action, they earned a CMC split at Maple Lake last Thursday with a 15-7 loss in game one and then a 9-8 win in game two.
In the latest Minnesota-Scores QRF rankings, the Jaguars have fallen to No. 44 in Class 1A. They are currently the No. 9-ranked team in Section 3A out of 16 total teams. In Sub-Section 3A-North, they are in the No. 3 spot behind Lac qui Parle Valley (QRF No. 18) and Yellow Medicine East (QRF No. 30).
For fans who cannot make the trip to Grove City, the game will be carried on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood, which is found on your radio dial at 107.1 FM. They also stream online: https://www.kmgk1071.com. Thanks, Brady!
Shifting to baseball news...
At home in Elrosa, the B-B-E Jaguars baseball team hosts Eden Valley-Watkins in another game with big conference implications. The Jaguars need to win in order to keep their Central Minnesota Conference title hopes alive. First pitch from Saints Field is at 4 p.m.
In the latest Minnesota-Scores QRF rankings, the Jaguars have climbed to No. 6 in Class 1A, which also puts them in the top spot in Sub-Section 6A-South. Parkers Prairie (16-3 overall) stands at No. 3 in Class 1A and is the leader in Sub-Section 6A-North.
Some non-sports news...
The Syttende Mai celebration is coming to Sunburg this weekend, Sunday, May 18. A video with additional information on this event has been posted at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website: https://shorturl.at/WCmNT. If you click on that link, you'll be able to watch a short video clip from the prize drawing for the Sunburg Trolls Car Club raffle winners at Syttende Mai one year ago.
In an early season battle of Stearns County League North unbeatens, the Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team suffered a 4-3 loss to Spring Hill on the home diamond today. After staking a 3-0 lead through six innings, the Saints fell into a tie with the Chargers when the visitors (playing as the home team) plated 3 runs in the bottom of the 7th inning. The game-winner was scored in walk-off fashion in the bottom of the 10th. Dylan Gertken's RBI-single scored Ethan Meyer from third base to end the game.
It was an incredibly evenly-matched game. Both teams had 10 hits. Luke Illies led Elrosa by going 3-for-5 with 2 RBI and a stolen base. Elrosa left 16 runners stranded, while Spring Hill left 10 runners stranded.
Anthony Revermann started for Spring Hill and pitched 5 innings while giving up 6 hits and 2 runs. Reagan Nelson entered for the 6th inning and picked up the win while pitching the final 5 innings (4 hits, 1 run, no earned runs, 2 walks, 1 strikeout). Will VanBeck (6 innings) and Ethan Vogt (4 innings) held pitching duties for Elrosa.
The Saints scored one run in the first, third and sixth innings to go up 3-0.
Here's a long video featuring action in the top of the 3rd inning today:
Next: Elrosa (3-1 overall) has a unique Wright/Meeker County tour on Saturday, May 17. First that day is a 2 p.m. game at Watertown, and that's followed by a night game under the lights at the Litchfield stadium with first pitch at 7 p.m. from Optimist Park. On Sunday, May 18, the Saints travel to Meire Grove for an SCL-North contest at 1:30 p.m.
Here's a video from the top of the 2nd inning:
The Saints had a big opportunity to score in the second inning but left 2 runners stranded.
More to follow after it gets dark. Time to get back in the garden.
The B-B-E Jaguars baseball team extended their current winning streak to six with a 19-0 five-inning win tonight against Hancock. The non-conference win at Saints Field in Elrosa capped the two-day Max Bats Wood Bat Invitational, which also included Brandon-Evansville and Browerville.
The Owls, who defeated Browerville 10-0 in five innings yesterday in Elrosa, struggled mightily in the field with 6 errors. At the plate, they had just one hit as they fell to 5-7 overall.
B-B-E batters were struck out just 3 times across 4 1/2 innings. They racked up 19 hits, and these Jaguars all had 2 hits each: Brett DeRoo, Luke Illies, Ethan Mueller, Hayden Sobiech, Tyler Myers and Noah DeRoo.
Next: now 10-4 overall, the Jaguars host Eden Valley-Watkins in a huge Central Minnesota Conference game this Monday, May 12 in Elrosa. First pitch is at 4 p.m. EV-W is 8-7 overall and 6-5 in the CMC. As it stands, Paynesville Area, Holdingford and B-B-E are in a virtual tie for first place with three CMC losses each. The Bulldogs are technically out in front with a 9-3 record.
Here's a video from the 4th inning last night against Brandon-Evansville:
Tomorrow is Mother's Day! I hope you haven't forgotten! I have not...because I know what's good for me. And that is not a day you want to forget!
This is all I've got for now. Church tomorrow is at 9 a.m. at West Lake Johanna Lutheran church in Gilchrist Township, which means it's time to call it a night!
