A rough loss as fastpitch settles for a split; baseball sweeps Paynesville Area (VIDEO)

A seventh-inning rally helped extend the game to extra innings for the B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team tonight against Eden Valley-Watkins. Down 6-3 going into the 7th, the Jaguars plated the exact runs needed to stay alive. The bottom fell out, however, as the Eagles scored 8 runs in the top of the 8th inning. B-B-E got just one back to fall to 7-4 on the season in a 14-7 loss.

Here's a video from the top of the 2nd inning:


In the Central Minnesota Conference, the Jaguars fall to 4-3. This is their second straight CMC loss after they won 4 straight against conference opponents.

The Jaguars have no time to lick their wounds, however, as they hit the road tomorrow into Morrison County to Upsala. The non-conference game starts at 4:45 p.m. from the Upsala fastpitch softball complex. The Cardinals are 4-8 overall and 3-3 in the Prairie Conference.

EV-W, a Section 6AA team, improved their overall record to 4-9. In the CMC, the Eagles are 2-7. They have doubleheaders with Royalton and Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City plus a game at Paynesville Area remaining on their CMC schedule.

And! Exciting baseball news!
The B-B-E Jaguars baseball team defeated Paynesville Area 10-3 tonight to improve to 6-4 overall. Luke Illies pitched a complete game with 4 hits, 1 earned run, 2 walks and 7 strikeouts. In the CMC, the Jaguars are 5-3 and still in the hunt for a share of the title.

The Bulldogs led 1-0 after one inning, but the Jaguars took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the 2nd. Paynesville Area tied the game in the top of the 4th, but the Jaguars took the lead for good with 2 runs in the bottom of the 4th. They sealed the win with 6 runs in the bottom of the 6th inning. Overall, B-B-E outhit the Bulldogs 14 to 4.

Noah DeRoo led the Jaguars by batting a thousand with 3 singles and 4 RBI. Earning 2 hits each were Brett DeRoo, Hayden Sobiech, Tyler Myers, and Jack Lundberg.

Next: the Jaguars host Kimball Area in a big CMC doubleheader tomorrow (Tuesday) starting at 4 p.m. in Elrosa. A sweep of the Cubs is in order! It will be necessary to stay in the CMC race.

Paynesville Area is 10-4 overall and 8-2 in the CMC, which is still good for first place.

I'll bring this up again in the future, but just for the record, our current varsity baseball team includes 8 players who were part of the 2023 team that advanced to the state tournament. I finally got around to looking up our roster from 2 years ago.

More to come after it gets dark! The garden is calling with loud voices!!!

Area fastpitch scores on May 5:
Menahga 8, Upsala 0
Osakis 13, Royalton 8
Browerville 12, Pine River-Backus 6
Minnewaska Area 17, Hancock 7
Spectrum 2, Kimball Area 0 (this is Kimball's first loss of the season; they're now 13-1)
Melrose Area 4, BOLD 3
Holdingford 15, Albany 12