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