A truly remarkable playoff run that followed a remarkable conference championship regular season concluded for the B-B-E Jaguars baseball team today at Chizek Field in Morris. With the game tied at 1-1 through the 4th, 5th and 6th innings, Parkers Prairie came through in the middle of their order as they earned a 2-1 walk-off win in the Section 6A championship.
Parkers Prairie out-hit the Jaguars by a 7 to 3 margin. Ultimately, the Jaguars left too many stranded throughout the game in their 4th overall appearance in a section championship. They also played in the section finals in 2019, 2023 and 2024.
Trailing 1-0, B-B-E scored when Brett DeRoo was driven home from second base on an RBI-single by Ethan Mueller. It was a hard-hit ball that screamed just past the outstretched arms of the Parkers Prairie shortstop.
Hayden Sobiech pitched a marvelous game, as the senior right-hander went 6 2/3 innings while giving up just 2 walks to go with 5 strikeouts. In addition to Ethan's RBI-single, Brett DeRoo and Luke Illies also earned singles.
Parkers Prairie junior AJ Woodworth earned the pitching win. He was stellar on the mound and worked his way out of multiple tough situations while giving up 5 walks with 3 strikeouts in complete innings. The Panthers were ready. They knew what was coming. They knew they were in for a tough game, and that's exactly what played out. Hats off to their players and coaches!
B-B-E finishes the season 18-8 overall, which includes a 5-2 record in the playoffs. Their 18 wins marks the second-most ever in a baseball season. The school record remains with the 2016 squad, which finished in third place in Section 6A with a 19-7 final record. In the regular season, the Jaguars won a share of the Central Minnesota Conference title. They are the first team to do this, and they join the 1995 squad as the only baseball teams to win conference hardware. Back in 1995, the Jaguars went 12-2 to earn a co-championship in the West Central South Conference.
The careers of 9 talented seniors comes to a close at B-B-E. They will be dearly missed. All 9 played with tremendous pride and class, most of them across multiple sports at B-B-E as a Jaguar student athlete. They will all go on to do great things in life!
Here's a short video featuring action as the top of the 2nd inning closed today:
It became a nerve-wracking and emotional game as it wore on. It was completely up for grabs right through the bottom of the 7th inning. As shown in this video, the Jaguars had a handful of opportunities to score, but it was not meant to be.
Here's a video from the top of the 3rd inning, when the Jaguars scored their lone run of the game:
Both teams were fired up from start to finish. They played with great energy, emotion and enthusiasm. That's all you can ask for out of high school players. In this last video, which lasted over 9 minutes, No. 5-batter Aiden Mueller had an incredible at bat that lasted multiple pitches. I didn't count, but it was at least 10! He ended up hitting a deep fly ball to centerfield.
As difficult as it will be, now we move on from this loss, and we will root and cheer for the next wave of athletes coming up the ranks in Jaguar Country!
Parents mocking opposing players when their own team wins should be called out!
Parkers Prairie has a tremendous baseball team, and they take a 22-3 record into the state tournament. I saw and heard nothing negative about their team throughout the game. It was truly a terrific high school baseball game. Their players and coaches have a right to be proud. They earned it.
The post-game celebration by Parkers Prairie was significantly marred, however, when a group of Parkers Prairie parents chose to yell words of mockery against one of B-B-E's players. It's one of those things that you really don't believe while it is happening. To hear the shouting coming from their fan section, and then asking others if they heard the same thing...a neutral observer also heard what I heard. A team ally of ours heard what I heard. It was SICKENING. It is uncalled for.
My sports reporting tenure began in August 2003, so I've been doing this just a few months shy of 22 years now. I can't recall that ever happening from a team that wins. There can be very hard feelings coming from a losing team. I've seen a wide range of emotions and responses from teams and players who lose big games. I'm not saying that losing justifies poor behavior, but that is a different situation than what I witnessed today. To see a winning team's fan section - PARENTS no less - display what I saw today is taking it to a new level. I've seen DOZENS of state-qualifying section games since the 2003-2004 winter basketball season, and until today, I've never experienced this. It's a rotten shame. It does take away from the great accomplishment of Parkers Prairie's baseball team.
Here's a quick way to put this into perspective: if a quarterback of a team throws an interception that leads to his team losing, who in their right minds from the winning team would go to that quarterback after the game and thank him for throwing the costly interception? You just don't do that. Really! Who would do that? Only a person with zero class and no shame whatsoever would do such a thing.
Our family is currently raising two three-sport athletes, and it is very important that my daughters and their teammates learn how to win with class and how to lose with class. This is a MUST! This is not optional. That is one of the highest priorities of youth sports and prep sports. Honestly, I think the only thing more important is to be a good teammate!
I've got more to say, but that will be for another day.
Now it's late Thursday night, and I've got another thought. I think this would help balance this out. This would bring back some FAIRNESS in a situation that was completely, totally unfair to our team. I would like to see those Parkers Prairie fans responsible for the taunting to be identified and then barred from going to the state tournament. I feel that is something within the bounds of what Parkers Prairie school officials could do. They need to own this. Find the parents or adults who were conducting this bizarre, abhorrent behavior, and tell them that they are not welcome to go to the state tournament games. What will happen at state if they go? How bad would that look for Parkers Prairie if these fans continue this behavior at the game's biggest stage? I think Parkers Prairie is gambling if these adults attend state and are a part of the Parkers Prairie fan section.
JUST MY TWO CENTS.
To those Parkers Prairie fans: you were caught taunting on MY audio! I got you. I'm uploading the video now. You are heard in the final seconds of the clip. We'll let that play for the whole world to take in. Your behavior would be "questionable" if this was a town team baseball game. I could see that, and I'd probably overlook it...but this was a high school game. What you did was completely out of bounds.
Here's the video featuring the game-winning hit and the post-game celebration by the Parkers Prairie players:
...in the final seconds of the video, you can hear some of the "extracurriculars" being hurled by Parkers Prairie fans. I know what was said. I was on the field when it happened. Some of what you said was caught in the last 6 seconds of my video's audio. In a small town, it would not be that difficult to figure out who that man was. He needs to be identified and called out! How DARE you do that in a moment that followed your team becoming the victor. Such a shameful individual!
For Parkers Prairie, it was an exciting moment, and the post-game dog pile out at second base was something those players will never forget. They earned it! Good for them. The adult behavior attached to this really was unfortunate. That's the most diplomatic way I can say it.
