Jaguars start season with 4-set win over NL-S (VIDEOS)

Facing a tall, senior-laden lineup for the season opener, the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team had their work cut out against undefeated New London-Spicer. The Wildcats (4-0) entered the match with four tournament wins to their credit at the Albany Invitational last Friday. One was a three-set win over No. 8-ranked New London-Spicer, and another was against Central Minnesota Conference perennial challenger Maple Lake.

NL-S's roster features 8 seniors with 6 players listed at 5'11" or taller. Their program also features 16 freshman players in the Class of 2029 who are split across the JV and C-squad teams. B-B-E's program is also fortunate to have a large freshman class of volleyball players totaling 14 who split between JV and C-squad.

Here's a video from game one tonight ending on a huge ace block by Kacey Fischer:


After each team split the opening sets, the Jaguars rocked NL-S in game three with a 25-18 win. B-B-E won game one 25-18, and NL-S squeezed out game two 26-24.

Game four was a grinder in the early stages with NL-S holding a 9-7 lead after they initially trailed 3-1. A strong run at the service line by Makenna Roelike fueled an 8-0 run that put the Jaguars in control. The Wildcats scored 3 of the next 4 points, but a Teagan Dingmann kill gave the Jaguars a 17-12 lead. A kill and ace serve by NL-S cut B-B-E's lead to 19-17. Out of a B-B-E timeout, Kacey Fischer had a kill and then an ace serve for a 21-17 lead. B-B-E finished the match by taking game four 25-21 as action closed out with an NL-S error.

Next: the Jaguars travel to Clara City next Tuesday, September 2 to face a loaded MACCRAY Wolverines team. MACCRAY won their season opener in a routine 3-0 sweep last Thursday at Dawson-Boyd. They hosted Adrian/Ellsworth tonight in a non-conference match.

Here's a postmatch interview with senior Kacey Fischer:


Senior outside hitter Kacey Fischer led the attack with 20 kills, 5 ace serves and 2 ace blocks.

More to come in the morning. I have a newspaper to get ready for the printing press!

Area volleyball scores on August 26:
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 3, Dawson-Boyd 0
Paynesville Area 3, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 1
Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 3, Central MN Christian-Prinsburg 2
Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 3, Benson 1
MACCRAY 3, Adrian/Ellsworth 1
#8 Sauk Centre 3, BOLD 0

Border battle! TONIGHT! On the radio (UPDATES!)

Tonight's border battle and season opener for the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team will be aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood (107.1 FM). The opponent is undefeated (4-0) New London-Spicer, who is the defending Section 3AA champions. Smooth Magic 107 streams online at https://www.kmgk1071.com.

The JV Jaguars won three straight sets in a preliminary match.

Here's a video featuring the National Anthem and player introductions:


The Wildcats won the C-squad match.

Varsity updates...
In game one, the Jaguars came back from an early 8-6 deficit to take a 16-10 lead. Final: B-B-E 25, NL-S 18. Game two is starting at 19:25.

In game two, the Jaguars fell back 5-3 before forcing a tie at 8-8. NL-S then forged a 14-9 lead to force B-B-E into their first timeout. Late in the set, the Wildcats led 19-14 before B-B-E stormed back to force ties at 22-22 and 24-24. Final: NL-S 26, B-B-E 24. Game three is starting at 19:52.

The outcome will be posted in a new blog post after 9 p.m.

Volleyball Jaguars open at home on Tuesday with a border battle!

Look at what's coming! I'd say we better be prepared!

In spite of suffering extensive graduation losses on their varsity team, the New London-Spicer Wildcats appear to have reloaded just fine for the 2025 season. A year ago, NL-S went 18-9-1 and won the Section 3AA championship to advance to state. They are what's on deck for the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team for our season opener, which is next Tuesday, August 26 on the home court in Brooten. The JV and C-squad matches start at 5:30 p.m.

Last Friday at the Albany Invitational, the NL-S Wildcats went 4-0 including a three-set win against No. 8-ranked (Class 2A) Sauk Centre. In that match, the Wildcats won 15-12 in the third set.

The second match for the Jaguars is a road non-conference battle at MACCRAY in Clara City on Tuesday, September 2. The Central Minnesota Conference opener is two nights later (September 4) at home against Holdingford.

Here's video featuring most of the sermon from Pastor Kathy Terpstra one week ago in Gilchrist Township:


Pastor Kathy is one of a handful of area pastors who are providing "pulpit supply" for West Lake Johanna Lutheran church and Trinity Lutheran church. At some point this fall, their parish will name an Interim Pastor while their call committee searches for their future full-time pastor.

On Sunday afternoon...
The Regal Eagles amateur baseball team has earned a spot in the Elite 8 round of the state baseball tournament. They defeated Waterville 3-1 today at Brownton to move past the Round of 32. In another state game this weekend with a Region 8C team, the Farming Flames won 2-1 in walk-off fashion over Cologne on Friday night in Brownton. Both Farming and Regal play next on Saturday, August 30. On Saturday, Paynesville lost 10-3 in 12 innings to Glencoe to see their season end.

UPDATE: Regal faces Le Sueur in the Class C state quarterfinals on Saturday, August 30 at 1:30 p.m. in Hutchinson. Farming plays Hanska at 11 a.m. in Brownton on Saturday, August 30. If both Farming and Regal win, they will meet at 1 p.m. on Sunday, August 31 in Brownton in the state semifinals.

Girls' tennis Jaguars start season with a W (VIDEO)

The B-B-E Jaguars girls' tennis team battled from beginning to end and came away with a hard-fought 4-3 win last Friday against Long Prairie-Grey Eagle/Upsala-Swanville Area. The match was scheduled as the first of two for Friday, with Staples-Motley also coming to town to face both teams. For the second year in a row, however, rainfall nixed additional matches, so the Jaguars went home with the 1-0 record.

Here's Coach Kristine Bents speaking with her team in the post-match huddle in Long Prairie:


The Jaguars have a triangular in Melrose tomorrow (Thursday) starting at 2 p.m. The third team coming to town is Parkers Prairie.

A terribly long day (VIDEO)

This has been an incredibly long Monday. In addition to the fact that it's been a long day, I didn't make it to everything that was on my Monday list. (Belgrade city council got missed.) As it stands, I've logged 14 hours of steady work today, and I'll get in at least 2 more hours of work before calling it. If I replicated this across all 7 days of the week, that would be at least 112 hours of work. Think about that! A typical week has been bringing 80 to 90 hours a week lately. Who else could replicate what I pull off each week? I'd love to know.

It's high time now to get fall sports coverage up to speed. That task is being split across the next two weeks, as I catch up to the coaches of cross country, volleyball and football. I still have to circle back and write about the tennis team's opener last Friday - which was a success! This period where summer fairs, town celebrations, amateur baseball and then fall sports all overlap has been wildly overwhelming for my sports department.

I'm slugging my way through the events of the first 2 weeks of August, when it piled on with county fairs in Glenwood, Willmar and Sauk Centre. A few more albums have been added to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's SmugMug gallery in the 2025 events folder: https://bonanzavalley.smugmug.com/2025-B-B-EBonanza-Valley-area-events.

Here's a video from the 2nd inning of the state tournament game on Saturday in Hutchinson:


I was thoroughly impressed by the crowd on hand during the Saturday games in Hutchinson. It's wonderful to see the strong support that Minnesota amateur baseball enjoys.

State amateur baseball yields 3 wins from Region 8C teams (VIDEO)

Paynesville, Farming and Regal all won their respective Class C state tournament openers on Friday and Saturday. More details to follow here later this evening.

Here's a video featuring the postgame celebration after Regal defeated Dumont:


Regal won 2-0 in 11 innings, with their 2 scores coming in the top of the 11th in Hutchinson. The previous night, Paynesville won by a 5-4 score in their state opener. Farming defeated Milroy on Saturday evening. In Elrosa's game, the Saints fell 6-2 to Windom.

Here's the starter introductions for Elrosa before they faced Windom:


Ethan Vogt started and pitched 6 innings, and he was relieved by Norway Lake-Sunburg draftee Weston Gjerde, who pitched in the 7th inning. Will VanBeck was closer in the the 8th inning. Elrosa scored once in the top of the 4th inning to make it a 2-2 tie game, but they were held scoreless across the final 5 innings.

GAME DAY at STATE! In Mcleod County ...with a rain delay

This is a BIG game day for the Bonanza Valley area as we support the Elrosa Saints and Regal Eagles amateur baseball teams at the Class C state tournament. The state openers are today for both teams in Hutchinson. The games are played at Veterans Memorial Field near the North Fork Crow River.

The Elrosa Saints were supposed to face Windom at 1:30 p.m. Before that, the Regal Eagles were to play at 11 a.m. against the Dumont Saints. However, all of central Minnesota took 2+ inches of rain this morning, so there is a game delay in place. The Regal vs. Dumont game is probably going to start at around noon. This shifts Elrosa's game back to probably a 2:30 p.m. start.

Both games are on 1150 AM in Albany: http://www.mykasm.com. Further updates to follow at this blog post after noon.

I'm slowly getting to extended August Fest coverage. Two videos from August Fest can be found at the "News" collection at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's website: https://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com/section/news.

UPDATES...

It's 2:08 p.m., and Regal is entering the 9th inning at the plate. The score is 0-0.

Final: Regal 2, Dumont 0 in 11 innings! Crazy.

Elrosa's game started at 3:22 p.m.

After 3 innings, Windom has a 2-1 lead.

After 5 innings, Windom has a 4-2 lead.

Final: Windom 6, Elrosa 2. That's all she wrote.

August Fest (and more) - VIDEOS

There's a lot to get caught up on this week.

Here's a video from the early units of the Belgrade August Fest parade on Saturday:


In this video, you can see the outgoing Belgrade Royal Ambassadors nearing the end of their final parade.

Here's a video featuring a glimpse of the Stearns County Fair last Friday afternoon:


The weather featured sweltering, muggy heat on Friday at the fair. It was pretty gross all day and into the evening.

And back to Belgrade's August Fest...

Here's a video from the Friday night street dance just after Mid Flight began playing:


I heard that the Belgrade VFW had a "pretty good" weekend overall at August Fest. I'll speak a little on their behalf and say "Thank You" to all those who came out and supported the VFW through the chicken feed, Friday's street dance and Saturday's Belgrade Brawl.

Elrosa Saints state tournament shirts

Here's the link! Deadline is Tuesday this week! Link: https://programs.rambowinc.com/login.php?UserID=elrosa. This online Rambow store closes at midnight on Tuesday, August 12.

Elrosa Saints open state on Saturday

The brackets have been revealed!

The Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team opens their 12th state tournament appearance this Saturday, August 16 in Hutchinson. Their game at 1:30 p.m. that day will be against the Windom Pirates. The Pirates won the Region 10C title with a 3-1 win over the Milroy Irish at Milroy's Irish Yard on Friday.

Windom holds a 23-1 overall record. Their last state trip was in 2021, and their program won the Class A state championship in 1936.

Elrosa's state draftees are Weston Gjerde from Norway Lake-Sunburg, Grant Moscho from Greenwald and Ben Welle from Spring Hill.

Hutchinson's state tournament site is Veterans Memorial Field At Dave Mooney Memorial Complex. This is located along the South Fork Crow River. The address is 301 Ontario Street SE, Hutchinson, MN 55350. Other state tournament sites for all classes are Gaylord, Brownton and Glencoe.

Region baseball continues in Spring Hill (VIDEO, UPDATES)

In a seeding game at Spring Hill today, the Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team is facing Regal with the No. 3 seed to state up for grabs. Just like all Region 8C games, this game is being aired on KASM 1150 AM of Albany: http://www.mykasm.com.

Regal extended a 1-0 lead to 2-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning while facing starter Hayden Sobiech. Luke Dingmann took over pitching duties in the fifth.

Josh Beier hit a three-RBI double in the bottom of the fifth inning to make it a 5-0 lead for the Eagles. In the top of the 7th inning, the Saints were unable to score with a deficit on the scoreboard of 6-0.

Brayden Skindelien walked with an RBI to extend Regal's lead to 8-0 in the bottom of the 7th inning. Regal's leadoff batter in the 7th hit a solo home run. In the bottom of the 7th, Regal scored twice on one hit with no errors and 3 left on base. Elrosa reliever Luke Illies recorded 3 strikeouts but also issued 4 walks.

In the top of the 8th, pinch hitter Kevin Kuefler drew a two-out walk. A throwing error then got Jackson Peter on base. Ashton Dingmann then punched a three-run home run to bust up the shutout. That at bat by Dingmann marked the first time that Elrosa had 2 runners on at the same time. A pop fly ended the top of the 8th inning with no runners stranded.

In the bottom of the 8th, Wyatt Steffensen took over pitching duties for Elrosa, and he fired a strikeout against the first batter he faced. Regal's next batter singled, and Steffensen then struck out Shane Radermacher.

Here's a video featuring action in the bottom of the 6th inning yesterday against Starbuck:


In the top of the 9th inning, Elrosa left two stranded as they went down on a strikeout for the game's final out. Final score: Regal 8, Elrosa 3. The Eagles continue at regions with another seeding game today against Farming. For the game, Regal had 12 runners stranded, while Elrosa left 6 on base.

As reported yesterday, Regal defeated Roscoe 6-4 to advance to state in their final elimination game. The Eagles and Rangers faced eachother in the opening game at Spring Hill yesterday.

As for the Class C amateur baseball tournament...
The state tournament begins next weekend with games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (August 15,16,17) across four sites: Gaylord, Hutchinson, Brownton and Glencoe. The state brackets will be announced after 7 p.m. tonight, so for now, we don't know exactly when or where Elrosa plays their state opener. Additional state information is available at http://www.minnesotabaseballassociation.org/tournaments.

In other Region 8C games...
Paynesville won the Region 8C title by defeating Farming last night. The Pirates will be playing in the state tournament for the second time in program history.

Region baseball (UPDATES, VIDEO) SAINTS to STATE!

With 4 innings complete, Starbuck holds a 1-0 lead over Elrosa. These teams are battling at Spring Hill this afternoon in a Region 8C elimination game.

An incredible throw by Will Van Beck from left field to home base cut Starbuck down to end the 7th inning. Catcher Blaine Fischer applied the tag at home for the 3rd out. The score is tied at 1-1.

The Belgrade August Fest is also going strong at Belgrade.

From Spring Hill...here we go!
Down to their final out in the top of the 9th inning, the Elrosa Saints gained a 4-2 lead on a three-run bomb by Jackson Peter! Elrosa now needs to hold Starbuck in the bottom of the 9th to advance to state!

In the bottom of the 9th, the Stars got their leadoff batter on base on an error.

Final score: Elrosa 4, Starbuck 3. The Saints are state bound! Ethan Vogt pitched 7 strong innings to keep the Saints in the game. Will VanBeck was closer and recorded the win.

Here's a video from the top of the 6th inning today:


Regal punched their ticket to state with a 6-4 win against Roscoe earlier today in Spring Hill.

Next: Elrosa has a seeding game next at 11 a.m. tomorrow against Regal in Spring Hill. 

Pope County Fair 4-H Tug-of-War + Belgrade August Fest (VIDEOS*)

Before we get buried by county fair, Belgrade August Fest and Region 8C baseball, here's a blog post that will include some coverage of recent local events.

Here's a video from Saturday night last weekend with 4-H kids in a Tug-of-War competition:


The tug-of-war was held by the animal barns at the Pope County Fairgrounds.

In other news...the turnout for tonight's Brooten Farmers Market was strong. My family had our best night of the summer. It was great to see the support from out of town and from Belgrade!

And now to August Fest!
The Belgrade August Fest kicked off tonight. Below is a video I got late in the outdoor concert.

Here's Southern Crossroads performing at the Belgrade city park:


They performed under a mix of clouds and sunshine. Such odd weather we are having! I hope you can get to the Belgrade Fire Department's Chicken BBQ supper on Friday night. They serve at the VFW from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m.!

For information on the Belgrade August Fest Waffle Feed that's coming on Saturday morning, click here: https://shorturl.at/NX23q. This event is hosted and organized by the B-B-E Scouts Troop No. 667.

A great activities meeting

I'm far too busy tonight with the newspaper to write much here, but I'm pleased to report that a really great activities meeting was held tonight at Olson Auditorium. Activities Director Chris Anderson guided parents and student-athletes through a half-hour presentation on what I'll just call the "rules of the road" for those who participate in extra-curricular activities at B-B-E. Tomorrow, I hope to share some video from tonight.

I have been amazed...
With a front-row seat to the workings of the tennis team, I have been amazed at the work that the captains of an athletic team put in to manage what's known as "Captains Practice Week." I had a section of my newspaper column written up about this, but lack of space led me to cut it out before publishing. I'll try to re-write it here. I've never actually gotten a good look at captains practice for any athletic team in the 22+ years I've been a sports reporter. It's just never crossed my radar. The closest I've gotten was tennis captains practice in 2024 for my oldest daughter. Even that amounted to no more than dropping her off and picking her up.

This year, I was asked to help with recruiting. Oh, boy! That's a job I take very, very seriously! That's a job we all should take seriously! I jumped right into it. You learn quite a bit about the inner workings of a team as they try to build numbers and run practices/drills without the guidance of coaches. I cannot be more impressed by what I'm seeing from the tennis captains. The role is not easy, but any role that has great value is going to come with hard work!

The "no contact" week for coaches doesn't really have the same pop here as it would in a bigger school. The no-contact rule was put in place years ago by the MSHSL in order to prevent burnout in student athletes. To me, it's more than that: it presents the opportunity for the captains of a high school team to step up and show leadership. Huge, HUGE skills they need in life!

I'm not aware of volleyball numbers, but they're not hurting. The varsity team is "loaded for bear" for the 2025 season with big goals to achieve. As for cross country, the graduation of Taylor Nelson leaves a huge void. I'll catch up to our A.D. this week and find out if there's any cross country prospects for the paired B-B-E/Paynesville team. This is available for boys and girls athletes at B-B-E.

Did you know? While we can always do better, Minnesota has really outstanding participation rates for students in high school-level activities. The Minnesota State High School League ranks in the Top 10 in the United States for participation with over 240,000 students being active in athletic teams. After adding in the Fine Arts of speech, debate, one-act play, music, cheerleading and visual arts - and that figure jumps past 320,000 students.

In other news...

The Stearns County Fair in Sauk Centre and the Kandiyohi County Fair in Willmar both open up today. Time to promote, promote, promote! I've gotten a small start on that. Here's a link to read about the Stearns County Fair: https://shorturl.at/v5l7v. The full schedule for what's happening in Sauk Centre this week was published in the July 31 and August 7 issues of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

Some additional Region 8C amateur baseball coverage is posted at the newspaper website. You can find that by clicking here: https://shorturl.at/U57LS.

Finally, here's a link to read up on the Kandiyohi County Fair in Willmar: https://shorturl.at/5ZgEZ.

Sounding the alarm

Greetings, Jaguar Country! I've got troubling news to report. I'm sick about it, and it's going to consume me this entire week. I'm stricken with a mix of anger and disgust at numerous players who quit the sport of girls' tennis at B-B-E. After speaking with the captains of this year's B-B-E Jaguars girls' tennis team this morning, it appears there's at least 3 so far, hopefully no more, who were on the team last year but are not going out for tennis this year.

I can ask what on earth is wrong with the players, but the bigger question in my mind is: what is wrong with their parents? What the heck? I am so disgusted right now! There is a scenario where too many girls quit, and the result is that they are unable to field a varsity team. The tennis program has been in existence at B-B-E since 1992. They have had lower numbers in some seasons since 1992, but they've always fielded a varsity team with a few athletes to spare for JV action.

For the players who are not quitters this fall, the captains practices for the girls' tennis team are being held this week at the high school courts from 8 to 10 a.m. They held practice this morning, and one glimmer of hope is that they have at least one new recruit to the team: seventh grader Harper Herickhoff. (GOOD JOB, Herickhoffs!)

That's all I've got to say right now.

...later, on Monday night: the outlook has improved! It's too early to tell if the outlook has "greatly" improved, but as of tonight, the odds that the tennis team can field a varsity squad is "high."

All of this is happening while the B-B-E Jaguars football team will not field a JV squad this fall. That's another entire issue that greatly stresses me. In case you were wondering: the varsity team's season opener is on Thursday, August 28 at home in Belgrade. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. that night against New York Mills.

...and now on Tuesday: it is looking like the tennis team will have a very nice group of seniors leading the way this fall. The captains and others on the team are working on getting other prospects to join. This is good! 

Remember: any time a student devotes to sports is time that they're not on their cell phones or on social media. THINK ABOUT THAT. 

What has been fascinating to me is that, amongst this personal angst I've had looking at the tennis numbers dip and rebound with in the span of 2 days, it's uncovered a bigger issue I see that has become well-known across the country. This stems from kids becoming detached from peers who are positive influences on their lives and instead devoting time and energy to negative influences in the form of peers who make bad decisions. I see it 100% in my own household. 

It is a never-ending battle parents in the technology age have to deal with.

Elrosa Saints stay alive at Region 8C (VIDEOS)

After trailing 1-0 going into the second inning today against New Munich, the Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team put up a 5-spot in the top of the second inning and stayed alive in the Region 8C tournament with a 10-4 win.

Will VanBeck started for Elrosa and earned the pitching win, and Wyatt Steffensen pitched in relief. Riley Meyer was closer.

Next: the Saints travel back to Spring Hill next Saturday (August 9) for another elimination contest. They play at 1:30 p.m. against Starbuck. It is also a state-qualifying game, so the stakes are huge!

Here's a video from the top of the 4th inning yesterday against Regal:


And here's another video from the Regal game...

Action in the top of the 5th inning...


Today's games in Spring Hill included a light drizzle/mist combination that delivered light precipitation throughout the day. The rainfall made conditions very tough during the first game today, an elimination game that featured Roscoe taking on the host Chargers. Roscoe won 12-6 to advance to next weekend's action.

In today's lone state-qualifying game played in Spring Hill, the Farming Flames edged Regal 3-2 to punch their ticket to the big show. The Regal Eagles play next Saturday, August 9 at 11 a.m. against Roscoe in an elimination game. Farming will make back-to-back appearances at state after also advancing last year.

A cool, wet day for Region 8C baseball (UPDATES)

The opening game of baseball at the Region 8C tournament for Sunday, August 3 features Spring Hill facing Roscoe in a win-or-go-home contest at Spring Hill. In the top of the 5th inning, the Rangers hold a 5-0 lead. All of their runs were scored in the first two innings.

In the bottom of the 5th, Spring Hill has scored twice. Austin Schoenberg then scored on a wild pitch to make it a 5-3 score.

In the top of the 6th inning, the Rangers extended their lead to 6-3.

In the bottom of the 7th inning, the Rangers hold an 8-5 lead. Spring Hill has the bases loaded with 1 out, but Roscoe is currently doing a pitching change from starter Braden VanderBeek. Roscoe reliever Josh Mackedanz then fired back-to-back strikeouts to end the threat.

Final: Roscoe 12, Spring Hill 6. The Chargers are eliminated, while Roscoe advances to an elimination game next Saturday (August 9) in Spring Hill with an 11 a.m. first pitch.

What's coming today in Spring Hill:
The second game of the day features Elrosa against New Munich at about 1:30 p.m.

Elrosa vs. New Munich updates...first pitch was just after 2:30 p.m.
Will VanBeck is Elrosa's starting pitcher, while Caden Sand is New Munich's starter.

New Munich scored with their leadoff hitter in the bottom of the first inning.

In the second inning, Will VanBeck and Kevin Kuefler earned back-to-back walks to load the bases. Ethan Mueller batted next, and he launched a three-RBI double! Peyton Winter, Will VanBeck and Kevin Kuefler all scored on Mueller's hit to the right-center gap. Elrosa 3, New Munich 1. Next! Jackson Peter launched a two-RBI home run to extend the lead to 5-1. Ashton Dingmann walked, and this proceeded to bring New Munich manager to the mound and pull Caden Sand from the mound. Will Funk took over pitching duties. Elrosa scored 5 runs on 4 hits with no errors and two left on base. After 1 1/2 innings: Elrosa 5, New Munich 1.

After three complete innings: Elrosa 5, New Munich 1.

In the 6th, Elrosa holds an 8-1 lead. They played 5 innings without an error. Will VanBeck is still on the mound.  

The Silverstreaks loaded the bases on walks and one error in the 6th inning, but they got snubbed on the threat with a ground ball play on Ian Funk's fielder's choice.

****The final score will be posted at 8 o'clock in a new blog post. If Elrosa beats New Munich, they play next Saturday at 1:30 p.m. against Starbuck in another Region 8C elimination game. 

The final game of today:
The final game of today is a state qualifier, with Regal facing Farming for a state tournament berth.

Region 8C amateur baseball opening weekend scores:
On Friday night in Elrosa, the Starbuck Stars came back from a 2-0 deficit and defeated Roscoe by a 5-3 score. In the other Friday night game, the Paynesville Pirates defeated Spring Hill 3-0.

On Saturday, Paynesville defeated Starbuck to earn the region's first ticket to the state tournament.

Region 8C amateur baseball opening weekend is underway

The opening games of the Region 8C town team baseball tournament took place on Friday in Elrosa. Today, Elrosa faces Regal in Spring Hill at 11 a.m.

More to come.

*Update: after 3 innings, Regal has a 5-1 lead.
*Update: after 4 1/2 innings, the Eagles have an 8-3 lead.

*Update: after 5 1/2 innings, Regal has a 10-5 lead.

Final: Regal 10, Elrosa 6. The Saints fall to the elimination bracket, and their next game is tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. back in Spring Hill.

For Regal, they play at 4 p.m. tomorrow in Spring Hill against Farming. This will be a state-qualifying game.

Update: on Friday in Elrosa, Starbuck defeated Roscoe 5-3. Roscoe will face Spring Hill in Spring Hill on Sunday in an elimination game at 11 a.m. That's all I have for scores at this point.

Farming defeated New Munich on Saturday.

The rest of today will be used up by the Pope County Fair in Glenwood. Here's additional coverage from the fair: https://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com/section/news. Their fair has been outstanding! It has far and away exceeded all expectations.