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!
Thursday, July 24, 2025
B-B-E fastpitch 17-U Jaguars heading to the 'Ship!
The exciting news continues pouring our way at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's sports department.
In the American Legion playoffs today, the B-B-E Jaguars 17-U fastpitch team trounced Albany 9-2 in the West Central Sub-Region playoffs. The Jaguars built a 3-1 lead going into the fifth inning.
Next: the Jaguars face neighboring rival Melrose Area tomorrow, Friday, at Minnewaska Area in the West Central Sub-Region championship game. First pitch at MAHS is at 6 p.m. Please spread the word!
Here's a video featuring the final out being recorded in the fastpitch game:
The Jaguars hold a 6-2 record going into tomorrow's championship game.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A third straight fastpitch loss; baseball sweeps Cubs
Note: this blog post was updated late Wednesday night after the KMGK Sports Banquet in Glenwood with an area scoreboard.
The B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team is in a mid-season slump after suffering their third loss in a row tonight at Upsala. The Cardinals broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the second inning with 5 runs scored.
Final: Upsala 7, B-B-E 4. After Upsala took a 7-0 lead in the bottom of the 4th, the Jaguars scored 2 runs in both the 5th and 6th innings.
Just 3 of Upsala's 7 runs scored in the 2nd and 5th innings were earned off of B-B-E starter Lydia Primus. B-B-E had 2 errors to none by the host Cardinals. Mya Worms batted 4-for-4 including one double and 2 RBI.
After losing their first 5 games of the season, Upsala now holds a 5-8 overall record; they've won 3 of their last 4 games.
The Jaguars (7-5) look to right the ship with a tough doubleheader at Kimball Area this Saturday. The first game is set for 11 a.m. at Kimball Area high school.
IN baseball news...
The B-B-E Jaguars baseball team is picking up steam, and tonight they earned a satisfying Central Minnesota Conference series sweep against Kimball Area. The doubleheader wins in Elrosa were won by scores of 12-7 in game one and then 14-2 in game two.
Now 8-4 overall, the Jaguars host the Max Bats Wood Bats Invitational in Elrosa this Friday and Saturday. They face Brandon-Evansville at about 7 p.m. on Friday. That game follows the varsity game at 4:30 in Elrosa between Browerville and Hancock. The varsity Jaguars will then play at about 5:30 p.m. on Saturday against Hancock. Both of B-B-E's games are against subsection opponents.
Central MN Conference baseball score on May 6:
Royalton 10, Maple Lake 5
Area baseball scores on May 6:
Osakis 12, St. John's Prep 2
Pierz 3, Albany 2
Brandon-Evansville 11, Ashby 1
Parkers Prairie 7, Pillager 2
Lac qui Parle Valley 15, Canby 8
Staples-Motley 13, Sauk Centre 11
MACCRAY 3, Ortonville 2
Yellow Medicine East 10, Minneota 3
Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 11, Upsala/Swanville Area 5
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 9, Melrose Area 4
Brandon-Evansville 12, Ashby 4
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
In the fifth Central Minnesota Conference meet of the season, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' golf team competed at the Little Falls course today with Royalton as the host school. The Jaguars came away with a huge win by 3 strokes, as they defeated second-place Paynesville by a 167 to 170 margin. Also, Walker Winter and Hudson Reed are both in the Top 8 of the current CMC standings.
Next: the boys' golf team has an 18-hole invitational at Sauk Centre's Greystone Golf Club.
In home fastpitch action today...
With the weather stopping a home game on Monday to take place, the B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team hosted a doubleheader today featuring two teams coming to town.
In the first game, the Jaguars faced Long Prairie-Grey Eagle in a non-conference game. The Jaguars put up some big innings on their way to an 11-1 win in five innings. LP-GE, who competes in Section 6A, fell to 2-6 overall.
Against LP-GE, the Jaguars had just 4 hits but took advantage of 8 walks against just 2 strikeouts.
Here's a video featuring the postgame huddle after the LP-GE win:
In game two, the Jaguars faced Paynesville Area in a CMC border battle that started just before 6 p.m. The Bulldogs won 13-1 as they kept pace with undefeated (9-0) Kimball Area in the CMC standings.
Paynesville, who is a half game behind Kimball, out-hit the Jaguars by a 12 to 5 margin. Two Bulldogs pitchers combined for 8 strikeouts with just 2 walks.
The Jaguars sit at 7-3 overall with their best record through 10 games since the 2008 season. In 2008, they went 11-5 in the regular season before the Section 5A playoffs. Next: the Jaguars travel to River's Edge Softball Park in Waite Park on Thursday to face Holdingford (3-6, 2-4) in a CMC doubleheader. The first game is set for 4 p.m.
Central MN Conference fastpitch scores on April 29:
Kimball Area 10, Holdingford 0
Kimball Area 14, Holdingford 0
Area fastpitch scores on April 29:
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 26, Benson 0
Minneota/Canby 11, Renville County West 0
Lac qui Parle Valley 18, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 6
Maple Lake 12, Upsala 2 (5 innings)
Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 5, Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 2
Minnewaska Area 12, West Central Area 10
BOLD 14, Montevideo 3
Eden Valley-Watkins 12, Osakis 2 (6 innings)
Dawson-Boyd 2, Ortonville 0
Swanville 14, Royalton 7
Melrose Area 8, Sauk Centre 2
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 18, Lakeview 8
BOLD 5, Montevideo 2
West Central Area 9, Minnewaska Area 7
Fastpitch dominant in series sweep at Royalton; baseball suffers heartbreaking loss (VIDEO)
First, the great news!
In a Central Minnesota Conference doubleheader at Royalton, the B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team totaled 17 hits in each game while recording a series sweep over the Royals. After winning game one 13-2 in five innings, the Jaguars finished the evening with a 9-2 win.
Overall, the Jaguars had 34 hits compared to 10 by the Royals. Mya Worms pitched all 12 innings as her season record has improved to 5-1.
In the five-inning win, the Jaguars scored 6 runs in both the 4th and 5th innings to end the game early. Royalton falls to 1-7 overall and 1-6 in the CMC.
The B-B-E fastpitch team is now 6-1 overall (5-1 CMC). This marks their best overall start to the season in 37 years! Yes! That is correct. They want to keep it going, too, and next is a tall task with undefeated Swanville coming to town tomorrow (Friday) with first pitch at 4:45 p.m. The Bulldogs were 8-0 coming into today's Prairie Conference game against Osakis. Update: Swanville, ranked No. 4 in the most recent QRF rankings, is now 9-0 overall after they beat visiting Osakis 10-2 tonight. In the Prairie Conference, Swanville improves to 5-0. Osakis is 2-4 overall and 2-2 in the Prairie.
Switching to baseball reporting...
At Elrosa in CMC action for the home opener, the B-B-E Jaguars baseball team defeated Royalton 9-3 in game one before taking a tough 4-3 loss in walk-off fashion in game two. They will put a chip on their shoulder now and put the tough loss behind them this weekend. Next:the Jaguars (4-3, 4-2) travel to Kingery Field in Atwater next Monday, April 28 to face the Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City Falcons. Update: that game in Atwater has been postponed to May 15. The Jaguars have a week off now until they head east to Dick Putz Field in St. Cloud next Thursday, May 1. They play two games, and the first game is set for noon. The opponent will be Holdingford.
In game one, Luke Illies pitched all 7 innings and held the Royals to 4 hits to go with 6 strikeouts and 2 walks. Illies helped his own cause by batting 2-for-3 (one single, one triple) with one walk, 2 RBI, 2 runs scored.
In game two, neither team scored through the first 5 innings. In the bottom of the 6th inning, the Royals punched in 2 runs to take the lead. With their backs to the wall, the Jaguars rallied and scored 3 runs in the top of the 7th inning. The other shoe fell, however, with the Royals scoring twice in the bottom of the 7th inning to claim the win. They won the game on an RBI-single to bring a runner home from third base.
Here's action from tonight's second game in Elrosa:
The video is from the top of the 3rd inning, and it begins with Tate Deters batting.
The Royals are 4-5 overall and 2-4 in the CMC.
Coming tomorrow...a high amount of golf action!
Tomorrow morning, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' golf team hosts the second CMC meet of their season. They open play at Prairie View Golf Course in Brooten at 9 a.m. Also, B-B-E's two varsity girls' golfers are in action beginning with a trip north to Osakis for a CMC meet at 9 a.m. More on that to follow later.
Also exciting! Tomorrow, B-B-E's 5th grade Math Masters team travels to Alexandria. They compete mostly in the morning for a competition that should be wrapped up by about 1 p.m.
Central MN Conference fastpitch scores on April 24:
Kimball Area 15, Eden Valley-Watkins 1
Kimball Area 13, EV-W 1 (5 innings)
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 6, Holdingford 3
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 8, Holdingford 5
Central MN Conference baseball scores on April 24:
Holdingford 12, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 0
Eden Valley-Watkins 12, Kimball Area 11
Holdingford 10, A-C-GC 0
Area fastpitch scores on April 24:
Browerville 4, Mille Lacs 1
Upsala 6, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 5 (8 innings)
Pequot Lakes 7, Sauk Centre 1
Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 2, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 1
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 12, Benson 0
Area baseball scores on April 24:
Melrose Area 3, BOLD 2
Benson 3, West Central Area 2
Upsala/Swanville Area 9, Parkers Prairie 2
Dawson-Boyd 15, Border West 6
Benson 10, WCA 0
Melrose Area 6, BOLD 1
In their third road game in four contests to start the season, the B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team picked up an 11-1 win against MACCRAY tonight to improve to 3-1 overall. Playing at MACCRAY's field in Raymond, the Jaguars improved to 3-1 heading into a home Central Minnesota Conference game with Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City next Tuesday.
A six-run sixth inning broke open what was a close game. Through five innings, the Jaguars held a 3-0 lead, and the game was scoreless through three. Strong baserunning was a big key to the win, with the Jaguars led by Bree Radermacher's 4 stolen bases. The Jaguars had 10 total in the game.
For the second game in a row with Mya Worms starting, the sophomore issued no walks in a complete-game win. She fired 7 strikeouts across a total of 76 pitches. Earning 2 hits each were Lydia Primus, Mya Worms, Taylor Shelton, Lillian Thompson, Ava Lieser, Bree Radermacher and Kamie Fischer. The Jaguars racked up 7 extra-base hits, with the following players all hitting doubles: Lydia Primus (two doubles), Mya Worms (two doubles), Taylor Shelton, Lillian Thompson and Kamie Fischer.
MACCRAY fell to 1-5 overall.
Here's a video from the home game last Friday against Benson:
In that video, freshman Lydia Primus is shown pitching in the bottom of the third inning against the Braves.
The Jaguars have scored 39 runs across their last three games...all have been wins!
Shifting gears to track and field coverage...
The B-B-E boys' track and field team had a terrific showing at the A-C-GC Invitational today. They piled up 75 team points and placed fourth out of 7 teams.
Junior Kameron Hiltner broke his own career record in the 100 open, a time that was also the new school record, as he won that event today in Grove City with a time of 11.17 seconds. His former best time in the 100 open was 11.24 seconds, a time he earned in Morris one week ago. Prior to the Morris Invitational, B-B-E's 100 open boys' record had stood since the 2019 season: 11.34 seconds by Class of 2019 graduate Blake Goodall.
Senior distance runner Taylor Nelson won the 1600 (4:54.68) and 3200 (10.39.70).
Also, the boys' 4x400 relay squad took first place with a time of 3:58.66.
Getting back to spring concert coverage...a video from the final song performed that night has been posted to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website. You can see that by clicking here: https://shorturl.at/eUsul.
And in a major goof, and it is ironic what I did...I mistakenly mixed up former Brooten Review newspaper publisher Con Folin with one of his sons, Clint Folin. This occurred while writing about the Folin family in this week's newspaper. For the record: Con Folin did not live to be 120 years old. He passed away in his early 90s back in 1986. Clint Folin, who was a Brooten high school graduate in 1941, died in 2013. Also noteworthy! Con Folin served on the Brooten school board. He was deeply dedicated to the Brooten community while publishing the local newspaper.
Central Minnesota Conference fastpitch scores on April 17:
Kimball Area 12, Maple Lake 0
Area fastpitch scores on April 17:
Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 5, Osakis 4
New London-Spicer 9, Minnewaska Area 2
Swanville 12, Browerville 2 (5 innings)
West Central Area 17, Upsala 4
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 6, Marshall 0
A night of winning! Jaguars sizzle tonight (VIDEOS*)
We had a terrific night filled with wins for our spring varsity teams! I can't type much, as my hands are still cold from the track and field meet in Morris. Bear with me. I'll get video added to this blog post later tonight.
At Eden Valley-Watkins for their second road game of the young season, the B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team recorded their first win of the season. The final score was 8-3 as they moved to 1-1 in the Central Minnesota Conference. They look to move above .500 with a home game tomorrow against Benson in Brooten. Sophomore Mya Worms got the pitching win, and freshman Lydia Primus had a hot stick by going 4-for-5 with 2 doubles, two RBI and 2 runs scored. Kacey Fischer was 3-for-4 with 2 doubles, one RBI and 2 runs scored.
Overall, B-B-E piled up 16 hits compared to 10 for the Eagles. Worms fired 6 strikeouts and issued no walks with 2 earned runs. It was a huge win for the team, as EV-W was the second-best team in the CMC last year (10-4) behind Kimball Area (14-0).
Next: the Jaguars host Benson at 5 p.m. tomorrow (Friday) in a non-conference border battle.
At Paynesville for their season opener today, the B-B-E Jaguars baseball team earned a remarkable win by defeating the three-time defending Central Minnesota Conference champion Bulldogs by a 5-3 score. Luke Illies started and got the win in five innings on the mound, and Brett DeRoo closed with the final two frames. DeRoo led the offense by going 3-for-4, and Illies hit a two-RBI home run while scoring twice.
B-B-E stacked up 4 runs in the top of the 6th inning to break what was a 1-1 tie after five. Next: the baseball team plays Parkers Prairie in Eden Valley this Saturday, although I don't have all the details on that yet.
...and in track and field news from Morris!
For the B-B-E Jaguars track and field teams, senior Taylor Nelson had an incredible night by earning titles in both the 1600 and 3200-meter runs. He shattered his career record in the 3200 by about 20 seconds with an unofficial time of 10:31. Nelson, who also runs in the fall with the paired B-B-E/Paynesville cross country team, has signed with the University of Jamestown College men's cross country team.
Here's a video clip from the boys' 200 race tonight in Morris:
Mason Douvier is featured crossing the finish line in the video. His unofficial time was 25.43 seconds.
Here's senior Taylor Nelson in a post-meet interview tonight:
Taylor Nelson is one of five seniors on this year's track and field teams. The other seniors are Dominic Ramos, Coby DenHartog, Vanessa Snyder and Bree Thieschafer.
Next: the track and field teams have a one-week break before traveling to Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City next Thursday, April 17.
We've seen some nice glimpses of spring this week. For the most part, it's been seasonable weather for late March with temperatures during the day in the 40s and 50s. The most pleasant day was Thursday, when Coach Matt Goodwin had the golf teams directed to Prairie View Community Golf Course in Brooten, where they spent time on the driving range. It was a rare feat to have the golfers on the outdoor range in March! The golf teams have also spent practice time at Lucky Shots Bowling Alley on the golf simulators.
At the elementary fastpitch facilities, the B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team held outdoor practices all week. For the B-B-E Jaguars baseball team, they've been able to hold a large portion of their preseason practices so far on the high school JV diamond.
As it stands, it appears that the first outdoor meet for the B-B-E Jaguars track and field teams will be on Tuesday, April 8 at the home facilities in Belgrade.
Here's Coach Funk working with fly ball practice today:
As it stands, the fastpitch team's season opener for next Thursday, April 3 is "questionable" - it all depends what amounts of snow we get early next week. Snow is dominating the forecast for April 1 and April 2. Yikes!
Success to close out regular season: 17U fastpitch splits with Upsala (VIDEOS)
To close out the regular season with a home contest tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team turned in two terrific performances in a West Central 17-U American Legion doubleheader with Upsala. Facing what was an experienced lineup, the youthful Jaguars relinquished an early 2-0 lead in game one in a 4-2 extra innings (six innings) loss.
In game two, the Jaguars trailed 7-6 in the top of the third before falling behind 9-6. The deficit swelled to 12-6 before they rallied with five runs in the top of the fourth. Their 12-11 deficit was erased in the top of the fifth inning, when they scored six runs to pull ahead 17-12. Upsala got one run back in the bottom of the fifth inning as the Jaguars won 17-13. This evened their regular season record at 5-5. Playoffs are set to take place next Thursday, July 18.
Here's a post-game video tonight...with an exciting moment included:
Here's video from the bottom of the fourth inning tonight:
More to come. I heard that the Brooten/B-B-E Legion baseball team lost tonight to Glenwood-Lowry in a game at Marthaler Field at Minnewaska Area high school.
I've got lots of reporting to do for Bonanza Valley Days in Brooten, which kicked off in perfect fashion tonight with back-to-back events featuring a terrific Farmers Market and then the BVD Worship in the Park. It was really a perfect night. I have much to say about it! I believe we have built up a tremendous level of interest and excitement for BVD 2024. My Bonanza Valley Voice web article on BVD food options, posted just a few days ago, has over 500 views!
Finally, FINALLY! I had time to dig out video featuring the Blonde and the Bohunk band, who will be the feature band for BVD on Saturday night this weekend on main street. I found the promotional video for their band which was posted about four years ago.
VIDEO:
That BVD Saturday night street dance starts at about 8:30 p.m. just as the BVD Bean Bag tournament will be winding down.
Fastpitch playoffs (VIDEOS) and track/field updates (another video added)
Late Tuesday night...I just put the finishing touches on a 1,959-word fastpitch softball story for this week's newspaper. The newspaper as a whole is in jeopardy for this week, however, as the deadline is screaming at me louder than any deadline has in recent memory. It appears my graduation coverage is at risk and will be split up across this week and the June 6 issue. It is a sinking feeling as I'm realizing that my best effort is falling short this week.
Here's additional coverage from Marshall on Saturday...it seems like so long ago, but yet it's still fresh in my mind. The Sunday/Monday activities have been numerous since the drive home from Marshall on Saturday. The B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team had a 1-1 showing in the elimination bracket of Section 3A on Saturday. They began with a thrilling 3-2 win against BOLD before falling 10-5 to Camden Conference co-champion Lac qui Parle Valley.
The Jaguars finished 10-13 overall, which marks the first time since the 2009 season when they earned double digit wins.
Here's a video from B-B-E's dugout in the postgame speech by an elated Coach Funk after the Jaguars ended BOLD's season:
Against BOLD, freshman Mya Worms earned six strikeouts with no walks with eight hits. Offensively, the Jaguars stood tall at the plate against BOLD's dynamic and seasoned eighth grade pitcher, Kaitlyn Flann, while earning five hits. Flann, in her second season as a varsity pitcher for the Warriors, also did not walk a batter while earning five strikeouts. One of B-B-E's three runs were earned.
*Here's a longer video from the Lac qui Parle Valley game in the fourth inning, when the Jaguars scored four runs to erase what was a 2-0 deficit:
Against LQPV, Anna Jaeger, Kenna Lieser, Mya Worms and Taylor Shelton each singled, while Brooklyn Fischer had one double. Worms and eighth grader Lydia Primus pitched, with Primus firing from the circle in the final 1 1/3 innings.
The Eagles (18-6) scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth to take a 6-5 lead. They scored four additional runs in the bottom of the sixth. Next for LQPV is another elimination game on Tuesday (tomorrow) at 5 p.m., when they take on Wabasso. The winner advances to the loser's bracket final.
Time to get back to the May 30 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.
In amateur baseball news...
On Saturday night in Farming, the Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team suffered heartbreak when a late 4-3 could not hold up in the ninth inning against the Flames. Elrosa, still searching for their first win, led 3-0 after three innings and 4-0 after four-and-a-half. The Flames scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth, and then they punched across two in the bottom of the ninth for the walk-off win.
Friday's game was called mid-game due to Elrosa losing electricity.
Next: the Saints travel to Regal for a border clash on Friday this week (May 31) with first pitch at 7:30 p.m.
In track and field news...
At last Thursday's Sub-Section 5A-West championships, the B-B-E Jaguars track and field teams had five athletes advance through to this week's Section 5A meet.
Kameron Hiltner (100 dash, long jump), Josh Walstrom (400 dash), Taylor Nelson (1600, 3200), Grace Jackson (pole vault) and Bree Thieschafer (pole vault, long jump) earned spots in the state qualifying meet.
Here's a video from after graduation on Friday night:
What's bogging me down on Tuesday night this week is graduation coverage. I'm not sure what I'll get published. The goal is at least to print a story from Mrs. Hagemeyer's keynote speech. It was a marvelous speech/presentation!!
The B-B-E Class of 2024 graduation is tonight, in less than two hours. The ceremony begins at 7:30 p.m. at the high school's gymnasium. In case you didn't read it yet in the newspaper, the May 23 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice features a center spread with all 39 graduates included. It mentions that the live video player for graduation can be found at the newspaper website. To see that, you can click here: https://t.ly/n9lGt.
I'm still combing through my fastpitch video from yesterday's games. I've got a few uploaded and posted. Here's another video from that exciting day of playoff action. This is during the Renville County West game. Our B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team stays alive in the Section 3A tournament and faces BOLD tomorrow in Marshall at 1 p.m.
Action in the top of the sixth inning vs. RCW:
The Jaguar defense turned a slick 6-4-3 double play for the first two outs of the top of the sixth. Shortstop Kacey Fischer scooped up a grounder and tossed it to Kenna Lieser at second base. Lieser then rifled a put-out throw to first base to get the batter.
You can catch an additional video from Thursday's playoff action by clicking over to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper at this link: https://t.ly/TrXB-. There, you can watch action from the bottom of the sixth inning against Ortonville. The Jaguars scored four runs and left one stranded with two hits, including a two-RBI single to left field by Brooklyn Fischer.
Time to get ready for graduation!
...later Friday night...after graduation...I've had time to settle in and relax, and now I have time to complain about the mistake in the Section 3A fastpitch playoff bracket at the MSHSL website. I wasted almost an hour of my time scouting Yellow Medicine East's team...now I need to spend additional time scouting BOLD. I will save the YME statistics, as it is possible our Jaguars will meet YME further into the bracket if they stay alive in the elimination bracket. The BOLD Warriors are 13-8 overall after going 1-1 in yesterday's Sub-Section 3A-South games played in Edgerton. In the regular season, the Warriors went 8-6 in the West Central Conference for fourth place alone. BOLD's main pitcher is eighth grader Kaitlyn Flann. Her father, Derek Flann, is the BOLD athletic department's director and also the head coach of the Warriors football team.
Round two fastpitch loss, Jaguars move into elimination bracket *UPDATED / VIDEO
A tense, well-played playoff game with a huge crowd had an outcome hanging in the balance until the seventh inning tonight for the second round of the Sub-Section 3A-North playoffs. With the lead changing hands three times, the Renville County West Jaguars came from behind to win 7-4 against our B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team as they improved to 9-11 on the season.
B-B-E led 4-3 going into the top of the seventh inning. They left one stranded in the bottom of the seventh while being stymied by two ground ball plays and a pop fly to end the game. Earlier, our Jaguars broke a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the fifth inning on Faith Radermacher's one out sacrifice fly-RBI that scored Anna Jaeger. In the bottom of the second, our Jaguars erased a 2-0 deficit with a run scored by Kacey Fischer on an error and then RBI singles from Ava Lieser and Jaeger.
Freshman Mya Worms fired a three-hitter in the playoff opener, as our Jaguars defeated Ortonville 7-2 earlier today. Worms fired eight strikeouts against the Trojans. For B-B-E, they had just three strikeouts of their own through both games. Also huge: our Jaguars had just one error in each game.
Our Jaguars, now 9-12 overall, advance in the playoffs in the elimination bracket of the Section 3A tournament. They play in a win-or-go-home contest on Saturday, May 25 at 1 p.m. at the Marshall fastpitch softball complex. The opponent is to be determined, although I believe it will be Yellow Medicine East. RCW advances to play the 3A-South's top seed, Edgerton/Southwest MN Christian.
RCW is having their best playoff run since the 2015 season, when they went 2-2 in the Section 3A tournament before getting knocked out by neighboring rival BOLD.
More to come later. I need to get my second crop of potatoes planted before I run out of daylight!
Here's action from the Ortonville game in the bottom of the second inning:
In that second inning, the Jaguars left the bases stranded as the game was scoreless through the first four innings.
UPDATE: the MSHSL bracket says that our Jaguars will play Yellow Medicine East in the next playoff game at 1 p.m. on Saturday in Marshall. It's a win-or-go-home contest, and the winner stays alive to play right away at 3 p.m. in Marshall on Saturday. The stakes are high, but I am excited about Saturday and have high expectations for good things to come our way!
YME (8-12 overall) is the No. 5 seed in Sub-Section 3A-North. They went 1-1 today at Lac qui Parle Valley high school with a 7-0 win over Benson in the opener before an 11-2 loss to top-seeded LQPV. The Jaguars can have payback in their mind, as their season ended at the hands of the Sting in a 7-0 loss to YME during last year's playoff opener. Also, in the 2022 playoff opener at Murdock, YME defeated the Jaguars 2-1 to end our season. Time to return the favor!
A few random notes on YME...on May 14 in a Camden Conference doubleheader, YME split with RCW with a 2-1 loss and then a 13-2 win.
**Friday update...on Saturday, the Jaguars will play BOLD in an elimination game at 1 p.m. in Marshall. The MSHSL made a mistake when filling out the bracket last night. I'll let it go. I am too busy to be upset by that.
In baseball news...
At Upsala tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars baseball team earned what I'll call a "section split" with a 1-1 showing. They began with a crucial 6-0 win against Upsala/Swanville Area. Next was Long Prairie-Grey Eagle, who is currently the No. 2-ranked team in Sub-Section 6A-North. The Thunder led 6-0 through five innings, and the Jaguars scored three runs to go into the seventh inning trailing 6-3. LP-GE then tacked on two runs in the top of the seventh before shutting the door in an 8-3 win. Our Jaguars finish the regular season with a 13-7 overall record. This is their best regular season record since 2016! Seeding for the playoffs takes place on Saturday.
LP-GE (11-4 overall) finished as champions in the Prairie Conference this season with a 5-1 record, and they've won five straight to close out their regular seaosn. In second place was U/SA with a 4-2 record.
In track and field news...
Junior Taylor Nelson placed fifth in the Sub-Section 5A-West track and field championships held today at Maple Lake. He finished with a time of 11:03.15. That's the best finish I saw after glancing through the meet results. In the 1600 run, Nelson also placed fifth and had a time of 5:00.67. I also saw that sophomore Kameron Hiltner had a fifth-place showing; he took fifth in the 100 open with a time of 12.18 seconds (he's fast!).
In boys' golf news...
At the Section 5A meet in Willmar on Wednesday, B-B-E's Walker Winter finished in the top eight of the individual standings to advance into the Section Finals round. There's additional boys' golf coverage in this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.
Section 3A first round fastpitch playoff scores on May 23:
Lac qui Parle Valley 7, MACCRAY 1
Yellow Medicine East 7, Benson 0
Wabasso 7, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 5
Russel-Tyler-Ruthton 10, Adrian/Ellsworth 0
BOLD 5, Murray County Central 4 Edgerton/SW MN Christian 14, Lakeview 1 (5 innings)
A 1-0 start is what's in the book for the No. 2-seeded B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team, after they dispatched No. 7-seeded Ortonville 7-2 in the Sub-Section 3A-North opener. The Trojans end the season 5-15 overall, while the Jaguars advance in the Section 3A tournament bracket with a 9-11 record. This is B-B-E's first playoff win since 2021, when they won 17-10 in a play-in round game against Ortonville before falling 7-6 to top-seeded Benson (who made it all the way to the Section 6A finals that year).
Game two in Brooten today features No. 3-seeded Renville County West and No. 6-seeded Dawson-Boyd.
Against the Trojans, the Jaguars battled through four scoreless innings before they broke through in the bottom of the fifth. Anna Jaeger, batting at the top of the order for the Jaguars, took a pitch on her upper leg to get on base, and the veteran senior advanced to second on a passed ball. Kenna Lieser then hit an RBI-single to score Jaeger from third base to break up the scoreless tie. The Jaguars ultimately scored three total runs to go up 3-0 going into the sixth.
In the sixth, Brooklyn Fischer's two-RBI single to left field made it a 5-0 lead. Two more runs were scored when Kacey Fischer hit a ground ball to the second baseman, but the throw to first was bobbled to bring in Faith Radermacher and Brooklyn Fischer to make it 7-0.
The Trojans got two back in the top of the seventh before shortstop Kacey Fischer made a tremendous throw to first base to end the game.
An 11-hit attack helped fuel the late outburst of offense for the Jaguars, who had freshman Mya Worms pitch a complete game for her first career playoff win.
**Here's Coach Funk in a post-game interview today:
B-B-E's 9-11 record is the best since the 2009 season, when the Jaguars went 1-1 in the Sub-Section 5A-West playoffs. This year, the playoffs will continue on after Round 2 regardless of the outcome of tonight's game, as the Sub-Section 3A-North tournament features a double elimination format once a team wins the playoff opener. More on that will be posted later tonight. For now, we need to focus on getting another playoff win tonight!!! Let's go!!!!!!!!
Here's a video featuring the final out recorded against Ortonville today:
Today's B-B-E games are being broadcast on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood. Brady will be covering the third game of today, which will feature our Jaguars! They take on the winner of game two, which is starting at about 4:50 p.m. Stay tuned here for updates on when the last game will get underway.
Update out of Upsala tonight...in a huge game with seeding implications, the B-B-E Jaguars baseball teamdefeated Upsala/Swanville Area 6-0 to improve to 13-6 on the season. They later trailed Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 6-0 in the fifth inning in the second game of the doubleheader.
**Update: RCW won 13-4 while ending the Blackjacks' season. Game three of the day started just shy of 7:00 p.m. between both Jaguar teams.
After 3 innings, the game is tied 3-3! More to come in a new blog post, including baseball updates.
