More from Thursday's playoff opening win vs. Swanville

**The sub-section quarterfinal game at Osakis has been postponed due to rain and wet field conditions. The game will be held at 4 p.m. on Monday.

Jaguars fastpitch wins playoff opener for the 10th straight year

First baseman Maggie Gruber catches the 6-3 throw against Swanville today. She is the lone senior starter on the team.

A 6-3 put out from Raeann Sorenson to Maggie Gruber ended the top of the second inning in this clip.

A final score from a home game today in the Sub-Section 5A-West playoff fastpitch opener: B-B-E 3, Swanville 0. The 8th-seeded Jaguars fastpitch team scored once in the first inning and then tacked on two more runs in the second. Michelle Sanders pitched the six-hit shutout, issuing no walks while striking out five Bulldogs batters. Raeann Sorenson led the Jaguars at the plate with three hits on four at bats.

The Jaguars (4-17) now face Osakis (18-0) in Osakis on Friday at 5:00.

Two scores from Elrosa today, in a Central Minnesota Conference baseball double-header: HL-W-W 6, B-B-E 3. HL-W-W 10, B-B-E 2. The Jaguars baseball team is next in action at Sauk Centre on Monday with a 4:00 non-conference game against the Mainstreeters. The Jaguars close the regular season with a CMC double-header at Rockford next Tuesday.

A quick sidebar on Jaguars girls' golf...both Peyton Miller and Amy Knutson earned All-Central Minnesota Conference honors with their performance this season in CMC meets. To be All-CMC, you have to finish in the Top 10 individually out of all conference team members. Both the Jaguars girls' and boys' golf teams will open the playoffs when they travel to the Minnewaska Golf Course next Wednesday, May 25. The Sub-Section 5A-North meet begins at 9:30.

Noteworthy...kudos to the Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg Fighting Saints fastpitch team... K-M-S routed Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 13-0 and 8-1 Thursday to win the Camden Conference softball title outright. Eileen Suter, the Fighting Saints' only head coach in the program's history, notched the 300th win of her career in the first game. Sam Dunn pitched a five-inning no-hitter in the opener. The Fighting Saints finished 14-0 in the conference and are 16-0 overall. I'm not 100% sure on this but I believe the K-M-S fastpitch program was established in 1992.

Area fastpitch results on May 19:
Upsala 8, St. John's Prep 0 (Sub-Section 5A-West game)
Holdingford 7, Kimball Area 0 *CMC game
Holdingford 27, Kimball Area 0 *CMC game (Holdingford wins the Central Minnesota Conference title outright...this is the first spring since 2005 that Maple Lake did not win the CMC fastpitch crown. The Huskers were 12-2 this spring in the CMC, while Maple Lake and Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted tied for second at 11-3)

Area baseball results on May 19:
Holdingford 6, Maple Lake 3 *CMC game (this win gives a share of the Central Minnesota Conference title to Holdingford)
Maple Lake 1, Holdingford 0 *CMC game
Eden Valley-Watkins 10, Kimball Area 2 *CMC game
Eden Valley-Watkins 15, Kimball Area 5 *CMC game
Upsala/Swanville Area 4, Osakis 3
Melrose Area 14, Foley 5
Albany 8, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 2
Minnewaska Area 4, Lac qui Parle Valley 1
Paynesville Area 8, Benson 1
Montevideo 12, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 11
St. Cloud Cathedral 3, Sauk Centre 0

This Jaguars sports playoff update is brought to you by:

Jaguars fastpitch falls twice to Eden Valley-Watkins

Game one went to the Eagles by a 5-2 score today in the first game of a Central Minnesota Conference double-header at Eden Valley. In game two, the Eagles won 18-8 in shortened innings. The Jaguars fastpitch team finishes the regular season on Tuesday with a road trip to Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted for a double-header beginning at 4:00. The HL-W-W fastpitch team hosts games at its four-year old high school athletic complex south of Howard Lake.

The Jaguars baseball team lost 13-1 to Eden Valley-Watkins. They host EV-W on Tuesday in Elrosa at 4:30. On Thursday, the Jaguars host Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted in a double-header beginning at 4:00.

Area high school athletics fans are encouraged to attend the 2011 Central Minnesota Conference track and field championships tomorrow beginning at 3:00 at the B-B-E High School athletic complex.

Below, one heat of the 100 dash at the Dave Sieben Invite last Thursday in Melrose...


Area baseball results on May 16:
Holdingford 12, Pierz 5 (*CMC game)
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 7, Kimball Area 0 (*CMC game)
Rockford 10, Maple Lake 7 (*CMC game)
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 13, Benson 0
Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 3, Melrose Area 2
Paynesville Area 4, Yellow Medicine East 0
Sauk Centre 10, Osakis 8 (Streeters plate 8 runs in the final two innings)

Area fastpitch results on May 16:
Holdingford 21, Pierz 8 (*CMC game)
HL-W-W 8, Kimball Area 1 (*CMC game)
Maple Lake 8, Rockford 3 (*CMC game)
Mora 5, Albany 4
Sauk Centre 3, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 1
New London-Spicer 13, Melrose Area 9
Swanville 16, St. John's Prep 6

This just in - fastpitch playoff seedings - Jaguars host playoff opener next Thursday

The Jaguars fastpitch team will open the Sub-Section 5A-West playoffs at home next Thursday, May 19 with a 4 p.m. game against ninth-seeded Swanville. If they win, the eighth-seeded Jaguars (3-13) would advance to the quarterfinal round the following day, when they would travel to top-seeded and state-ranked (#6) Osakis for a 5 p.m. game on May 20. Swanville is 1-9 overall, with their lone win coming on May 3 over St. John's Prep by a 25-3 margin.

The Jaguars have hosted a playoff opener every year since 2008. Since 2005, they have opened the playoffs only once - at Osakis in 2007. (They won that game in a blow out, too, beating Osakis 17-6 to begin their run to the Section 5A Final Four.)

2011 Sub-Section 5A-West fastpitch seeding:
1 - Osakis
2 - Royalton
3 - Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City
4 - Eden Valley-Watkins
5 - Browerville
6 - Kimball Area
7 - Upsala
8 - B-B-E
9 - Swanville
10 - St. John's Prep

Central Minnesota Conference fastpitch results on May 12/May 13:
Maple Lake 5, Eden Valley-Watkins 2
Maple Lake 10, EV-W 0
Pierz 12, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 7
Pierz 4, Kimball Area 3
Kimball Area 7, Pierz 6

Central Minnesota Conference baseball results on May 12/May 13:
Eden Valley-Watkins 5, Maple Lake 1
Holdingford 4, Kimball Area 2
Holdingford 2, Kimball Area 0
Pierz 7, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 2

Area fastpitch results on May 12/May 13:
Osakis 7, Royalton 3
Paynesville Area 14, Montevideo 1
Upsala 15, Swanville 6
NL-S 8, LP-GE 5
Albany 3, Sauk Centre 0

Area baseball results on May 12/May 13:
Upsala-Swanville Area 7, Osakis 1
Albany 12, Sauk Centre 0 (5 innings)
Browerville 4, Royalton 3
Eden Valley-Watkins 13, MACCRAY 1 (5 innings)
Minnewaska Area 10, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 0
Paynesville Area 8, Lac qui Parle Valley 4 (Bulldogs knock off West Central South Conference co-leader in a Friday double-header)
Lac qui Parle Valley 18, Paynesville Area 2
Paynesville Area 10, Montevideo 8
LP-GE 11, NL-S 1

This Jaguars sports update is brought to you by:

Jaguars fastpitch hosts St.John's Prep on Monday

First pitch is set for 4:30 p.m. in the non-conference game.

Jaguar fastpitch season opener is today

Who would have thought only a week ago, or even just earlier this week, that three Jaguars spring sports teams would get the 2011 season out of the starting gates yesterday and today?

Later this afternoon in a 4:00pm game, the Jaguars fastpitch team will open their season with a non-conference game at New London-Spicer. The Wildcats were a force in the West Central North Conference last season, finishing third with an 11-5 league record and 13-7 overall after going 1-1 in the Sub-Section 6AA-West playoffs. They are led by senior pitcher Allison Ruter, who fueled her team to a win at Foley in their season opener yesterday.

The Jaguars were 6-12 overall last season and 1-1 in the playoffs. They will ride the veteran pitching of four-year starter Michelle Sanders this season. She is one of seven returning players from last year, as graduation hit the team hard in 2010.

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