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!
Sunday, November 17, 2024
Musical's second night (VIDEO)
They had a larger crowd than the prior night, and ticket sales have been strong across both nights. I can't count that well, let's chalk it up to that...they had 167 for the opening night on Friday and they approached 180 last night. This puts us on track to beat last year's crowd. Hopefully today brings an even better number...maybe 200! Let's go for it! Not surprisingly, I was way too tired to work on any video last night.
Right now, it's time to get pancakes and other great food for breakfast from the Brooten American Legion. They are serving in their former Legion Hall building (now owned by Leroy Wiener)...until 1 p.m.
Here's a clip from two nights before opening night, last Wednesday, at Olson Auditorium:
This is wheels up time! The final show starts in 40 minutes. Sunday night update: I have a new blog post being added tonight that will highlight the final musical show.
Legion baseball advances in Sub-State playoffs (VIDEO)
In the Sub-State Division II playoffs, Brooten Post No. 288 won in walk-off fashion by a 2-1 score over visiting Sauk Centre to keep their season alive. The game was played at the B-B-E high school JV diamond due to Elrosa being the site of amateur baseball playoffs tonight. Post 288 trailed 1-0 going into the bottom of the seventh inning and scored both runs on two outs to raise their postseason record to 2-1. The tying run was scored by Walker Winter, and the game-winner was scored by Aiden Mueller on a wild pitch that glanced off of the Sauk Centre catcher's helmet. Next: the Brooten American Legion team travels west to Marthaler Field at Minnewaska Area high school tomorrow, Saturday, for a 5:30 p.m. game against top-seeded Glenwood-Lowry. To win the Sub-State title and advance to the next round of playoffs, Post 288 will have to beat Glenwood-Lowry twice.
Here's the video featuring the end of Post 288's win over Sauk Centre:
A new blog post will feature notes for the Elrosa Saints.
Two losses, one team still alive AND Jake's Day is tomorrow!
In a West Central 17-U American Legion playoff game last night, the B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch teamlost 4-0 to Upsala. The Jaguars fell in spite of earning 8 hits to just 3 by the Cardinals. Mya Worms pitched and fired 10 strikeouts in the season-ending loss.
In their side of the West Central American Legion playoffs last night, the Brooten Legion Post No. 288 was limited to just 2 hits in a 6-0 loss to Glenwood-Lowry in a winner's bracket game of Sub-State Northeast. Post 288 stays alive and hosts an elimination bracket game in Belgrade (High School JV field) at 6:30 p.m. tonight (Friday) against either Osakis or Sauk Centre.
*Here's a video featuring a glimpse of the Bonanza Valley Days Car and Truck and Tractor show:
Also this weekend! Saturday...tomorrow, July 20...we have Jake's Day at the Belgrade shooting range and sportsmen's club. This event is advertised with a list of all 69 business sponsors in this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. Registration begins at 9 a.m. Last year's turnout was poor, so let's not repeat that this year! The Bonanza Valley Royal Strutters is sponsoring this event in conjunction with the National Wild Turkey Federation.
Click on this link to see more about Jake's Day, including a video from last year's event: https://shorturl.at/p3sxf.
On Monday night in the American Legion high school baseball playoff opener, Brooten Post No. 288 defeated Sauk Centre 10-0 on Monday in Elrosa. This advances them into the double-elimination format of the postseason. They now face top-seeded Glenwood-Lowry on Thursday this week at Minnewaska Area's Marthaler Field stadium at 6 p.m. Brooten is the No. 2 seed, while Sauk Centre was the No. 3 seed. In the fourth spot of our sub-pod of the West Central Division II playoffs is Osakis.
This news is two days old, but it's exciting news nonetheless. I'm playing catch-up after - honestly - taking the day off on Thursday!
In a high school American Legion game, the Brooten Post No. 288 baseball team defeated Osakis 13-7 on Thursday night in Elrosa. The Jaguars racked up 15 hits against three Osakis pitchers in a game where both teams had two errors. Earning two hits each were Jack Lundberg, Brett DeRoo, Aiden Mueller, Carson Loe, Aiden Radermacher and Andrew Spanier. Earning doubles for the Jaguars were Aiden Radermacher, Carson Loe and Aiden Mueller. Luke Illies tripled and had two RBI.
In a West Central summer softball game at Osakis on Thursday, the B-B-E Jaguars 17-U fastpitch team defeated Osakis behind a no-hitter performance by Mya Worms. Just one day earlier, the Jaguars went 1-1 against visiting Sauk Centre in a rare Wednesday afternoon makeup doubleheader. I am verifying the scores of the three games before posting.
It's exciting to see our summer varsity-level baseball and fastpitch teams getting off to a great start to their summer seasons.
Sunday night, June 16 update:
On Friday, the majority of Brooten businesses (in town) received Bonanza Valley Days posters. I haven't gotten any to the KaDe Shack, city hall or Rustic Stables Stylists. I will take care of them on Monday. You can get a glimpse of the posters by clicking over to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website: https://t.ly/xp5tZ. That link re-directs you to a web article with an image of the poster plus a video from the 2023 BVD Walk/Run event.
Also on Monday, the Belgrade city council will meet at 7 p.m., and I hope to get the agenda posted at my editor's blog: http://lifeinbonanzavalley.blogspot.com.
The Brooten American Legion Post No. 288 baseball team entered the postseason as the No. 3 seed. Last Monday at Benson, Post No. 288 won at Benson-Hancock before losing in the winner's bracket to No. 1-seeded Glenwood-Lowry on Thursday night.
Last night in the sub-district championship series, Brooten suffered a heartbreaking 6-5 loss to Glenwood-Lowry to see their season conclude. If they won that game, they would have immediately played a second game last night in another must-win situation. Glenwood-Lowry now advanced to the West Central District tournament and plays in Parkers Prairie on Monday.
The full description of the playoff tournament for Brooten was the Division II West Central Sub-State Northeast pod. That is a mouthful, and I find it easier to just say "Sub-District" in my description.
Here's video from the fourth inning with Luke Illies pitching:
Today the Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team travels to Spring Hill for a 1:30 p.m. division game. This game will conclude their regular season.
Don't forget! The Glacial Ridge Ambulance pancake feed is tomorrow (Sunday) from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Brooten American Legion. Come out and support a great cause!
I'll get other community-related information posted here this afternoon and add some more state tournament video late tonight.
Tomorrow (Monday) we have a school board meeting at 7 p.m. on the schedule at the elementary school. The Belgrade city council meets at 7 p.m. for their regular meeting of the month.
This was a fun clip!! Part of it anyway...
And Hayfield got the last bucket of the first half...plus the first points of the second half. But the Jaguars put the pedal down again and pulled away from the Vikings as the second half wore on.
The weather has moved this event to the Pavilion. It starts at 10 a.m.
See you there!!
Here's another video from the senior recognition banquet last Wednesday at Olson Auditorium:
I'm currently gathering other material from that evening to publish in the next newspaper issue.
**Update on Monday night:two weeks later, I've finally uploaded all Sunburg Syttende Mai photos to the newspaper's SmugMug photo gallery. It has two albums that total 347 photos! What a crazy day that was. The events folder with all 2022 albums can be found by clicking on this link: https://bonanzavalley.smugmug.com/2022-B-B-EBonanza-Valley-area-events.
Come to Brooten this morning for pancakes! Served at the Brooten American Legion hall until 1 p.m. Show your support for the Legion!
The event was advertised on page 7 of the latest Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper issue. Unless you've been really busy in a deer stand this weekend, I hope you had a chance to look through the 16-page newspaper.
A second video was added to the Friday Night Lights XII blog post. It features additional footage from the first quarter on Friday night. Check it out!
The local Brooten/B-B-E Post No. 288 American Legion baseball season is over. They lost today to Glenwood-Lowry by a 4-1 score to finish with a 2-2 record in Sub-District play. On Sunday in the winner's bracket final, Glenwood-Lowry defeated Sauk Centre 4-2.
The Brooten/B-B-E American Legion baseball team won 5-4 over Long Prairie today, and then they ended Sauk Centre's season with an 11-1 win to advance to the championship series against Glenwood-Lowry.
NEXT: tomorrow (Sunday) they play at noon in Elrosa. If they win, they play Glenwood-Lowry in a second game at about 2:15 p.m. in a true championship game. If they lose either the first game or the potential second game, their season comes to a close.
More to come on Sunday. I'm blogging tonight from rural Walnut Grove! (Laura Ingalls Wilder pageant)
Below, here's a video clip from the beginning of the Bonanza Valley Days grand parade on July 11 in Brooten:
Shocking and mind blowing: in the United Kingdom on July 16, they reported new COVID-19 cases in the equivalent that is equal to 270,000+ cases being reported in the United States. The population of the U.K. is approximately 67 million. The population of the U.S. is approximately 4.95 times higher. The U.K.'s new case count added for July 16 was just under 55,000 new cases. That is a stunning, shocking number in the middle of summer. What on earth is the U.K. doing wrong? Well, to be fair, they're not necessarily doing anything wrong. Why? Because their death and hospitalization rate today has not skyrocketed like it did last winter.
The Brooten/B-B-E American Legion Post No. 288 baseball team blew a late 5-3 lead in the last inning in an 8-6 loss to No. 3-seeded Sauk Centre tonight. They play in the elimination bracket tomorrow back in Elrosa. That game will be at approximately 2:15 p.m. against Long Prairie.
In tonight's other first-round game, No. 1-seeded Glenwood/Lowry beat Long Prairie 3-0. Tomorrow at noon, Sauk Centre and Glenwood/Lowry square off in a winner's bracket game.
Saturday's game will be aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM.
The B-B-E (Brooten) American Legion Post No. 288 baseball team begins the playoffs tomorrow night (Friday) with a home game against Sauk Centre. First pitch is set for 7:30 p.m. at Saints Field. The Jaguars are seeded No. 2 in the West Central Sub-District East, while Sauk Centre is the No. 3 seed. Minnewaska Area is the top seed, while Long Prairie rounds out the teams at No. 4. Minnewaska and Long Prairie face each other at 5:30 p.m. in Elrosa.
Elrosa hosts the sub-district tournament across the next three days, with Sunday being set as championship day. I'll get more schedule information added here in the morning.
Elrosa Little Dipper wins, B-B-E Legion falls by one
The Elrosa Saints Little Dipper baseball team won at New Munich last night (Sunday) by an 8-6 score to square their record at 2-2 overall. The game lasted nine innings, two more than the regulation standard of seven innings in that division.
The Stearns County League Little Dipper division is comprised of players who have completed 4th through 8th grade this past school year.
Next: the Elrosa Little Dipper team hosts Spring Hill on Sunday, June 20 with a 6:30 p.m. start time. The Chargers are 4-0 this season.
The B-B-E Jaguars American Legion Post No. 288 team lost a heartbreaker tonight by a 4-3 score at the Minnewaska Area high school stadium to the Glenwood-Lowry Legion team. The game was aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood, and I knew that last week...but I have been quite overwhelmed with news and sports lately, and I forgot to post that information here.
Here's the link to view the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper photo gallery from the Sub-Section 6A-21 meet in Wheaton on June 3: (short link) https://bit.ly/3xn4XXL.
That's all for tonight. The Brooten city council meeting lasted until 10 p.m. tonight, and it took the wind out of my sails.
**Here's footage from the return of our B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team from the state tournament.
Also!!! Don't forget that the Brooten American Legion pancake breakfast runs until 1 p.m. today!! Their advertisement has been on page two in the last two Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper issues.
**Here's action from the second set of the Henning vs. B-B-E consolation semifinal battle on Friday afternoon. It begins with the Hornets holding a 10-9 lead.
Congratulations to Section 4A champion Browerville, who beat Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop 33-6 in the Class 1A state football quarterfinals. The game was played yesterday at St. Cloud State University. Browerville (10-1) was B-B-E's Homecoming opponent this fall. They shared the Sub-District III title with Upsala/Swanville Area in the Midstate District this fall.
At the state volleyball tournament, Medford swept unseeded Fosston 25-16, 25-16, 25-17 to take third place on Saturday. Medford graduates five seniors off of their roster of 12 student-athletes: Kiley Nihart, Morgan Langeslag, Emma Kniefel, Alyvia Johnson and Izzy Reuvers.
I just read that Stewartville's state title in Class 2A yesterday was their fifth overall in school history. It's their first state title since 2014. They've now played in 24 state tournaments after going 30-4 this year. I'll never forget the 2005 state tournament, when our state rookie B-B-E Jaguars squared off with Stewartville in the quarterfinals. The Jaguars had a 2-1 lead in sets before losing the last two sets in a 3-2 heartbreaker.
Just like Stewartville's match against B-B-E did in 2005, their state finals match yesterday with North Branch lasted two hours.
Minneota became cream of the crop in Class 1A volleyball when they swept an incredibly talented and well-rounded Waterville-Elysian-Morristown Buccaneers team in the state finals yesterday. Game scores were 25-19, 25-19, 25-20. W-E-M finishes 34-3 overall, and the Vikings finish 33-3.
Just how good is Minneota? So good that they swept a stacked, experienced powerhouse W-E-M team that had knocked off the previously No. 1-ranked team in the state, Mayer Lutheran, in the Section 2A finals. Minneota tallied an incredible 90 digs in the state finals compared to 59 for W-E-M.
Mayer Lutheran had ended the Buccaneers' season in the previous three section finals (ouch!). This year W-E-M punched its ticket through even though they had lost to Mayer Lutheran earlier in the season (2-1 in the championship of the Burnsville tournament with game scores in that match were 19-25, 25-18, 15-11). Game scores in what was one of those incredible five-set thrillers were 20-25, 25-17, 20-25, 25-19, 15-13. W-E-M came back from trailing two sets to one to advance to state.
W-E-M last played at the state tournament in 2015, when they took first place with a wild 3-2 win over Bethlehem Academy. Game five had a 15-13 score. Wow. B.A. lost by wide margins in the first two games, 25-17 and 25-18, before they ground out two 25-23 wins to deadlock it at two sets apiece.
The 2015 playoffs marked the first of a still-running five-year stretch where W-E-M and Mayer Lutheran have squared off in the section finals for a trip to the state tournament. In 2017, W-E-M blazed into the section finals despite having no seniors on their roster. It's noteworthy that the 2017 team was made up of many younger sisters to players who were on the 2015 state champion team.
This year, W-E-M graduates just two seniors off of its roster: outside hitter Trista Hering and middle hitter Delaney Donahue.
Fun fact: one of W-E-M's big hitters is junior outside and full-rotation player Toryn Richards, 5'11" daughter of former B-B-E science teacher and head football coach Mike Richards. She broke the mold at W-E-M when she became a member of the W-E-M Junior Olympics volleyball 15s as a sixth grader. Generally speaking, a 15s JO team has mostly eighth and ninth graders.
Toryn is also a guard on the W-E-M basketball team and is on the Southern MN Fury AAU club team. In the spring, she's a star track and field team member for the Buccaneers. Last June she competed at the Class 1A state meet after advancing in the high jump (best jump of 5'2") as well as the pole vault and 4x100 relay. She earned a personal record at the state pole vault with a best effort of 11 feet, an All-State effort good for a fourth-place tie. She was also All-State in the high jump with a three-way tie for third place. Her 4x100 relay squad experienced adversity that can come at a high-pressure situation in sports, with her hand off exchange resulting in a disqualification at state.
Earlier this season, Toryn Richards surpassed 1,000 career kills. Also, in the 41st annual W-E-M home tournament in September, she earned her 1,000th career dig.
In the Section 2A finals, Mayer Lutheran held a 13-10 lead in the fifth set. Richards went to the service line after teammate Trista Hering's ace block earned a side out. Richards proceeded to serve out the match, with her Buccaneers going on a 5-0 run to end the match and advance to state. She finished with 17 kills on 36 percent hitting along with 14 digs. W-E-M's Hering earned four ace blocks in that final set, including two stuffs during the final 5-0 run. Hering, a senior, finished the night with five solo and seven assisted blocks.
Mike Richards is a staff member and the current head football coach at W-E-M. His Buccaneers, who took third in their regular season sub-district and have been a Class 2A team in recent years, lost in the Section 2A semifinals in a 46-44 shoot out to Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop. G-F-W went on to pound previously undefeated United South Central 48-26 in the section finals before their drubbing by Browerville last night.
Last year, in Richards' first season as head coach at W-E-M, the Buccaneers went 9-2 with a season-ending loss in the Section 2AA finals. Just as he was at B-B-E, he is also an assistant varsity wrestling coach at W-E-M as well as the head track and field coach.
The Richards family moved from Belgrade to W-E-M in the summer of 2010. His wife, Carrie, is also a teacher at W-E-M as a member of the special education staff. They also have two sons (little brothers to Toryn): Tatum and Trey.
Another side note, something I found interesting, is that W-E-M's head volleyball coach (Crystal Lamont) is also their head fastpitch softball coach. That is not unheard of in small schools.
In the Class 3A state quarterfinals, Pierz drubbed Perham 58-16 in a game played at Alexandria yesterday.
The B-B-E Legion baseball team, sponsored by the Brooten American Legion Post No. 288, will host an elimination playoff game in the Northeast Sub-State tournament. The game will be on Tuesday, July 30 at the Elrosa diamond at 6 p.m., and their opponent will be No. 7-seeded New London-Spicer.
B-B-E is the No. 4 seed in the eight-team bracket.
If the Jaguars win tomorrow night, they'll play in another elimination bracket game on Friday, August 2 at Minnewaska Area's stadium at 5 p.m. Their opponent will be the winner of No. 3 Benson vs. No. 5 Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City, who square off on July 30 in Benson.
A win in that 5 p.m. game gets them a second game that night that would start at approximately 7 p.m. The opponent in that game will be the loser of No 1. Starbuck vs. No. 2 Morris, a game that also takes place tomorrow night.
In other news...
Here's a list of business sponsors who helped underwrite the Bonanza Valley Days celebration in Brooten earlier this month...read about it at the Bonanza Valley Voice website (short link): https://bit.ly/2ylVF1H. You can also take in video of the BVD 2019 grand day parade on July 14.
This week the Bonanza Valley Voice will start formally promoting the upcoming Kandiyohi County Fair (August 7-10) and also ramp up Belgrade August Fest coverage.
Click on the link to go to the Bonanza Valley Voice website...which has information about upcoming Memorial Day programs (tomorrow) in Brooten and Belgrade: https://bit.ly/2McAc55.
This information was published on page one of the May 16 and May 23 issues of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.
Also just posted tonight at the Voice website is elementary spring concert video from May 15.
Here's a video taken six days ago at the Brooten American Legion Memorial Day program. It was a simply fantastic morning for this event, and best of all, it was well-attended in my opinion.
Great job to everyone involved in it or who attended this!
