Elrosa wins 10-inning thriller (VIDEO)

On the home diamond today in a battle of teams tied for second place in the Stearns County League North, the Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team prevailed 4-3 in 10 innings against New Munich. The Silverstreaks held an early 2-0 lead before the Saints cut the deficit in half with one run in the 5th inning.

Elrosa then pulled ahead 3-2 in the eighth inning. New Munich tied the game with one run in the top of the 9th inning. A sacrifice fly-RBI by Peyton Winter drove home Derek Wiener for the walk-off win in the bottom of the 10th.

To close out the regular season, the Saints host Meire Grove on Friday, July 11 with first pitch at 8 p.m. New Munich hosts Greenwald on Sunday, July 12 for their last regular season game. The SCL division playoffs start on Saturday, July 19 at the high seeds. Richmond will be the SCL-South's top seed, and Spring Hill is the No. 1 seed in the SCL-North.

Here's a video from the bottom of the 5th inning:


The Region 15C tournament coming in August will be hosted by Spring Hill.

In Bonanza Valley Days news...
I finally have Clay City posted at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website. You can read all the details for this exciting event (for all ages - especially children age 10 and younger)...by clicking here: https://shorturl.at/Tfrjc.

Other BVD news can be found by clicking here: https://rb.gy/j04480.

And in other news...this morning, our home garage received garage door repairs from Excel Overhead Door of Willmar. I was super impressed by their work! So here's my shout out to their company. Their website is https://www.exceloverhead.com.

Hoops By the Lake moved to New London

Due to the sketchy weather forecast for Saturday, the 28th annual Hoops by the Lake has been moved to the New London-Spicer high school. This wildly popular event is normally set up to be played at Green Lake in Spicer in the parking lot next to Zorbaz. It was a tremendous experience to be a part of last summer. I'll be coaching my daughter's team at NL-S today, and their first pool play game is at 8 a.m.

Update: our mixed grades 5-6 team went 2-1 for a successful time at the Hoops by the Lake tournament. They did great! And a huge thank you to Angela Jenniges for stepping in and providing great coaching for the girls! I quickly stepped into an assistant role. She is a former standout Minnewaska Area athlete who played for Coach Arden Hyland in the early 2000s. It is always great to see student athletes give their very best, find success and learn ways to improve themselves

Let's shift gears to Bonanza Valley Days...
On Friday, July 11, a big Great River Regional Library event is coming to BVD in Brooten. The event is called "Now. Make. Art. Clay City" at the Brooten City Park. This will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. All the details are here: https://events.griver.org/event/14740737?hs=a. It is for ALL ages! But it has a special emphasis for children ages 10 and younger. Please, pass the word!

Saints blank Cubs

The Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team defeated Greenwald 5-0 today in a Stearns County League North division game. A hitting advantage by a 12 to 5 margin, including a home run by Ashton Dingmann, was key to the win. Ethan Mueller started and pitched 8 innings for the win on the mound. Luke Illies closed in the 9th inning.

The win pulls the Saints into a tie for second place in the SCL-North standings with New Munich. A huge game is on deck next Sunday, when Elrosa hosts New Munich at 1:30 p.m. The winner gets a jump on earning the No. 2 seed for the division playoffs, which start on Saturday, July 19.

Smilin' D Arena held a Ranch Rodeo on Friday night; here's a video from that night:


From Thursday morning through Saturday evening, we received a full 5 inches of rain around the Brooten area.

Regulation-inning game, but another tough loss to the Chargers

The Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team hosted Spring Hill and suffered a 3-2 loss in regulation innings. The Chargers pushed the game-winning run across in the top of the 8th inning. For the game, a whopping 30 baserunners were left stranded: 13 by Spring Hill and 17 by Elrosa.

Elrosa scored once in both the first and second innings and rode the early 2-0 lead into the fifth inning. In the top of the fifth, the Chargers tied the game at 2-2. In the top of the 8th, Luke Dehmer hit a one-out single for Spring Hill. He made it a 3-2 lead for the visitors on Ethan Meyer's grounder to shortstop.

Next: the Saints travel to Greenwald for a Stearns County League North division border battle on Sunday with first pitch at 1:30 p.m.

Bonanza Valley Days men's 3-on-3 tournament

Bonanza Valley Days in Brooten is coming in just two weeks!

Related to BVD in Brooten...
The BVD Men's 3-on-3 tournament at the elementary school in Brooten is coming on Friday, July 11. Organizer Chris Anderson highly recommends that teams get their registration mailed in ahead of that week so the games can begin at 6 p.m. sharp that night. If registering on site, he asked that teams arrive by 5 p.m. Registration is $40 for teams pre-registered by July 3 and $50 after that. He can be contacted by email: canderson@bbejaguars.org.

The Brooten Farmers Market will run until 7 p.m. tonight! See more here: https://shorturl.at/1tXaR.

Bonanza Valley Days added event! And youth activity this week Thursday

The B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch program is trying their first-ever weekend tournament for Bonanza Valley Days. The 14-U team is reaching out across the area to get 7 teams included for an 8-team schedule. The date is Sunday, July 13. I've had this in the back of my mind for the last 3 years, and it's finally coming to fruition as Coach Logan Funk got the ball rolling for a 14-U tournament. It will include 3 games, with a winners and losers bracket. Registration is $200. Spread the word to other schools!

Tuesday afternoon notes...
You are kindly asked to share this news with area youth that you know around Jaguar Country who are entering grades 7 to 12 this fall! This is brought forward by the Free Spirits youth group at Big Grove-Crow River-Grace Lutheran Parish: https://shorturl.at/PvtLe.

This is a non-denominational youth activity. Another non-denominational activity is taking place on Sunday this weekend in Elrosa. That's been promoted heavily across the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. You can see the poster for the church social on page 3 of this week's issue.

That's all for now. Tonight is another busy night that includes the fastpitch program's 11-U squad hosting a triangular tonight starting at 5:30 p.m.

Elrosa endures extra-inning loss (VIDEO)

In their Elite 8 tournament championship bracket semifinal, the Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team lost 5-4 in 8 innings last night to Courtland.

Here's the playing of the National Anthem on Friday night:


The Saints play today at 2 p.m. against Waterville in the third-place game. The championship game features Courtland facing the Pierz Brewers at about 4 p.m. today.

UPDATE: in the seventh-place game today, New London-Spicer defeated Veseli by a 3-2 score. The fifth-place game is underway in Elrosa, and that contest features Fergus Falls and Royalton.

Update...in the third-place game, the Elrosa Saints and Waterville Indians settled for a 0-0 tie after playing a 7-inning game.

In case you missed the events in Terrace...
You can get a glimpse of the Saturday events in Terrace by clicking over to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper: https://shorturl.at/506MJ. Additional coverage is coming in the June 26 issue of the newspaper.

The Brooten city council meets in regular session on Monday night. The meeting agenda can be found at the newspaper editor's blog by clicking here: https://shorturl.at/F1eqk.