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. 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, May 21, 2026
GAME DAY! In Isanti County
For one of the longest-ever trips for a section postseason game that the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's sports department has made, the B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team is traveling to Isanti County this afternoon for a Section 4A elimination game at Braham.
Let's get caught up...track, golf, fastpitch (VIDEO)
The B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team has pushed through to the second day of the Section 4A tournament. After an initial 8-5 loss in the first round on Tuesday to Mayer Lutheran, the Jaguars responded with a 2-1 walk-off eight-inning win against Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart. The 1-1 record at Fenway Park in Forest Lake sets up a trip to No. 2-seeded Braham on Thursday this week. The elimination playoff game against the Bombers is at 4 p.m.
Against BL-H-S, Brielle Worms pitched a complete game in the circle with 10 strikeouts, 5 walks and 5 hits.
By the way: Fenway Park fields in Forest Lake to the Wisconsin border is a distance of less than 15 miles. That's absolutely wild to have a high school fastpitch team from our part of central Minnesota open the playoffs that close to Wisconsin. I will never understand.
In Day One games played in the Section 4A fastpitch playoffs:
Gentry Academy 17, Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 1
Braham 17, Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop 2
West Lutheran 10, Ogilvie 5
West Lutheran 9, Braham 3 (this knocked the Bombers into our bracket for tomorrow's game, while West Lutheran moves into the 4A semis)
Gentry Academy 6, Mayer Lutheran 1 (Gentry advances to the 4A semis)
Elimination games of 4A
B-B-E 2, BL-H-S 1 (8 innings)
Ogilvie 9, G-F-W 5
In track and field news...
Six members of the B-B-E Jaguars track and field teams have earned tickets to the Section 5A state qualifying meet. They competed in the Sub-Section 5A-West meet in Litchfield on Tuesday.
The section qualifiers includes two boys' athletes and four girls' athletes as follows: Taylor Pieper: 400 dash and long jump Mason Douvier: 800 run Brooklyn Breitbach: 1600 run Ziva Miller: 400 dash Laken Anderson: high jump Whitney Anderson: pole vault
Here's a video from subsections on Tuesday in Litchfield:
Any time a student-athlete can push past track and field subsections, it's an exciting achievement. They now get another week of practice plus a memorable trip to Collegeville next Wednesday, May 27 to compete at Clemens Stadium.
In golf news...
The B-B-E Jaguars boys' and girls' golf teams competed today in the opening round of the Section 5A meet at Eagle Creek Golf Club in Willmar. Updates are forthcoming tonight.
UPDATE: Cash Lehner, Walker Winte and Owen Roering have all advanced through to the Section 5A finals. For the girls' team, both Olive Olson and Kragen Wiener saw their 9th grade seasons conclude today. Olson shot a 110, and Wiener had a 121. Both had terrific freshmen seasons this spring, with Olson being B-B-E's lone All-Conference golfer from both squads. Wiener was in the running for All-Central Minnesota Conference honors and ultimately finished in 8th place. The top 6 individual girls' golfers in the CMC earn All-CMC hardware. For the boys, the top 8 are given All-CMC honors because that group has more overall athletes in the conference.
Later tonight, I will get some video posted here. It has been a wide-open, full-speed sprint for the past few days. Tonight, I'm back in Morris at the Regional Fitness Center, University of Minnesota-Morris, with AAU Wildcats basketball practice.
In baseball news...
The baseball team hosts LP-GE in the last regular season game on Thursday this week: JV at 5 p.m. and varsity to follow in Elrosa. The Jaguars (12-9) are currently ranked No. 22 by QRF in Class 1A out of 117 teams. The Thunder hold a 14-3 record and are ranked No. 19. The winner of this game has almost a lock on the No. 3 seed in Section 6A for next week's playoffs.
LP-GE finished 9-1 in the Prairie Conference to claim the title outright. Upsala/Swanville Area (13-7) took second with an 8-2 record.
Fastpitch Jaguars take close loss, then walk off Mustangs
An 8-5 loss was the outcome of the fastpitch playoff opener today in Forest Lake. Their opponent was No. 4-seeded Mayer Lutheran (11-7). The Jaguars move into the elimination bracket of Section 4A, and they play a second game today.
**Update: the Jaguars are playing BL-H-S in the elimination game right now.
I am at the subsection track and field meet in Litchfield. I'll post updates as much as possible.
**The fastpitch team is advancing in the playoffs! They walked off Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 3-2 in 8 innings in the elimination bracket tonight. They are driving home from Forest Lake with a win. Brielle Worms got the pitching win in the circle.
Next: at Braham (16-6) on Thursday this week at 4 p.m. against the No. 2 seeded Bombers. The Jaguars are 12-9 overall.
In track and field news...
At least three members of the B-B-E Jaguars track and field teams have qualified for the Section 5A meet, after they had terrific performances at the Sub-Section 5A-West meet in Litchfield. Moving on from subsections are Taylor Pieper (400), Laken Anderson (high jump) and Brooklyn Breitbach (1600). That's all I've got that is official.
The Section 5A track and field meet is next Wednesday, May 26 at Clemens Stadium in Collegeville.
Section 4A fastpitch playoffs begin tomorrow, golf regular season concludes
The B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team has earned the No. 4 seed via the QRF rankings in the Section 4A seeding. This was announced by the MSHSL on Sunday. It gives just a day basically for the team to prepare for the playoff opener. It's a shoddy way to operate a section, and it's a huge disservice to the teams and athletes in the section.
The Jaguars (11-8) open the playoffs at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, May 19 at Fenway Park in Forest Lake (near Wisconsin)...the opponent will be No. 4-seeded Mayer Lutheran. The Crusaders are 10-7 overall. Teams with seeds of 7 or higher are guaranteed two playoff games. The Jaguars play at 4 p.m. in either the winners' or losers' bracket.
Section 4A fastpitch seedings:
1. Gentry Academy of St. Paul (10-4)
2. Braham (15-5)
3. West Lutheran (11-4)
4. Mayer Lutheran
5. B-B-E
6. Ogilvie
7. Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop
8. Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart
9. Lester Prairie
Gentry Academy is a first-year fastpitch program. Braham is the defending Section 4A champion. The Bombers went 4-0 in the section tournament a year ago and took home the fourth-place trophy at the Class 1A state tournament.
In golf news...
The Central Minnesota Conference season concluded today with the last 18 holes of the season, with all boys' and girls' teams competing at The Lynx National Golf Course in Sauk Centre. Freshman Olive Olson with the B-B-E Jaguars girls' golf team earned All-CMC status by shooting a 98. She finished in 6th place individually to earn the final All-CMC spot. Fellow freshman Kragen Wiener also had a solid outing today, and she shot a 102 and finished in 8th place in the conference.
A natural gas leak occurred mid-afternoon on Thursday in Brooten. The area affected is the Park Street and Western Avenue intersection neighborhood. Please stay away from this area! You are not helping by driving by as a gawker. Additional information is posted at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper: BrootenNaturalGasLeak.
On a brighter note, it's raining! It was raining quite heavily at about 4 p.m. today. We need it.
Here's a video featuring the end of Elrosa's game against Spring Hill:
The Saints won 10-4 over their neighboring division rivals.
On Friday, the Elrosa Saints are set to host Starbuck in an exhibition game. First pitch is set for 7:30 p.m.
Have you paid your property taxes? For small businesses, this is especially a big deal to do. Don't forget! Friday, May 15 is the due date in Stearns County.
A marvelous program took place tonight at B-B-E high school's Olson Auditorium for the Class of 2026 seniors. At the end of the program, the Athlete of the Year awards were announced by Activities Director Chris Anderson.
Freshman Jace Mueller was outstanding on the mound in Elrosa for the B-B-E Jaguars baseball team, who won 12-2 in five innings tonight against Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City. The Jaguars belted 15 hits against two Falcons pitchers while Mueller limited the visitors to 5 total hits with one walk and seven strikeouts. All 12 of B-B-E's runs were earned.
Now winners of 6 straight ball games, B-B-E improves to 5-7 in the Central Minnesota Conference while remaining in fifth place.
Next: the Jaguars (12-7 overall) travel to Eden Valley-Watkins on Thursday this week while still holding a shot at gaining fourth place in the standings. EV-W came into the night tied for third (7-5) with Royalton. A-C-GC falls to 2-11 in the CMC and 5-11 overall.
In fastpitch news...
In a battle for third place in the final CMC standings tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team suffered a tough 8-6 loss at Eden Valley-Watkins. The Jaguars had rough go in the fifth and sixth innings, when the Eagles outscored the Jaguars by a combined 5-1 margin to take an 8-1 lead. In the top of the seventh, the Jaguars made a comeback bid that fell short. Four errors were a contributing factor along with 7 stranded runners.
For the second straight season, the Jaguars finished 7-7 in the CMC and in fourth place. Maple Lake, who took third last season, finished 6-8 in the CMC in fifth place. EV-W (14-8) went 8-6 for third place alone.
The fastpitch team waits for Section 4A seeding to take place tomorrow (Wednesday). Updates to come later in the day tomorrow. Now 11-8 overall, B-B-E completed the best regular season since 2008, when they were 12-5 heading into the Section 5A playoffs. In 2009, the Jaguars were 10-8 going into the postseason. Last year, they were 10-9 before heading into the Section 3A tournament.
In track and field news...
In the CMC championships at Maple Lake tonight, B-B-E 7th grader Brooklyn Breitbach won the 800-meter conference title with a career-best time of 2:24.63. Other results will be published in this week's newspaper.
