Plenty of baseball to catch up on

I'll start in the Stearns County League South with amateur baseball news...in the division playoffs on Saturday, Farming defeated Lake Henry 11-5 to earn a spot at the Region 8C tournament.

In the SCL-North, New Munich won a high-scoring contest 18-12 against Spring Hill in their division opener. New Munich earns the right to face Elrosa in a region seeding game for the SCL-North playoff banner. New Munich and Elrosa have a first pitch set for 12 p.m. in Greenwald today.

Later today in Greenwald, Spring Hill will face the Cubs in an elimination game.

In youth baseball news...
At the state tournament in Barnesville on Saturday, the B-B-E Jaguars 16-U Babe Ruth team took a very, very tough loss by a 7-6 score in regulation innings against neighboring Paynesville. The Jaguars scored 2 runs in the top of the seventh, but they ran out of outs before at least extending it to the bottom of the frame. They had a spectacular finish to their season with a third-place finish at state. How incredible is that!

In Greenwald...New Munich has a 5-2 lead through 7 innings over Elrosa.

*Update: the Saints tied the game 5-5 in the 8th inning.

Playing for 3rd place

The B-B-E Jaguars 16-U Babe Ruth team is playing in the third-place game today at the state tournament. In the semifinals yesterday, they lost 6-0 to Prairie Rivers. Today's opponent will be Paynesville. 

At Elrosa today, the Saints beat Greenwald 17-1 to earn a spot at the region tournament. Next: Elrosa plays at Greenwald tomorrow (Sunday) at noon. I don't know who they play yet.

16-U baseball wins state opener

For the second straight year, the B-B-E Jaguars 16-U baseball team won their first game of the Babe Ruth state tournament. Playing in Barnesville on Thursday afternoon, the Jaguars defeated Menahga 6-0. The state quarterfinal win moves them to a 3 p.m. game back in Barnesville on Friday afternoon. Their opponent in the state semifinals will be Prairie Rivers Baseball Association. The PRBA team is made up of players from West Central Area, Ashby and Brandon-Evansville high schools.

It's a busy week (Updates*)

Bonanza Valley Days may be behind us, but the schedule does not lighten up whatsoever.

The Belgrade city council meeting agenda for tonight's meeting can be found here at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper editor's blog: https://shorturl.at/Pg9rC.

DON'T FORGET! THis Saturday...
On Saturday, July 25, the Bonanza Valley Royal Strutters will host Jakes Day, a youth firearm and hunting/outdoors safety day, at the Belgrade Sportsmen's Club from 9:30 a.m. to noon (roughly) when lunch will be served and prizes given away. "Jakes" stands for Juniors Acquiring Knowledge, Ethics and Sportsmanship. How cool is that! This is for all area children ages 3 to 17. Registration opens at 9 a.m. The event is also held thanks to support by the National Wild Turkey Federation.

And a note from Sunburg Free Lutheran church: Sunday, July 26, 10:30 a.m. regular worship service followed by the following: (1) Missionary Andrew Olson from “They Need The Bible” will be sharing; (2) there will be a brief congregational meeting at the end of the service; and (3) Fellowship Dinner following the July 26 service. All are welcome!

Here's more Babe Ruth state tournament information:
For the state tournament this week, the B-B-E Babe Ruth 16-U baseball team travels to Reed Field in Barnesville for games played Thursday through Saturday, July 23-25. For the opener on Thursday, B-B-E, runner-up out of District 1, plays District 5 champion Menahga at 12:30 p.m.

In girls' fastpitch news...
The B-B-E 17-U fastpitch team, sponsored by the Brooten American Legion Post 288, heads west to the West Central Division playoffs on Wednesday, July 22 at Minnewaska Area high school. They play at 4:30 p.m. in a semifinal game. If they win, they play in the state-qualifying championship game that night at 6 p.m. I hope to attend...but first, I have to get this week's newspaper successfully off to press.

Elrosa Saints clinch Stearns County League North title (VIDEOS)

The Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team clinched the regular season Stearns County League North division title this weekend with an 11-1 mercy rule win over Meire Grove on Friday night. On a sunny Saturday afternoon today, the Saints defeated Greenwald 11-3 to finish the SCL-North schedule with a 10-3 record.

Aiden Mueller started and got the win (IP-5 H-2 BB-0 K-6), and Riley Meyer pitched the sixth inning. Luke Dingmann was closer (H-1 BB-2 K-4).

Here's a video from the bottom of the 7th inning:


In that video, Jackson Peter hit a two-run home run over the left field fence. That hit gave the Saints an 11-3 lead. The Cubs scored all 3 of their runs in the top of the 6th inning.

Here's a video from the end of the game:


Next: the Saints host the division playoff opener on Saturday, July 25 at 1:30 p.m. Their opponent has not yet been determined. New Munich and Greenwald play tomorrow afternoon in a key SCL-North game. They are both jockeying for third place in the division.

And in other news...
Almost a week after Bonanza Valley Days concluded...and I've still got a mountain of photos and video to work through. It was a grand four-day event in Brooten!

Here's a video from the BVD sand volleyball tournament:


Team Anderson, which included head coach Kristina Anderson and Activities Director Chris Anderson, emerged as champions of this 10-team tournament, which was organized by Grant Anderson. A team picture of the champions was published in this week's issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

Mark your schedule for this coming week: the Padua Pub Dave's Famous Pork Chop and Sweet Corn Feed will be on Wednesday, July 22 from 5 to 8 p.m. Come early! Be ready to stand in line. It is always worth the wait!

B-B-E Babe Ruth 16-U is state-bound, AGAIN!

The B-B-E Jaguars 16-U Babe Ruth team will play in the state tournament for the second straight year. I'm gathering more information tonight. I was at the Brooten Farmers Market when word was passed on to me. Exciting news! During the Farmers Market, I normally wouldn't care all that much about news...but that was something I wanted to share right away!

Brackets were sent to me, but I haven't had a chance to look over them yet.

If the state tournament takes place as it did in 2025, games will be played between Thursday and Sunday next week.

Here's a video from Saturday Bonanza Valley Days on July 11:


Extensive BVD coverage was published in this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

Fascinating priest

I haven't blogged here since Sunday after spending considerable time reading about Father Wade Menezes of the Catholic Church. He provided the Homily at the Bonanza Valley Days Catholic Mass on Sunday. A biography of this priest can be found here: https://fathersofmercy.com/team-members/fr-wade-menezes.

Yes, I have video of the full Catholic Mass worship from St. Donatus on Sunday. It's uploaded, but I haven't broken out smaller video clips just yet.