Eagles finish second in 3AA opening round

BUFFALO LAKE — The New Ulm Eagles boys golf team finished second out of 15 teams Thursday in the opening round of the Section 3AA Boys Golf Tournament at Oakdale Golf Club.

The top five teams from Thursday’s first round advance to next Wednesday’s final round.

New Ulm finished second with a 308, while New London-Spicer shot a 297 for first. Also advancing to next Wednesday will be Morris Area-Chokio-Alberta (314), Marshall (317) and Minnewaska Area (323).

File photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm Cathedral’s Ava Schmid watches a hit of hers during a May 12 home softball game at Harman Park in New Ulm.

New Ulm senior Jaxon Buegler was the boys medalist Thursday with a 3-under-par 69, while his younger brother Mason Buegler shot a 76. Also for New Ulm, Brecken Neuman shot an 81, while Brayden Wendinger shot an 82, Colton Anderson turned in an 82 and Brandt Munson carded an 85.

Also advancing to next week will be the top 15 players not from Thursday’s top five teams, including ties.

The final round will take place Wednesday morning at Oakdale Golf Club.

PREP BASEBALL

St. Mary’s 18, GHEC 8

(5 innings)

SLEEPY EYE — No. 6-seeded Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s downed No. 11 Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther 18-8 in five innings Thursday in a Section 2A baseball playoff first round game.

Landry Folkens led St. Mary’s (11-10) at the plate, going 3 for 4 with two RBIs, while Jack Windschitl was 2 for 2 with four RBIs and Talan Helget was 2 for 4 with three RBIs. Kessler Severson also homered, drove in two runs and scored three runs of his own for the Knights in the win.

Tyler Mathiowetz got the win in three innings of relief, allowing one hit and one walk for no runs while striking out two.

The Knights play at No. 3-seeded Cleveland on Tuesday in the second round. The loser falls to the elimination bracket.

Sleepy Eye 6, BOLD 2

SLEEPY EYE — Seventh-seeded Sleepy Eye took down 10th-seeded BOLD 6-2 on Thursday night in the first round of the Section 2A Baseball Tournament.

The Indians (11-9) were led by Cody Schultz, who was 2 for 3 with two runs scored, while Carson Uecker doubled and drove in a run. Jaxon Saenz also had a hit and an RBI for Sleepy Eye. Kayden Klein got the complete-game win on the mound, allowing six hits and no walks for one earned run while striking out two.

Sleepy Eye will play at No. 2-seeded Springfield in the second round on Tuesday. The loser falls to the elimination bracket.

Madelia 10, MLA/C 0

(6 innings)

SEARLES — No. 4-seeded Madelia shut out No. 13-seeded Mountain Lake Area/Comfrey 10-0 in six innings Thursday in the first round of the Section 2A baseball playoffs at Searles Ballpark.

Madelia (14-5) was led by Dalton Tatro, who was 4 for 4 with a pair of doubles, two RBIs and three runs scored. Zach Jacobs was 2 for 4 with a double and two RBIs, while Tate Becker was 2 for 4 with an RBI. Becker also got the win on the mound in five innings, allowing two hits and one walk while striking out 11.

Madelia will host No. 5-seeded Minnesota Valley Lutheran on Tuesday in Searles in the second round. The loser falls to the elimination bracket.

Loyola 6, GFW 3

MANKATO — No. 9-seeded Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop fell to eighth-seeded Mankato Loyola 6-3 on Thursday in a Section 2A baseball playoff opener.

The loss ends GFW’s season with a 5-15 record.

Luke Bastian led GFW at the plate by going 2 for 3 with an RBI, while Layton Uecker Hamre was 2 for 4 with a double and a run scored. Kaden Rieke was 1 for 3 with an RBI also for GFW.

Uecker Hamre took the loss in 5 2/3 innings, allowing nine hits and two walks for four earned runs while striking out nine.

Loyola will now play at No. 1-seeded New Ulm Cathedral in a 5 p.m. game Tuesday.

PREP SOFTBALL

Cathedral 7, MLA/C 4

NEW ULM — No. 2-seeded New Ulm Cathedral earned its 20th win in a row by defeating seventh-seeded Mountain Lake Area/Comfrey 7-4 in the second round of the Section 2A softball playoffs Thursday at Harman Park.

Jayde Altermatt struck out 10 in the circle to earn the complete-game win. She allowed five hits and five walks and all of her runs allowed were unearned.

At the plate, Jaylin Hartness was 2 for 4 with a homer to lead Cathedral, while Altermatt was 2 for 3 with a double and Madelyn Haala doubled. Ava Schmid and Abbey Hillesheim each added a single and an RBI also for the Greyhounds.

Cathedral will next take on the winner of Friday evening’s Nicollet vs. Martin County West game in a winners bracket game at 10 a.m. Saturday at North Mankato’s Caswell Park on Field 2.

Sleepy Eye 3, Cleveland 1

CLEVELAND — Fifth-seeded Sleepy Eye took down fourth-seeded Cleveland on Thursday in the second round of the Section 2A softball playoffs, winning 3-1.

Taylor Berkner got the win in the circle, allowing one run on two hits and six walks while striking out 13. She also was 3 for 4 with a double and two RBIs to lead the Indians at the plate, while Callie Evers was 2 for 3 with a double, an RBI and a run scored and Paige Haala was walked twice and score two runs.

Sleepy Eye will take on top-seeded United South Central in a winners bracket game at 10 a.m. Saturday at Caswell Park on Field 1. Cleveland falls to elimination play and will play at 10 a.m. Saturday at Caswell against Springfield.

USC 1, Springfield 0

WELLS — Ninth-seeded Springfield almost upset No. 1-seeded United South Central Thursday, but the Tigers came up short in the end as USC hung on to win 1-0 in the second round of the Section 2A softball playoffs.

Tigers pitcher Regan Beadell limited USC to five hits and two walks in the loss and struck out two to keep her team in it. However, USC pitcher Mariah Anderson kept the Tigers off base all game apart from a single collected by Jasmine Novotny.

USC moves on in the winners bracket to play Sleepy Eye Saturday morning at Caswell Park in North Mankato, while Springfield drops to elimination play to play Cleveland at 10 a.m. Saturday morning at Caswell Park on Field 3.

Wabasso 11, RTR 1

(5 innings)

Wabasso 4, BOLD 0

WABASSO — No. 1-seeded Wabasso won its first-round Section 3A, South Subsection softball game over Russell-Tyler-Ruthton 11-1 in five innings on Thursday before shutting out BOLD 4-0 in a second-round game later in the day.

In the win over eighth-seeded RTR, which the Rabbits ended early in the bottom of the fifth when Macy Rohlik got a sac fly to bring in the 11th run, triggering the 10-run lead rule to finish the game.

Rohlik finished 2 for 4 with a double, two RBIs and two runs scored against RTR, while Aylah Jenniges led the Rabbits’ attack by going 2 for 3 with a double, two RBIs, two runs scored and a walk. Audrey Johnson also was 2 for 4 with two RBIs and two runs scored for Wabasso, while Camryn Irlbeck doubled and drove in a run. Jenniges got the win in five innings, allowing four hits and a walk for one run while striking out three.

Against fourth-seeded BOLD, Jenniges was 2 for 4 with a run scored, while Delaina Eis added a hit and an RBI. Jenniges got the win in the circle again in seven innings, allowing just two hits and one walk while striking out six.

Wabasso (16-6) next plays the No. 2 seed from the North Subsection, Yellow Medicine East, at 11 a.m. Saturday in Marshall. The winner moves on to the semifinals Tuesday, while the loser falls to elimination play at 3 p.m. Saturday in Marshall.

Nicollet 9, RRC/WWG 5

NORTH MANKATO — Sixth-seeded Nicollet defeated 11th-seeded Red Rock Central/Westbrook-Walnut Grove 9-5 in the opening round of the Section 2A Softball Tournament at Caswell Park.

Leah Bode earned the win for Nicollet, striking out six while allowing one earned run on nine hits and no walks. At the plate for the Raiders, Jazmyn Goettlicher was 2 for 2 with a home run, four RBIs and two runs scored, while Bode was 2 for 4 with three RBIs and two runs scored. Zoie Rengstorf was 2 for 3 with two runs scored.

Nicollet (13-6) plays at third-seeded Martin County West on Friday.

PREP TRACK AND FIELD

MVL/NUC girls take second at subsection meet

NORWOOD YOUNG AMERICA — The Minnesota Valley Lutheran girls track and field team placed second out of 12 teams at the Section 2A North Subsection meet on Thursday.

St. Clair/Immanuel Lutheran placed first with 100 points, followed by MVL/NUC (79), Mankato Loyola/Cleveland (75.5), River Valley (74.5) and Le Sueur-Hednerson (62), Sibley East (60), Lester Prairie (51), Waterville-Elysian-Morristown (50), Central Public (48), Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop (40), Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial/Nicollet (31.5) and Mayer Lutheran (30.5).

On the boys’ side of the meet, LCWM/N won with 112 points, followed by LSH (92), Sibley East (75), Loyola/Cleveland (75), MVL/NUC (53), SC/I (52), River Valley (51), WEM (50), Mayer Lutheran (42), Central Public (37), Lester Prairie (35) and GFW (28).

On the girls’ side, Sibley East’s 4×800 relay team of Paige Gardiner, Ella Doehling, Bridget Biron and Ruby Ballalatak placed first (10:10.92), while River Valley’s Marley Hewitt placed second in the 400 (1:00.65).

River Valley’s Marissa Pabst took second in the 800 (2:29.30), while MVL/NUC’s Claudia Weisensel took second in the 100-meter hurdles (16.95) and 300-meter hurdles (48.59). MVL/NUC’s Kamryn Davey took second in the triple jump (32-05.25), while MVL/NUC’s Jennarae Bates placed second in shot put (32-10.5).

On the boys’ side, Sibley East’s Aidan McCue placed second in the 200 (23.11), while LCWM/N

S Charlie Gengler won the 800 (2:09.6), with River Valley’s Noah Christensen taking second (2:09.99). River Valley’s Matthew Groebner won the 1,600 (4:42.14), while McCue placed second in the 110-meter hurdles (16.20). LCWM/N’s Aidan Moeller took second in the 300-meter hurdles (43.55), while The LCWM/N 4×200 relay team of Logan Quade, Izaak Rodman, Henry Oscarson and Nicholai Christanson took first (1:35.30), as did the River Valley 4×800 relay team of Gianluka Fernandez, Lucas Hensch, Christensen and Groebner (3:31.11) and the Sibley East 4×800 relay team of Julio Alejandro, Gage Horstman, Mausten Kruger and Gavin Pomplun (8:26.82).

LCWM/N’s Levi Freyberg won the pole vault (13-0), while McCue won the long jump (20-11.75) and the triple jump (42-6). LCWM/N’s Drew Turgeon won the discus (148-0) and took second in the shot put (49-9).