Thrilling ending!!

The Mainstreeters lined up for a team photo following the win today that earned them a share of the WCC-North conference championship. PHOTOS BY RANDY OLSON

The Sauk Centre Mainstreeters baseball team earned a share of the West Central Conference North division title with a 7-6 walk-off win over Montevideo on the home diamond tonight. The Thunderhawks could have won a share of the conference with a win have to settle for second place.

The Mainstreeters finish the regular season with a 9-7 overall record. In the WCC-North they went 9-4. Minnewaska Area also finished 9-4 in the conference and will share the WCC-North championship with Sauk Centre after the Lakers beat Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 11-8 in their regular season finale. Montevideo fell to 12-7 overall with the loss.

The Herald is currently researching to find out when the last Sauk Centre boys' team in any sport won a conference championship. The last time we are certain that happened was in 2000, when the boys' hockey team was West Central Conference champions.

Plenty of smiles today following the big come-from-behind win.

In today's conference championship game, Montevideo took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning. In their second at bat, the Mainstreeters got a lead off single from Jake Haskamp, who later scored on an RBI-single by Tanner Schmiesing. Two strikeouts left two stranded to end the inning.

Three straight Sauk Centre errors loaded the bases to start the third inning, and Montevideo eventually plated five runs to lengthen the odds for the Mainstreeters.

Sauk Centre chipped away at the lead, getting two runs back in the fourth and one in the fifth to narrow it to a 6-4 deficit.

A strikeout and two pop flies made for a tough, short-lived sixth inning, but the defense continued to hold while getting two pop flies and a grounder in the top of the seventh.

The Mainstreeters made the most of their final at bat, with Will Funk and Matthew Moritz starting off with base hits on no outs. Josh Buschette hit a fielder's choice that ended with Moritz out at second. Funk then scored on a passed ball, and on Haskamp's trip to the plate Montevideo committed another throwing error to get Buschette home and tie it up. Billy Moritz singled in pinch runner Leo Van Beck to end the game.

Now a short waiting game takes place as Sauk Centre awaits their seeding news and learns the playoff schedule. They could end up anywhere from third to fifth in the final Sub-Section 6AA-West rankings.

Click on the link to see some exciting seventh-inning video from today:
http://saukherald.com/content/mainstreeters-baseball-knocks-montevideohttp://saukherald.com/content/mainstreeters-baseball-knocks-montevideo

2014 West Central North Conference baseball standings (final):
1st (tie) Sauk Centre, Minnewaska Area 9-4 each
3rd Montevideo 8-5
4th Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 4-9
5th Melrose Area 1-11

In girls' softball playoff action, a late rally by the Sauk Centre Mainstreeters fell short in a 7-6 loss to top-seeded Minnewaska Area in the Sub-Section 6AA-West semifinals. The Mainstreeters, 11-7 overall, stay alive in the loser's bracket and face Osakis at 3 p.m. on Thursday in an elimination game. That game will be held at Minnewaska Area high school.

At Greystone Golf Club today, Carter Kranz shot a terrific 76 to earn medalist honors at the Sauk Centre invitational.

Besides girls' softball action, Thursday also brings the Sub-Section 6A-1 meet in Morris, where the Mainstreeters track and field teams will compete for trips to the Section 6A meet. Running events at the University of Minnesota-Morris campus begin at 4:30 p.m.