Relay squad medals at Section 6A meet

Chris Maher takes the handoff from Jay Friedrichs in today's 4x800 relay race at Moorhead.

Sauk Centre's boys' 4x800 relay team earned medals at the Section 6A track and field meet in Moorhead with a sixth-place finish. Relay members were Joseph Gerhartz, Jay Friedrichs, Chris Maher and Riley Primus.

Alea Gerhartz and Madison Greenwaldt are shown at the starting line of the 1600 run today.

Austin Brinkman (300 hurdles), Tim Schmiesing (400 open) Morgan Marthaler (triple jump), Alea Gerhartz (1600 run), Madison Greenwaldt (1600 run) and Joseph Gerhartz (1600 run) all set personal season records in their respective events today at the section track and field meet. Greenwaldt advanced to the Class 1A state meet with a first-place finish (5:36) in the 1600 run.

More information on today's section meet and next week's state track and field meet will follow over the weekend.

Andrew Primus high-fives Coach Olson in the Pierz game today.

At St. Cloud tonight, the Mainstreeters baseball team lost 9-4 to Pierz in an elimination game of the Section 6AA tournament. They finish the year 10-9 overall as West Central North Conference co-champions.

In another baseball playoff game tonight, Osakis held a 2-1 lead after five and a half innings over top-seeded St. Cloud Cathedral in a winner's bracket game. They trailed 1-0 before scoring two runs in the top of the fifth. The Crusaders plated three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to go up 4-2. **Update: the Crusaders shortstop committed a fielding error on a ground ball to the left to allow Osakis to tie the game 4-4 with no outs in the top of the seventh inning. **Update: the Crusaders won the game with a walk off two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning and will play fellow Granite Ridge Conference rival Little Falls on Monday in another winner's bracket game. Osakis plays Minnewaska Area on Monday in a loser-out game. The Lakers ended Prairie Conference champion Long Prairie-Grey Eagle's season by a 6-4 score earlier today.

In Section 5AA, Paynesville Area ended Central Minnesota Conference champion Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted's season with an 8-7 win in an elimination game.

Home playoff game

Here's action from the final game of the regular season last Tuesday:


The Mainstreeters baseball team earned the number four seed in Sub-Section 6AA-West earlier today. They will host fifth-seeded Staples-Motley at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, May 27. With a win they play again on Wednesday at Joe Faber field in St. Cloud at 5 p.m.

Additional sports coverage will resume on Saturday.

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.

Two costly losses

While they still control their destiny, they've made it a lot tougher on themselves.

Today at Minnewaska Area, the Sauk Centre Mainstreeters baseball team lost two tough games to the Lakers in West Central North Conference action. In game one, a walk-off run on an error lifted the host Lakers to a 4-3 win in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Game two went to Minnewaska Area by a 5-1 score.

The Mainstreeters fell to 8-4 in the WCC-North standings and need to beat visiting Montevideo tomorrow (Wednesday) in order to earn a share of the conference title or win it outright, depending on the outcome of the Minnewaska vs. Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta game. The huge, huge game with Montevideo, which also wraps up the regular season, starts at 3:30 p.m. on the home diamond.

Stay tuned for more updates on Wednesday.

Baseball, softball sweeps Melrose Area

In their second meetings against Melrose Area, the Mainstreeters baseball and softball teams earned a series sweep over the Dutchmen. The host baseball team won in dramatic fashion by a 12-11 score in eight innings to move to 7-3 overall, while the softball team beat the host Dutchmen 6-2 to improve to 9-4 overall.

In the baseball game, the Dutchmen took a 2-0 lead in their first at-bat. Sauk Centre responded with four runs to go up 4-2 headed into the second. They went ahead 5-2 in the second before giving up two runs to Melrose in the third. In the fourth, Sauk Centre plated two runs for a 7-4 advantage, but the bottom fell out when the Dutchmen scored twice in the fifth and four times in the sixth to go up 10-7.

Sauk Centre's second, third and fourth batters in the lineup went down in order in the bottom of the sixth to further worsen the outlook. In the top of the seventh, Melrose plated one run to built the lead to 11-7.

Trailing 11-8 in the bottom of the seventh with two outs and runners on second and third, Will Funk hit a long bomb for a two-RBI double to the outfield fence. Adam Froseth, the next batter, fell behind in the count zero-and-two but ultimately drew a walk. With Matthew Moritz at bat, Froseth started an early break play while getting into a hot box between first and second. Funk, on third base, made a break for home and got the game-tying run. Moritz ultimately flied out to send the game into an extra inning.

How did the 12th run of the game come in and lift Sauk Centre to 7-1 in the West Central North Conference? Read about that and more on tonight's action in this week's Sauk Centre Herald.

Rain wreaks more havoc

Here's the low down for a couple games today:
The Sauk Centre baseball team will not host 10th-ranked Osakis today. That game likely won't be made up, as it's a non-conference game.

The Sauk Centre softball team will not travel to Minnewaska Area today; that game is rescheduled to this Wednesday, May 14 at 3:30 p.m. at Minnewaska.

Tonight's band concert has not been rained out!!

Boys' golf second at Minnewaska

At Minnewaska in the seventh West Central Conference meet of the season, the Mainstreeters boys' golf team earned second place with a 179, just three strokes out of first behind the host Lakers. Carter Kranz was medalist with a 41, while fellow teammate Tommy Traeger earned a five-way tie for fourth with a 43.

Later in the day, the boys' golfers finished a disappointing seventh place with a 187. Their grip on fifth place (47 points) in the WCC is tenuous, with Melrose Area hot on their tail with 43 points. At the meet held in Morris, Kranz finished in a three-way tie for ninth place with a 42.

In a home game against Minnewaska Area, the Mainstreeters softball team lost 4-2 after a bottom-of-the-seventh rally fell two runs short of overcoming a 4-0 deficit. Sauk Centre is 7-4 overall and travels to Minnewaska Area on Monday.

At Joe Faber field in St. Cloud, the Mainstreeters baseball team (6-3) saw their five-game winning streak go up in smoke in an 11-0 loss to second-ranked St. Cloud Cathedral. Their next game is at home on Monday (4 p.m.) against state-ranked Osakis (10-0).

Baseball rally falls short vs. Bulldogs

Trailing 7-3 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning on Monday, the Sauk Centre Mainstreeters baseball team got three runs back but couldn't overtake the visiting Paynesville Bulldogs in their first West Central Conference loss of the season. The Bulldogs improved to 4-1 with a 7-6 win.

Here's video from the third inning:


Up next is a trip to Morris on Thursday to face the Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta Tigers in Sauk Centre's first West Central North Conference game.

At Osakis on Monday, the Mainstreeters softball team lost 11-6 to fall to 3-1 on the year. Their next game is on Thursday at home at 5 p.m. against MA/CA in a WCC-North contest.

At Sartell on Monday, the Sauk Centre boys' golf team shot a 394 to tie Albany for ninth place (out of 16 teams) in their first action of the season.

3-0!

The Sauk Centre Mainstreeters softball team improved to 3-0 on the season with a 5-3 win at Paynesville Area in West Central Conference action on Friday. The Mainstreeters took a 4-1 lead after one inning thanks to three Bulldogs walks, a hit batter and an error in the big first inning. They travel to Wadena-Deer Creek for a non-conference match up with the sub-section rival Wolverines.

W-DC is 0-1 after losing their season opener to Melrose Area by a 15-10 score on Thursday. Paynesville Area falls to 1-1 with the loss; they beat Montevideo 12-4 in their season opener on Thursday.

In their home and season opener, the Mainstreeters baseball team lost 5-1 to Albany. They host Paynesville Area on Monday at 4:30 p.m.

Spring sports

The spring sports schedule is already turning into a mess because of the extended winter still holding its grip across most of Minnesota.

To date, only an indoor track and field scrimmage has taken place.

This week the home baseball game with Paynesville Area was scheduled for Thursday, but that has been postponed to Apr. 14. The Mainstreeters softball team was to travel to Paynesville Thursday, but that game has been moved to Apr. 11.

Sauk Centre American Legion baseball team advances in playoffs

The Mainstreeters American Legion baseball team defeated second-seeded Foley 3-1 tonight in Foley to advance in the Melrose Sub-District playoffs. In the other game of sub-districts, top-seeded and undefeated Paynesville Area beat Albany 2-1.

Another shut out win!

Final from Dick Putz field today in St. Cloud in the Section 6AA baseball tournament: Sauk Centre 1, Minnewaska Area 0. Patrick Knoblauch pitched a complete game win with five hits against seven strikeouts. Josh Buschette earned Sauk Centre's only hit of the game, but it was a big one. He knocked a one-out double in the top of the seventh inning, then stole third base and finally home on a wide throw.

Now 9-10 overall, the Mainstreeters face Little Falls (16-4) in the final elimination game of the Section 6AA tournament. That game has a 7 p.m. start tonight in St. Cloud.

**Update: Sauk Centre lost 3-1 in a very well-played game to the Flyers tonight to end their season with a 9-11 overall record. They won four playoff games, a tremendous achievement, while finishing in third place in the 16-team Section 6AA.

Mainstreeters baseball playoff game postponed

In the dugout at Dick Putz Field in St. Cloud, waiting for word on when the game would start...and then it was canceled until Thursday.

The elimination-round game of the Section 6AA baseball tournament will take place at 4:30 p.m. against Minnewaska Area on Thursday at Dick Putz Field in St. Cloud.

Playoff win! Shut out style!

The Sauk Centre Mainstreeters were red hot at just about everything they did tonight as they blasted the Central Minnesota Conference co-champion Pierz Pioneers 9-0 in the elimination bracket of the Section 6AA baseball tournament in St. Cloud. The Mainstreeters (8-10 overall) punished two Pioneers pitchers to the tune of 14 hits in six innings of batting.

Starter Josh Buschette (4-3) went the distance on the mound and fired seven strikeouts against three hits, three walks and one hit batsman. The Maroon's defense was stout to back him up while committing only one error in the game compared to six by Pierz, who finishes the season 12-9 and 9-3 in the CMC in a tie for first place with Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted.

Up next: they face neighboring rival Minnewaska Area in an elimination game at 5 p.m. on Tuesday in St. Cloud. The Lakers (12-7) defeated Paynesville Area 4-1 in another game played tonight. The Bulldogs went 0-for-5 at the plate when they had runners in scoring position.

More details on the win will follow in this week's Sauk Centre Herald issue.

Two rain delays for Sauk Centre vs. Melrose baseball

Sauk Centre's baseball team holds a 6-3 lead with the seventh inning yet to be played. They are currently in a rain delay that started at about 6:50 p.m. tonight at Dick Putz field in St. Cloud. The Mainstreeters (6-10) hold a 6-3 lead over the Dutchmen (9-6).

Update: play resumed in the top of the seventh inning at 8:37 p.m.

Josh Buschette took the mound in the seventh inning in relief of winning starter Patrick Knoblauch (IP-7) and kept Melrose off of the board, leaving one stranded. The Dutchmen, who finish the season 9-7 overall, had only one hit in the entire game. The Mainstreeters got six hits off of four different Melrose Area pitchers.

Final score: Sauk Centre 6, Melrose Area 3. The Mainstreeters, now 7-10 overall, play next at 5 p.m. on Monday in St. Cloud. They face the loser of Friday's Pierz vs. Little Falls winner's bracket game.

Baseball team loses to top-ranked Cathedral

In the first game of the double-elimination portion of the Section 6AA baseball tournament, the Sauk Centre Mainstreeters lost 8-3 to top-rated St. Cloud Cathedral at Dick Putz Field tonight.

More updates to follow.

Mainstreeters take drama-filled playoff opener!

The Sauk Centre Mainstreeters baseball team won 7-6 in come-from-behind fashion at Wadena-Deer Creek in the opening round of the Section 6AA, West sub-section tournament. The game featured a number of hit batsmen, a home run, an intentional walk, numerous stolen bases and only one error by the Mainstreeters defense.

Nate Mettenburg earned the win on the mound while pitching the final three innings in relief. The Mainstreeters, 6-9 overall, next play on Wednesday (tomorrow) at 5 p.m. at Dick Putz field in St. Cloud.

Stay tuned for more coverage, and read more in this week's Sauk Centre Herald.

Mainstreeters baseball seeded fifth in Sub-Section 6AA-West

The Mainstreeters baseball team (5-9) received the number five seed in Sub-Section 6AA-West, with rankings released earlier today. They open the playoffs next Tuesday with a 5 p.m. game at Wadena-Deer Creek, the number four seed. The Wolverines hold an 8-9 overall record and finished 5-7 in the Mid-State Conference.

Staples-Motley (11-6) is the number one seed; behind them is Melrose Area (8-5), a team Sauk Centre defeated 6-4 on May 9.

What cost Sauk Centre a higher seed was two losses to Minnewaska Area on Thursday.

Mainstreeters softball, baseball fall tonight - Track and field competes at WCC meet

Final score in non-conference softball: Albany 5, Sauk Centre 3.

The Mainstreeters softball team opens up the playoffs next Monday at home against Ottertail Central. Sauk Centre is the number four seed.

Final scores in a baseball doubleheader: Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 4, Sauk Centre 3.

MA/CA 10, Sauk Centre 0.

No word yet on conference track and field results from Morris. Photos from the meet will be added here later tonight.

**Update at 9:00 p.m.: Macy Weller earned first place while winning the West Central Conference triple jump championship tonight in Morris. Thomas Schwinghamer also earned All-WCC honors by earning second place in the triple jump.

Coach Determan reported that other Mainstreeters athletes earned All-WCC status, but the full list of results has not been released yet. More will follow on Friday.

Mainstreeters baseball drubs Yellow Medicine East

On a blustery afternoon at SCHS, the Sauk Centre Mainstreeters baseball team defeated Yellow Medicine East 16-6 in West Central Conference action. Up next: a home double-header on Thursday against Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta, when two six-inning games will be played. If the Mainstreeters win both games they would take over first place in the West Central North Conference. MA/CA is 6-1 at the top, while the Mainstreeters sit in second place at 3-2.