Fastpitch softball playoffs tonight

The Section 6AA Final Four begins tonight for the Sauk Centre Mainstreeters softball team. They play at Rivers Edge Park in Waite Park against St. Cloud Cathedral at 5 p.m. Spread the word!

The Mainstreeters have home cooking going on as well, with the baseball team hosting Staples-Motley with a 5 p.m. start time on the home diamond.

Both golf teams are off until Monday for the start of sections, while the remaining track and field team members compete next on Thursday in Moorhead.

Robust crew heading to section track and field

Ben Barhorst grabs the baton from Tyler Sogge in the final handoff of the 4x100 relay race at last Thursday's sub-section meet in Morris. The relay team finished fifth with a time of 49.43 seconds. They trailed second-place and section-qualifier Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta by just 1.09 seconds.

 

Jacob Hemsworth gets a high-five from Coach Determan after his 200 open race (28.17 second finish).

Madison Greenwaldt takes the handoff from Kelsey Peschel in the 4x400 relay race; they finished fifth with a time of 4:22.63. Other members of the relay were Becca Weir and Morgan Marthaler.

The Sauk Centre Mainstreeters track and field team will send 10 student-athletes to the Section 6A meet on Thursday, May 29 at Minnesota State University-Moorhead.

Here's the list and events they qualified in: Alea Gerhartz, Madison Greenwaldt and Joseph Gerhartz all in the 1600 run; Austin Brinkman in the 300 hurdles; Morgan Marthaler in the triple jump; Tim Schmiesing in the 400 open; Julie Bushard in the shot put; and Joseph Gerhartz, Jay Friedrichs, Chris Maher and Riley Primus advancing in the 4x800 relay.

(Video) Playoff action vs. Osakis

Here's action on Thursday at Minnewaska, where the Mainstreeters softball team defeated both Osakis and the host Lakers in sub-section playoff action. Video from the Osakis game


The Mainstreeters (13-7 overall) play again at 5 p.m. at Whitney Park in Waite Park on Tuesday, May 27. They face St. Cloud Cathedral in the Section 5A semifinals.

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.

Final Four!!!

The number-four seeded Sauk Centre Mainstreeters brought home the sub-section runner-up trophy today!

The deepest playoff run for a Sauk Centre softball team in 15 years is underway! Today was a historic day for the Mainstreeters, as they ended the seasons of the number two and number one-seeded teams in Sub-Section 6AA-West. Both games by one run!!

Head coach T.J. Schmiesing gives instructions to the team during the Osakis win. PHOTO BY RANDY OLSON

Streeter softball is Final Four-bound!

What a headline for the Sauk Centre Mainstreeters softball team! After two gusty performances today, the Mainstreeters are headed to the Section 6AA Final Four tournament that starts on Tuesday in St. Cloud.

In game one today against Osakis, the Mainstreeters took leads of 4-0, 5-1 and then hung on to win 5-4.

In game two they fell behind 5-0 after four innings against top-seeded Minnewaska Area before mounting a huge comeback. A four-run sixth inning tied the game 5-5, and they scored the game-winner in the top of the seventh.

Amanda Lahr advances to third base in the third inning and eventually scored one of the two runs Sauk Centre plated in that frame to go ahead 4-0 against Osakis. Lahr also was the starting pitcher in the Minnewaska game and went 2 1/3 innings. PHOTO BY RANDY OLSON

The Mainstreeters play next at Whitney Park in St. Cloud on Tuesday, May 27 against St. Cloud Cathedral in an elimination game to start the Section 6AA Final Four. The Crusaders are 13-7 overall and were 7-5 (third) in the Granite Ridge Conference. **Update on Monday: the game on Tuesday will start at 5 p.m., with a second game to follow if the Mainstreeters knock out the Crusaders.

Stay tuned for further coverage posted on Saturday along with some video from the Osakis game.

At Morris today, seven Sauk Centre Mainstreeter track and field athletes earned tickets to the Section 6A meet. Details to follow.

(Video) Mainstreeters softball vs. Minnewaska Area

Here's some fifth-inning action yesterday at Minnewaska in the sub-section semifinals:



The Mainstreeters softball team faces Osakis in an elimination game at 3 p.m. today back at the Minnewaska Area high school fastpitch complex. If they beat the Silverstreaks, they'll face Staples-Motley at approximately 4:30 p.m. today in another elimination game.

Good luck, Mainstreeters!!

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.