(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.

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.

Playoffs start!

During a sixth-inning rally, Coach T.J. Schmiesing gave a few instructions to his base runners and batters.

The Sauk Centre softball team started what is hopefully a string of playoff wins with a thriller today on the home diamond.

Here's the end of the game tonight:


What a night for the Mainstreeters softball team! They rallied past Paynesville Area to win 5-2 and advance in the Sub-Section 6AA-West playoffs. The Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead in the third inning and then went ahead 2-1 in the top of the sixth.

The Mainstreeters (11-6 overall) poured it on with four runs plated in the bottom of the sixth. The Bulldogs (8-7 final record) went down with two pop flies and a grounder in the top of the seventh as the game ended in Sauk Centre's favor. Paynesville Area was a co-champion of the West Central South Conference with BOLD; both went 8-5 against WCC competition this spring.

They play again on Wednesday at Minnewaska Area high school. The game is at 3 p.m. against the top-seeded (host) Lakers, who beat Wadena-Deer Creek 11-3 in their quarterfinal game.
 
Tonight's win was the second playoff-opening win in a row for Sauk Centre. It was their first playoff win on the home diamond since 2001. Last year they also earned a home playoff game, but the weather (rain) scrubbed their home game and moved it to a neutral site.

(Video) West Central Conference track and field

Here's Madison Greenwaldt earning second place in the 1600 run at the West Central Conference meet in Paynesville last Thursday: