Runners-up with 10 season wins

Taylor Borgerding slides home ahead of the tag to score one of Sauk Centre's runs tonight.

The Sauk Centre Mainstreeters 17-U softball team lost 9-3 tonight to Browerville in the West Central League championship at Osakis.

The Tigers, fresh off of an appearance in the Class 1A state tournament in June, scored three times in the first inning and then built on the 3-0 lead with five more runs coming in the third.

The Mainstreeters, who also put together a nice postseason and finished in the Section 6AA Final Four, got runs from Cassidy Zenzen and Brooke Fetterer in the top of the fourth. Taylor Borgerding scored in the top of the fifth, but they couldn't produce what they needed down the stretch.

Sauk Centre finished the summer season with a fine 10-4 overall record.

Finals-bound!

Cassidy Zenzen slides home before the tag to score one of Sauk Centre's runs in the Melrose win tonight.

The Sauk Centre Mainstreeters 17-U softball team is heading to the league finals after picking up two wins tonight in the West Central-East division tournament.

The Mainstreeters, now 10-4 in summer league action, beat Royalton 8-6 before picking up a 5-2 win over top-seeded Melrose Area. Against Royalton, the Mainstreeters led 7-0 and then 8-1 before holding off a rally by the Royals when they scored five runs in the top of the fifth. Against Melrose Area, they put up a 2-0 lead in the first inning and rode a strong pitching performance by starter Amanda Lahr to pick up the win.

Here's video from the end of the Royalton game in the top of the fifth:


Up next: the West Central 17-U league championship game at 7 p.m. in Osakis against TBD. Teams competing in the West division are Long Prairie-Grey Eagle, Brandon/Evansville, Browerville and Osakis.

Details to follow on tonight's action.

Playoffs!

Coach T.J. Schmiesing and his Mainstreeters 17-U team huddled up during the Brandon/Evansville doubleheader.

The Mainstreeters 17-U softball team begins the West Central League playoffs tonight with a home game at 6:15 p.m. Sauk Centre, seeded two, faces third-seeded Royalton.

Earlier, Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa and Eagle Valley play at 5 p.m. in a game also held in Sauk Centre.

A second game will be played at 6:15 p.m. between top-seeded Melrose Area and the winner of the 5 p.m. game.

At 7:30 p.m., the winning teams from 6:15 p.m. face one another, and the losing teams from 6:15 p.m. also square off. The losers are eliminated, while the winner of the 7:30 p.m. game between the winning teams advances to the championship game on Thursday at Osakis at 7 p.m.