Sports from the week of May 30, 2001
Baseball team advances in state quest
Early wins set up Wednesday, Saturday games
So far, so good, for Panther baseball playoff hopes
Tracy/Milroy/Balaton is one of four unbeaten teams remaining in the Section 3AA baseball playoffs, after beating Pipestone-Jasper and Renville County West Saturday.
The No. 1-seeded Panthers host Springfield Wednesday (May 30), in a 5 p.m. game. Win or lose, TMB, now 17-2 on the year, plays again Saturday.
“We are right where we want to be,” says Coach Bill Tauer. “Going into the tournament, we felt like we had to win two games on Saturday and that's what we did.”
The Panthers, Jackson County Central, Luverne and Springfield are the four unbeaten teams left in the double-elimination tourney. Four other teams are still alive in the “losers' bracket” after winning two out of three games Saturday and Monday. Those teams are Windom, Red Rock Central, MACCRAY and Renville County West.
Four teams—Benson, Yellow Medicine East, BOLD and Pipestone-Jasper—bowed out after losing their second game Monday.
Redwood Valley, Lac Qui Parle, Montevideo, and Sioux Valley-Round Lake/Brewster were eliminated after suffering two losses Saturday.
No-hitter sidelines TMB softball
In a game that went only five innings, Lac Qui Parle Valley thumped the Tracy/Milroy/Balaton Panthers 12-0 in the first round of the Section 3AA softball tournament held in Montevideo Saturday.
The loss eliminated TMB from the tournament, and ended the Panthers season.
Pitching was a decisive factor.
"Offensively we just couldn't catch up to Ludvigson, the Lac Qui Parle Valley pitcher," said Panther Coach Dave Sogge. "She had a hot fastball and kept us off balance with a good change up."
Ludvigson no-hit the Panthers.
Panther pitcher Megan Anderson allowed only two hits, but issued four walks and hit five batters.
"That wasn't like her," said Sogge. "She was uncharacteristically wild with so many runners on base, that translates into lots of runs."
Girls streak ends, but individuals have big day
The Panther track team travels to Benson Thursday to compete in the Section 3A meet at Benson. Action begins at 3:30 p.m.
The top two finishers in individual events, and the top relay team, qualify for the state Class A meet in Blaine June 8-9.
Tracy-Milroy/Balaton thinclads qualified for section competition by placing in the top four at the sub-section meet held in Tracy Thursday.
Redwood Valley won the girls' meet by 17 points over second-place TMB. The Cardinal performance ended a seven-year championship string by the Panther girls.
Canby-Minneota won the boys' meet, also with 171 points. Redwood was second with 127. TMB was third with 104.
“It was an incredible performance by the boys,” said Coach Steve Jones. “To score over 100 points with as few boys as we've got, and as young as some of them are, is nothing short of phenomenal.”
The girls' team, Jones felt, had trouble coming back mentally only five days after “an outstanding performance” at the state True Team meet in Blaine.