No.8 section baseball seed Spring Grove hit certainly well enough to win and defended in the field better than usual. But No. 6 Hayfield won the battle of balls and strikes and survived the May 29 Section 1A elimination game in Austin.  That 10-8 decision ended the season for the Lions with a 12-9 record, while the defending state-runner-up Vikings (14-10) advanced, among the … [Read more...]

The 2023 Caledonia/Spring Grove track and field boys are the sub-section team champions for the first time since 2010. Senior Tysen Grinde tied the Cal/SG high jump record while clearing 6-feet, 6-inches. Eleven Warrior boys and five girls qualified for the Section 1A Meet. The Cal/SG girls placed seventh among seven teams on May 24 at St. Charles. The boys took first-place … [Read more...]

Spring Grove remained alive in the Section 1A Baseball Tournament with late, back-to-back clutch hits to defeat Mabel-Canton, 7-5, in an elimination game, shortly after the Lions had dropped into the losers’ bracket with a nightmarish 21-8 loss to top-seed and No. 3 state-ranked Lyle/Pacelli. Spring Grove was the visiting team (batting first) in both games, which were two of … [Read more...]

Spring Grove, trailing by two runs, was one strike away from elimination before back-to-back hits from Ben Udstuen and Braedon Solie sent the large hometown crowd into an explosive celebration. The No. 8 seeded Lions thus stunned visiting No. 9 seed Wabasha-Kellogg, 7-6, in the opening, single-elimination round of the 2023 Section 1A Baseball Tournament on May 24. The Falcon … [Read more...]

No.  1 sub-section seed Southland eliminated No. 8 seed Spring Grove, 16-1 in a run-rule-shortened four-inning playoff softball game on May 22 at Rose Creek. After the first nine Lion batters had been retired with strikeouts, Maggie Lile opened the fourth inning by being hit by a pitch and came around to score when the next batter Jada Strinmoen spoiled a no-hitter with a … [Read more...]

Houston softball (10-2, 14-3) dropped two big SEC games to Southland, 6-1 and 6-4. The Rebels (12-0, 15-1) win the SEC. Ellie Ekern went 4-for-5 as R-P beat FC/L 11-7. Ekern and Ava Drazkowski each had 4 RBI as R-P beat GMLOK 17-2. Ellie Anderson hit a home run, but FC/L fell to LC/H 14-3. Paige Klug had 6 total RBI, and Mackenzie Morey drove in four runs in the second game, as … [Read more...]

The last week of the SEC baseball/softball seasons ended with GMLOK at M-C (doubleheaders), GMLOK at Houston, and M-C at Houston; an SEC triangular of sorts. Five of eight contests were competitive. The GMLOK/M-C series had three close games. In Mabel, Bulldog softball pulled the sweep. In the first, GMLOK’s Lucie Voigt had two-run triple, and then scored, to break a 0-0 game … [Read more...]

The last week of the regular season decided TRC golf titles. In the East, Fillmore Central’s girls notched wins over Wabasha-Kellogg 186 to incomplete and La Crescent/Hokah 187 to 222. Versus W-K in Harmony, Courtney Hershberger (41) was the medalist, followed by Lily Miller, Annika Mensink (48s each), and Myleigh Scheevel (49). Rachel Smith had W-K’s top score (50). Falcons … [Read more...]

Chatfield softball, the defending Class AA state champions, found early defense of their crown difficult. By one day into May, they already had five losses including key ones to St. Charles twice, Cotter, and La Crescent/Hokah. At that point, they had lost four of five (to tough competition). Jerry Chase’s Gophers have not lost since. They ended their season with wins at … [Read more...]