Amateur baseball doesn’t see a ton of home runs.
Very few hitters hit more than one, or possibly two in a game.
Union Hill shortstop Nathan Berg put on a power hitting show which probably has not been seen in many, many years.
Berg struck out in his first at bat Wednesday, June 30 against New Market. He then proceeded to hit home runs in four of his next five at bats, including a solo home run which provided the Bulldogs with the winning run.
To make Berg’s game even better, he closed out the contest in the bottom off the 10th, picking up the save in a 7-6 win.
The Montgomery Community Foundation (MCF) supported two local projects that are building a stronger community when it awarded two grants totally $1,800 on Friday night.
The first recipient was $800 to the local Girl Scouts for their Community Silver Garden project. The second was $1,000 to the Memorial Park Log Cabin Restoration Project.
The Tri-City United Softball Team finished its season with an 11-10 record, ending in the Elimination Bracket Round 1 of the Section 2AA playoffs with a 3-4 loss against Maple River.
But the team still had successes post-season.
Three members of the team were named Academic All- State softball players. They are Rachel Rynda, Nikaija Young, and Isabelle Factor.
Two members were also named All-Conference by the Minnesota River Conference. They are Ellaina Novak and Brooke Blaschko.
Only one game separates four teams vying for second place in the DRS Amateur Baseball Standings after games played Sunday, June 27.
St. Patrick, winners of 10 games in succession, is in first place with a 12-3 record. Prior Lake (9-4), Faribault (9-5), New Prague (8-5), and Union Hill (8-5) are battling for the second spot heading into the final month of the season
Faribault and New Prague have each won their last two games. The Orioles are 4-1 after a 4-4 start.
The Tri-Legion Baseball Team (Montgomery, Le Center, Lonsdale) battled backand- forth against Cleveland on Monday night toward a 14-13 victory.
Tri-Legion got off to a running start in the bottom of the first inning when athletes scored three runs to Cleveland’s zero. With Carter O’Malley on the mound for the team, the teams had a scoreless second inning and each with single runs in the third.
While there weren’t any champions crowned at the State Track Meet last weekend, several Tri-City United athletes had the honor of competing among the best in the state.
TCU sent Marco Reyes, Jordan Meyer, and the girls 4x800 relay team (Anabelle Davies, Josie Plut, Makayla Erickson, Yasmin Ruiz, and alternate Gaby Daulke) to the Class A event.
Boys’ coach Craig Nordling said after the season started with so many unkowns, it ended on a high note for these athletes.
The St. Patrick Irish have won their past five games, including three last week to increase their lead in the DRS Amateur Baseball League.
The Irish improved to 12-3 this season, two full games in front of Union Hill. They defeated Prior Lake, 11-1, in seven innings Thursday, June 17. They edged Webster, 4-3, Saturday, June 19. The following day St. Patrick edged New Prague, 2-0.
In the win over Prior Lake, Ryan Fridges hit a home run in his sixth straight game. Kyle Rhodes added three hits.
After an absence of several years, bats are cracking for Legion ball.
The Tri-Cities Legion ball team kicked off its season Monday, June 7 in Le Center against Waterville-Elysian- Morristown. The team started its season with an 11-1 win over Waterville-Elysian-Morristown. The Titans scored two runs in the second inning, three runs in the fourth, two in the fifth and four in the sixth.
St. Patrick won its 6th straight game Sunday, June 13, knocking off league-leading Union Hill, 4-1.
The Irish moved within one game of the Bulldogs with the victory. St. Patrick is 9-3, tied with Prior Lake for the second spot in the DRS Amateur Baseball League. Union Hill, winners of four of their last five, sits on top of the league with an 8-2 record.
Luke Tupy picked up the win for the Irish, pitching seven innings, allowing one earned run on five hits. He struck out 11 and walked one. Zach Seurer pitched the final two innings, striking out four.
Union Hill and St. Patrick are riding impressive win streaks as they start to make their way to the top of the DRS Amateur Baseball standings.
Union Hill has won six straight games and it 1/2 game behind Faribault with a 6-1 record. St. Patrick has won three straight games and improves to 6-3 overall, 1 1/2 games back of the Lakers.
Both Union Hill and St. Patrick were helped out when St. Benedict upset Faribault, 4-3 Friday, June 4.
Prior Lake holds down the third spot in the league with a 7-2 record.
TCU had a couple of champions in the Subsection 7 Track and Field Championship held at Le Sueur-Henderson High School on June 3.
Among the first place finishers were Marco Reyes in the 400-meter dash, and Jordan Meyer in the 110-meter hurdles.
The runners-up were the girls and boys 4x800 relay teams, which both placed second. Charlotte Houn finished second in the 100M hurdles, and Jordan Meyer crossed the finish line in second place in the 300M hurdles. Yasmin Ruiz also finished second in the 800M run, and Reyes took second in the 200M dash.
In a battle between two of the top teams in the DRS Amateur Baseball League, the New Prague Orioles edged St. Patrick, 4-3, in 11 innings Sunday, May 30.
This was one of 11 DRS games played Sunday and Monday.
Eric Wagner and Dan Shekta had two hits and each drove in a run during the 2nd inning to help the Orioles take a three run lead.
Nathan Sprouls started for New Prague and was dominant striking out nine batters, and giving up one earned run. Adam Schmitz pitched the final two innings for the win.
Sibley East 9
TCU 0
Sibley East 3-1-3-2-0-0-x
TCU 0-0-0-0-0-0-0
The Tri-City United Baseball Team’s season came to an end in the Section Playoffs to Sibley East on Saturday, May 29 by a score of 9-0.
The loss put the team’s season at 2-14.
TCU had only one hit by Collin Barnett, who also pitched the first 3.2 innings giving up all nine runs to SE. Only three of the runs were earned.
Max Krautkremer pitched very well in relief, pitching 2.1 innings while striking out three.
Five TCU errors helped SE pick up nine runs in the game.
The girls and boys track teams each landed in third place in the Minnesota River Conference track meet on Tuesday, May 25 in Le Sueur.
The girls earned 60 points behind Belle Plaine’s winning total of 277 points, and second place Sibley East’s 98 points. Behind TCU were Southwest Christian, fourth, Norwood-
Young America, fifth, Mayer Lutheran 6th, and Le Sueur-Henderson 7th.
A couple of eight-run innings helped the TCU Softball Team create a winning streak last week against Cleveland on May 18 and Waseca on May 20. The two wins put the
Titans’ record at 9-8.
Titan Coach Kelly Jo Closser said the wins are a result of the girls’ hard work.
New Prague was ready to come back and get a victory over South Suburban. They lost by one in a very close game the first time they played. Thursday, May 20 the Trojans rebounded and picked up a 20-9 win.
New Prague started out very strong. The first inning the Trojans held South Suburban to no runs with bases loaded and then got up and quickly scored five runs to take the lead 5-0. The second inning, they were able to score 1 run off of a couple errors in our defense.