By John RittenhouseLuverne’s quest to advance to the Minnesota State VFW Baseball Tournament came to an end during the Third District event played in Marshall over the weekend.Luverne, the Southern Division champion, was pushed into the loser’s bracket of the four-team, double-elimination event with a 10-run loss to Marshall Blue in Saturday’s opener.The Cardinals defeated Pipestone by six runs in an elimination game played Saturday evening, but another loss to Marshall Blue on Sunday ended Luverne’s state hopes.Luverne ends the summer season with a 22-11 record.MB 8, Luverne 3The Cardinals couldn’t dig themselves out of an early hole when they met Marshall Blue during an elimination game Sunday morning.Marshall scored six runs in the first four innings (three in the top of the second, one in the third and two in the fourth) to gain a commanding lead.Luverne did trim Marshall’s lead in half (6-3) with a three-run uprising in the bottom of the fourth, but that proved to be as close as the Cards would come to catching Blue as Marshall capped the scoring with a two-run sixth inning.Jeremy Hoff doubled home one run and Phil Paquette singled home another during Luverne’s three-run rally in the fourth.Another run in the rally scored with the help of Marshall error.Paquette worked the first three innings on the mound and took the loss after surrendering six runs. Hoff tossed four innings of two-run relief.Box score AB R H BIHoff 4 1 2 1D.Van Santen 4 0 0 0Paquette 4 0 3 1Dinger 3 0 1 0Connell 1 0 0 0Olson 4 0 0 0Skattum 3 0 1 0Ossefoort 3 0 0 0Den Hoed 2 1 0 0Hemme 1 0 0 0Clark 3 0 2 0Luverne 10, Pipestone 4The Cardinals remained alive in District competition after handing Pipestone a six-run setback Saturday evening.After falling behind 3-0 in the top of the first inning, Luverne rallied to gain a 5-3 advantage by scoring twice in the bottom of the first before adding single runs in the second, third and fourth innings.Pipestone scored once in the top of the fifth before the Cards iced the contest with a five-run rally in the bottom of the fifth.Brent Dinger came up with a big hit for the Cards in the bottom of the first when he delivered a two-run double to trim Pipestone’s early lead down to one run at 3-2.Derek Van Santen tied the game at three with a run-scoring single in the second before Chris Den Hoed gave the Cards a 4-3 edge with a sacrifice fly in the third.Hoff singled home a run to make it a 5-3 game in the fourth before Pipestone countered with one run in the fifth to make it a 5-4 difference.Two-run doubles by Paquette and Zach Olson and a run-scoring single by Van Santen settled the issue for Luverne in the bottom of the fifth.Olson tossed all seven innings to pick up the win. He surrendered five hits and fanned four batters in the game.Box score AB R H BIHoff 3 1 1 1D.Van Santen 4 2 3 2Paquette 4 1 1 2Olson 4 2 3 2Dinger 3 0 1 2Skattum 2 0 0 0Den Hoed 4 1 0 1Graphenteen 3 0 2 0Clark 0 3 0 0MB 11, Luverne 1The Cardinals couldn’t overcome a lack of offensive production during Saturday’s tournament opener against Marshall.Luverne was limited to two hits and one run during a game that ended in five innings due to the 10-run rule.Hoff singled in the first inning and Van Santen singled in the third for the Cards.The teams played to a scoreless draw through two innings before Blue scored three runs in the top of the third and eight runs in the fourth to gain a commanding 11-0 lead.Paquette drew a walk and pinch-runner Phil Altman scored on a wild pitch to make it an 11-1 game in the bottom of the fourth.Marshall, however, blanked Luverne in the fifth to end any chance of a late-game rally.After tossing two scoreless innings, Dinger was saddled with the loss after surrendering six runs in a three-plus inning stint as Luverne’s starting pitcher.Adam Ossefoort was touched for five runs in a one and one-third inning relief appearance. Hoff recorded the final two outs without being charged with a run.Box score AB R H BIHoff 3 0 1 0Den Hoed 3 0 0 0Paquette 2 1 0 0Dinger 2 0 0 0Olson 2 0 0 0Skattum 2 0 0 0Ossefoort 2 0 0 0D.Van Santen 2 0 1 0Clark 2 0 0 0