By John RittenhouseThe Luverne Redbirds bowed out of the Gopher League Playoffs Thursday night in Pipestone.Playing Hadley in an elimination game of the double-elimination tournament, Luverne dug itself an early hole it couldn’t climb out of during an 11-5 loss to the Buttermakers.Hadley scored seven runs in the bottom half of the first inning of the clash, which was rained out on Wednesday night (July 28).Luverne outscored the Buttermakers 5-4 the rest of the night, but the Redbirds were unable to overcome the early deficit.The Redbirds trimmed the difference to four runs (7-3) after scoring three runs in the top of the third inning.Joey Pick reached base on an error and Tony Sandbulte singled to start the rally.Mike Boen plated Pick with an RBI single, and Brian Weber chased home Sandbulte and Boen with the final two runs of the third.The way things turned out, four runs was the closest the Redbirds would get to catching Hadley.The Buttermakers scored twice in the bottom half of the fourth inning to extend its lead to 9-3.The teams exchanged single runs in the seventh and eighth innings to cap the scoring.Jesse Kuhlman singled and advanced to second when Pick was hit by a pitch during the seventh inning. Sandbulte singled home Pick.Boen reached base on an error and advanced to third when Weber bounced out in the eighth. Mike Wenninger’s sacrifice fly sent Boen home with Luverne’s final run of the season.Jeff Sehr pitched the first seven innings for Luverne. He took the loss after allowing 10 runs (seven were earned).Wenninger pitched one inning in relief of Sehr, fanning three batters and yielding one run.Luverne ends the campaign with a 12-10 record.Box score AB R H BIPick 3 1 0 0Sandbulte 4 1 2 1Boen 4 2 2 1Weber 4 0 1 2Shelton 2 0 0 0Wenninger 1 0 0 1Fisher 4 0 0 0Kuhlman 4 1 1 0Goebel 4 0 0 0Sehr 4 0 0 0