By John RittenhouseThe Luverne Cardinals bowed out of the Section District Division II American Legion Baseball Tournament after dropping games in the first two rounds of the double-elimination event.Blue Earth nipped the Cards by one run in Friday’s opener in New Ulm. Lake Crystal handed Luverne a five-run setback during an elimination game played Saturday.Luverne ends the year with a 5-12 record.LC 5, Luverne 0The short-handed Cardinals completed their year by dropping a five-run game to Lake Crystal Saturday in New Ulm.With eight players on the field, the odds were stacked against Luverne before the game started.LC took advantage of the situation by scoring four runs in the bottom half of the third inning and plating a single run in the fifth to win by five.Luverne was limited to three hits in the game. Seth Goembel and Caleb Bruynes singled in the fifth inning, and Goembel doubled in the seventh.Bruynes tossed all six innings and was saddled with the loss.Box score AB R H BIBoomgaarden 3 0 0 0Clark 2 0 0 0Boelman 3 0 0 0Reisch 3 0 0 0DeBoer 3 0 0 0Goembel 3 0 2 0Bruynes 3 1 0 0Richters 3 0 0 0BE 6, Luverne 5The Cardinals let a 5-0 lead slip away during the tournament opener against Blue Earth on Friday.Luverne scored four runs in the bottom of the first inning and one in the third to lead early.BE, however, trimmed the difference to two runs (5-3) before scoring three times with two outs in the seventh inning to prevail by one.Marc Boelman doubled home a run during Luverne’s four-run first inning, which also featured two runs scoring on a three-base error by BE’s right fielder. Andrew DeBoer, who gained third base on the error, scored on a passed ball.Boelman singled and scored on a passed ball to make it a 5-0 game in the third.DeBoer blanked BE through the first three innings of the game before surrendering six runs in the next three and two-thirds innings to take the loss. Chris Fitzer relieved DeBoer in the seventh and recorded the final out.Box score AB R H BIBoomgaarden 3 1 0 0Clark 4 1 1 0Boelman 4 2 2 1Reisch 3 0 0 0Fitzer 3 0 0 0DeBoer 3 1 0 0Goembel 3 0 0 0Bruynes 3 0 0 0Richters 2 0 0 0Elbers 1 0 0 0