By John RittenhouseThe Luverne American Legion team played some of its best baseball of the summer season during the Sub-District Tournament in Pipestone last weekend.After a less-than-impressive 2-9 regular season, the Cardinals went 3-1 and placed third during the sub-district event played Saturday and Sunday.By placing third over the weekend, Luverne locked up a berth in the Second District Division 2 American Legion Tournament that begins Friday in New Ulm.The Cards play Blue Earth in a first-round game of the double-elimination tournament at 11 a.m.Luverne 14, Slayton 3Luverne locked up third place in the sub-district by defeating Slayton for the second time in the tournament Saturday afternoon.The score was tied at three after four innings of play, but the Cardinals plated 11 unanswered runs in the final three innings to win handily.A four-run fifth inning featuring a two-run single from Seth Goembel put the Cards in front 7-3.Tyler Reisch drove in two runs with a single and Zach Olson picked up an RBI for a ground out when Luverne scored three times in the sixth to make it a 10-3 difference.Chris Fitzer’s two-run double sparked a four-run rally in the seventh to cap the scoring.Luverne led 2-1 when Derek Elbers chased home a run with a ground out and Caleb Bruynes delivered a run-scoring single in the top of the second.The Cards led 3-2 when Bruynes singled home a run in the top of the fourth, but Slayton knotted the score at three in the bottom half of the inning.Micah Boomgaarden went the distance on the hill to pick up the win. He surrendered nine hits and three runs in seven innings.Box score AB R H BIBoomgaarden 4 1 1 0Fitzer 4 2 1 2Paquette 4 3 3 0Reisch 5 2 2 2Olson 4 2 0 1Goembel 5 1 2 2Elbers 4 0 1 1Bruynes 3 1 2 2Richters 3 2 0 0Luverne 12, Okabena 7A fast start led the Cards to a five-run win over Okabena during an elimination game played Saturday morning.Luverne scored seven runs in the first two innings and withstood a challenge from Okabena by plating five more runs late in the contest.Run-scoring singles from Phil Paquette, Reisch and Elbers, along with an RBI double by Bruynes, gave the Cards a 4-0 cushion in the bottom of the first.Paquette doubled home two runs and Goembel added an RBI single to make it 7-0 in the second, but Okabena countered with four runs in the third inning and two in the fourth to trail 7-6.Luverne iced the contest by scoring three runs in the bottom of the fourth and two in the fifth.Paquette slapped an RBI double, Elbers singled home one run and Goembel chased home another with a ground out to make it a 10-6 game in the fourth.Paquette’s two-run single in the fifth capped the scoring for the Cards.Bruynes pitched seven innings of 11-strikeout ball to earn the win.Box score AB R H BIBoomgaarden 3 3 1 0Fitzer 4 1 1 0Paquette 4 3 4 5Reisch 4 2 2 1Elbers 3 1 0 1Goembel 4 0 1 2Bruynes 4 0 1 1Richters 4 0 1 0Ossefoort 3 2 1 0Pipestone 13, Luverne 3Tournament champion Pipestone saddled the Cards with their lone loss of the event during a game played Friday night.Luverne led 1-0 when Reisch singled home a run in the top of the first, but Pipestone scored six times in the bottom of the second and never lost the lead after that point.Seth Goembel’s two-run double in the top of the fourth trimmed Pipestone’s advantage to three runs (6-3).The hosts responded by scoring twice in the bottom of the fourth and five times in the fifth to win by the 10-run rule.Jake Clark yielded seven runs in two-plus innings to take the pitching loss. Andrew DeBoer tossed three innings of six-run ball in relief of Clark.Box score AB R H BIClark 1 1 0 0DeBoer 1 0 0 0Boomgaarden 3 0 0 0Fitzer 2 0 1 0Reisch 3 0 1 1Boelman 3 1 0 0Nath 2 1 0 0Goembel 2 0 1 2Bruynes 2 0 0 0Richters 1 0 0 0Elbers 0 0 0 0Luverne 11, Slayton 10The Cardinals survived a late challenge to nip Slayton by one run during the tournament opener Friday afternoon.Trailing 5-4 after three innings of play, Luverne put together a seven-run sixth inning featuring a two-run double from Reisch, an RBI triple by Goembel, an RBI double by Paquette and run-scoring singles from Marc Boelman and Clark to gain an 11-5 advantage.Slayton rallied to score five times in the bottom of the seventh and had the potential tying run at second base when the final out of the game was recorded.Reisch doubled home a run in the first and Bruynes singled home a counter in the second to make it a 2-0 game before Slayton scored once in the bottom of the second.Reisch tripled and scored on an error before Goembel slapped a run-scoring single to make it a 4-1 game in the top of the third, but Slayton moved in front 5-4 with a four-run rally in the bottom of the third.Chris Fitzer earned the pitching win after tossing two innings of five-run ball in relief of Ben Nath. Nath worked the first five innings and allowed five runs.Box score AB R H BIClark 5 2 3 1Elbers 5 1 1 0Boelman 5 1 1 1Reisch 5 2 4 3DeBoer 3 1 0 1Paquette 2 1 1 1Nath 3 0 0 0Fitzer 1 0 0 0Goembel 4 2 3 1Richters 3 1 0 0Bruynes 4 0 2 1