By John Rittenhouse
Luverne advanced to the championship game of the Third District VFW Baseball Tournament in Worthington over the weekend before its 20-13 season came to an end after the title tilt.
The Cardinals opened the tournament by losing a one-run decision to the Marshall Blue during Saturday's first round before bouncing back to best Westbrook by two runs in a loser’s bracket game Saturday.
Luverne met and beat Marshall Blue by six runs in an elimination game on Sunday to earn a berth in the championship game. The team lost a six-run decision in the championship game to Worthington which will represent the District during the state tournament in Mankato Aug. 10-13.
Worthington 9, Luverne 3
The district championship game ended like the three prior meetings between the two teams this season, with Worthington coming out on top.
Worthington, which beat Luverne twice in the regular season and in the title game in the Southern Division Playoffs, continued its mastery of the Cardinals by downing them by six runs in Sunday's meeting.
The Cardinals did stun Worthington by scoring three runs in the top of the first inning, but the hosts countered by scoring nine unanswered runs the rest of the way to win the tournament crown.
Worthington's lucky number was two as it scored twice in the first, third, fourth and fifth innings to gain an 8-3 advantage. The champs capped the scoring by scoring once in the sixth.
Jake Studer was hit by a pitch to start Luverne’s first inning rally. Joey Pick doubled home Studer before scoring on a single by Aaron Schmidt. Schmidt scored when Adam Kurtz bounced into a fielder’s choice.
Jordan Kopp went the distance on the hill and took the loss for Luverne.
Box score AB R H BI
Studer 3 1 1 0
Pick 4 1 1 1
Schmidt 4 1 1 1
Kopp 4 0 1 0
Reisch 4 0 1 0
Kurtz 3 0 0 1
Kuhlman 3 0 0 0
Fodness 2 0 0 0
Boen 3 0 0 0
Luverne 12, MB 6
The Cardinals avenged their opening-round loss to Marshall Blue by knocking it out of the tournament with a six-run setback on Sunday.
Trailing 6-5 after three and one-half innings of play, Luverne took the lead for good by exploding for six runs in the bottom of the fourth inning before capping a six-run win by scoring once in the bottom of the sixth.
Luverne lost a 5-4 edge when Marshall scored twice in the top of the third, but the Cards went on a 7-0 scoring run the rest of the way to win the elimination game.
Wild pitches and errors by MB allowed Luverne to score four of its runs in the bottom of the fourth. Kopp and Pick added RBI doubles to the rally, which ended with the Cards leading 11-6.
Adam Reisch was hit by a pitch before scoring an insurance run in the sixth when Rob Fodness bounced into a fielder’s choice.
The teams exchanged runs in the game's first inning. Studer walked and advanced around the bases on errors and wild pitches to account for Luverne's run in the bottom of the first.
Marshall led 4-1 after scoring three runs in the top of the second, but Luverne answered with four runs in the bottom of the inning to gain a 5-4 edge.
Fodness doubled home a run and Tim Boen singled in a run to highlight the second inning for the Cards.
Kurtz went the distance on the hill to pick up the win.
Box score AB R H BI
Studer 2 3 1 0
Pick 4 1 3 1
Schmidt 2 1 1 0
Kopp 4 1 1 1
Reisch 4 2 1 0
Kurtz 3 2 1 0
Kuhlman 4 0 0 0
Fodness 3 1 1 2
Boen 3 1 1 1