Luverne Legion players win first games in Wabasso tournament

The Luverne Legion baseball team started the Sub State Legion Tournament on Thursday, July 15, in Wabasso against Wabasso and picked up a 9-2 victory.
In the second round, Luverne defeated Springfield 6-2 on Friday, July 16, in Wabasso.
“We had great hitting and pitching in our first two games,” Luverne coach Cody Zeutenhorst said.
On Saturday, July 17, Luverne fell to Blue Earth 9-5. With the loss, Luverne will move to the elimination bracket and play on Saturday, July 24, in Wabasso.
 
Luverne 9, Wabasso 2
Luverne scored one run in the top of the first to jump out to an early lead and never looked back.
Luverne scored two more runs in the top of the third to build a 3-0 lead.
In the top of the fifth, Luverne scored four runs to push their lead to 7-0.
In the final inning, Luverne scored two more runs to make it a 9-0 ballgame.
Wabasso pushed across two runs in the bottom of the seventh to make the final score 9-2.
 
Luverne 1 0 2 0 4 0 2 9
Wabasso 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2
 
Luverne 6, Springfield 2
Luverne used a pair of three-run innings to best Springfield 6-2 on Friday, July 16.
With the two teams deadlocked at 0-0, Luverne scored three runs in the bottom of the third to claim a 3-0 lead.
Springfield scored two runs in the top of the sixth to trim Luverne’s lead to 3-2.
Luverne answered back with another three-run inning in the bottom half of the sixth to make the final score 6-2.
Kyle Anderson led the team with two RBIs.
 
Springfield 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2
Luverne 0 0 3 0 0 3 x 6
 
Blue Earth 9, Luverne 5
Luverne grabbed the momentum right out of the gate by scoring three runs in the top of the first inning to jump out to an early 3-0 lead.
That momentum quickly swung into Blue Earth’s favor, as they scored eight runs in the first two innings to claim an 8-3 lead over Luverne.
“We started quick but then gave up four runs in the bottom of the first and second,” Zeutenhorst said. “That seemed to take the energy away from us and got them rolling. All their hitters seemed to have more confidence after those two innings.”
Luverne scored two runs in the top of the sixth to trim Blue Earth’s lead to 8-5.
Blue Earth got one of those runs back in the bottom of the sixth to make the final score 9-5.
Bailey Cowell led Luverne with two hits.
“I’m proud of our guys,” Zeutenhorst said. “We will need to come back next week and play the winner of Wells and Springfield. We will need to beat Blue Earth twice now to go to state. We have the talent to accomplish that and I’m excited to see how we finish this.”
 
Luverne 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 5
Blue Earth 4 4 0 0 0 1 x 9
 
Hitting: Cowell 2-4; Beyer 1-3; Sehr 1-3