Overall results weren’t what the team and fans had hoped for, but the experience at the state Legion baseball tournament was a good one for Luverne Post 123.
“It was fantastic to have a normal season and to have the state tournament experience,” said Luverne coach Codie Zeutenhorst.
“I believe we would have qualified for state last year if it had been held, so I’m really glad we were able to give most of the kids who were on last year’s team that opportunity this year.”
Luverne went 1-2 at this year’s Minnesota Division II Senior American Legion Baseball State Tournament July 30-31 in Sacred Heart.
Post 123 lost to Wadena 2-0 in the quarterfinal round Friday before defeating Glenwood-Lowry 7-0 Saturday morning.
Saturday afternoon, Luverne fell to La Crescent 9-6 in the consolation championship game.
Luverne ends its season 12-6.
“I actually loved every part of this season,” Zeutenhorst said.
“It was cut a little short at the start, and there were a few schedule changes, but overall it was great to get back and have some normalcy this summer. … The kids played well and we ended our season in the state tournament where we wanted to be.”
Luverne will host the 2022 Division II Senior Legion State Tournament next July. As hosts, the team will automatically qualify for the tournament.
“We’re really excited for that,” Zeutenhorst said.
“It will actually be the third state tournament in a row that we’ll be playing in.”
Wadena 2, Luverne 0
Luverne faced Wadena in the first round of the state tournament Friday at 9:30 a.m. at Community Field in Sacred Heart.
Post 123 suffered a 2-0 loss to Wadena, which forced Luverne into the tournament’s consolation bracket.
The game was a true pitchers’ duel with Luverne’s Cade Wenninger and Wadena’s Josh Dykhoff offering few hits and no runs during the first five innings of the seven-inning contest.
Wadena scored the only two runs of the game in the top of the sixth inning.
The first run scored as a result of timely hitting and effective base running by Wadena.
The second run, however, was a result of “mental lapses that led to a learning opportunity” for his players, according to Zeutenhorst.
“Sometimes people say to forget about your mistakes, but I told our kids we need to remember this one and learn from it. It hurt. You can’t make mistakes like that at the state tournament,” he said.
When Luverne was unable to score any runs in the top of the seventh inning, the game ended 2-0.
Wadena’s Dykhoff struck out 12 Luverne batters in the game and gave up only two hits.
Casey Sehr and Connor Overgaard had one hit each for Luverne.
Wenninger pitched six innings until he neared the pitch count of 105.
“Cade’s pitching was fantastic,” Zeutenhorst said.
He struck out five batters and gave up five hits and two runs, one of which was earned.
Colby Crabtree pitched the final inning for Luverne. He struck out three batters and issued two walks and no hits or runs.
Box Score
Wadena 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2
Luverne 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
AB R H BI
Cowell 3 0 0 0
Wenninger 2 0 0 0
Beyer 2 0 0 0
Crabtree 3 0 0 0
Sehr 3 0 1 0
Sneller 2 0 0 0
Connell 1 0 0 0
Overgaard 3 0 1 0
Anderson 2 0 0 0
Ripka 2 0 0 0
Luverne 7, G-L 0
After losing a close game in the first round of the state tournament Friday, Luverne’s batters and pitchers combined solid performances to earn a 7-0 win over Glenwood-Lowry Saturday morning in the consolation bracket.
“Our seniors at the top of the lineup starting hitting balls,” Zeutenhorst said. “When the top of our lineup gets on base, good things happen.”
In fact, Luverne’s first four batters (Bailey Cowell, Wenninger, Ethan Beyer and Crabtree) were responsible for eight of the team’s nine hits, five of the seven runs, all seven RBIs and all three extra base hits in the victory.
“That’s really what you want from your seniors at the top of your lineup,” Zeutenhorst said. “They did a great job.”
Ethan Beyer led the offense for Luverne with four hits, including two doubles, one run and one RBI.
Crabtree hammered a three-run homerun in the sixth inning to solidify the Post 123 victory. He had four total RBIs in the game.
In addition to leading the Luverne offense, Beyer was the game’s winning pitcher. He struck out nine batters and gave up only three hits and no runs in six innings on the mound.
Crabtree came in to pitch the final inning, striking out two and giving up no hits, walks or runs.
Box Score
Glenwood 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Luverne 1 2 0 1 0 3 x 7
AB R H BI
Cowell 4 1 2 0
Wenninger 3 2 1 2
Beyer 4 1 4 1
Crabtree 2 1 1 4
Sehr 4 0 0 0
Connell 4 0 0 0
Stroh 1 1 1 0
Anderson 3 0 0 0
Ripka 2 0 0 0
Halverson 0 1 0 0
La Crescent 9, Luverne 6
After shutting out Glenwood-Lowry 7-0 in Saturday’s first game, Luverne faced La Crescent in the consolation championship game Saturday afternoon in Sacred Heart.
La Crescent reached the consolation championship after losing 8-1 to host Sacred Heart-MACCRAY and then defeating Holy Family (Chanhassen) 9-7.
Luverne started the 2 p.m. game strong, bringing the energy of the morning shut-out win to the contest.
Luverne scored the first run of the game when Cowell scored off a sacrifice fly by Beyer in the bottom of the first inning.
A homerun by Connor Connell, RBI doubles by Cowell and Wenninger and an RBI single by Beyer all in the second inning led to a 5-1 Luverne lead after two frames.
La Crescent answered with three runs in the third and took the lead by scoring two more runs in the top of the fourth inning before a score by Wenninger in the bottom of the fourth tied the game 6-6.
Luverne was unable to score any more runs in the game while La Crescent added one run in the fifth and two in the seventh to finalize the 9-6 La Crescent victory.
Connell took the loss on the mound. He pitched three innings, giving up six runs (four earned), eight hits and three walks. He struck out two batters.
“Connell threw well, but the strike zone was really tight,” Zeutenhorst said.
“None of his curve balls were called strikes, which forced him to throw fast balls, and they hit those.”
La Crescent totaled sixteen hits in the game.
“That’s good hitting,” Zeutenhorst said. “Sixteen hits will win a lot of games.”
Sehr came in to pitch the final four innings, striking out seven batters and giving up three runs, eight hits and two walks.
Box Score
LaCrescent 0 1 3 2 1 0 2 9
Luverne 1 4 0 1 0 0 0 6
AB R H BI
Cowell 4 2 2 1
Wenninger 4 2 1 1
Beyer 3 0 1 2
Crabtree 3 0 1 1
Sehr 4 0 0 0
Connell 3 1 2 1
Stroh 3 0 1 0
Halverson 1 0 0 0
Anderson 2 1 0 0
Ripka 4 0 1 0