The Fort Ripley Rebels and Buckman Billygoats are going into the Region 8C Tournament next weekend as the top seeds from the North and East divisions, respectively, after winning division playoff titles Sunday.
Fort Ripley defeated the Nisswa Lightning 7-2 for the North championship and Buckman beat Lastrup 3-2 for the East title. Nisswa and Lastrup also advance to the region playoffs by virtue of their runner-up finishes.
Rounding out the Region 8C bracket are Sobieski and Avon, respective winners of the West and South divisions, along with runners-up Upsala and St. Stephen.
First round games Saturday in Pierz pit West No. 1 Sobieski vs. East No. 2 Lastrup at 11:30 a.m.; East No. 1 Buckman vs. West No. 2 Upsala at 1:30 p.m.; South No. 1 Avon vs. North No. 2 Nisswa at 5 p.m.; and North No. 1 Fort Ripley vs. South No. 2 St. Stephen at 7:30 p.m.
Second-round winner and loser bracket games are scheduled for Sunday in Pierz with semifinals and play-ins Aug. 5-6 in Avon. The championship game will be played at 1 p.m. Aug. 12 at Avon with a second game if necessary.
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Draftees for the region tournament:
Buckman: David Skiba (Pierz Bulldogs)
Lastrup: Cole Jendro (Royalton)
Fort Ripley: Nathan Ehnstrom (Aitkin)
Nisswa: Drew Nordean (Aitkin)
Sobieski: Kyle Peterschick (Randall)
Upsala: Ben Schultz (Swanville)
Avon: Mitch Reller (Freeport)
St. Stephen: Derek Thielen (Opole)
Title games:
Fort Ripley 7, Nisswa 2
FORT RIPLEY-Bill Sather, Dustin Littlefield and Brian Skluzacek all went 2-for-3 with doubles for the Fort Ripley Rebels who defeated the Nisswa Lightning 7-2 in the North Division playoff title game Sunday.
Ethan Branum earned the win with five innings of two-hit, shutout pitching. Logan Kalis earned a save tossing the final four innings giving up two hits and two runs.
A two-run double in the eighth by Aaron Jenkins accounted for the only Nisswa runs after Fort Ripley took a 7-0 lead.
Nisswa 2 4 1
Fort Ripley 7 10 1
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WP: Ethan Branum. LP: Drew Boland. 2B: FR-Bill Sather, Dustin Littlefield, Brian Skluzacek; N-Aaron Jenkins.
Buckman 3, Lastrup 2
BUCKMAN-A two-out, walk-off RBI single by Mark Kahl in the bottom of the ninth gave the Buckman Billygoats a 3-2 win over the Lastrup Lakers for the East Division playoff championship Sunday.
Jason Sadlovsky led off the top of the eighth with a double for Lastrup and scored on a Paul Herman single. Buckman's Noah Boser led off the bottom of the eighth with a home run knotting the score 2-2.
Matt Tautges singled to start the Billygoats' rally in the ninth and eventually scored the winning run on Kahl's single. Tautges finished 3-4 and also was the winning pitcher after tossing a scoreless, hitless top of the ninth. He took over for starter Jeremy Monson who went eight innings allowing 10 hits and two runs while striking out five.
Boser was 3-3 for Buckman and Kahl finished 2-2.
Chad Weiss, Rick Schlieman and Herman each collected two hits for Lastrup.
Lastrup 2 10 2
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Buckman 3 12 0
WP: Matt Tautges. LP: Chad Weiss. 2B: L-Jason Sadlovsky. HR: B-Noah Boser.
Play-in games:
Nisswa 12, Aitkin 1
NISSWA-Adam Hardy went 2-3 with a home run and five RBIs for the Nisswa Lightning, who advanced to the North title game with a seven-inning 12-1 win over the Aitkin Steam in the losers' bracket Saturday.
Chris Pederson also homered for the Lightning, who received doubles from Tory Miller, Drew Boland, Luke Schumer and Matt Casperson.
Aitkin got its only run on a sacrifice fly by Jake Lynn in the first. Jack Kuppich went 2-3 with a run and Sam Peterson contributed a double.
Scott Sand tossed all seven innings for Nisswa. He didn't walk a batter, struck out five and allowed seven hits and one run.
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Aitkin 1 7 0
Nisswa 12 12 0
(7 innings)
WP: Scott Sand. LP: Drew Nordean. 2B: N-Tory Miller, Drew Boland, Luke Schumer, Matt Casperson; A-Sam Peterson. HR: N-Adam Hardy, Chris Peterson.
Lastrup 12, Bulldogs 0
LASTRUP-Brad Meyer struck out eight in a seven-inning, six-hit shutout for the Lastrup Lakers who moved on to the East Division title game following a 12-0 win over the Pierz Bulldogs in the losers' bracket Saturday.
Jason Sadlovsky keyed the Lakers' offensive attack going 3-3 with three triples and three runs scored. Meyer helped his own cause going 3-5 with a double and three RBIs. Chad Weiss and Rick Schlieman also doubled.
Craig Luberts doubled for the Bulldogs and Austin Dickman went 2-2.
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Bulldogs 0 6 2
Lastrup 12 14 0
(7 innings)
WP: Brad Meyer. LP: Kolton Eischens. 2B: L-Chad Weiss, Rick Schlieman, Meyer, Jason Sadlovsky 3; P-Craig Luberts.
