Huskies finish in fourth place at state softball tournament

Jackson County Central settled for fourth place on Thursday in the Minnesota Class AA softball tournament, as the Huskies were beaten by Randolph 3-1 at Caswell Park in North Mankato.

The Huskies, who shut out St. Agnes 10-0 Wednesday afternoon but lost 2-1 in 11 innings to Hawley in the evening, fell behind 2-0 Thursday, as Randolph scored twice in the bottom of the second. The No. 1-seeded Rockets tacked on one more in the fourth.

JCC wouldn't get on the board until the seventh, when Lauren Johnson singled and eventually scored to make it 3-1. The Huskies moved the potential tying runs into scoring position but couldn't draw any closer.

Jackson Country Central, which captured the Section 3AA Tournament last week to advance to state for the first time in 20 years, finishes the year with an overall record of 23-6.

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In the Section 3AA baseball tournament, Luverne lost to Montevideo 6-1 Thursday in game one but then bounced back and blanked the Thunderhawks 9-0 behind a shutout from pitcher Carter Sehr to advance to state. The same teams had previously met Monday in the semifinals, with Luverne earning a 5-4 win, but Montevideo came back to capture the elimination bracket.

Another regional team, Windom Area, was ousted from the tourney on Wednesday. After defeating Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 4-3 the previous day, the Eagles fell to Montevideo 5-2.

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The Worthington Cubs dropped their second consecutive ballgame Wednesday night as they lost on the road at the Milroy Irish, 4-2.

The Cubs surrendered a run in the bottom of the first inning, but that 1-0 score held up until the seventh when Worthington picked up a run of its own. The Cubs then took a 2-1 edge in the eighth, but the Irish got three in the bottom of the frame.

Logan Huisman allowed just five hits and an unearned run while walking two and striking out four in seven innings of pitching. Tucker Brandner came on in the eighth and gave up three runs, all of which were unearned.

Easton Sauerbrei had a double and RBI for the Cubs, and Blake Ahrenstoff contributed a single and RBI. The loss was the straight for the Cubs following a 9-7 home defeat to Pipestone last week and a 14-0 setback in Jackson this past Sunday. Next up for Worthington, which now has a record of 5-4, is a 2 p.m. home game Sunday afternoon against the Hadley Buttermakers.

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