A pair of amateur baseball playoff series got underway Wednesday night, and the Windom Pirates and Luverne Redbirds picked up game-one victories.
Windom and Hadley are playing in a third-place series to determine the region’s final representative in the upcoming State Amateur Baseball Tournament. On Wednesday, Windom came away with a 7-5 home triumph over the Buttermakers. The teams will now face off on Saturday afternoon in Hadley.
The victor in third-place series will head into the state amateur baseball tourney as the third seed out of Region 13C.
Also on Wednesday, Luverne took a one-game-to-none edge over Milroy in their best-of-three championship series, as the Redbirds topped the Irish 3-2 in 10 innings. Skyler Wenninger delivered a hit off the fence in the bottom of the 10th to score the winning run. Jake Haugen pitched eight sharp innings for Luverne, and Brandon Alfson earned the win on the mound in relief.
Milroy will host Luverne on Friday night in game two of their series. Both teams will go to state. The victor in the series will be the No. 1 seed out of the region and receive a bye in the first round, while the loser will be the No. 2 seed and will play on the opening weekend of the state tournament. The state tourney is set for Aug. 20 through Sept. 4 in Waconia, Chaska and Hamburg.
