The New Market Muskies didn’t play any league games last week, but they clinched a bye into the double-elimination portion of the Region 3C playoffs. The Muskies have a 16-0 record and a 5-1/2 game lead over second-place St. Patrick with the season entering its final four weeks. The top four teams get first-round byes, with the remaining teams competing in best-of-three series to qualify for the region playoffs. Besides New Market, St. Patrick, Montgomery and Prior Lake currently hold on to the top four spots.
New Prague, Montgomery and Faribault each won two games last week.

The Tri-City United Clay Target team placed sixth at the Minnesota State High School League Championships Friday, June 21, at the Minneapolis Gun Club in Prior Lake. The Titan shooters hit 479 of 500 targets, just five fewer than champion New Prague. There were 40 teams competing at the tournament.
The Titans’ Wyatt Hurd hit 99 of 100 targets, with Lukas Dietz hitting 97. Benjamin Sladek had 95 and James Krautkremer and Wyley Petersen each had 94.

New Market continues their dominance, sitting undefeated at 16-0 in DRS League play, holding a commanding 6 game lead on St. Patrick, the 2nd place team. St. Patrick holds a 0.5 game lead on the surging Montgomery Mallards, who are winners of 4-straight, and have settled into 3rd place in the Standings. Prior Lake holds down the 4th spot to round out the top 4, which would all be in line for a bye from League Playoffs.

New Market is now the lone undefeated Class C team in the Dakota-Rice- Scott League, as they won three games during the week, upping their record to 13-0. The Muskies have a 3-1/2 game lead over second-place St. Patrick, which lost their first game of the season to Faribault.
Faribault, Elko and Prior Lake all won two games as well during the past week.

Tri-City United pole vaulter, Jackson Nesmoe, advanced to the State competition after his performance at the Section 2A Meet.
Nesmoe placed second in the meet, for a third year in a row, clearing 13 feet-nine inches this year. Also for the third year it was due to a tie-breaker situation.
Coach Craig Nordling said Nesmoe will go into the state meet seeded fourth and will look to improve on his third place finish from 2018 against a field that could easily compete with the big schools.

Softball team fought hard in both of their games at last week’s state tournament, but came up short in both as they went 0-2 in the tournament at Chanhassen High School.
The Trojans opened with a 9-4 loss to eventual tournament champion Burnsville/Farmington/Lakeville and then lost 8-6 to St. Cloud. The team, which includes players from New Prague, Tri-City United, Belle Plaine and Jordan schools, ended their season with a 4-6 record.

New Market and St. Patrick remain unbeaten and atop the Dakota- Rice-Scott standings through games of June 2. The Muskies claimed two wins last week, over Union Hill and Webster, while the Irish defeated Lonsdale.

The New Prague Trojan adapted softball team lost its opening round game in the State CI Adapted Softball Tournament Friday, May 31, at Chanhassen High School. The Burnsville/Farmington/Lakeville Blazing Cats defeated them 9-4.
New Prague plays St. Cloud in the consolation round at 9 a.m. Saturday at Chanhassen. If they win that game they play in the consolation championship at
1:45 p.m.

More rain meant more postponed games in the Dakota-Rice-Scott league this week.
Four league games were postponed earlier in the week, but the sun dried the fields so games were played Friday and Sunday, but Monday’s Memorial Day deluge resulted in six more postponements. The nine games that were played saw nine different winners, ranging from a 38-hit, 25-run slugfest in which St. Patrick defeated Montgomery 13-12 to a pitcher’s duel that saw Prior Lake defeat Union Hill 2-0.

The Le Sueur-Henderson Giants and New Richland H-E-G Panthers ended Tri-City United’s run in the Section 2AA Softball Tournament on Saturday, May 25 at Caswell Park.
After shut-out wins over Belle Plaine and Waseca, a different looking TCU team lost first in the semi-finals and finally in the elimination round. Coach Phil Murry said the team came to the game, but wasn’t ready to play.

The TCU Softball Team advanced in the Section 2AA Quarterfinals on Thursday with another shutout, this time against Belle Plaine.
TCU 7, Belle Plaine 0
The Titans’ record now stands at 14-6. They continue in the tournament on Saturday with a noon game versus Le Sueur-Henderson at Caswell Park in Mankato. The Giants’ overall record stands at 15-7.
The Titans got things going with three runs in the first inning, followed by one in the third and four in the fourth.

Sunday’s rain washed out the entire six-game schedule in the Dakota-Rice-Scott Baseball league. Games that were postponed included Elko at Lonsdale, New Prague at Veseli, Montgomery at St. Benedict, Union Hill at New Market, Shakopee at Webster and Faribault at St. Patrick. The only makeup date announced so far was New Prague at Veseli, which will be played on July 14.
Five league games were played last week, with Elko, Prior Lake, New Prague, New Market, Faribault and St. Patrick getting wins. New Market remains atop the league standing with a 6-0 record.

New Prague jumped to a 10-2 lead and went on to defeat host Buffalo 16-7 to earn a spot in the MSHSL CI Adapted Softball Tournament.
The tournament will be held Friday and Saturday, May 31 and June 1, at Chanhassen High School. This is the sixth time the Trojans have advanced to the state tournament. They went four years, from 2008 through 2011, and again last year.
The team includes athletes from New Prague, Tri-City United, Belle Plaine and Jordan schools.
Read more in the print edition.

In cold, driving rain, the Titan softball team was hot when they shut out Waseca 15-0 in the first round of the Section 2AA tournament on Tuesday.
Playing in Le Center, the Titans endured the weather in four innings and advanced in the tournament.
TCU didn’t waste any time getting to business. The Titans scored two in the first and second innings.

After nine innings, the TCU Titans lost by a run to the Le Sueur-Henderson Giants 3-4 on Monday.
TCU’s Ellaina Novak lead off with a single in the second inning and was sacrificed to second by Ava Rud. She advanced to third on a single by Lilly Barnes, then scored on a single by Destiny Dunagan.
The Giants answered in the fourth inning when Liz Milam reached on an error and Olivia Fritz hit a two-run homer.
Ellie Singleton singled to start the sixth inning, scoring on a double by Elly Novak.

The Titans nabbed an 11-5 win over Waseca despite an early three-run inning on May 7.
The TCU team weathered a scare by Waseca in the second inning where the Titans coughed up three runs. Waseca scored its runs on a double by Zander Fitzsimmons.
The home team captured the lead in the second inning when Dawson Pint’s sac fly scored two runs for TCU.