By John Rittenhouse
Luverne qualified for the Third District VFW Baseball Tournament by going 2-1 during the District 3 Southern Division Playoffs that were staged last week.
Luverne, the tournament's No. 2 seed, beat Edgerton by two runs during the tournament opener in Luverne Thursday to earn a shot against No. 1 Worthington in the championship game Saturday at Redbird Field.
Worthington nipped the Cardinals by one run in the title tilt, but Luverne edged Pipestone by one run in Sunday's second- and third-place game played at Redbird Field.
The top two teams from the Southern Division advanced to the District 3 Tournament, which will be played in Worthington Saturday and Sunday.
Luverne, 18-11 overall, will play Marshall Blue, the Northern Division champion, at 2 p.m. Saturday to open the double elimination event.
Luverne 3, Pipestone 2
The Cardinals prevailed by one run during a must-win situation at Redbird Field Sunday.
Both teams entered the clash with one loss, and the prize awaiting the winner was a berth in this weekend's District Tournament.
Behind the pitching of Jesse Kuhlman and some key hits by Adam Reisch and Aaron Schmidt, Luverne emerged as the victor in the game for second and third place.
Kuhlman turned in a complete-game performance that featured him blanking Pipestone through the first six innings.
Pipestone did produce a pair of runs against Kuhlman in the top of the seventh, but the Cardinal pitcher recorded the final out before the Arrows could tie the game.
Reisch and Schmidt stroked RBI singles in the fourth and fifth innings respectively, when Luverne scored its three runs.
Jake Studer walked and scored the game's first run when Reisch singled in the bottom of the fourth.
Consecutive singles by Studer, Nick Uilk and Schmidt made it a 2-0 game in the bottom of the fifth. Studer scored on a passed ball as the inning progressed.
Box score AB R H BI
Studer 2 2 1 0
Pick 2 0 0 0
Schmidt 3 0 1 1
Kurtz 3 0 0 0
Reisch 2 0 1 1
Kuhlman 2 0 0 0
Uilk 2 1 1 0
Goembel 2 0 0 0
Boen 1 0 0 0
Boelman 1 0 0 0