By John RittenhouseLuverne’s bid to reach the Minnesota State VFW Baseball Tournament came up short during the Third District Tournament played in Worthington Saturday and Sunday.The young Cardinals advanced to the championship round for the second straight year. Luverne, however, was unable to win the tournament title, which yields a berth in the state tourney.Luverne opened the double-elimination event by posting a thrilling 8-7 victory over Westbrook Saturday morning.After building a 5-1 lead through five innings of play, Luverne found itself facing a 7-5 deficit after Westbrook plated four runs in the top of the sixth inning and two more in the seventh.A one-out double by Jake Clark and a single by Derek Elbers gave the Cardinals life in the bottom of the seventh. Clark scored on a sacrifice fly by Chris Fitzer, and Elbers tied the game at seven when Tyler Reisch delivered a two-out singleReisch, who ended up gaining second base before the play was complete, scored the winning run after Andrew DeBoer singled and drew a throwing error as he raced for first base.Both teams scored one run in the first inning. Jeremy Hoff scored on a passed ball to give Luverne a 2-1 edge in the third. Fitzer and Elbers slapped RBI singles, and Jacob Arndt scored on a wild pitch during a three-run fifth inning.Caleb Bruynes didn’t receive a decision as Luverne’s starting pitcher. Fitzer picked up the win in relief.The Cardinals lost a heart-breaking contest to eventual tournament champion Pipestone in Saturday’s second game.Pipestone erased a 2-0 deficit by scoring three runs in the bottom half of the fourth inning.An RBI ground out by Fitzer tied the game at three in the top of the fifth, and Luverne led 4-3 when Zach Olson scored from third base on a balk in the sixth inning.Pipestone, however, tied the game with an unearned run in the bottom of the sixth inning and prevailed 5-4 with a run-scoring single in the bottom of the eighth.Clark went the distance on the hill for Luverne, which received a run-scoring single in the third inning by Elbers and a sacrifice fly from DeBoer in the fourth to gain a 2-0 advantage early in the contest.Luverne rallied from an 8-2 deficit to best Marshall Blue 12-9 during an elimination game played Sunday.Seven fielding errors by Luverne helped Blue build an 8-2 lead after four innings of play.After scoring twice in the top of the fifth to make it an 8-4 game, Luverne tied the contest at eight with a four-run surge in the top of the sixth. Olson capped the sixth-inning rally by delivering a two-run double.The score remained tied until the top of the eighth, when Luverne scored four times before Marshall countered with one run in the bottom of the inning.A two-run single by DeBoer proved to be the key hit during Luverne’s eighth-inning rally.DeBoer tossed five innings of relief to pick up the win. Micah Boomgaarden tossed the first three innings.Clark, Reisch, Olson and DeBoer had two hits each against Marshall.Luverne’s 29-8 season came to an end with an 11-1 loss to Pipestone in Sunday’s second game.The Cardinals would have needed to beat Pipestone twice to win the tournament, but a second game wasn’t necessary when the Arrows beat Luverne by 10 runs in six innings.Pipestone opened an early advantage (6-0) by scoring four runs in the first inning and two in the second.A sacrifice fly by DeBoer in the top of the fifth made the difference 6-1.Pipestone settled the issue by scoring three runs in the bottom of the fifth and two in the sixth to win by the 10-run rule.Hoff tossed the first three and one-third innings and took the loss. Adam Ossefoort worked two and two-thirds innings in relief of the starter.Elbers slapped two hits to lead the Cardinals.
