By John RittenhouseThe Luverne Redbirds locked up second place in the Gopher League Playoffs after splitting games over the weekend.Luverne pulled out a two-run win over Wilmont in an elimination game played in Wilmont Friday. The Redbirds lost a one-run decision in Hadley Sunday to give the Buttermakers the playoff title and Luverne the second seed for the Region playoffs.The 16-10 Redbirds, Granite Falls and Fairmont will form a three-team regional pool that will be playing for a berth in the state tournament. Luverne hosts Fairmont 7:30 p.m. Friday before playing a 3 p.m. game in Granite Falls Sunday.Luverne 5, Wilmont 3The Redbirds locked up at least a second-place finish in the Gopher League Playoffs with a two-run victory in Wilmont Friday.Luverne scored five runs in the final four innings and withstood a late challenge by Wilmont to prevail by two runs.The teams played to a scoreless draw through five innings before the Redbirds opened a 4-0 cushion by scoring two runs in the top of the sixth and seventh innings.Jeff Sehr reached base on an error and scored the first run in the sixth on Brian Weber’s fielder’s choice. Mike Wenninger reached base on a fielder’s choice and scored the second run on a wild pitch.Ben Winkels and Wenninger slapped RBI singles to make it a 4-0 game in the seventh.Wilmont scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth to trim the difference to one run at 4-3, but Derek Ohme walked and scored on a fielder’s choice by Wenninger in the ninth to give the Redbirds one insurance run.Jon Jarchow pitched seven and two-thirds innings of three-run ball to pick up the win. Wenninger worked one and one-third innings of scoreless relief to record a save.Box score AB R H BIOhme 4 1 0 0Winkels 5 1 1 1J.Sehr 5 1 0 0Wenninger 4 1 1 2Weber 5 0 1 1Edstrom 4 0 1 0Jarchow 2 0 1 0Fisher 3 0 1 0Iveland 4 1 0 0Hadley 6, Luverne 5The Buttermakers clinched the No. 1 seed for the region tournament by nipping the Redbirds by one run in Hadley Sunday.Luverne sported 1-0 and 5-4 advantages during the game, but Hadley tied the game at five in the bottom of the sixth before plating the game-winning run in the ninth inning.Eric Edstrom walked and scored on an error to give the Redbirds a 1-0 cushion in the top of the first.Hadley, however, tied the game in the second inning before scoring twice in the third to take a 3-1 lead.The teams exchanged runs in the fifth inning to make the score 4-2. Ohme delivered an RBI single to account for Luverne’s run.The Redbirds used a three-run double by James Fisher to take a 5-4 edge in the top of the sixth, but Wilmont scored the final two runs of the game to take the championship.Terry Eernisse pitched seven and two-thirds innings of five-run (two were earned runs) ball without gaining a decision for Luverne. Ohme took the loss while pitching in relief.Box score AB R H BIOhme 5 0 1 1Edstrom 4 1 0 0J.Sehr 5 0 2 0Weber 5 1 1 0Winkels 4 1 1 0Sandbulte 3 0 0 0Fisher 4 1 2 3Iveland 1 0 0 0Schneider 2 0 0 0
