Zac Schonrock of the Winnebago/Blue Earth Legion slides into home plate during sub-district competition against Wells on July 16.

On Saturday, July 14, the Winnebago/Blue Earth Legion started off their sub-district tournament run in Truman with two wins on the afternoon.

Their first win was a 4-0 victory against Minnesota Lake. In the game, Winnebago/Blue Earth pitcher Hunter Bleess notched the victory, while Bobby Lindsey was able to shut the door in the final inning on the mound.

In the second game, Winnebago/BE recorded a 7-3 victory over Wells. Zac Schonrock earned the win for Winnebago/BE. With a sub-district championship now in their sight, Winnebago/Blue Earth would go on to face a battle tested Truman team in the next round.

On Sunday, July 15, Winnebago/BE fell to Truman by a final of 6-3. Truman led throughout as they enjoyed a 4-0 lead after four innings of play. In the bottom of the fifth, Winnebago/Blue Earth fought back to cut the lead in half, making the score 4-2.

However, Truman added extra insurance runs in the sixth and seventh innings to cruise to victory. Five of Truman’s six total runs were unearned. Pitcher Koby Nagel suffered the loss for Winnebago/BE.

With one final chance to qualify for sub-state competition, Winnebago/Blue Earth took the field against Wells on July 16. This happened to be the same Wells team that fell to Winnebago/BE just two days earlier.

The bats were working early and often for Winnebago/BE as they enjoyed a sizeable 9-1 lead after four innings. In the game, Bleess recorded three hits and scored two runs while Karson Legred, Jordan Huse and Schonrock had two hits apiece.

However, Wells posted four runs in the sixth inning, and six more in the seventh to erase an eight-run deficit en route to an 11-9 victory.

After being eliminated from tournament play following the loss, Winnebago/BE coach Steve Sonnicksen expressed disappointment after his club enjoyed such a promising start to the postseason. “I’m very happy that we were good enough to get to that point, but I’m obviously frustrated to lose a game like that when we had such a big lead,” Sonnicksen said. “Things didn’t go our way down the stretch, but there were a lot of individual players that deserve a ton of credit for how they played for us. Bobby Lindsey, Zac Schonrock, Hunter Bleess, Karson Legred and Brayden Barnett are just a few of the kids who chipped in and contributed.”