Photo by Jake McNeill Milroy second baseman Chase Douglas mashes a pitch into the outfield. He finished the game with one single that drove in two runs.

MILROY — The road team won the first two games between Milroy and Luverne. The third game of the Region 13C seeding series proved no different, as a five-run ninth inning from the Redbirds resulted in a come-from-behind victory for Luverne at Irish Yard on Sunday.

Disaster struck in the top of the ninth when, after striking out his first batter in the top of the eighth to get the Irish out of a jam, relief pitcher Tyler Maeyaert hit three of the first four batters he faced with a pitch. Since the second batter of the inning hit a double to deep left, the third hit batter cut the Milroy lead to just one.

After another pitching change, a soft blooper hit to no-man’s-land behind second base tied the game for Luverne. A sacrifice fly to deep left field scored two more when a slightly errant throw got by the catcher.

The Redbirds would strike once more on an RBI single to shallow center field before a strikeout would stop the bleeding, giving the Redbirds an 8-5 lead going into the bottom of the ninth.

Milroy did their best to rally back. Dominic Dolan reached second base after a single and advancing on a passed ball with two outs. A walk and an error brought Chase Douglas up to bat with the bases loaded. Douglas, who has been a hit machine in the series, got his first hit of the day in clutch time, shooting out a single to left field to bring the Irish within one. Another walk gave the Irish one last bases-loaded opportunity with two outs, but centerfielder and manager Anthony Dolan was struck out, leaving the Irish just short of a comeback for the ages.

The fifth inning was a strong inning for Milroy. An Anthony Dolan double down the left field line, bouncing of the wall, gave the Irish the tying run in scoring position. A sacrifice bunt from Moses Dolan brought the Irish within 90 feet of the tie, and leadoff hitter Dominic Dolan completed the Dolan trilogy by sending Anthony home with a double to right-center field.

With two outs in the inning and Dominic Dolan on second base, an infield fly from Ben Heichel seemed like it would end the inning. Yet, the Irish were in luck, and the ball was dropped, scoring a run for a 2-1 lead. Derek Smith hit a perfectly placed ball to left field to increase the Milroy lead to two runs for good measure.

Starting pitcher Kenny Morris contributed a quality start after a rough start on the mound. Morris allowed three consecutive singles to bring a bases loaded situation in the first with no outs, but battled back and got out of the jam with no runs allowed, courtesy of a force-out at the plate and a double play to end the inning. In the second, a throwing error allowed a bunt to reach base and the runner on first to advance to third and later scoring. Yet, this unearned run was one of only two runs Morris allowed in 7.2 innings.

After a recent slump, Brady Lanoue is back to mashing the ball into the outfield. He reached base three times in the game, including a double that clanged off the right field wall just under the scoreboard to lead off the second inning.

“It’s nice to see [Lanoue] swinging well again,” Anthony Dolan said, adding that all of their guys seem to be hitting their stride at the right time in terms of hitting the ball. “When we’re hitting the ball, we can beat anyone.”

“Our goal is to get to that final weekend and make a push for the championship,” Anthony Dolan said, adding that the teams that make the plays are the teams that are going to win games. When the Irish are swinging the bats like this and making the right plays in the field, there’s no reason that they can’t be there.

Milroy’s loss will give them the No. 2 seed in the Class C tournament from Region 13, while Luverne will get the top seed and a first-round bye. Also advancing from Region 13C is the Fairmont Martins, after securing a bit with a 4-1 win over Hadley on Saturday and a 2-0 series sweep.

Fairmont 4, Hadley 1

HADLEY — Despite a quality performance on the mound from Lucas Gilbertson, the Hadley Buttermakers’ season came to an end Saturday afternoon due to a three-run ninth inning from Fairmont. The 4-1 loss was Hadley’s second in their best-of-three series against the Martins, giving fairmont the final region 13 playoff berth in the Class C state tournament.

After Fairmont got runners on first and second with a single and a hit batter, a ground ball error by Hadley gave the Martins a bases loaded situation in the top of the ninth with only one out. From there, a walk and a two-run single to right field gave Fairmont what would be the winning runs.

Gilbertson retired each of the first seven Fairmont batters he faced in the outing, and didn’t allow a run through the first six innings. He struck out five and allowed five base hits, with the only extra base hit being a home run to right field in the seventh inning.

Kyler Deacon’s hard-hit single to right field resulted in the Buttermakers sole run in the fifth inning. After Derek Platt reached base for the second time of the game on a single, he stole second to put himself in scoring position. From there, his speed allowed him to easily cross the plate to give Hadley a 1-0 lead. In addition to the RBI single, Deacon had another single, a stolen base, and a great diving catch to end the sixth inning when some miscommunication resulted in a near-collision in the outfield.

“He’s been a real plus for us in the outfield,” said Hadley manager Myron Bennett. “His first year with us was when he was in high school at Murray County Central. He had some rough breaks, he had Covid his senior year, but he came back and he’s been really great.”

The Buttermakers were only able to score once, but men left on base really tells the story of the game for Hadley. There were several occasions when they had men in scoring position, but failed to convert. Namely, two singles and a batter that was hit by a pitch loaded the bases for Hadley in the bottom of the sixth, but two strikeouts got Fairmont out of the jam.

Following the three-run top of the ninth, the Buttermakers came out in the bottom looking deflated rather than ready to rally, and Fairmont struck out the side.

The loss ended Hadley’s season, but Bennett said he was proud of the way his team was able to embrace a next-man-up mentality. With three or four players out for much of the back half of the season, Hadley had to overcome plenty of injuries and obstacles. In the final game against Fairmont, the Buttermakers were missing three starters and were starting a player at catcher who had not caught since high school, Bennett said.

Looking forward to next season, Bennett was optimistic about Hadley’s future.

“We have one guy who is probably not returning, but we have lots of young talent,” Bennett said. “We’ve got lots of talented high school seniors, and they’re just going to have to step up.”