No. 6 Freeman gave No. 3 Crofton a battle, but came up short in a 4-2 final on the second night of the District 6B Baseball Tournament in Menno Friday night, July 24. Meanwhile, No. 2 Menno topped No. 7 Irene 13-8. Freeman's loss pairs the Blacksox with Irene Sunday night at 7 p.m. in an elimination game. The Mad Frogs will play Crofton at approximately 8 p.m. Tuesday night for chance to play in the district championship on Aug. 1.

Blacksox, Mad Frogs both play Friday night; again either Sunday or Tuesday The baseball field in Menno will be home to the District 6B Amateur Baseball Tournament starting Thursday night, July 23 with games continuing through Saturday, Aug. 1. Both Freeman and Menno will take the field Friday; the Blacksox are the No. 6 seed and will play No. 3 Crofton at 6 p.m., followed by the No. 2 Mad Frogs facing No. 7 Irene at approximately 8 p.m. The winners play again Tuesday, July 28 with the losers facing an elimination game Sunday night.

Two Canistota/Freeman Sticks teams played at the Yankton Twins Invitational at Sertoma Park Saturday and Sunday, June 27 and 28, and both found success. In the 12u division Saturday, the Sticks finished runner-up, losing only to Madison 6-4. Then on Sunday, the 10u team defeated Sioux City, Watertown and West Lyon to claim the tournament championship. Both teams will play at the state tournament in the coming weeks.

Here is something you need to know about Menno’s Jim Sattler: The guy was a heck of a track coach. Shortly after his arrival at Menno High School in 1983, the Avon native quickly recognized both a need for improvement within the program and the potential that lay within a younger group of boys that would soon be coming up through the ranks. 

A team that many believe can content for a Class B championship got just about all it could handle from a resilient Freeman Academy/Marion team in the third round of the Region 5B Tournament Friday night, but second-seed Canistota held off the third-seeded Bearcats in the final three minutes to claim victory. The Hawks won 54-44 and will be one of two teams representing Region 5B in next week’s SoDak 16; the other is Viborg-Hurley, the region’s top seed and another candidate for the B title.

You’re the Menno Wolves girls basketball team and its adorning fans, and there is good news and there is bad news. Let’s start with the bad.

Throughout her years playing basketball for the Freeman High School girls, Emmarie Edwards has viewed the “Last Play” mantra adopted by the team six seasons ago as a rallying cry — something the players wore on the backs of their shooting shirts that both united and motived the Flyers. Last Thursday night, on the basketball court in Tea, those two words took on a whole new meaning for Edwards and three other seniors — Jaimie Glanzer, Emily Miller and Izzy Sayler — whose prep basketball careers were suddenly over.

The No. 3 Freeman Academy/Marion boys (16-5) blew past No. 6 Irene-Wakonda (6-16) in the second round of the Region 5B Basketball Tournament in Marion Tuesday night, taking out the Eagles 61-34. The Bearcats will play Friday night for a spot in the SoDak16.

Freeman junior Clayton Smith eneded up sixth while Marion senior Daniel Cremer placed eighth after both wrestlers lost their final two matches of the State Wrestling Tournament.  Smith (38-11), wrestling at 220 lbs., was pinned in the 5th/6th place match while Cremer lost a 9-4 decision in the 7th/8th place match. Watch for a full report in the March 3 issue of the Courier.

When Freeman High School junior Clayton Smith took the mat against Winner’s Preston Norrid in the quarterfinal round of the State Wrestling Tournament’s Class B division Thursday, Feb. 27, this much he knew.