Consolidation issue in play with Cyrus and area school districts

The school boards at Hancock, Morris Area and Minnewaska Area are all currently studying the impact of partial or full consolidation with the Cyrus school district, which will most likely be dissolved by the beginning of the beginning of the 2012-13 school year. The enrollment at the K-6 math and science magnet school dropped to around 30 students in 2011-12.

A special school board meeting was held at Minnewaska on Tuesday night this week. Further details will be released as they become available.

Minnewaska Area fastpitch squad falls out of playoffs

Ottertail Central, the number three seed in Sub-Section 6AA-West, knocked Minnewaska Area out of the fastpitch playoffs by a 4-2 score on Tuesday night at the Alexandria softball complex. The Lakers finished with a sparkling record of 18-3 overall and 9-1 in the West Central North Conference.

The Minnewaska Area baseball team opens the playoffs next Tuesday, May 29 at Long Prairie. The Lakers were seeded number eight, while LP-GE is the top seed in Sub-Section 6AA-West.

At the Sub-Section 3AA-North golf meet yesterday in Benson, the Lakers girls' golf team won the title and the boys' team finished in second place. Four individuals on the Minnewaska boys' golf team qualified for the Section 3AA meet, which is on May 31 at the Eagle Creek Golf Club in Willmar.

Difficult news at Minnewaska Area schools

The Minnewaska Area school district ended both the soccer and cross country programs at a special school board meeting on Wednesday night. Beginning next year, the fall sports at Minnewaska will consist of girls' tennis, girls' swimming and diving that is paired with Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta, volleyball and football.

A couple items. In 1991 when the Villard, Glenwood-Lowry and Starbuck school districts merged, the Minnewaska Area school district had over 1,800 students. Today, the enrollment in K-12 hovers a little over 1,000 students.

Last fall, no team was seeded higher than 6th for sub-sections across all girls' and boys' sports at Minnewaska. Fielding competitive teams is becoming an issue for the Lakers athletic programs.

Conference champions! Softball playoffs open on Thursday

The Minnewaska Area Lakers softball team earned a share of the West Central North Conference title on Tuesday with a convincing 9-0 win over Sauk Centre.

The Lakers (17-2) host the same Mainstreeters team on Thursday this week with a home game at 4 p.m. Minnewaska is the number two seed, while Sauk Centre was seeded number seven in the Sub-Section 6AA-West playoff rankings.

Pequot Lakes (20-0) is the number one seed.  

Below, action from the baseball game at Sauk Centre on Tuesday...the Mainstreeters won a close game by a 6-5 score. 

Glacial Ridge Health System hosted a craft and bake sale at Wild Ridge Bar and Grill in Glenwood on Saturday afternoon.Below are some of the offerings and a view of the other vendors who were on hand.

Minnewaska Area fastpitch softball knocks off state-ranked Albany

In a game with conference title implications, the Minnewaska Area fastpitch team defeated the previously undefeated Albany Huskies on Wednesday on the road by a 6-5 score in eight innings. Winning pitcher Mady Phillips went the distance on the rubber, giving up three earned runs, no walks and firing two strikeouts.

Both teams combined for a whopping 25 hits in the game, which was tied 4-4 after seven innings were complete.

Hitting for the Lakers were Kaylyn Oberg with one single, Phillips with a single, Kaylee Jacobs with a single, Julie Helander batting a thousand (4-for-4) with a double, Courtney Schmidt hitting two singles with one RBI and Allyssa Engfer hitting one single and two doubles with four RBI.