The Starbuck Stars were eliminated for the season with a 15-8 loss at Regal, Sunday afternoon.  The Stars, who were defeated by top-seeded Atwater the previous week (8-4), ended the season with an 8-9 overall record after losing to the Eagles, Sunday.

Also eliminated for the season from the County Line was Norway Lake-Sunburg, which fell to NLS in another elimination game, 11-3.  Atwater edged Paynesville in the upper-bracket finals, 3-2, meaning NLS and Regal will play this Saturday and the winner will face Paynesville for the right to play Atwater for the County Line championship, Sunday.

The top three teams from the league advance to the region tournament.  The fourth place team will play the fifth place team from the Cornbelt League to determine one other qualifier.

at Regal 15, Stars 8

Regal scored five runs in the fourth and seven more in the sixth to beat the Stars, Sunday, 15-8.  The loss ended the Stars’ season with an 8-9 overall record, while Regal moved on to face NLS this Saturday.

Starbuck, which led 1-0 after one inning and was tied at 2-2 after three, did score four runs in the sixth to close the gap to 8-6, but the seven-run sixth inning for the Eagles proved to be too much to overcome.

Starbuck outhit the Eagles, 12-8, but the Stars also issued seven walks, hit eight Regal batters and committed three errors leading to five unearned runs.

Austin Ver Steeg, the first of four Starbuck pitchers, was credited with the loss.  He gave up three hits, four walks and seven runs (five earned) over 3 2/3 innings.

Also pitching for the Stars were Darion Alexander, Mitchell Gruber and Michael Gruber.

Offensively, Alexander was 3-for-4 with three runs, two RBI, a double, walk and stolen base, while Austin Ver Steeg was 3-for-4 with a run and hit-by-pitch and Mitchell Gruber was 3-for-5 with a run scored and RBI.

Adding one hit each were Matt Gruber and Drew Olsonawski.

at Regal 15, Starbuck 8

Stars (8-9) 1 0 1 0 0 4 0 0 2 — 8 12 3

Regal 0 2 0 5 1 7 0 0 x — 15 8 2

HITTING:  STARS-Darion Alexander 3-for-4, 3 runs, 2 RBI, double, bb, sb; Austin Ver Steeg 3-for-4, 1 run, hbp; Mitchell Gruber 3-for-5, 1 run, RBI; Michael Gruber 1-for-6, 1 run; Matt Gruber 1-for-4, 4 RBI, hbp; Drew Olsonawski 1-for-4, RBI;    . . . REGAL-Luke Knutson 2-for-6, 1 run, 2 RBI; Blake Karsch 2-for-3, 1 run, 3 RBI, double, bb; Derek Dengerud 2-for-2, 2 runs, RBI, 3 hbp

PITCHING:  (ip-h-r-er-bb-so):  STARS-Austin Ver Steeg (L, 2-4)  3 2/3-3-7-5-4-2; Darion Alexander 2-2-8-5-3-0; Mitchell Gruber 1 1/3-2-0-0-0-1; Michael Gruber 1-1-0-0-0-2 . . . REGAL-Brandon Wedel (W)  6-10-6-5-1-6; Grant Paffrath 3-2-2-0-1-3