National Night Out holds events that help communities and police come together, get to know each other and improve trust to make cities across the nation safer and more comfortable. Montgomery participated on Tuesday, Aug. 6 with a large, festive and fun event at Memorial Park. Police Chief Nathan Hintz, just a few months on the job as chief, spent the time mingling and talking with more than 250 people who attended.

St. Benedict and New Market won their Region 3C playoff games Sunday, Aug. 4. St. Benedict’s win means Prior Lake will be the No. 4 seed from the region at the State Class C Baseball Tournament. St. Benedict will host St. Patrick on Wednesday, Aug. 7, at a site to be announced, in a loser’s bracket game, with the loser becoming the No. 3 seed.
Saints 17, Mudcats 4

The Prior Lake Mudcats and St. Benedict Saints earned the final two berths into the state tournament from Region 3C with wins on Friday evening.
Prior Lake’s Ben Morrison struck out nine and allowed just four hits in a 7-0 shutout over Lonsdale. Luke Weber, Cole Bjorge and Jake Lehrer each had two this for the Mudcats. Tyler Milford started for Lonsdale and took the loss.

Paul H. “Mike” Freid, age 82, of Faribault, MN, passed away Thursday, August 1, 2019 at the Emeralds of Faribault Care Center.
Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Thursday, August 8, 2019 at 10:30 a.m. at the Divine Mercy Catholic Church, 139 Mercy Drive in Faribault with Fr. Joseph Forcelle officiating. Interment will be held at St. Lawrence Cemetery in Faribault with military honors provided by the Rice County Central Veterans Organization.

Nick Spitt pitched six shutout innings and Matt Ambroz went 3-for-4 with a home run and a double to lead St. Patrick to an 8-2 win over Prior Lake Wednesday, July 31, in Veseli. With the win, St. Patrick joins New Market as two of four Region 3C representatives at the State Class C Tournament, which begins Aug. 16.
Meanwhile in Montgomery, the Lonsdale Aces scored two runs in the eighth inning to claim a 10-8 win in a back-and-forth game. The loss eliminated Montgomery from the tournament.

New Market became the first Dakota-Rice-Scott baseball team to qualify for the State Class C Tournament, which begins Friday, Aug. 16, in Delano, Maple Lake and Dassel.
The Muskies defeated Faribault 17-0 in a winner’s bracket game in the Region 3C Tournament Tuesday, July 30. Tyler Bergstrom had a grand slam and Tony Vocca pitched six shutout innings for New Market. The game was played in Veseli.

A curb stop in front of the Monty Bar sprung a leak on Saturday, July 27. Because it was Kolacky Days and fixing the curb stop requires turning off water to the business, it was decided to monitor the leak until Monday morning, July 29, when a crew was able to more easily access the area, explained Montgomery City Administrator Brian Heck. A portion of First Street was closed Monday morning while the repairs were being made. (Lisa Ingebrand Photo)

After being rained out on Sunday, Faribault's Matt Lane and Montgomery's Johnny Krocak squared off in a pitcher's duel Monday, with both taking a no-hitter into the fifth inning. The Lakers' Mitch Johnson got the game's first hit in the bottom of the fifth with a leadoff double and he eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Mike Carpentier for the game's only run as Faribault defeated Montgomery 1-0. The Mallards got their first hit in the sixth on a bunt single by Aaron Dwyer.

Prior Lake, New Market and St. Patrick won their first round games in the Region 3C Playoffs Sunday, July 28. A fourth game, Montgomery at Faribault, was postponed due to rain and will be played at 8 p.m. Monday, July 29, in Faribault.
Sunday’s results:
Mudcats 3, Orioles 1

St. Benedict and Lonsdale botb claimed wins on Friday, July 26, to win their DRS Baseball best-of-three series 2 games to 1 and advance to the Region 3C playoffs, which begin Sunday, July 28.
St. Benedict’s Nick Heitkamp drove in two runs with a double in the bottom of the ninth to give the Saints a 4-3 win over Union Hill.
Lonsdale defeated Veseli 8-5 to claim their spot in the region tournament.
The eight-team double-elimination Region 3C playoffs begin Sunday with the following match-ups scheduled.
Lonsdale at No. 1 seed New Market, 1 p.m.

Prior Lake and Montgomery won spots in the Region 3C playoffs with two-game sweeps in their best-of-three DRS playoff series, while two other series are headed to a game 3 Friday, July 26.
The Prior Lake Mudcats defeated Webster 9-3 Thursday in Elko to win their series 2-0. Cole Bjorge and Lucas Pumper both homered for the Mudcats.
Montgomery traveled to Shakopee and claimed a 7-0 win. Rob Marshall had six strikeout and allowed three hits for the complete game win, Mike Flicek had four hits and Eric Iverson had a two-run home run.

Josephine Hatlevig, daughter of Travis and Nadine Hatlevig was crowned the 2019 Kolacky Days Queen at the Queen's Pageant. Joining her are First Princess Victoria Soukup, daughter of David Soukup and Denise Wondra. Also crowned was Sophia Franek, daughter of Dave and Marsha Franek. Sophia received two titles, Second Princess and Miss Congenialtiy. For more, see the August 1 edition of the Messenger. (Wade Young photo)

New Market, St. Patrick, New Prague and Faribault earned the top four seeds for the Region 3C playoffs and byes into the tournament, as the Dakota-Rice-Scott League finished play Sunday, July 21.
New Market and St. Patrick had already clinched the top two spots. The Irish defeated the Muskies at St. Patrick on Sunday. New Prague defeated both Prior Lake and Shakopee on the season’s final day, giving the Orioles a 14-9 season record to clinch the third spot.

For years, Joe and Charlotte Kodada have worked behind the scenes of Lonsdale Community Days, however this year will be different because the life-long Lonsdale residents are this year’s parade grand marshals.
Earlier this month, the Kodadas received news from Lonsdale Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Shanna Gutzke-Kupp. In her letter, the director said the couple was chosen because they have been an integral part of the community for years.

DRS playoff results
Prior Lake, Montgomery, Union Hill and Lonsdale won in the first round of the DRS playoffs Tuesday, each taking a 1-0 lead in their best of three series. Action continues Thursday and, if needed, on Friday.
Results Tuesday, July 23
Prior Lake 2, Webster 1
Cole Bjorge and Jake Lehrer with solo home runs for the Mudcats, Topher Rose with the complete game win. Jarod Opsahl gives up just three hits in eight innings in taking the loss.
Montgomery 5, Shakopee 0