Pipestone County Star

JACKSON — The Pipestone Area Schools’ softball team earned second place at the Jackson County Central Tournament on Saturday, May 9. During the event, Arrows’ Kaysa Douty and Amyra Mahik both homered and PAS showed on-field improvement after a period of struggles. PAS has won four of its past six games, and now stand at 9-10 on the season. “We played a lot better defensively,” PAS head coach Rober...

The Minnesota State High School League has conducted draws for the upcoming softball and boys tennis playoffs. Pipestone Area Schools’ softball team has been seeded second, facing No. 7 Worthington at 3 p.m. Tuesday, May 19, in a Section 3AA South subsection opening- round game at Paulsen Athletic Complex. No. 3 Windom Area will play No. 6 Luverne following the Arrows-Trojans game. The winners wil...

The Elk Nation Hall of Fame conducted its Hall of Fame ceremony on Saturday, April 25 at the Elkton Community Center. The 2026 inductees are (from left), Steve Brown, Nikki (Kinner) Holmen, Michelle Gilbertson, Mary Jo Culhane, Annette Stein and Joyce Kramer. Inductee Jayne Duin is not photographed. This photo was contributed to the Pipestone County Star.  Article Link

WOODSTOCK — The Woodstock Community Club will have summer recreation offerings. Club officials have reported O’Hearn Field will be available for use — from practices to games. There will be a men’s slowpitch softball league, which will travel on Tuesday nights. Youth T-ball will be offered for children in second grade and younger. This program will run for five straight Monday nights from June 8-J...

Three local high school wrestlers were named academic all-state selections. The Minnesota Wrestling Coaches Association and The Guillotine publication announced the team in a press release dated Thursday, May 7. Pipestone Area Schools’ Mason Fruechte and Marshall’s Brayden Chandler (a student at Russell-Tyler-Ruthton) and Lincoln Christenson were chosen. Fruechte was 34-9 during the 2025-26 season...

Thursday, May 14 Amateur Baseball 7:30 p.m., Elkton Snappers at Flandreau Blue Teal High School Baseball 4:30 p.m., Mountain Lake Area-Comfrey at Edgerton/Southwest Minnesota Christian 4:30 p.m., Red Rock Central/Westbrook-Walnut Grove at Russell-Tyler-Ruthton (Ruthton) 5:30 p.m., Worthington at Pipestone Area (A’s/City Field) Softball 4:30 p.m., Edgerton/Southwest Minnesota Christian at Mountain...

For Pipestone Area Schools senior golfer Vivian Brockberg, the weather keeps changing. Especially during her home meets. “The day started okay,” PAS head girls coach Grant Everson said, “It was sunny, and not too bad. But, by her fifth or sixth hole, the winds picked up and it was cloudy and cold.” Still, Brockberg managed a third-place finish at the second girls Big South division event at Pipest...

The Class AA fourth-ranked Jackson County Central softball team is as advertised. With quality pitching and mashers up and down the batting order, the Huskies took care of Pipestone Area Schools in a Big South Conference doubleheader at the Paulsen Athletic Complex on Thursday, April 30. “They have pitching depth,” PAS head coach Robert Petersen said, “and from No. 1 to No. 9, there’s not a hole i...

BLUE EARTH — The Pipestone Area Schools baseball team enjoyed its long bus ride home on Thursday, April 30. That’s because the Arrows swept Blue Earth Area by scores of 9-1 (Game One) and 11-1 (Game Two, reduced to five innings by the mercy rule). “Well, in baseball, you can’t take anything for granted,” PAS head coach Rick Zollner said. The Arrows are now creeping back toward the .500 mark, with...

The Pipestone Athletics’ amateur baseball team opened the 2026 season at the Flandreau Blue Teal this past Sunday. And this Sunday, May 10, Pipestone plays host to the Gopher League opener versus the Milroy Irish. The first pitch is set for 2 p.m. at A’s/City Field. “Milroy is a tough game, and they have a good squad,” Pipestone head coach Avery Ploeger said. “We’re looking forward to the challeng...

INFORMATION CALENDAR Thursday, May 7 Baseball 4:30 p.m., Murray County Central at Pipestone Area (A’s/City Field) 4:30 p.m., Heron Lake-Okabena-Fulda at Russell-Tyler-Ruthton (Ruthton, Parents Night) 4:30 p.m., Edgerton/Southwest Minnesota Christian at Adrian-Ellsworth Boys and Girls Golf 9 a.m., Elkton-Lake Benton at Colman-Egan Invitational (Sunrise Ridge, Colman, S.D.) 4 p.m., Windom Area at Pi...

The Pipestone Area Schools’ boys tennis team dropped three matches last week against staunch competition. Redwood Valley topped the Arrows, 7-0, on Tuesday, April 28 — followed by a 7-0 road loss to St. James Area on Thursday, April 30. Fairmont defeated PAS, 6-1, on Friday, May 1, with Joel Cardenas earning the team’s lone victory. PAS played at home versus Worthington on Tuesday, May 5, before t...

Shots were fired on Saturday, May 2 at the Pipestone Sportsmen’s Club shooting range. Those shots marked the beginning of the year for the venue, which conduct its fourth annual fundraiser banquet on Friday, May 8 at the Pipestone National Guard Armory. The event begins with a social hour and drawing sales at 5 p.m. — followed by the dinner at 6:30 p.m. Dinner will be provided by the Pipestone Cou...

Pipestone Area Schools’ student Lane Fruechte competed at the Minnesota/USA Wrestling freestyle tournament last weekend in Rochester. The meet was conducted at Rochester Community & Technical College. Fruechte finished fifth in the Junior 138-pound bracket. Mason Fruechte also competed in the tournament (Junior 144). Lane Fruechte (shown in the photograph at the far right) earned fifth on a me...

MARSHALL — Southwest Minnesota State University pitcher Cody Wichmann just wrapped up his junior season playing baseball. Wichmann, during the 2026 season, was named National College Baseball Writers Association Central Region pitcher of the week, and Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference pitcher of the week once (Feb. 25). A former Russell-Tyler-Ruthton student-athlete, Wichmann pitched in 13 g...

The City of Pipestone Parks and Recreation Department has announced its offering the annual trip to see the Minnesota Twins play. This season, local fifth- and sixth-graders will have the opportunity to watch the Twins play the Cleveland Guardians in this American League Central clash. The Twins-Guardians game is set for Thursday, July 9, with the first pitch at 12:40 p.m. Cleveland currently lead...

The Pipestone County Board of Appeals during its April 27 meeting approved a variance allowing Allan Hachmann to build a new house less than 150 feet from the center line of U.S. Highway 75, as required by the county’s zoning ordinance. The approval included the condition that the structure be no closer than 125 feet from the center line of the highway. Hachmann said he plans to remove an existing...

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — The Howard Wood Dakota Relays are a showcase event for the activity of track and field. In the 101st installment of this event, both the Elkton-Lake Benton and Southwest Minnesota Christian/Edgerton programs showed they belong on the grand stage at Howard Wood Field. The relays featured dozens of schools from across the five-state area, including Minot High School in North Dako...

Pipestone Area Schools’ sophomore Americ Suvandy defended his home track at the 50th Annual Bob Nangle Relays. Suvandy claimed gold in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes during the event. Americ posted a time of 11.41 in the 100 and 23.35 in the 200. With those performances, Suvandy scored 20 of the 24 points the Arrow boys accrued. The 4x400-meter relay group featuring freshmen John Goelz and Aus...

A Pipestone Area Schools graduate performed critical engine analyses on the rocket engine that took four astronauts around the moon in a record-breaking lunar fly-by earlier this month. Seth Lingen, PAS Class of 2021, is an intern with L3Harris Technologies near Los Angeles, Calif. As a NASA defense contractor, L3Harris developed the space launch system that propelled the four-member Artemis II cr...

Pipestone County Commissioners during their April 14 meeting voted to fill the county coroner position by appointment rather than election as has historically been the case. The change will take effect Jan. 1, 2027. Long-time Pipestone County Coroner Dr. Larry Christensen submitted a letter to Pipestone County Administrator Steve Ewing in February indicating that he didn’t plan to seek reelection...

TO THE EDITOR: THANK YOU Pipestone Star for doing a great job of writing the ALC article. If the school board votes to eliminate the ALC kids from their graduation ceremony it’s out of SPITE, not because of the facts presented by the SWWC President and the ALC President. Also note, the school board will be asking the taxpayers for more money this coming November. Let them know how you feel. I want...

Recently, there have been a number of conversations about the Pipestone Alternative Learning Center at the school board table and within the community. The Alternative Learning Centers, also known as ALCs are part of Minnesota’s broader system of State-Approved Alternative Programs. These programs were created with the intent to serve students who struggled in the traditional school settings. Stud...

On Wednesday, April 15, Tax Day, Senate Republicans held a press conference to spotlight how DFL tax increases and unchecked spending have driven up costs and made life less affordable for Minnesota families. “From rising property taxes to climbing license tab fees, Minnesotans continue to tell me they want our state to be more affordable,” Sen. Bill Weber (R-Luverne), Republican lead on the Senat...

The Pipestone Area Schools (PAS) prom is scheduled for Saturday, April 25 at the high school. Each year the PAS Junior Class Committee helps plan the prom. This year’s Committee includes Abbi Haack, Valencia Murphy, Iva Witte, JaNasia Larkins, Kaysa Douty, Brooke Einck, Matthew Swenson and Kailyn Burmeister. The students started planning for the prom in October. They’ve selected an enchanted garde...