Five innings into the game against the Elks, the game was still tied 0-0. In the sixth inning, with two runners on base, Kenzie Pawelk hit a three-run homer to give Buffalo a 3-0 lead.

“It felt good to get back in the groove and to take down the number one team,” said Pawelk.

Madi Peters hit a single to score another run taking the Bison to a 4-0 lead. In the seventh inning Elk River got a run in to cut the lead to three. With two outs and two runners on base, Samantha Dondelinger made a nice grab to end the game, 4-1 in favor of the Bison.

Buffalo will face STMA Tuesday, May 28 in Saint Michael at 6 p.m. They’ve played them twice this season already and are 1-1 against them. Six teams remain in the double-elimination Section tournament, so the Bison are guaranteed to play on Thursday no matter the results tonight. Only four teams will remain in the tournament then.

Photo Credit: Robert LaPlante

“We have 9 people in 9 different positions compared to last year, so everyone’s still trying to learn their role,” said Senior Sydney Schwartz.

Buffalo had a good start to the game against Hutchinson, going up 7-1 after the 5th inning, until Hutchinson rallied up 6 runs in the 7th inning, tying it up at 7-7 to head to extra innings.

Senior Jordan Zrust got up to hit with bases loaded and hit a walk-off grand slam to get Bison Girls Softball’s first win of the year with the score of 11-7.

“Walking up to the plate I had a lot of confidence, and as soon as I hit it I knew it was going to be good,” said Zrust.

This is Buffalo’s last year in the Mississippi 8 conference, and they are hoping to make their fifth straight state appearance.

With prom coming up in just over a month, many people are trying to decide if the time and money involved in the experience are even worth it.

Last year, American families spent an average of $919 on everything from prom tickets, to buying their dress or tux, according to Visa Inc.’s annual prom survey.

“It’s a lot of fun until you actually get to the dance, which I stayed at for about 10 minutes, it didn’t live up to the hype. I also think it costs too much money,” said Senior Mitch Green.

This year’s prom is located at the Crowne Plaza Minneapolis West in Plymouth.

“I think prom is definitely worth it, making memories with friends and just having a good time,” said Senior Sierra Schiro.

Buffalo started out slow, trailing by 17 (45-28) in the first half, which put them in a tough position.

Buffalo didn’t give up, cutting the lead to 7 two different times in the second half, but it wasn’t quite enough as Crimson didn’t seem to miss on any of their opportunities.

“I thought we were going to come back, we had been down by about 25 earlier in our season and came back and won, so we didn’t have any doubts that we couldn’t do it here,” Junior Aidan Bouman stated.

The Bison didn’t get it done as Crimson won 77-64, but Buffalo made it an interesting game even after their rough start.

Although Buffalo didn’t quite make it to state, it was still a great year; taking second in sections and first in the conference. Next year they have another good chance to make it to state with all starters returning, and changing to the lake conference.

“Next year we should have another good shot for State, since most of us have been playing varsity for a while now,” said Bouman.