PHOTOS: Burnsville Softballers Blast Edina

The Hornets attempted a comeback late in the game, but ultimately fell 9-4 to the Blaze.

Mayor Jim Hovland was on hand to help the Edina girls softball team celebrate their home opener Tuesday, April 17, at Pamela Park. Unfortunately for the Hornets, a heavy dose of hometown pride wasn't enough to overcome the aggressive bunting and base running of the Burnsville Blaze. Burnsville had a strong showing throughout, scoring runs in every inning but the third and seventh. The Hornets were slow to start, but appeared to be mounting a comeback late in the game. After being shut out by the Blaze for the first four innings, they came back to score a pair of runs in both the fifth and sixth innings. The bases were loaded in the sixth, but the Blaze ultimately held out to stop the Hornets from capitalizing on their strong play. Hits by …

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School District to Rename Softball Field in Honor of Former Coach Pat Feely

Pat Feely was the longest-running softball coach in the history of Burnsville High, leaving with six Lake Conference Championships, three section titles and two state championships.

The softball field at Burnsville High School will soon be known as Feely Field. Last Thursday, the District 191 Board of Education opted to rename the field in honor of long-time softball coach Pat Feely.  Very few facilities in ISD 191 have been named after notable people, but Feely is worthy of an exception to the rule, supporters said. "I have had the privilege of knowing him. The policy talks about having local prominence and making a significant contribution and Pat Feely certainly fills that," said Vicki Roy, a former school board member. "With this early spring, I suspect if you went out there right now you'd see work has been done on the field. That's Pat."   Feely is a 20-year veteran of the sports program at Burnsville High, …

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Burnsville Football Comes Back To Beat Eastview

After being down 29-15 in the game against Eastview, the Burnsville Blaze team came back to win the exciting game 36-29.

On an uncharacteristically warm and windy evening in October, the Eastview and Burnsville football teams battled the wind and each other in a high scoring football game at Burnsville. The Blaze came out hot and scored on a pass from quarterback Dan Motl to Brian VanderWoude with 7:13 on the clock in the 1st quarter. The blaze bobbled the snap and hold for the field goal and ran it in for a 2 point conversion, making the score 8-0. With 3:02 on the clock in the 1st quarter, Burnsville scored again with a run up the center by Jon Blanco. After a successful extra point, the score was 15-0. With 44 seconds left in the first half, Eastview quarterback Ryan Reger made a long run and was finally stopped ta the 1 yard line. On the next play, …

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Blazing a Trail: Cross Country Makes Inroads at Invitational on Thursday

Boys team places 3 runners in the top 4, girls team takes 6th place

Seniors Cole O’Brien and Abdulah Silah highlighted a strong overall performance from the Burnsville boys and girls cross country teams on Thursday, which hosted the Blaze Invitational at Nicollet Junior High School. O’Brien and Silah finished first and second, respectively, in the boys event as the Blaze boys squad finished third overall with 57 points. Only Owatonna and Mahtomedi finished ahead of Burnsville as the two teams tied for first with 53 points. On the girls side, Burnsville finished sixth with 153 points. Shakopee won the girls event with 59 points. O’Brien finished the race in 16:36.8, four seconds ahead of his teammate Salah’s 16:40.6 finish. Sophomore Ali hmed finished fourth at 17:01.1 and Shawn Wong finsiehd 13th at 17:29.…

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Burnsville Blaze Edged Out by Prior Lake 13-10 in Homecoming Game

Penalties and Prior Lake's defense keep Burnsville to 10 points.

There was definitely electricity in the air during Friday’s game at Pates Stadium. Nevertheless, the Prior Lake football team played the role of spoiler on Friday evening during Burnsville’s homecoming game, defeating the Blaze 13-10. Playing in front of a packed house, both teams played a tight and competitive game. A few key penalties kept the Blaze out of the endzone in the first half. It appeared as though Burnsville would score the game’s first touchdown on a long run by Jalen Dyson, but the play was called back on a penalty. During a drive late in the second quarter, quarterback Dan Motl scrambled to reach the corner of the endzone nearest the Burnsville sideline. But again, the play was called back on a penalty on the Blaze. …

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Game of the Week: Blaze Host Wildcats In Crucial Girls Soccer Matchup

Burnsville and Eagan entered the week tied for second place in the South Suburban Conference.

Editor's Note: This is a new weekly series that will highlight big high school sports games on the schedule. Girls soccer: Burnsville vs. Eagan CHEAT SHEET SITE: Burnsville High School TIME: 5:00 p.m. Thursday ON THE LINE Burnsville, finding itself on the outside looking in of the top-10 rankings, hosts South Suburban Conference rival and No. 7-ranked Eagan as both squads entered the week at 3-1 in SSC play, just one-half game behind circuit-leading Lakeville North. PLAYERS TO WATCH Eagan goalkeeper Kristen Knutson has stopped 43 of 45 shots she has faced this autumn and has eight shutouts in 10 games played. Burnsville sophomore forward Alyssa Blahnik continues to assault opposing goalkeepers, entering the week with 19 goals in 10 games. …

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Burnsville Volleyball Falls to Lakeville South

The Blaze took the early lead in all three games but couldn’t finish and lost the match to the Cougars, 3-0.

Every game started pretty well for the Blaze on Tuesday night when they traveled to Lakeville South to take on the Cougars but the Burnsville squad couldn’t put games away. They led the Cougars and had the early momentum early on in all three games, but the Cougars came back with strong kills and crucial blocks. But not all of it was bad, according to Burnsville coach Kim Hook. The team improved on numerous things throughout the match. “They really saw the other side of the floor well,” Hook said. “And they did a pretty good job at trying to put the ball where the other girls weren’t.” The Blaze also showed more confidence during the match. They kept their poise and played hard throughout all three games. “That’s something all teams …

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Burnsville Org Raises Over 15K in a Day to Aid Vets

Tee it up for the Troops' first annual golf event in Coon Rapids was a smashing success, as reported by abcnewspapers.com.

Burnsville Warms Up For the Volleyball Season Against Edina

Blaze takes on visiting Edina in a final volleyball scrimmage before the start of the regular season

The Burnsville High School Blaze served it up against visiting Edina Tuesday in a pre-season scrimmage. Burnsville opens the regular season in a lon-conference matchup at Totino-Grace Tuesday, Aug. 30, in a match starting at 7 p.m.

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VIEW FINDER: Where is this?

Each week, we will feature one photo from a specific location in Burnsville. First one to get it right gets a prize.

Each Sunday we will put up a photo. If you get the location right, you will get a small prize. Only Burnsville residents are eligible. If the photo features a scene at a business, employees or owners of that business are also out of the running. Want to make a guess? E-mail me at clare.kennedy@patch.com.

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