DIAMOND GEM — Fairmont third baseman Eli Anderson prepares to fire the baseball across the diamond for an out during regular-season play. The Cardinals play host to a three-game Section 3AA pod playoff series Saturday at Herb Wolf Field in Fairmont. (Photo by Greg Abel)

FAIRMONT — Cell phone battery at 100%. Check. Cell charger in vehicle. Check. Specific names — and full street addresses — of baseball and softball ballparks, golf courses, tennis courts and track & field venues to plug into whatever GPS system one uses. Check. Cash for food from concession stands. (No checks, cash only). Gas tank filled up. Check.

Now area high school sports fans have completed the initial phase of actually being able to watch spring sectional playoff action in person for the first time in nearly two years.

Phase 2 — figure out where your favorite teams and athletes are playing, their opponents, and most importantly, at what time and day. DO NOT assume that all of the sports programs at one’s favorite high school play in the same class or section number — example i.e., Fairmont boys and girls golf, as well as baseball and softball. Read below, please.

Unfortunately, one area golfer inadvertently went under the Sentinel’s postseason radar due to, yes, taking for granted that sectional play had not offically begun. Our sports staff’s apologies to that athlete — Martin County West’s Hunter Schmidt.

Schmidt carded an 18-hole round of 44-39-83 at the Worthington Country Club on Wednesday during the first of two rounds in the Section 3A golf meet to qualify for Day 2 play.

Schmidt connected for a birdie on the par-4 No. 16 hole and generated eight pars to earn meet runner-up medalist honors to earn a spot in the sectional’s final round starting at 9 a.m. Wednesday, June 2, back in Worthington.

Brock Henning claimed first-place individual accolades by shooting an 81 to guide Adrian to an opening-round winning team total of 360, while Schmidt and his Maverick teammates placed eighth with a total of 409.

Connor Simmonds made two pars en route to a 106 for MCW, Evan Roben shot a 109, Andrew Lawrence sank one par to pace a 111, Carter Lyon penciled in a 113, while Kamden Domeier finished with a 128.

If you’re wondering about MCW’s girls golf team? The program opted not to compete in this year’s section meet.

If boys tennis catches one’s attention, make the trip to St. James today to watch the opening round of the Section 1A individual competition. Fairmont and Blue Earth Area will have two singles players and two doubles combinations each hitting the courts at 10 a.m. today. Both brackets will play down to the final four, with those qualifiers returning to St. James for the sectional semifinals, true-second challenges (if needed) and finals at 10 a.m. Tuesday, June 1.

The next chronological stop features the first round(s) of the sectional baseball playoffs on Saturday.

Fairmont garnered the No. 2 seed in the Section 3AA, South Sub-Section, and with it, earned the right to host a three-game pod at Herb Wolf Field on Saturday. The host Cardinals play No. 7-seeded Tracy-Milroy-Balaton at 11 a.m., followed by No. 3-seeded Jackson County Central squaring off against No. 6 St. James Area at 1 p.m. The losers of those two games are eliminated, with the winners playing at 3 p.m. Saturday in Fairmont.

Blue Earth Area, however, plays only one game on Saturday in the full-bracketed Section 2AA baseball tournament. The Bucs earned the No. 2 overall seed and play host to No. 15 Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop at 5 p.m. Saturday in a first-round contest in Blue Earth. If BEA wins, it would play host to a sectional quarterfinal at 5 p.m. Tuesday, June 1.

Martin County West and Truman/Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley-East Chain play in a bracket similar to BEA’s when both open the Section 2A baseball tournament. No. 7-seeded MCW plays host to No. 10 Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart at noon Saturday at Fox Lake Sports Complex in Welcome, while No. 12 TMLGHEC hits the road to No. 5 Sleepy Eye Public for an 11 a.m. first-round playoff game on Saturday. Both teams’ next round will be a 5 p.m. start on Tuesday, June 1.

After the holiday, sectional softball takes center diamond starting on Tuesday, June 1.

Fairmont opens the fully-bracketed Section 2AA (not 3AA like baseball) tournament as the No. 8 seed playing host to No. 9 Medford in a 5 p.m. opener June 1 at Cardinal Park. If the Cardinals win, they would travel to Class AA No. 1-rated and top sectional seed Le Sueur-Henderson for a 5 p.m. second-round game Thursday, June 3.

Blue Earth Area drew the No. 13 seed in the Section 2AA softball bracket and travels to New Richland for a 5 p.m. opener June 1 against No. 4 New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva.

In the Section 2A softball playoffs, No. 8-seeded Martin County West plays host to No. 9 Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop in a 5 p.m. opener June 1 at Fox Lake Sports Complex in Welcome.

No. 13-seeded Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Martin Luther/Truman will hit the road to No. 4 Springfield in Section 2A softball action. The Jaguars and Tigers square off at 5 p.m. June 1.

If one switches from the swing of a bat to swinging a driver or an iron, then June 1 also is filled to the top of the cup with area sectional golf action.

The Fairmont boys golf lineup, which was originally slated to tee off Thursday, will hit the Oakdale Golf Club fairways near Hutchinson for Round 1 of the Section 3AA Meet at 9 a.m. Tuesday, June 1.

Meanwhile, the Fairmont girls team joins the Blue Earth Area girls squad in first-round Section 2AA golf action at the New Prague Golf Club at 9 a.m. June 1.

The Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Martin Luther/Truman girls golfers also will tee off June 1 via a 10 a.m. starting time in the Section 2A Meet at North Links Golf Course in North Mankato.

Ironically, both the BEA and GHECMLT boys golf lineups will have to wait to play their respective opening rounds. The Bucs tee off at 1 p.m. Wednesday, June 2, at the New Prague Golf Club, while the Jaguar boys golfers hit the fairways at North Links Golf Course in North Mankato on Thursday, June 3.

Safe travels and enjoy live prep sports playoffs during the next couple of weeks.