It was a difficult day of playoff games for baseball and softball teams in the Lake Region.
Two Class B area teams were eliminated from their tournaments on Tuesday: Nelson County/Midkota softball and New Rockford-Sheyenne baseball. North Star baseball also took a tough loss, letting an 8-1 lead get away in a walk-off defeat to Bottineau. The Bearcats at least stayed alive, though, with a 16-6 win over Rugby later in the day.
The Region 2 and 4 baseball tournaments, meanwhile, were postponed again, so NC/M and Langdon Area/Munich didn’t get to play at all on Tuesday. The Region 4 tournament will now start after the Region 1 tournament has already ended. Region 3, 5 and 7 will all end Wednesday as well.
Nelson County/Midkota softball’s strong season comes to an end
Sports can be exhilarating, and sports can be heartbreaking, and the Chargers experienced the latter of those outcomes Tuesday in Thompson.
Their first bout was with Region 2 South No. 1 seed Thompson. NC/M, seeded No. 3 in the South, lost 13-1 to the Tommies (15-4) in the region semifinals. Like in their 16-4 regular-season meeting, Thompson had the Chargers’ number. The Tommies scored six in the first and five in the fifth to wrap it up in five innings.
The Chargers had baserunners in all five offensive frames but didn’t push anything across until an RBI single by Kenley Blasey in the top of the fifth. Thompson pitcher Abigail Olson struck out eight and limited NC/M to five hits.
Primary pitcher Mya Luehring threw two innings and 61 pitches for the Chargers. With NC/M down by a sizable margin, the Chargers had freshman Alexandrea Anderson pitch the other two innings.
The Chargers then had to wait around for their next opponent. The game that followed was an instant classic, with North No. 1 seed Pembina County North stunning South No. 2 seed Carrington in an 8-7, nine-inning game that featured a near no-hitter and comebacks in both directions.
Carrington, just moments after experiencing the sting of defeat, jumped right into a battle with NC/M.
The Cardinals, who beat the Chargers 13-10 during the regular season, put a hurt on NC/M with 16 hits in a 13-3 win. Carrington junior Calleigh Hewitt, after homering in the game against Pembina County North, homered again in the sixth inning against the Chargers to walk it off via run rule. Luehring pitched all 5 2/3 innings for NC/M.
The Chargers scored on a two-out RBI single by Kelsey Johnson in the first, then a two-run double by Luehring in the fourth. But they couldn’t keep up with Carrington, which scored five in the second inning and put up three-spots in the fifth and sixth.
NC/M’s very solid season ended with a 13-5 record, a year after going 10-5. The Chargers continued to make strides as a program. They’ll graduate five seniors: Johnson, Rylee Flaagan, Bailey Flaagan, Olivia Fossen and Jassy Lee. The team will still have a wealth of young players returning next year.
Rockets also eliminated by Carrington
It was quite a day for Carrington sports, as the Cardinals’ baseball team eliminated NR-S in the Region 3 tournament.
The No. 4 seed Rockets, after splitting their Monday games, lost a tight 3-2 affair to No. 6 seed Carrington (4-12) on Tuesday. The games were moved to Casselton due to field conditions in LaMoure.
NR-S had beaten Carrington during the regular season, 11-3.
In the Rockets’ defeat, senior standout Easton Simon made his first start of the year on the mound. He turned in a worthy performance: 7.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 SO. But the unearned run made a difference.
Carrington got a solo shot from Maximus Whitman in the top of the first, and the Rockets responded with two in the bottom half. Simon gave himself some run support with an RBI double, and he scored on an error to put NR-S up 2-1.
The Cardinals tied it with a two-out double by Adrian Oatis in the fourth. They went ahead on a two-out error by shortstop Thomas Allmaras in the sixth.
The Rockets’ offense was mostly stymied by Carrington senior right-hander Tate Wolsky, who struck out six and allowed just three hits in a complete game. Wolsky retired the final seven NR-S batters, three via strikeout. Simon, Skye Kramlich and Jax Demester had the Rockets’ only hits.
NR-S’s season ended with a 10-9 overall record.
The Rockets will graduate three seniors: Simon, Alex Weisenburger and Vinnie Ruppell.
North Star lets big lead get away, but bounces back
The Bearcats were on the wrong side of an incredible comeback Tuesday in Bottineau. No. 2 seed North Star led 8-1 in the sixth and ended up getting walked off, 10-9, by No. 1 seed Bottineau (15-5).
North Star senior Levi Borstad had a strong start, limiting Bottineau to one run over the first five innings. The Bearcats scored two in the third on an RBI double by Hunter Hagler and a sacrifice fly by Kole Thomson, then added three in the fourth on RBI hits from Thomson and Coy Freund.
With a three-run top of the sixth — highlighted by a Freund RBI double — the Bearcats were well on their way to a victory.
Bottineau finally got to Borstad in the bottom of the sixth, though, rallying for three runs to make it 8-4. Thomson took over on the mound and got the last two outs of the sixth.
North Star added an insurance run in the seventh, as Alec Peyerl hit a leadoff single and the Bearcats manufactured him home. The Bearcats led 9-4 with three outs to get.
But Bottineau was relentless. The first three Braves reached in the bottom of the seventh, loading the bases with nobody out. That forced North Star coach Jesse Vote to go to Hagler out of the bullpen. Hagler was promptly greeted with a run-scoring single by Rowan Cheshire.
Hagler nearly navigated his way out of it. He picked up a strikeout, then induced a ground ball to first base. But Freund, the first baseman, made a two-run error that cut the lead to 9-7.
Hagler recorded his second strikeout, which would have ended the game if it weren’t for the error.
Bottineau capitalized on the extra chance, tallying three consecutive singles to win it in dramatic fashion. Kaden Bristol had the walk-off hit.
Bottineau advanced to Wednesday’s region championship, while North Star had to play again on Tuesday. The Bearcats (9-6) handled business in their elimination game: a 16-6 rout of No. 3 seed Rugby (9-8) in six innings.
North Star rallied for five two-out runs in the first inning to go up 5-0. C. Freund had a two-run double, Sean Freund had an RBI single and Alec Peyerl had a two-run single.
Thomson pitched the first five innings for North Star. He allowed six two-out runs in the second inning, but he settled in to strike out eight batters over five otherwise solid frames. He gave up five total hits, all in the second inning.
Down 6-5, the Bearcats scored three in the fourth behind RBI hits from Ian Westlind and Hagler. They ran away with it by scoring six in the fifth inning, aided by some errors and a three-run double by S. Freund.
Hagler hit a two-run single in the bottom of the sixth. After he got walked off as a pitcher in the first game of the day, he recorded a walk-off as a hitter in the second game. He went 3-for-4 with a walk to lead a 14-hit performance for North Star.
The Bearcats advanced to Wednesday’s region championship at 3 p.m. Wednesday, where they will need to beat Bottineau twice.
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