Park River Area needed to win two games over Langdon Area/Munich in the regional finals just to make the state tournament.
After a bonkers 4-3 victory in nine innings over Park River in the Region 4 semis, the Cardinals were in the driver’s seat on their home field. But pitching became scarce for the Cardinals on that final day, and Park River ended up beating them twice on May 22 — 11-5 and 10-9 — to clinch a state appearance for the second consecutive year.
Surely, that must have been a deflating feeling for LA/M.
But little did the Cardinals know, at the time, that they lost to the eventual state champions.
Park River won its fourth state B baseball title last weekend at Jack Brown Stadium in Jamestown. It was the Aggies’ first state championship since a string of three in a row from 2017 to 2019.
It was Park River’s sixth state appearance overall, all coming since 2016.
The Park River team has some Devils Lake ties, too. Head coach Brett Omdahl is a brother-in-law of Devils Lake boys’ basketball coach Dustin Brodina, and his sons, star players Tucker and Jaxon Omdahl, are first cousins of the four Devils Lake Brodina kids.
It was those Omdahls who led Park River to the championship game.
Tucker, a senior, was dominant in an 11-1 quarterfinal win over Shiloh Christian on May 28. He struck out 11 and allowed just one unearned run on three hits in six innings. The No. 2-seeded Aggies had a slim 3-1 lead through five innings, but they put it away with an eight-run sixth.
The next day was Jaxon’s to shine. Like Tucker, the sophomore struck out 11 and allowed only one unearned run. He permitted just two hits in a 9-1 victory over three-time defending state champion, No. 3-seeded Thompson.
It was a strong bounceback from the region tournament, where Jaxon dominated LA/M for six innings but gave up back-to-back homers to tie the game.
The Aggies got their scoring done early this time, with four in the first and two in the second.
Then they had to contend with No. 1 seed Kindred in the championship on May 30.
Park River pulled out a rainy 9-2 victory to get the job done.
T. Omdahl and Ben Schatz each had an RBI double in a three-run first inning. The Aggies scratched out two more in the second and broke it open with four in the fifth, aided by a series of free passes and wild pitches. J. Omdahl went 3-for-3 with a walk out of the leadoff spot.
Senior Jacob Solseng struck out 11 and allowed two unearned runs over 6 2/3 innings.
Park River did not allow an earned run all tournament.
“Great group of boys persevering in moments of adversity and accomplishing a goal that we set at the beginning of the season,” Coach Omdahl told The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead after the win.
Elsewhere in the bracket, Thompson took third place over Velva-Drake/Anamoose, Des Lacs-Burlington took fifth over Shiloh Christian and LaMoure/Litchville-Marion/Edgeley won the seventh-place game over Bottineau.
Area teams North Star, Nelson County/Midkota, New Rockford-Sheyenne and LA/M were all eliminated in their respective region tournaments.
Despite not making state, LA/M’s Theo Romfo was named the Class B Baseball Senior Athlete of the Year. During the regular season, Romfo hit .511 with four home runs and didn’t allow an earned run in 22 innings. In the Cardinals’ region tournament win over Park River, Romfo allowed three runs (one earned) over seven innings while striking out five.
Kindred’s Scott Milbrant was named the Class B Baseball Coach of the Year.
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