DEVILS LAKE — The Devils Lake Storm B 18U faced off against the Williston Oilers 17U in a doubleheader Wednesday evening, June 10, at DLYA Field. The Storm triumphed in the first game with a 7-2 win, but couldn’t keep up in the second game, which the Oilers took 16-2 in five innings via run rule.
In the first game, Devils Lake got on the board in the bottom of the first inning after Jaxon Strong walked and Calvin Vilandre walked, scoring one run each. The Storm added another run in the second inning after Oilers pitcher Paxton Knudsvig balked, creating a 3-0 score. After a scoreless third inning, Williston got on the board in the top of the fourth after Carson Webber’s solo home run to left field. Devils Lake came out on top with a 7-2 win.
Lakin Ronningen started on the mound for the Storm, allowing four hits and two runs over six innings, striking out four and walking five.
Devils Lake head coach Parker Schmid praised Ronningen’s performance on the mound. “He threw quite a few strikes, walked a couple guys, but overall he just did the best he could and got a game for us, and that’s about all we could ask for,” he said.
Paxton Knudsvig, Hudson Finders and Brennan DeLorme pitched for the Oilers, allowing a combined seven hits, seven runs (all earned), three strikeouts and eight walks.
In the second game, Williston flipped the script against Devils Lake, scoring four runs in the top of the first inning. The Storm responded in the bottom of the first with a solo home run to left field by Mack Elsperger. The Oilers gathered four more runs in the next two innings, with Devils Lake scoring one run off an error, creating an 8-2 score. Williston piled up eight more runs in the top of the fourth inning, with an error scoring two of them, three singles scoring four runs and a walk adding one. After a scoreless fifth inning, the game concluded due to run rule with a score of 16-2.
Eli Lee earned the win for Williston, giving up three hits and two runs over three innings, striking out six and walking two. Jasper Leiphon started for Devils Lake, going for two innings and giving up six runs (five earned) on five hits, striking out three and walking four. The Oilers had 11 total hits and two errors, while Devils Lake had three hits and five errors.
When asked about what went wrong in the second game, Schmid explained that he wanted the younger players to get some reps.
“Some of them just haven’t had enough playing time yet,” he said. “So we’re just kind of working to get them more comfortable in that spot, and sometimes we made some mental errors, sometimes we made some physical errors, it just kind of happens. They’re just growing, getting better every day.”
The Devils Lake Storm B will play Hatton-Northwood Post 70 & Post 92 in the Robert Montgomery Memorial Tournament on Friday, June 12.
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