BOTTINEAU — The pendulum swung both ways quite a few times in Wednesday’s finale.
No. 1 seed Devils Lake and No. 3 seed Cando Post 79, each playing its second game of the day, squared off in a high-octane battle for a spot in Thursday’s District 3 Legion baseball championship. In the end, Devils Lake (22-9) capitalized on five Cando errors to win 15-12 at the Lumberyard and end the Bearcats’ summer with a record of 10-10.
The Storm totaled 14 hits.
“Like I said earlier, just putting the ball in play and benefiting on other teams’ mistakes, that’s how we score a lot of our runs,” Devils Lake head coach Parker Schmid said. “And hopefully we can do that [Thursday].”
Devils Lake made three errors of its own and survived a 12-hit attack by the Bearcats.
Each team put up two runs in the first inning. JD DuPreez tagged Mack Elsperger for a two-run single, and the Storm responded with two against Ian Westlind via an RBI groundout by Henley Driessen and a wild pitch.
The Storm jumped ahead with three runs in the second inning. Andrew Hammond tapped a bloop RBI single to give Devils Lake the lead, taking advantage of an error earlier in the inning.
With runners on the corners, Devils Lake pulled off a double steal. Kitson Beck scored after Hammond got caught in a rundown between first and second.
“I just figured [Beck]’s fast, and that pitcher had a high leg kick,” Schmid said. “I was like, ‘Time it up, and hopefully get something going,’ and it worked out.”
Driessen cranked an RBI double to extend the lead to 5-2. It was another burst of loud contact for Driessen.
“It’s a good time for him to get hot,” Schmid said.
But Cando wasn’t just going to fold. Hunter Hagler and Alec Peyerl drew back-to-back walks to lead off the third, and RBI singles from DuPreez and Sutton Larson cut the lead to 5-4.
Cando likely would have had more if not for a line-drive double play that benefited Devils Lake.
Still, the Bearcats tied it an inning later on a “Little League home run” by Westlind, who tripled and scored on an error.
But Westlind ran out of gas on the mound. He issued three straight walks in the bottom of the fourth and came out in a 4-4 tie, having thrown 76 pitches to finish with 119 for the tournament.
Devils Lake regained the lead on an error at shortstop, then added two on a long single by Talan Gregory. John Molina blooped an infield single to load the bases, and Isaac Kraft added an RBI fielder’s choice to make it a four-run inning that gave the Storm a 9-5 lead.
Cando gifted Devils Lake another run in the fifth inning. With two outs, Easton Kraft singled and advanced two bases on a left-field error. Jaxon Strong came up clutch by lining an RBI single.
Down 10-5, the top of Cando’s order rallied against Elsperger in the sixth. Hagler cranked one that nearly left the yard, settling for a deep RBI double. Peyerl added an RBI single to keep the Bearcats close, down 10-7.
For the umpteenth time in this game, Devils Lake appeared to put it away comfortably in the bottom of the sixth. Facing reliever Levi Borstad, the Storm rallied for five insurance runs. Isaac Kraft, who’d been the only starter without a hit, smacked an RBI triple and later scored on a throwing error by Westlind, who’d moved to catcher.
Cando later intentionally walked Easton Kraft to load the bases. It didn’t work. Strong, after going down 0-2 in the count, lined his second RBI single of the game into left field. Like deja vu from the previous inning, a two-base error made it extra costly, allowing two more runs to score.
Three scored on the play to make it 15-7 with three outs to go.
Elsperger, who’d grinded through 107 pitches over six innings, stayed out for the seventh. He exited after 6 1/3 innings with two runners on. He threw 119 according to the press box and 120 according to GameChanger. Despite allowing nine runs on 10 hits and five walks, it was a resilient outing for him to give Devils Lake the amount of length that he did. He struck out eight batters.
“That really helped, especially with [Thursday],” Schmid said. “Now we’ve got hopefully a couple more pitchers that can go out there and throw strikes like he did today.”
Lefty Jacob Shock entered to get the final two outs. The heart of Cando’s order refused to end its season quietly. Westlind hit an RBI single past shortstop, and Peyerl tagged a three-run triple.
An error at shortstop added another.
All of this happened with two outs.
It was 15-12, with a miraculous comeback suddenly not unrealistic for the Bearcats.
But Shock settled down and got the out he needed to end an ugly but nonetheless satisfying win for the Storm, who advanced to Thursday to play No. 2 seed Velva.
“They’re gonna put the ball in play,” Schmid said of the 39ers, “and we’ve got to figure out how to field it. Hopefully eliminate errors, mental errors, physical errors.”
Devils Lake needs to beat Velva twice to make it to state. First pitch is set for 1:30 p.m. Thursday.
“We can’t come out [Thursday] like we did in this game,” Schmid said. “It’s a lot more free, a lot more energetic, not as tight, not as tense. Hopefully, we can just be loose and play our own game.”