FARGO — Cayden McCarthy threw Devils Lake’s 20th consecutive zero.
After working through some early traffic, the Storm right-hander didn’t allow a hit beyond the fourth inning. He ended up throwing a complete-game shutout on 90 pitches to help No. 1 seed Devils Lake (27-7) win 3-0 over No. 7 seed Casselton Post 15 (17-16) on Saturday at Starion Bank Field.
The Storm won the Class A East championship.
“That was the goal at the start of the year, to get that one and then win state,” McCarthy said. “So it felt pretty good. One step closer.”
McCarthy pitched Devils Lake’s third consecutive shutout.
Will Heilman, Mason Palmer and McCarthy combined for 20 scoreless innings in the region tournament over three days.
Coach Eric Nygaard has mentioned the upward trend of the pitching staff lately. But even he wasn’t expecting this level of dominance.
“Our defense is so good, too. I don’t know if I say much about our defense,” Nygaard said. “But we’ve got some good outfielders. We’ve got some guys that have been at those positions all summer, and I think pitchers trust them, too. So it’s awesome to see that.”
One of those outfielders’ efforts was on full display in the sixth inning. Super-senior Fausten Olson, Devils Lake’s ever-reliable center fielder, sprinted towards a fly ball in right-center with two outs in the top of the sixth. He dove, tumbling onto the grass.
“I was expecting to catch it, and then it kind of just died on me,” Olson said. “And I figured I’ve got to catch this ball. I can’t let it drop. So I put a little extra effort in there.”
From a distance, it wasn’t obvious whether Olson corralled it. But he stood up and raised the ball in the air, signifying that it was, in fact, a catch.
“Oh, man, that was great,” McCarthy said. “It kept those 1-2-3 innings going. Definitely saved it.”
Casselton’s best chance at scoring — for that matter, any team’s best shot at scoring on Devils Lake in this tournament — came in the first inning. McCarthy had gotten the first two outs, but back-to-back singles and a hit by pitch loaded the bases.
It was enough to prompt a mound visit from Nygaard.
“Sometimes it’s hard to get him in the groove,” Nygaard said. “In that first one or two innings, we were trying to get his pitch locations.”
Whatever Nygaard said to McCarthy in the huddle, it worked, as McCarthy quickly got ahead 0-2 on the next batter. He broke out his curveball to record his first punchout of the evening, stranding the bases loaded.
McCarthy allowed a leadoff walk in the second inning and a leadoff single in the third. Ground balls largely helped him get out of both situations, with a 6-3 double play in the second and three straight grounders in the third.
“Kept listening to Skip and where he wanted to put it,” McCarthy said. “And it worked.”
McCarthy navigated two baserunners in the fourth, ending the frame with his second strikeout.
After waiting through a three-run bottom of the fourth where Devils Lake got an RBI single from Olson and an RBI groundout from Hunter Remmick, McCarthy returned to the mound for the fifth. He achieved his first 1-2-3 inning of the night, adding another strikeout in the process.
At this point, McCarthy was fully dialed in.
“The first inning was a little shaky, and then I found out I wasn’t using my back leg as much, so I was throwing a lot slower,” McCarthy said. “But then I started using my back leg, and I was throwing it harder and blowing it by them.”
McCarthy retired nine batters in a row from the fourth into the seventh, striking out four in that span. He’d only had two strikeouts before that stretch.
He was one strike away from retiring the final 10 batters of the night. But a 3-2 walk extended the game.
McCarthy kept pounding the zone and ended the contest with his sixth strikeout.
He allowed four hits, three walks and one hit batsman on the night. Sixty of his 90 pitches went for strikes.
“He had that rough couple of innings, and then we started to find out what [pitch] he’d like to throw. So we just kept throwing that pitch,” Nygaard said. “We threw that so often in the later half of the game. So it was pretty cool.”
Much like McCarthy’s outing on Saturday, his season has gotten better as it’s gone on. Saturday’s outing lowered his ERA to 2.68 in 37 innings this summer. He’s collected 39 strikeouts.
McCarthy said the key has been “just confidence, really, knowing I can blow it by them and have the team behind me and everything.”
The pitchers have also developed a comfortable rapport with Nygaard. This is Nygaard’s second straight summer coaching the A team, though he’s had a more significant role on the staff this summer after Brent Luehring moved down to coach one of the younger levels.
The team’s summer ERA was 4.90 coming into this tournament, after it had been above 6.00 just a few weeks ago. With these 20 scoreless innings, it is now 4.44.
“Our pitching staff’s been great,” McCarthy said. “Skip’s been throwing it where he wants it and everything, and we’ve just done what he wanted. So credit to him.”
The Storm will try to keep posting zeros in Williston on Thursday.
First, they’re going to appreciate what they’ve accomplished here.
“I think we’re gonna enjoy this part of it,” Nygaard said. “We’re trying to write their own story. And this is the next chapter. And we’re gonna come back on Monday and we’re gonna start writing that chapter. So it’s fun to see these boys just being awesome.”