FARGO — For the first three innings, Devils Lake couldn’t really figure out Casselton right-hander Carver Kasowski.
The first five batters went down in order. One time through the lineup, a Ben Larson single was the Storm’s only hit. They got two on in the third, but they left them on the corners.
It was a 0-0 game going into the bottom of the fourth in the Class A East championship at Starion Bank Field on Saturday.
“I thought, ‘Why are we so late? Why are we pounding the ball in the dirt?’” Storm coach Eric Nygaard said. “It dawned on me: We played till 11:00 [Friday] night. And it was hot. It was a long day. Sometimes we just get a little drawn out, looking for a base hit.”
Cleanup hitter Will Heilman got something going, leading off the bottom of the fourth with a double.
That brought up Fausten Olson.
Despite owning an OBP around .400, Olson was in bunt mode. After all, runs had been hard to come by. Devils Lake was playing for one run, conceding an out while trying to get Heilman to third base.
On the first pitch, Olson tried to bunt it down the third-base line. It looked promising at first, but it trickled foul.
“After I bunted the first one — and I thought it was gonna be good, so I really hustled there,” Olson said. “And then after that, I kind of just figured I’ve gotta protect. I’ve gotta find a way to get myself on the basepath.”
He tried another bunt. This time, it bounced at the plate.
Olson was living every hitter’s worst nightmare when trying to get a bunt down: an 0-2 count. There was no longer any wiggle room.
Olson said his focus now was “trying to keep it simple.”
Despite the non-ideal situation, Olson took a confident hack. He fouled another one off.
On Kasowski’s next 0-2 offering, Olson grounded it up the middle. It split the middle infielders and drove in Heilman, at last breaking the 0-0 tie.
Olson kept his swing level and compact.
“I changed my swing up the past couple days here,” he said. “I went no-stride, just trying to get my hands to the ball a little quicker because I’ve been late on a lot of things.”
It worked. Olson refused to let the two failed bunts or the 0-2 count faze him.
“Fausten is just grinding it out big-time,” Nygaard said. “And he’s been in that position before.”
Ben Larson was hit by a pitch — for the team-leading 12th time, in fact — which put Brody Rainsberry in a similar position as Olson. He, too, tried to get a bunt down.
And he, too, failed twice.
Rainsberry did take a ball first, but he fell into a 1-2 hole after his bunts went awry. Rainsberry had executed some successful bunts earlier in the tournament, but he couldn’t keep them fair this time. So, like Olson, he was left trying to do anything possible to work a productive at-bat.
Rainsberry ended up fouling off three more pitches before grounding one softly to the right side. He placed it perfectly, then ran it out for an infield hit.
And so now the bases were juiced.
“It was sweet,” Olson said.
Almost comically, Olson and Rainsberry went through the same progression: trying to get a bunt down, facing a two-strike count, and then getting a hit anyway.
“That’s their experience,” Nygaard said. “One thing about those two, I think they made some good adjustments with two strikes.”
Rainsberry also made similar tweaks to his swing as Olson did.
“Brody went to a no-stride,” Nygaard said. “We kind of talked about that in the dugout, is get rid of all that movement in your swing. Let the ball get to you. So it was fun to see that.”
With the bases loaded and nobody out, Devils Lake ended up cashing in two more runs. One was the direct result of a Hunter Remmick RBI groundout, and the other scored on some sloppiness by Casselton.
But it was Olson’s hit that got the scoring started. And Rainsberry’s hit that set the table for more damage.
The super-senior and senior, respectively, displayed their maturity in the box even when things didn’t go their way. They helped give Cayden McCarthy the run support he needed to comfortably make it through seven scoreless innings. Coincidentally or not, once McCarthy had that 3-0 lead, he settled in much more smoothly and cruised to the finish line.
Olson was all smiles after the game. When he patrols center field this weekend in Williston, it will be his last time playing competitive baseball. After not playing this spring, he’s soaking in the final ride as one of the oldest and most experienced kids on the team.
“It’s been a blast,” he said. “I wouldn’t change it for anything. Coming back to play with these guys, it’s just awesome.”
Olson said he’s confident the team can get it done in the state tournament that begins July 30. He noted that the East is a stronger division than the West — and Devils Lake’s pitchers still managed to go the entire region tournament without allowing a run.
“I feel great,” Olson said. “This team, we’re so together. And we play with each other so well. And we’ve been playing for so long that I trust every one of these guys, no matter. One through nine, everyone can do it.”