WILLISTON — Ben Larson didn’t exactly make it easy.
There wasn’t a still heart in the crowd up until Larson’s 108th and final pitch.
“See, that’s the reason I have gray hair, is outings like that,” Devils Lake coach Eric Nygaard said.
Larson dealt with baserunners in each of the first six innings. He walked five batters and hit another. The Jets recorded a hit in each of the first four innings.
But the super-senior Larson, with the help of some sparkling defense from Will Heilman and Mason Palmer, managed to record 21 outs while surpassing the single-day maximum pitch count. He allowed just one run as East No. 1 seed Devils Lake (29-7) won 2-1 over East No. 3 seed Fargo Post 2 (26-12) at Ardean Aafedt Stadium in Williston on Friday. It was the 16th consecutive win for the Storm, who stayed in the winners’ bracket through two games of the Class A Legion state tournament.
“So amazing,” Larson said. “I knew I had to come out and at least compete. I didn’t know I was gonna be throwing this many pitches, but I was glad I got to get the job done.”
Larson only struck out three, two of which came in the seventh inning. But he limited the Jets to four hits, with none after the fourth inning. He never allowed a hit with a runner in scoring position.
“I was talking to a lot of my teammates; a lot of them were saying stuff like, ‘Why do the pitchers always got to be like trying to be so dominant on the mound, trying to be like MLB pitchers, trying to strike everyone out? Why can’t they just make the batters hit the pitchers’ pitches? Like, why can’t they just do that?’” Larson said. “So that was kind of my approach going in, trying not to overpower everyone. Make them just ground out, swing into outs.”
Larson hadn’t pitched since July 17 against Park River Post 147. Devils Lake only used three pitchers in the region tournament: Heilman, Palmer and Cayden McCarthy, none of whom have pitched yet in the state tournament.
“I’m glad we still have them going into these next games,” Larson said. “And hopefully we can win the whole thing.”
Larson struck out Jets leadoff hitter Cole Stimpson to start the game. He wouldn’t strike out another batter until the seventh inning.
He worked around a one-out single to begin the game with a scoreless half-inning.
Devils Lake got back-to-back singles from the Palmers in the bottom of the first. Those turned out to be half of the Storm’s hits all afternoon.
Heilman hit a tailor-made double play ball, but Devils Lake caught a break on a throwing error at shortstop. It gave the Storm a 1-0 lead. One batter later, though, Fausten Olson bunted into a 2-3 double play that ended the rally.
Then a pitchers’ duel commenced between Larson and Post 2 lefty George Giobres. Larson worked around a one-out double in the second inning. He hit the No. 9 batter in the third — only for Heilman to record his first of two pickoffs, nabbing a runner at first base from behind the plate.
“We always say, ‘Let’s look for another out,’” Nygaard said. “So Willie saw it and threw strikes. That was awesome.”
But Larson continued to find himself in traffic jams. He walked the first two batters in the top of the fourth. Then a bunt single loaded the bases with nobody out.
“I had to really dial it in,” Larson said. “Around then, I could kind of tell that my arm was slowing down. So I had to find a new release point, kind of figure stuff out.”
Larson induced a fly ball to right field, which was just barely deep enough to bring in the tying run.
He got another shallow fly ball, this time to Olson in center, which was too shallow for the runner to try tagging up. Larson was able to limit the damage to one run.
Tied 1-1, the Storm recorded their third and fourth — and final — hits of the evening. Like in the first inning, they were back-to-back singles. Heilman got a hit, and Lakin Ronningen ran for him. Ronningen stole second and advanced to third on an errant pickoff throw.
Olson couldn’t get a bunt down. But as often happens with the super-senior outfielder, he worked the count and found a way to get a hit anyway. Olson won a nine-pitch battle, lining a go-ahead single into right-center field.
“On a natural grass field like this, there’s a big lift there, too, so it plays against what we’ve been trying to teach them,” Nygaard said. “But he grinded out that at-bat. You could see every pitch, his approach was a little bit different.”
Devils Lake retook the lead, 2-1.
Giobres retired the final nine Devils Lake batters he faced.
Larson navigated a walk in the fifth inning. He navigated two more in the sixth — one of which was negated by Heilman’s second pickoff. Heilman pumped his fists and celebrated before squatting back into position.
“He definitely saved my butt. It was awesome,” Larson said. “So glad I could have him back there. He really showed up for us today.”
The frame ended with an even bigger buzz of jubilance. Palmer fielded a ground ball deep in the hole, moving to his right, and fired a strike to first base. He, too, enjoyed the moment thereafter. And his teammates were just as ecstatic as he was.
“I’ve never seen anything like it. I’m surprised he’s not going D-I somewhere,” Larson said of Palmer, who’s committed to Division-II Jamestown. “That was really amazing to see.”
Added Nygaard: “You don’t see many high school kids make a play like that.”
Larson went into the seventh inning at 91 pitches. Legion rules state that a pitcher cannot start a new at-bat after throwing 105. Larson said he was aware of his pitch count.
Larson recorded back-to-back looking strikeouts to start the inning. There was a foul ball that nearly had home-run distance, and he fell behind 3-1 on Stimpson, but he collected his second and third strikeouts of the night, nonetheless.
He was at 100 pitches with one out to get.
“Striking out those first two batters in the seventh inning was a relief, knowing I could actually finish this last guy,” Larson said.
It took another 3-2 battle to finish the job. Isaac Mosbrucker, after eight pitches, flew out to Olson in center.
Larson could finally breathe.
“I really had to just dial it in, throw strikes,” he said.
Devils Lake advanced to a Saturday game at 5:30 p.m. against Valley City Post 60.
Other scores from Friday in Williston
Kindred 10, Minot Metros 3 (losers’ bracket)
Williston Oilers 5, Bismarck Senators 2 (losers’ bracket)
Valley City 3, Casselton 2 (winners’ bracket)