WILLISTON — Devils Lake had about 25 minutes to figure out how to avoid the same fate as last year.
Coming into Monday, it almost seemed too perfect. The Storm had won 18 in a row, and they had their ace, Mason Palmer, ready to go on the mound. Surely it wouldn’t be that easy, right?
It wasn’t.
Devils Lake lost 3-1 to extend a windy, rainy, chilly day at Ardean Aafedt Stadium in Williston. It was the Storm’s first loss of the Class A Legion state tournament, ending their 18-game winning streak.
“As soon as that scoreboard wipes everything off, our memories are wiped as well,” Devils Lake super-senior Ben Larson said. “We forget everything that just happened, and we go out and we play like we can.”
The Storm players grabbed some water and fielded ground balls while those in attendance rushed to their cars for warmer attire. Then it was right back at ‘em, playing a winner-take-all state title game against defending champion Fargo Post 2 (29-13).
Behind some timely hits in the fifth and sixth inning, the Storm (32-8) got it done. Devils Lake took down the Jets 8-4 and won the 2026 Class A Legion state title, the program’s first state championship since back-to-back trophies in 1983 and 1984.
“Absolutely awesome,” Devils Lake coach Eric Nygaard said. “In the first game, we…just couldn’t come up with that key hit. But hats off to Fargo. … They’re a tough team. They’re well-coached. They’re very disciplined. And the tradition there — it’s actually really fun to see us compete against a team like that.”
Championship Game 1: Jets 3, Storm 1
The thing that plagued Devils Lake in the opener was hitting with runners in scoring position.
Palmer started out shakily on the mound but settled in to give a strong outing. He gave up a run before recording any outs, opening the game with a walk and back-to-back singles. Fargo scratched out a run on a fielder’s choice and then capitalized on an error with an 0-2 RBI single in the second inning.
The Storm came out in a 3-0 hole. They committed an error in each of the first three innings. It wasn’t going well. The Jets looked like a team that had come to play.
“I think there was some nerves getting used to the mound,” Palmer said. “They got some good hits on the board. Nothing was just going our way, really, in the first game.”
Palmer started to land his curveball more consistently in the fourth inning, and he cruised the rest of the way. He retired 13 in a row at one point. The only baserunner against him in the final four innings was a two-out walk in the seventh. After not striking out any of the first 11 batters, he collected eight punchouts on the afternoon.
Palmer limited Fargo to two earned runs on five hits and two walks.
But runs for Devils Lake were hard to come by. The Storm had at least one baserunner in every inning, six of which they had a runner on second. Their only run scored on a Cayden McCarthy RBI groundout in the fourth inning after three hit batsmen loaded the bases.
Post 2 right-hander Will Ehli gave a gutsy outing, throwing 106 pitches over 6 1/3 innings. He’d already thrown 66 pitches in the tournament. He only struck out two batters while working around seven hits and two walks.
Devils Lake had second and third with one out in the sixth and couldn’t cash in.
With two more baserunners in the seventh, the Jets brought in Sam Maughan to get Will Heilman to ground into a game-ending double play. Everyone on Devils Lake’s side shook their heads in frustration and got right into the reset for the next game.
Championship Game 2: Storm 8, Jets 4
The faint yell of “Come on, boys!” could be heard as Devils Lake prepared for its final game of the summer. The players were loose and energetic on the sideline.
The Storm came out with much better mojo in this one. Hunter Remmick worked around a leadoff walk to put a zero on the board, and Palmer smacked a two-run homer in the bottom of the first. Devils Lake had a quick 2-0 lead.
“I think that sparked a fire under our butts,” Palmer said.
Remmick hadn’t pitched since July 15. He’s had to navigate his health since late spring. But the super-senior has been a big-game pitcher on this crew for years.
He walked the first hitter in each of the first three innings, including the first two in the second. He collected five strikeouts through the first two innings to keep the Jets off the board.
Fargo’s first hit was a near-homer for Isaac Mosbrucker in the third inning. It bounced off the wall to put runners on second and third. Remmick limited the damage to one run on a groundout.
Devils Lake’s lead was still a slim 2-1.
But the Storm got what looked like insurance in the bottom of the fifth.
McCarthy and Ben Brodina both drew 3-2 counts and got on base. The ever-reliable Taydon Triepke lined a 3-2 single up the middle, and Max Palmer added his own RBI hit to make it 4-1.
Triepke went 4-for-4 in the final game of his career.
“Just swing at good pitches,” Triepke said. “Keep my eye on it, and drive it the other way.”
With second and third and still nobody out, though, the Storm couldn’t add on. And it momentarily cost them.
Remmick threw a gritty five innings, but he was done after 102 pitches, just 52 of which were strikes. He struck out six and walked six while only allowing one hit.
“It was getting really slippery. My cleats were full of mud,” Remmick said. “And the ball was getting slippery. I’d ask for a new ball. … But powered through it. Walked more people than I wanted to, but it was fine.”
Devils Lake brought in Tayven Wiberg for his second pitching performance of the tournament. He hit the first two batters he faced.
Bo Purdy smacked an RBI single to chip into Devils Lake’s lead. With second and third, Wiberg got a huge strikeout for the second out, but Cole Stimpson blooped a two-out, two-run hit into center.
It was all tied up again, 4-4.
Then, for the second straight inning, the bottom of Devils Lake’s lineup got something going. Facing a new pitcher after Caleb Dahl went the first five, Brody Rainsberry and McCarthy reached with a single and a walk, respectively.
Brodina had an enormous at-bat out of the nine-hole, muscling a single to right-center. The Storm bench exploded in celebration of Brodina’s second hit of the game and tournament, giving them a 5-4 lead.
Devils Lake added extra insurance on yet another RBI single from Triepke and a two-out, two-run single by Heilman after the Jets had intentionally walked Mason Palmer.
All of a sudden, the Storm had an 8-4 lead with three outs to get.
“It was awesome. That was like the hypest I’ve been in a while,” Remmick said. “And I love seeing the boys succeed.”
The Storm went to their senior stopper, Triepke, who didn’t get a lot of innings this summer. But the Triepke of old showed up. It took him two pitches to get two outs, with a lineout to Mason Palmer and a lineout to Larson.
The game ended on a popup to the tournament MVP, Palmer, who raised his arms and leapt in the air after making the game-ending catch. A flood of Storm players erupted from the bench. Hugs, fist bumps and roars were exchanged as Devils Lake cherished something it hadn’t achieved this century: a baseball state championship.
“It feels unreal,” Palmer said. “We worked all year for this, and it finally happened. I mean, I couldn’t be prouder of the team. I couldn’t be prouder of the way we played today — the second game, of course. But yeah, it all came to pass. All the hard work we put in, it paid off.”