Fargo Shanley Deacons/Photo via NDHSAA
After Devils Lake narrowly missed out on making the Class A state baseball tournament, Fargo Shanley wound up winning the whole thing last weekend in Dickinson.
It was just the second state title for the Deacons. The first came in 2013. It ended a three-year title streak for West Fargo Sheyenne, which didn’t even make the state tournament this season.
Historically, Dickinson owns the most Class A baseball state titles with five. Devils Lake is yet to win one.
Shanley was seeded No. 1 and was the favorite to win. The Deacons were the preseason No. 1 in the EDC and never looked back. They went 22-5 overall.
Shanley was one of just two teams to sweep Devils Lake in a doubleheader this year. The Firebirds lost 5-1 and 6-3 to the Deacons all the way back on April 9. Devils Lake went on to win 11 of its next 12 games and establish itself as one of the better teams in the region. It entered the EDC tournament as the No. 4 seed, but took an exit in a state qualifier game against No. 7-seeded West Fargo Horace.
The Hawks, who took what would have been Devils Lake’s place, didn’t last long in the state tournament. They fell 11-1 in the first round to Bismarck Legacy, the top team from the WDA. The Sabers continued all the way to the state championship game, where they of course lost to Shanley.
Perhaps one of the best games of the tournament was the semifinal game between Shanley and Fargo Davies. The Eagles, as one might recall, are home to the highest-ranked baseball player in North Dakota, Drew Rerick. The projected Day 2 MLB draft pick battled with Devils Lake’s Mason Palmer in a thriller on May 14. And, getting his chance in the state tournament, he was once again the centerpiece of an intense contest.
Rerick threw a no-hitter in the EDC tournament to help his team get to state. Davies was the No. 3 seed from the EDC and beat Williston 6-4 to get to the state semifinal against Shanley.
The Eagles had the early advantage. They led 3-0 after three innings, and Rerick had collected four strikeouts through a trio of hitless innings.
But after issuing a leadoff walk in the fourth, Rerick finally surrendered a hit. It was a two-run homer to get Shanley back in it.
The score was stagnant at 3-2, in favor of Davies, until the bottom of the seventh. With Rerick looking to finish off the complete game and send his team to the state championship, Shanley loaded the bases on a walk, an error by the shortstop and a soft single. An RBI hit by pitch tied the game, and Shanley won on a walk-off single that was chopped over the third baseman’s head with the infield playing in. It was an unlucky inning for Rerick, and one that ended in heartbreak for Davies.
Shanley beat Legacy 11-6 in a high-scoring title game. It was a matchup that the Deacons largely controlled from the outset, however. They got started right away with a three-run first inning. After that, the lead was as narrow as 3-2 but as large as 10-2. Landon Meier went 3-for-4 with a home run, a double and a walk. Thomas Simon also homered in the win.
Davies lost in the third-place game by the same score as its loss to Shanley: 4-3. So Fargo North officially went down as the third-place winner. Devils Lake beat Fargo North 4-3 during the regular season.
Over in the losers’ bracket, Horace beat Mandan 9-3 but then lost to Minot 5-4. That made Minot the fifth-place team in the tournament.
Despite not making the state tournament, Devils Lake had one of its best seasons in the program’s history. It competed with many of the teams who were battling it out in Dickinson last weekend. The Firebirds picked up an EDC tournament win over Fargo South, then otherwise fell on the short end of a pair of back-and-forth games.
