Photo via Brent Luehring
The Devils Lake A team had about as good a performance as it’s possible to have in a tournament this past weekend.
The Storm (20-7) won the First State Bank & Trust Classic with a 4-0 showing over four games in Williston. Remarkably, they were fueled by a pair of 12-run innings, along with an outstanding pitching performance from Will Heilman — just two of the many things that went right for Devils Lake this weekend.
Mason Palmer took home the tournament MVP, while Jackson Baeth won the offensive MVP and Heilman won the defensive MVP.
Game 1: Devils Lake Storm 8, Williston Oilers 1
To start things off on Friday, the Storm were led by a strong outing from right-hander Cayden McCarthy.
It’s particularly noteworthy for McCarthy, who hadn’t taken the mound for the A team yet this summer. Though he often travels with both the A and B teams, he’d been primarily pitching for the B team until this past weekend. Not only that, but he’d been struggling. Control has been an issue for him, getting in the way of the otherwise-good arm he possesses.
But, similar to the strong outings he had at the beginning of the varsity season, he put forth a really good performance on Friday.
McCarthy allowed just one run in 6 2/3 innings, striking out eight and limiting his walks to three. He surrendered only two hits.
Palmer reached base three times, with a double, a single and a walk. Ben Larson and Fausten Olson also recorded two hits each. Three insurance runs in the seventh inning, along with four Oilers errors, helped the Storm comfortably wrap up the win.
Game 2: Devils Lake Storm 13, Burlington Bulldogs 1
The Storm continued on to the first of two games on Saturday, where an absurd 12-run second inning gave them everything they needed to secure a victory.
Recording RBI hits in the marathon inning were the red-hot Hunter Remmick, Heilman, Olson, Max Palmer and Beau Brodina — not to mention a three-run triple from Taydon Triepke.
They only scored one run after that — which came from Max Palmer’s second RBI hit — but it didn’t matter, as Larson held things firmly in check on the mound. He didn’t allow a run through the first four innings, then allowed one in the final frame as the game came to an end in five innings. He permitted six hits and four walks, and only struck out one, but he contained the Bulldogs’ offense in the run column.
Game 3: Devils Lake Storm 13, Post 49 Bulls 5
Devils Lake was actually losing this game 4-0 in the third inning.
Remmick got the start on the hill this time, and he had a much different type of outing than he’s accustomed to. Remmick has often been successful through inducing soft contact. He didn’t have his best performance, allowing five runs (three earned) in 4 1/3 innings — yet he struck out eight.
A two-run double and a passed ball brought in three runs for the Bulls in the third, giving them that four-run lead.
Devils Lake got one back in the bottom half, capitalizing on an error as Mason Palmer hit a two-out RBI single. But the Storm still trailed 4-1.
Remmick kept Post 49 off the board in the fourth, but a double and an error by Heilman led to another Bulls run in the fifth. The Storm committed three errors in the game.
Then the bottom of the fifth happened.
In an outburst that would make anyone have to do a double take at the box score, Devils Lake put up its second 12-run inning of the day. And perhaps it could have scored even more — the game was finally called after the Storm reached a dozen runs in the frame.
The inning actually started with Heilman making an out. And it was, remember, a 5-1 Post 49 lead at that point. The next three reached, and Mason Palmer hit a sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 5-3.
The Storm were still down by two with two outs and a runner on third.
But the wheels just kept on spinning. Baeth hit an RBI single, and then Post 49 issued four consecutive free passes, including two hit batsmen. Remmick was hit to tie the game, and Heilman walked to drive in the go-ahead run. Olson added a three-run double to blow it open. There were passed balls and errors galore, and Mason Palmer just rubbed the wound deeper with a two-run single.
So the inning, which started with Devils Lake trailing by four, ended with Devils Lake winning by mercy rule.
The Storm combined to score 26 runs in nine innings of batting between Saturday’s two games. Bizarrely, 24 of those runs came within the span of two innings. They only scored two total runs in the remaining seven innings. In any case, they cruised on to a third straight win.
Game 4: Devils Lake Storm 6, Post 320 Shooters 0
The final day of the tournament, on Sunday, was less about the offense and more about Heilman.
The right-hander, who recently finished his freshman season, threw a one-hit, complete-game masterpiece. He struck out five and walked just one (which was an intentional walk, helping Heilman navigate an error that had been made earlier in the third inning).
Heilman had a no-hitter going until two outs in the bottom of the sixth, when the Shooters finally recorded a single. He set them down 1-2-3 in the seventh, finishing off an utterly dominant performance.
The timing is noteworthy with Heilman, too, given his family ties and the MLB draft going on this week. The draft began Sunday evening, shortly after Heilman’s performance, and continued into Monday with Heilman’s cousin Drew Rerick very likely to get picked somewhere near the fifth round. Rerick was the best pitcher in North Dakota this year, and one of the best high school pitchers in the country. Heilman is still young, and has hit for Devils Lake a lot more than he’s pitched, but it’s interesting nonetheless that he displayed his prowess on the mound right before his cousin gets drafted as a pitcher.
Alas, the offense’s 12-run inning streak ended at two games, but a three-run fourth inning was enough to give the team plenty of breathing room with the way Heilman was pitching. Baeth had a big day at the plate, going 3-for-5 with a double and three RBIs. Catcher Trason Beck also continued his strong summer with two hits and two RBIs, and Brodina had a typically productive performance out of the leadoff spot with three walks.
It was a complete performance all around for this Devils Lake squad all weekend. The team was clicking with both the bats and the arms, which hasn’t always been the case, even in many of its wins.
A showing like this should give this team plenty of confidence heading into the final week of regular season games. Devils Lake plays the West Fargo Vets on the road Tuesday, before completing the regular summer season against Thompson Post 181 at home on Friday.
The regional tournament begins the following Wednesday.
