Photo by Noah Clooten
CANDO — The Devils Lake B team just continues to play resilient, unrelenting baseball.
On Wednesday, the Storm found themselves in perhaps their stickiest situation yet. They trailed for the majority of the first five innings, and found themselves down 4-1 at a rain delay.
But they fought. Once again, they fought. They scored four runs in the sixth inning to take the lead, which they relinquished before ultimately scratching out a run in the seventh to conquer the game, 7-6.
“The roller coaster of emotions, just gotta keep those in check,” Devils Lake head coach Eric Nygaard said. “And I thought our kids handled themselves very well.”
Hank Bodine set down the first three for Velva. But after he issued a leadoff walk to Cayden McCarthy in the second, and fell behind 2-1 on Jaxon Strong. Velva made a change despite Bodine only being at 49 pitches for the tournament. Reliever Mason Kraft, who was already over 90 pitches for the tournament, walked Finley Wirth but got out of the inning.
Strong got the start on the mound for Devils Lake. He pitched a perfect first inning, but walked the first batter in the second, leading to the game’s first run. An RBI double put Velva up 1-0. Strong retired the next three to limit the damage.
Ben Brodina recorded Devils Lake’s first hit with a one-out single in the third. Tayven Wiberg followed with a double into the right field corner putting two in scoring position.
Kraft recorded a huge strikeout of his last name counterpart, Easton Kraft, for the second out. But a lackadaisical passed ball allowed Brodina to run home with the tying run. The passed ball was enormous, as McCarthy also struck out. But it was a brand new ballgame at 1-1.
Devils Lake couldn’t keep it tied long, though. Four hits, including two doubles, jolted Velva ahead 4-1 with three runs in the bottom of the third.
Just as the runs started to pour on, so did the rain, and the game had to enter a delay. It lasted for roughly half an hour, with all the fans and players standing around in anticipation of the contest’s return.
When the drizzle stopped, and play returned, Devils Lake couldn’t capitalize on a Wirth single in the top of the fourth. Strong stayed on the mound and issued a two-out hit by pitch, but put up a zero of his own.
Brodina and Wiberg drew back-to-back walks in the fifth. The Storm didn’t record any hits in the inning, but Brodina executed a steal of home to trim Devils Lake’s deficit to 4-2.
“That wasn’t from me. That was all on him,” Nygaard said of the steal. “Evidently, he must have caught something where he just lobbed the ball back. But yeah, that was totally on him.”
With the outs ticking away in the sixth, Wirth singled and reached base for the third time on the day. Isaac Woodhull and Alex Hammond kept the inning alive with two-out hits — loading the bases for Brodina in one of the team’s biggest moments of this season.
An 0-2 pitch hit Brodina on the foot. It took him to second to register what had happened, but he once he realized, he looked towards the dugout in excitement and sprinted down to first. It was a one-run game.
Velva changed pitchers again. But one of the first pitches got away for a wild pitch, and the tying run came home. Then Wiberg put the cherry on top with a line-drive single to left-center field. It brought in two runs, putting Devils Lake ahead 6-4.
It was another massive momentum shift for this relentless team.
“I thought the energy level was pretty good throughout the whole game,” Nygaard said. “I thought our whole team contributed today.”
But the Storm came out sluggish in the bottom half. A leadoff single, an errant pickoff throw and an infield hit — where they were too slow to cover first — put runners on the corners with nobody out. The back runner stole second, putting the tying runs in scoring position.
And the next batter promptly singled. Strong was still pitching. Just as quickly as Devils Lake had flipped the script, Velva tied it back up. After all that, it was a 6-6 game.
Riley Brenno-Quale, who’d been doing the catching duties, pinch-hit for McCarthy to lead off the seventh. And he singled.
“Cayden was struggling with the bat a little bit, and I just thought, Riley hasn’t really hit the whole tournament and we’ve DH’ed for him,” Nygaard said. “I just thought maybe his nerves were a little more relaxed.”
Brenno-Quale advanced to second on a wild pitch, and then Strong hit a soft roller in the perfect place past the pitcher for an infield hit. Runners were on the corners with nobody out.
The go-ahead run came home on a fielder’s choice. So Devils Lake reclaimed the lead, 7-6, and sent Strong back out to the mound to finish it out.
Strong got the final three outs in order, including a reaching catch over the fence in foul territory by Kraft. The Devils Lake players erupted with glory as they got to stay on the field and play another game, against Cando Post 79, rather than go home right away.
Cando is the only team that’s beaten Devils Lake in this tournament.
“They’re tough. They’re a good team,” Nygaard said. “We’re gonna try our best. We’re gonna play Storm baseball, and just ride that roller coaster of emotions and keep it in check.”
