Photo courtesy of New Rockford Transcript
North Star and New Rockford-Sheyenne each reached the last day of its respective region tournament on Thursday.
Each team, though, took a loss, ending its season slightly short of the state tournament.
North Star suffered a similar fate last year. The Bearcats lost a huge group of talented seniors, but they still had a solid 8-6 season with a younger squad this season. The Rockets, meanwhile, made the state tournament last year and finished this season 12-11.
Both tournaments dealt with numerous weather postponements and adjustments.
In the Region 5 tournament, up in Bottineau, top-seeded Bottineau lost 11-1 to fourth-seeded Rugby on Tuesday. The Panthers ended up becoming the surprise winners of the tournament.
North Star won its first-round matchup handily, beating Harvey/Wells County 10-0. Levi Borstad threw five scoreless innings with four strikeouts. Hunter Hagler reached base three times and scored three runs. The Bearcats put up a five-spot in the second inning to take a 7-0 lead, and eventually won the game in five innings.
North Star and Rugby faced off on Wednesday, with the Panthers edging the Bearcats 9-8. North Star trailed 5-3 after five innings, then scored three in the sixth to take a 6-5 lead, aided by RBI singles from Brody Svir and Ian Westlind.
Hagler, after pitching 6 1/3 innings with five runs allowed, issued a one-out walk in the seventh and was pulled. He’d thrown 111 pitches. A series of walks and hit batsmen from Borstad allowed Rugby to take the lead, with two more coming in on a single. It was a four-spot for the Panthers, to take a 9-6 lead.
North Star got two back in the bottom of the seventh, both scoring on passed balls. The Bearcats stranded the potential tying run at third as they lost by one.
That moved North Star to an elimination game on Thursday. Top-seeded Bottineau kept its season alive with a 5-2 win that eliminated North Star, before the Braves eventually lost 9-2 to Rugby in the region championship.
J.D. DuPreez kept the Bearcats in it. He gave up two runs in the first inning but then put four straight zeroes up on the board. North Star scratched out a run in the third and the sixth innings, both coming in on RBI groundouts, to tie it at 2-2.
But Bottineau rallied for three in the bottom of the sixth to take the 5-2 lead that would hold after North Star stranded two runners in the seventh. The Bearcats’ season ended there.
In the Region 3 tournament, which ended up happening in Bismarck, third-seeded NR-S got things started with a win over second-seeded South Border on Wednesday, 9-4.
The Rockets trailed 3-0 after four innings but exploded for five in the fifth. They drew a whopping six walks amidst the rally. They cushioned their lead with four more in the seventh, aided by two errors and a two-run triple by Thomas Allmaras.
NR-S pitcher Skye Kramlich worked around the three-run third to otherwise give a strong performance. He allowed four runs on seven hits and three walks while striking out five.
The Rockets, fighting for another state tournament berth, had a grueling schedule on Thursday, having to play three games.
First, they lost 4-1 to No. 1-seeded LaMoure-Litchville/Marion. Easton Simon allowed four runs (two earned) in a complete-game loss while striking out five. The Rockets got a run in the first inning on an Alex Weisenburger RBI single — one of two hits from Weisenburger — but didn’t score again.
They went right back at it with a rematch against South Border. They won this one 7-5.
Simon, who threw a reasonable 83 pitches in the previous game, stayed in to pitch the first 2 2/3 innings in the next game. He allowed three runs (one earned) as the teams traded leads.
Down 4-2, the Rockets scored four in the sixth to take a 6-4 lead. Layton Jacobson had a single that turned into a run after an error by the pitcher. A series of walks and passed balls allowed NR-S to go in front.
Allmaras pitched the final 4 1/3 innings for the Rockets. He allowed two runs, both unearned, on two hits and one walk while striking out three.
So the Rockets stayed alive to the region championship game. But they ultimately ran out of gas in their third game of the day. They lost 13-3 to L/L-M (a school NR-S has come up with some big wins against in other sports this year).
Allmaras, who threw 73 pitches in the 7-5 win, threw 48 more in relief in the next game. NR-S scored three runs in the fifth, but the Loboes “walked it off” with two in the bottom of the sixth to win by run rule.
That was the last Class B action for Lake Region high school baseball teams this spring season. Now, they’ll get a brief break before starting their summer Legion campaigns.
