Photo courtesy of Parker Simon
Cando Post 79 is the champion of the District 3 baseball tournament.
The Bearcats (17-6), despite having to deal with numerous postponements, kept stress to a minimum by winning all three games they played. They finished the job with a 6-4 win over Rugby Post 23 at Buen Field in Velva on Thursday. Rugby would have had to beat Cando twice anyway.
Gauge Driessen started on the mound for Cando. He issued a walk and two hit batsmen in the first inning, but he limited the damage to one run and settled in during the second, third and fourth.
Cando jumped ahead with a pair of two-out runs in the first. Rylen Anderson hit an RBI single, and another scored on an error by the shortstop. The Bearcats added three in the fourth, with a two-run single by Kole Thomson and a costly dropped third strike.
With Driessen cruising, and Cando leading 5-1, Rugby scored on an error in the fifth. After a single and a walk, Driessen’s day on the bump came to an end. Hunter Hagler took over and got a strikeout and a lineout to strand the bases loaded.
Driessen was ultimately charged with two runs on four hits in 4 1/3 innings. He struck out six and walked two.
Hagler singled and advanced to third on a two-base error to start the bottom of the fifth. He scored a groundout from Brody Svir, giving Cando a little insurance with a 6-2 lead.
The Panthers rallied for a run in the sixth. Then they loaded the bases with one out in the seventh. With the tying runs on base, Cando opted to bring in Parker Simon to try to secure the final two outs.
Simon threw 97 pitches in a one-hitter over Rugby on Monday, so he had a limited supply of pitches remaining.
Rugby got one run in on a groundout, moving the potential tying runs into scoring position. But Simon otherwise put the finishing touches on the championship victory. He ended the game with a strikeout of Zach Schneibel.
Cando returns to the Class B state Legion tournament after making it there last season as well. It’s being held in Park River this year from August 1-5.
