State Legion title is three-team race

By Sean Pitman

Sports Editor

Perhaps a little school leaked into their summer and some of the Keybirds recalled history class and the famous quote of Winston Churchill.

“We shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the fields, and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender!” Or perhaps they were up late watching movies and came across the Tim Allen vehicle, Galaxy Quest, and caught the pseudo-Captain Kirk's tagline, “Never surrender, never give up!”

Whatever the case, the Williston squad wouldn't let the door close on its season just yet, rallying from a 6-1 deficit past Fargo 13-7 in a loser-out game in the American Legion Class A State Baseball Tournament at Aafedt Stadium Saturday.

“With the wind blowing out, we can swing the bats pretty well, so we just kept after it and anything can happen. We kept working to give ourselves a shot and we did what we didn't do yesterday (in a loss to Minot), we never quit,” said Williston coach Shawn Cote.

Bismarck was another team fighting for survival, and also kept battling to rally past Minot 15-5 in the nightcap.

“We had been getting some good cuts the whole way, but we finally started to bunch up some hits,” said Bismarck coach Mike Skytland.

It was Minot's first loss of the tournament and the Vistas will now await the winner of the Willliston and Bismarck clash at noon today as all three teams sit at 3-1 on the weekend.

The winner will take on Minot at 3 p.m. for the state championship.

“Minot is still in pretty good shape with their pitching staff, so I'd say they're still the team to beat,” said Skytland.

Williston 13, Fargo 7

Through three innings, Williston struggled to find itself at the plate, leaving the bases loaded in the second inning.

Meanwhile, Fargo had gotten to Williston starter Tucker Slagle for two runs in the second off doubles by Justin Hanson and Jake Olson, and four runs in the third as Matt McManus doubled and Olson added a second double, which drove in three runs for a 6-0 lead.

Williston finally got on the board in the fourth when Tyler Sorenson drew a walk and scored when McHale Maristuen drilled a run scoring double.

“We needed something to pick us up and it felt good to get a big hit,” said Maristuen.

Fargo came right back in the bottom of the inning to get the run back with a solo home run Billy Sholl. With two men on and two outs, Jared Overby came on in relief and got a fly ball to get out of the inning.

Although the Keybirds had gotten just one run in the fourth, it whetted their appetites and the bats started to find the proper air currents out of the park.

Luke Aafedt drew a lead-off walk in the top of the fifth and Jason Marmon drilled a line drive off the building in left center for a two-run home run.

Ryan Lee walked and Liffrig singled to set up Andy Leer, who smacked a three-run shot over the left center fence as well to close within 7-6.

“It was nice to get a hit like that to get within one and keep our momentum going,” said Leer. “Maristuen's hit the inning before kind of broke the ice and we wanted to keep it going.”

Aafedt also added a run-scoring double and Liffrig a two-run triple in the inning which saw 10 Williston runs put on the board, with seven hits for an 11-7 lead.

Overby kept Fargo off the board for three innings, and Leer came in to pitch the final 2 1/3 innings as the relievers pitched a shutout the rest of the way.

“Obviously Fargo had Tucker's number a bit, but we need him to eat up some innings and did a good job of battling for us, and Jared and Andy came in and did a good job of throwing strikes, while our defense really stepped up,” said Cote.

Liffrig added an insurance run in the seventh with a solo home run to right field after battling out of an 0-2 hole. He then added two more runs in the ninth with another blast to right and Leer followed with a solo home run.

Liffrig added to his record breaking season total of home runs to tally 27 on the year, while Leer tallied his 12th dinger of the season.

Williston 000 1(10)0 103 - 13 12 1

Fargo 024 100 000 - 7 12 2

Tucker Slagle, Jared Overby (4), Andy Leer (7) and Devin Kvernum. Justin Hanson, Max Rusch (5) and David Nygaard. W - Overby, L - Hanson. HR - Williston, Tyler Liffrig 2 (27), Leer 2 (12), Jason Marmon. Fargo, Billy Sholl.

Highlights: Williston - Liffrig 4-6, 2 HR, 3B, 3 RS, 5 RBIs; Leer 2-5, 2 HR, 2 RS, 4 RBIs; Marmon 1-5, HR, 3 RS, 2 RBIs; Tyler Sorenson 1-1, 1 RS; Luke Aafedt 2B, 2 RS, 1 RBI; McHale Maristuen 2B, 1 RBI; Ryan Lee 2 RS, 1 RBI.

Fargo - Justin Hanson 2-4, 2 2B, 2 RS; Jake Olson 4-5, 2 2B, 2 RS, 4 RBIs; Tim Rude 2 BB; Max Rusch 2 BB; Matt McManus 2B, 1 RS; Sholl 1-4, HR, 1 RS, 1 RBI.

Bismarck 15, Minot 5

Tyler Lundy stroked a record-breaking solo home run in the first inning, and appeared he'd get to celebrate the feat with a win as well. The home run was Lundy's 24th and broke the Minot Vistas team record of 23 home runs set by Luke Teagle in 1998.

Minot added a run in the second with an RBI by Kory Houston to lead 2-0.

Shane Gathman kept the Bismarck lineup off balance for the better part of six innings. He did give up an RBI double to Tim Jallen and RBI single to Dustin Wenzel in the fifth, but Minot got both runs back in the sixth when Dane Towery drove in a run and Ryan Bollinger scored on a ground-out to retake the lead 4-2.

In the top of the seventh, Jordan Huettl drove in a run with a double to push the lead to 5-2, but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple for the third out. “We made some good defensive plays in the game, and that helped spark us a little,” said Skytland. “Minot had a chance to break the game open and we got some big defensive plays.”

The sparks provided by the Bismarck bats in the seventh could have started a forest fire as the Governors started finding the holes that escaped them earlier in the game.

Matt Kranzler singled, Tim Jallen doubled and Zach Wentz singled to start the inning. After a walk loaded the bases, a Minot pitching change couldn't stem the tide as John Fraase, Josh Standing Elk and Dan Eichele belted consecutive singles to take a 6-5 lead with no outs.

Another Minot pitching change still couldn't change the momentum as three more runs scored, two by a Cody Erhardt drive to give Bismarck seven runs on seven hits and a 9-5 lead.

Zach Wentz came on in relief for Bismarck in the eighth and worked around an error and a walk to strand two Minot runners.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Bismarck bats were still hot to the touch and three hits led to four runs, before Jallen smacked a two-run double to give Bismarck a win on the 10-run rule.

Jallen had three doubles and three RBIs for the Governors.

Minot 110 002 10 - 5 7 3

Bismarck 000 020 76 - 15 19 2

Shane Gathman, Eric Steele (7), Clay Kallias (7), Ryan Bollinger (8) and Fred Nelson. Brandon Solemsaas, Josh Standing Elk (7), Zach Wentz (8) and Justin Connell. W - Standing Elk, L - Gathman. HR - Minot, Tyler Lundy (24).

Highlights: Minot - Dane Towery 2-3, 1 RBI; Teddy Anderson 1-3, 2B; Lundy 1-4, HR, 1 RS, 1 RBI; Jordan Huettl 2B, RBI; Ryan Bollinger 2 RS.

Bismarck - Tim Jallen 3-6, 3 2B, 2 RS, 3 RBIs; Zach Wentz 3-5, 1 RS, 1 RBI; John Fraase 2-2, 2 RS, 1 RBI; Josh Standing Elk 2-5, 2B, 2 RS, 3 RBIs; Dan Eichele 3-4, 2 RS, 1 RBI; Connell 1-3, 1 RS, 1 RBI; Cody Erhardt 3-6, 3 RBIs; Matt Kranzler 1-3, 2 RS; Dustin Wenzel 1-4, 2 RS, 1 RBI.

NOTES: In Williston's game, Liffrig, the Keybirds first baseman, appeared to have his foot stepped on in a play at first as he limped toward the mound before collapsing. However, it was reported he struggled with cramping during the game and got cramped up on the stretch to get the ball on the play.

€ Gene Severson, the former Bismarck Governors coach was in the stands and was recognized for recently being inducted into the American Legion Hall of Fame.

€ Bismarck's bat boy, Ryan Suchy, was a longtime fixture in the Keybirds' dugout before moving to Bismarck last year. He said he's still fond of the fans in Williston and looks forward to playing the Keybirds again.

€ Liffrig had five runs batted in on Saturday, putting his season total at 101 RBIs. He's already shattered the Keybird single season record of 75 (Cory Hanson 1988) and career total of 148 (Kelly Heller 148) with 196 to date. Hanson is one of the umpires in the tournament this weekend.