BEULAH �” In sports, there are always moments when a team takes the next step in progressing to the kind of team its coach would like it to be.

Monday night may have been such a moment for the Williston Oilers.

The Oilers got a strong pitching performance from Shae Johnson and a solid relief appearance from Conner Long as Williston held off Beulah 5-3 in the nightcap of a doubleheader in Babe Ruth action at Beulah.

“I was real pleased with the way two 18-year-olds stepped up (Monday) tonight on the mound for us,” said Oilers coach Greg McNary. “We hope this is something that is going to continue into the state tournament,”

Johnson and Long did not allow any Beulah batters to finish with more than one hit each. “Shae is learning that sometimes less is more,” McNary said. “Tonight he really took something off of his fastball in key spots. He showed them his curveball just enough to keep them honest.”

Casey Axtman, Kole Marquez, and Caleb Turcotte each had two hits for Williston.

In the opener, Beulah blanked Williston 4-0 behind the pitching of Logan Kessler, who limited the Oilers to four hits.

“His yacker (curveball) really kept us off balance,” McNary said.

Chris Barke pitched the complete game for Williston, giving up no earned runs on nine hits.

“We had four errors in the first two innings before we settled down,” McNary said. “Chris did not allow an earned run today (Monday) and did a nice job of changing speeds. He has become a very important part of our pitching staff.”

No boxscores from Monday’s games were available at press time.

Williston was also in action on Sunday against Glendive at Aafedt Stadium.

Behind a strong pitching performance by Jeff Beckman, the Oilers defeated Glendive 7-6 in the opener.

However, Glendive took the nighcap 21-10.

“Jeff had a nice outing,” McNary said. “He got a little tired toward the end as his pitch count was a bit high (95), but he really had a nice mix going (Sunday) tonight.”

In five innings, Beckman struck out nine, while allowing five hits.

Axtman finished the opener 3-for-3 for Williston with a triple, double, single and three runs scored. Turcotte was also 3-for-3 with a triple and four RBIs.

In the nightcap, Glendive scored nine runs in the fifth inning en route to the win.

Chaz Mosby and Evan Conlin each finished with three hits in the loss for Williston.

The Oilers will host Mandan on Thursday before hosting the First National Bank and Trust tournament this weekend.

Sunday’s games

Game 1

Glendive 000 042 0 �” 6 7 4

Williston 202 030 X �” 7 9 0

Charley Cunningham, Bryan Overton (5) and Dylan Beach. Jeff Beckman, Shae Johnson (6), Conner Long (6) and Caleb Turcotte. WP�”Beckman (3-0). SV�”Long (1). LP�”Cunningham.

Game 2

Glendive 140 390 4�” 21 14 7

Williston 220 040 2 �” 10 14 5

Kyle Hinebauch and Dylan Beach. Brady Lysne, Collin Lynch (4), Tucker Overland (5), Kenton Carnell (6), Chris Barke (6) and Kole Marquez. WP�”Hinebauch. LP�”Lysne (1-3).