The Official Newspaper for Foster County
The Official Newspaper for Foster County
Corbin Clifton took the brunt of this high and inside pitch from LaMoure's Anthony Hanson, getting a baseball near the earflap of his helmet. Clifton was none the worse for wear, however, as he calmly took his base and advanced all the way to third before the end of the Post 25 inning, with no ill effects.
Trent Ekren delivers a pitch for the Carrington Post 25 Redbirds in the opening round of play at the State Class 'B' American Legion Baseball Tournament in Garrison Wednesday, July 27.
Coach Tim Ranum watches the action from the dugout, along with Jake Otto and Trent Ekren.
Lucas Hendrickson delivers a pitch towards home, as LaMoure runner Gunner Thielges anticipates his next move from second base.
The Garrison skyline is visible in this pitch sequence, as LaMoure pitcher Anthony Hanson delivers an offering to Hudson Schmitz with a count of two balls, two strikes, and one out in the bottom of the third inning. At the time, Post 19 was leading Carrington, 2-1.
Jacob Rexin rounds third and scores in Post 25's loser-out game against LaMoure. Rexin played his final game for the Redbirds, having exhausted his age eligibility.
"Obviously didn't have the results we were looking for," Head Coach Tim Ranum sighed, regarding his Post 25 team's latest trip to the State Class B American Legion Baseball Tournament in Garrison.
Whether it was the unfortunate draw of facing two of the top three teams in their pair of losses to finish the season, miscues at inopportune times, or a young team running out of luck, it all seem to go south for the Redbirds Wednesday and Thursday, July 27-28.
Post 25 ran into a power-surging Langdon Post 98 Red Sox team in game one, 11-1, before giving a game effort against eventual three-peat state champion LaMoure Post 19 in a season-ending 10-8 loss to finish at 10-12 for the year.
Langdon 11, Carrington 1
(5 innings)
It was something Ranum had never witnessed in his years of coaching Post 25 baseball, much less being on the receiving end of something of that nature.
The Red Sox turned the opening round into a virtual home run derby, as five different players combined for seven long balls over the Garrison fence.
Two players, Jack Romfo (3-for-4 in the game) and Brady Regner, had a pair of homers apiece. Also going deep in the big win for the 'Sox were Gage Goodman, Cooper Zimmer and Tucker Welsh.
"The wind was blowing hard out," Ranum said, "and when combined with a short fence, Langdon was able to get the ball in the air."
Inning one, in which Post 98 scored four runs, set the tone for the rest of the game. After getting the first out, starter Hudson Schmitz was greeted with two singles and an error, the second by Theo Romfo leading to the first run of the contest. Regner would clear the bases for a three-run shot.
The 'Birds got their lone run in the second inning, after Lucas Hendrickson walked and scored on a hit by Noah Paulson to draw within 4-1.
The second frame featured more fireworks. Welsh and Jack Romfo went back-to-back to make it 6-1, and Goodman hit his shot in the third.
In the fourth, Regner connected on a two-run blast for his fourth and fifth RBIs of the game, followed by Zimmer going deep.
The game ended after five innings by, as was fitting, a walk-off home run by Jack Romfo to put an exclamation point on a ten-run opening win.
"In all honesty, our pitchers didn't do a great job getting the ball down, and Langdon was able to take advantage of the situation," said Ranum. "Conversely, we didn't do a great job of barreling up the ball, leading to the quick result."
Schmitz was one of the bright spots offensively, going 2-for-3 with a double, and Owen Hagel had the other hit besides Paulson.
LaMoure 10, Carrington 8
Reading the first round pairings, one would have been inclined to think Post 25 would draw the host Garrison Titans in the first elimination contest.
However, Post 49 blew up those designs thanks to a tour-de-force pitching performance by Jack Bright in the opening round.
Bright, a fireballer who redshirted at Minot State this past spring and could be considered the best pitcher of the tournament, blew LaMoure away with his high 80's fastball and needed just one run to shock Post 19, 1-0.
So, Ranum knew the team would have their work cut out for them if they wanted to survive, and told them before the game that their best way to win would be to win a low-scoring affair.
For the first four innings, it looked for all the world like it was going to happen.
The veteran lefthander Hendrickson got the start, and minimized the damage for four-plus innings.
Schmitz drove in the first run of the game for Post 25 with a double to plate Jack Erickson, and LaMoure scratched across runs in the second and third on RBI singles by Garrett Hebl and Corban Potts.
"For the first five innings, it was a really well-played game, with both pitchers [including LaMoure's Anthony Hanson] doing a good job," said Ranum.
Post 25 would actually take the lead in the bottom of the fourth at 3-2 when Kael Kovar's drive to the outfield was misplayed by a stumbling Cyle Warcken in center, scoring courtesy runners Noah Paulson and Jacob Rexin. The two speedsters were on in place of Trent Ekren and Hagel, who both reached on walks.
LaMoure got the equalizer in the fifth on a run-scoring grounder from Connor Johnson following a single and double, making it 3-3 and prompting Ranum to relieve Hendrickson in favor of Grady Shipman.
Unfortunately, Shipman was unable to stem the tide, walking two, and an error at third would lead to two more runs. A swinging strikeout of Hebl ended the threat, but not before Post 19 took a 5-3 lead.
Everything seemed to fall apart in the sixth, as singles from Tate Mart and Landon Piehl punctuated a nightmare half of the frame in which there were two hit batters as well.
When the dust cleared, the score read 9-3 in the champs' favor.
"We gave up some runs with some wildness on the mound and eventually some costly errors, which is a bad recipe against a good-hitting team like LaMoure," said Ranum.
On the other side, Hanson, while "effectively wild" for much of his hill stint, watched his control desert him fully in the sixth. Two walks and a hit-by-pitch, with a Kyle Johnson single sandwiched in between, meant the end of the day for the tall sidewinder as the Redbirds pulled to 9-5.
Post 19's reliever, Mart, didn't fare well in his attempt to stop the bleeding. Two walks and two more plunks ended that experiment, and suddenly Post 25 was back in business, 9-8.
LaMoure Coach J.R. Thielges then went to possibly their best big-game pitcher in Piehl, and he got Kovar to ground out on an 0-2 pitch to end the inning, and Post 25's last major opportunity to flip the script.
LaMoure got a big insurance run in the seventh on James Sandness's RBI groundout to plate Warcken, and Piehl got the last three outs for the save and ended Post 25's summer.
Carrington's eight runs came on just four hits, those coming from Ekren, Johnson, Kovar and Schmitz.
"Overall, I was proud of our comeback, but it was disappointing knowing that we shot ourselves in the foot a little bit in both games," said Ranum.
For Post 19, Mart had three hits in five at-bats, and Piehl was the only other LaMoure hitter with multiple hits.
That scare seemed to spark LaMoure to greatness. From then on, they outscored the opposition, 42-4, and defeated Cando Post 79 twice to complete a 6-0 run on the brink of elimination and capture their third consecutive state title (second in American Legion baseball; they won the independent 2020 championship during the COVID-19 pandemic.)
Looking ahead
Carrington will return the vast majority of their team back next summer, minus Rexin and Paulson, and will also welcome some talented Babe Ruth players.
It will all come just in time for the Class B Tournament to return to City Park for the first time since 2016, when Post 25 capped off their third straight championship.
"I'm looking forward to seeing how we progress over the calendar year," said Ranum. "I'm anticipating a fun summer."
State Class B American Legion Baseball Tournament, Garrison
First Round
Langdon 11, Carrington 1
(5 innings)
Cgtn. 010 00 - 1 4 1
Lang. 421 31 - 11 11 0
Hudson Schmitz, Trent Ekren (3) and Lucas Hendrickson, Schmitz (3); Cooper Zimmer, Tucker Welsh (3) and Carter Tetrault. W - Zimmer. L - Schmitz.
Carrington: Schmitz 2-3, double; Owen Hagel and Noah Paulson 1-2; Hendrickson run.
Langdon: Jack Romfo 3-4, 2 HR, 3 runs, 2 RBI; Brady Regner 2-3, 2 HR, 2 runs, 5 RBI; Gage Goodman 2-2, HR, double, run, RBI; Zimmer 1-3, HR, run, RBI; Welsh 1-4, HR, run, RBI; Theo Romfo 1-2, run, RBI; Markus Kingzett 1-3; Tetrault SB, 2 runs.
Loser-Out
LaMoure 10, Carrington 8
LaM. 011 034 1 - 10 11 0
Cgtn. 100 205 0 - 8 4 1
Hendrickson, Grady Shipman (5) and Schmitz, Corbin Clifton (5); Anthony Hanson, Tate Mart (6), Landon Piehl (6) and Garrett Hebl. W - Hanson. L - Hendrickson. SV - Piehl.
Carrington: Hendrickson 4 1/3 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, BB, 3 K; run; Ekren 1-1, RBI; Kyle Johnson 1-3, run; Kael Kovar 1-4, double, 2 RBI; Schmitz 1-4, double, RBI; Clifton SB, run, RBI; Shipman run, RBI; Hagel RBI; Jack Erickson 2 runs; Jacob Rexin and Paulson one run each.
LaMoure: Mart 3-5, double, SB, 2 runs, RBI; Piehl 2-4, double, 2 runs, 2 RBI; Cyle Warcken 1-2, run, RBI; Connor Johnson 1-3, SB, run, RBI; Corban Potts 1-3, run, RBI; James Sandness 1-4, run, RBI; Hebl 1-4, RBI; Hanson 1-4; Colton Ness and Gunner Thielges SB, run each.
State Tournament Scores
Wednesday, July 27
Cando 2, Mayville 0
Hazen 7, Renville Co. 3
Langdon 11, Carrington 1 (5 inn.)
Garrison 1, LaMoure 0
Thursday, July 28
Mayville 13, Renville Co. 1 (6 inn.)
(Renville Co. eliminated)
LaMoure 10, Carrington 8
(Carrington eliminated)
Cando 5, Hazen 4
Langdon 4, Garrison 2
Friday, July 29
Mayville 6, Garrison 2
(Garrison eliminated)
LaMoure 11, Hazen 0
(Hazen eliminated)
Cando 4, Langdon 2
LaMoure 10, Mayville 0 (6 inn.)
(Mayville eliminated)
Saturday, July 30
LaMoure 2, Langdon 0
(Langdon eliminated)
LaMoure 9, Cando 4 (9 inn.)
Sunday, July 31
Championship
LaMoure 10, Cando 0 (5 inn.)
