ULEN – After winning only three games during the regular season, the Park Rapids American Legion baseball team went 2-2 to finish in fourth place during the eight-team Division II Senior Legion Northwest Sub-State South tournament.
The Blue Sox opened with a 6-0 loss to Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton on Friday, July 17. Park Rapids stayed alive with a 4-2 win over Hawley on Saturday, July 18. Post 212 secured a spot in the Northwest Sub-State tournament with a 4-1 win over Barnesville on Sunday, July 19. Ada defeated the Blue Sox 5-2 in the third place game on Sunday, July 19. The top four teams advanced to the next round of the playoffs.
Entering the tournament, Wadena was the No. 1 seed in the East with Ada, New York Mills and Park Rapids following. Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton, Barnesville, Hawley and Twin Valley/Ulen-Hitterdal were seeded 1-4 in the West.
In the other openers, Ada defeated Hawley 12-2, Wadena blanked Twin Valley 10-0 and Barnesville edged New York Mills 5-4. D-G-F defeated Ada 15-5 and Wadena defeated Barnesville 9-1 in the semifinals while New York Mills defeated Twin Valley 9-3 in the other consolation semifinal. Wadena defeated D-G-F 11-4 in the title game. Ada eliminated New York Mills 10-1 en route to placing third.
In the North, Warroad edged Middle River 6-5 in the title game while Roseau defeated Fertile 6-1 for third place to advance. Red Lake Falls, Stephen-Argyle, Thief River Falls, Crookston, Fosston and Win-E-Mac had their seasons end.
Kaden Shepherd, shown diving back to first base on a pickoff play against Walker, went 2 for 10 with a stolen base and an RBI during the Northwest Sub-State South tournament.
Vance Carlson / Enterprise
“We came into the tournament as the bottom seed in the East Pod and were written off by pretty much everyone. I have to give Alex Poehler a lot of credit for our first round game against DGF. He went out there and pitched a great game and Landen Andersen did a great job in relief. We lost 6-0 but we all felt the energy, attitude and mentality that we needed to win. It was there,” said Legion coach Kevin Murphy, whose team is now 5-16 on the season. “The guys bought into the idea of being the underdogs of the tournament and they knew the plan all along was to try and beat Hawley and Barnesville to advance. We knew going into this tournament that pitching and defense were going to be the difference maker and those were certainly the keys to victory over Hawley and Barnesville. Great pitching from Jackson Soderberg and Eli Jalbert and some great defense that swung momentum our way was the key. We capitalized on small ball, stealing bases and getting bunts down. That’s what really led to our runs in those games.”
The Blue Sox managed only five hits in being shutout by D-G-F in the tournament opener.
D-G-F used three singles and an error to score twice in the first inning and added a run in the second on a double and an error. Two singles and an error led to another run in the fourth while two singles and a double produced the final two runs in the fifth.
Singles by Evan May in the first, Sawyer Harvey in the second, Soderberg and Nolan Michaelson in the third, and Brendan Tretbar in the sixth accounted for Park Rapids’ hits.
Poehler allowed six runs (three earned) on eight hits and two walks with two strikeouts over four innings. Andersen allowed one hit and one walk in two innings of work.
Soderberg threw a three-hitter with 11 strikeouts in leading the Blue Sox past Hawley.
Park Rapids took a 2-0 lead in the second when Jalbert reached on an error and scored on Harvey’s RBI single. Harvey scored on Kaden Shepherd’s sacrifice fly.
May walked, stole second, advanced on an error and scored on Tretbar’s sacrifice fly for a 3-0 lead in the third.
After a single and a double by Hawley made it 3-1 in the fourth, Alex Holmer singled, stole second, advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Andersen and scored on an error to conclude the scoring in the seventh.
Singles by Harvey in the fourth and sixth and a single by Shepherd in the sixth rounded out Park Rapids’ five-hit attack. Harvey went 3 for 3 to lead the Blue Sox, who stole six bases. Soderberg walked two in a complete-game effort. Hawley’s pitchers walked one and struck out nine.
Jalbert’s five-hit complete game lifted the Blue Sox past Barnesville.
After a double and a triple gave Barnesville a 1-0 lead in the third, Park Rapids tied the game in the fifth on Jalbert’s two-out walk, a single by Harvey and an RBI single by Tretbar.
The Blue Sox scored the winning runs in the seventh on a single by Soderberg, an error, Harvey’s sacrifice fly, Tretbar’s RBI single, a single by Michaelson and another error.
Singles by Soderberg and Jalbert in the first, a single by Soderberg in the third, and a double by Shepherd in the four completed Park Rapids’ nine-hit attack. Soderberg went 3 for 4 and Tretbar went 2 for 4 with two RBI while Jalbert walked two and struck out eight for the win.
A three-run fifth inning lifted Ada past the Blue Sox for third place.
A double and a single gave Ada a 2-0 lead in the second before Park Rapids tied the game in the fourth on singles by Jalbert and Tretbar, a hit batter and an error.
Three singles, an error and a wild pitch produced the game-winning runs for Ada.
Park Rapids loaded the bases in the seventh on a walk to Shepherd, a single by Holmer and an error, but couldn’t score.
The Blue Sox managed only three hits with Tretbar taking the loss after allowing five runs (three earned) on four hits and two walks in 4.2 innings. May allowed one hit and two walks with one strikeout over the final 1.1 innings. Ada’s pitchers struck out 10 while walking three.
“The final game for third place was against Ada, the No. 2 seed in the East and a tough team. We battled hard and were tied in the fifth inning, but a couple miscues in the field handed some runs over to Ada. We threatened on offense in the seventh, but just couldn’t quite get the runs across that we needed. Brendan Tretbar and Evan May combined to pitch well, but we just came up short,” said Murphy. “Two years ago we had to forfeit out of the playoffs because we didn’t have enough commitment from players. Last year we went 0-2 in the playoffs. This summer we are 2-2 in the playoffs and have advanced to the second round for the first time in quite a while. I give this team a lot of credit for keeping the right mindset and perseverance throughout the season and in this tournament.”