Hot start, cool finish. That's a summary of the weather in the greater Fargo-Moorhead area. The week in sports that was almost the opposite. There were the typical slate of spring sports on the prep level, at least until the weather went from Summer at the start of the week to late fall by mid week. I didn't hear of any cancellations but wouldn't be at all surprised if some games went that way.
None of the prep action that took play this week reached a level of action to force focus to go away from a couple major events that were happening at weeks end.
The Marathon
To see the galleries from the trio of human, foot race days, go here.
One nugget that I withheld was possibly the most impressive outcome that I heard about. It was the race by young Aiden Johnson of West Fargo. The 11 year old ran in the youth race Thursday evening, the 5K Friday and the 10K Saturday, finishing as one of the best in his age bracket in all three events. It's years from legitimate forecasting but it would seem that WF, NDSU & North Dakota has an up and comer in their backyard!
Lady Bison
Rivaling the marathon was the play by the NDSU Softball team. After running the table in the Summit Tournament a week ago to qualify for a regional they forced extra innings against the reigning champions and then finished it off with a 3 - 2 victory, a day after the game started because of a weather delay. The follow up against Tulsa didn't go quite as well, with a 2 - 1 loss but they matched up wonderfully on Saturday. Today went less well, and they got boat raced in a rematch with the Sooners but negativity shouldn't bury the lead. The Softball team went toe to toe with champions, with a top ten team and that's darn impressive! I'm actually leaning heavily towards considering it one of the best wins in the history of the athletic department. Not #1, I'd say that distinction still lies with the Ben Woodside lead Bison Basketball team over Wisconsin, but the lady Bison etched themselves onto the list!
Corn Eaters
I would liked to have been able to do a Moorhead mash up but the Dragons were a little light on notables this week.
The Cobbers on the other hand racked up some facts. For Track & Field they had the MOFA & outstanding performance of the meet, both by Emma Peterson. Madison Little joined the nod squad with inclusion in the MIAC all - conference team for Softball, a first for her and an exclusive for the program. In addition, the left side of the in field for their Baseball team went All - MIAC as well, with Cody Rahman & Nate Hoeft rounding out the bunch.
Redhawks
The Birds ended their exhibition season with another tie and began the regular with a nine game road trip. They won the first three and are going for the four game sweep as I type. It was be in every sense a perfect start to the year. Could Dougieball find areas in need of improvements? Surely! But that's his job. The 3 - 0 to start is great and may be better by the end of day. They don't have a home game for over a week so the better they start, the better it sets up the entire season
Pro Bites
It was an important week for the Timberwolves. Both the draft lottery and the All NBA teams were announced. The Lotto hasn't been as much of a waste of time for the T-pups lately and it let us get KAT, after the worst possible season, but they still haven't ever moved up from their slotting. It'll happen eventually...it has too...doesn't?? or they could just stop being the lottery! As for the A.N.T., KAT got snubbed. 😤 No respect - playoffs!
Jose Berrios is a beast. I want to let him get to five starts before making even the most general of takes on him but man it's difficult with as good as he's been. 15 1/3 innings, 4 hits, 1 run, 15 K's. 🔥🔥🔥🔥 A .53 era is not sustainable but the Twins currently have a pair of pitchers with sub 2.1 era's. 🙏🏻 Keep it up!
The Lynx started their latest title run this week with a pair of victories. It may take a few tries to knock the rust off but if they can play less than their best and still win then that's a great sign for later in the year!