The calm after the madness of the draft and before the season schedule is released included a look down the road to next April.
Men's ⛳️ got the week rolling at the League championship, playing to third place collectively. They were 20 strokes off Denver while Lucas Johnson had the seventh-best individual performance & was 14 shots off the leader. It was a good showing on the course, but not a great one.
On Tuesday ⚾️ hosted Mayville State and trailed into the fourth inning but a Jack Simonsen single brought in two runs and was the spark that lead to a 6-2 victory. They were back at it Friday against Omaha and took care of business 8-7 & 2-0. The one-run win wasn't secured until the 8th when Charley Hesse drove in Bennett Hostetler for the W. In game 2 Max Loven went the distance in 113 pitches with more walks than strikeouts but did enough to secure at least a series split.
Speaking of splits, that's what the track & field team did with some of the men & women in multiple locations but with typical amounts of success across the state lines.
Softball spent their final days of the set-season in Brookings but were not as fortunate as they have been in the past. Fridays two finished with them down 3-0 & 1-0. They got on the board in game four, losing 5-7 but that came after a 2-0 loss. 1-0, 2-0, 3-0. That shows that the pitching can be counted on but the bats are not what they have been in recent years. It will be an all-North Dakota first game on Wednesday with the winner hooking Omaha Thursday afternoon. With a field that's about as wide-open as it has been in a while this is a great chance to check out the Park!
On the other diamond the offense re-awoke with a comeback from down 6-1 in the fourth to win 8-7 again, this time off the bat of Tucker Rohde. They nearly pushed the game into extra innings but a Hostetler solo-shot left them one-run shy of that & the sweep, 5-4. Even with that outcome they're in second in the standings with South Dakota State set to close-out the season at Newman this upcoming weekend.
Moorhead State had another short week but were able to make some good out of it!
They started with the track & field "Last Chance" in Vermillion and held their own in several events.
On Saturday the softball team had a double-header against St. Cloud. They lost game 1 8-0 in five innings but rallied from down 8-1 in the fourth inning of the second game to win 13-8. Seven of the runs came in the fifth inning without a single ball going over the fence, but Miah Hartvigsen changed that two innings later to put the fire-breathers ahead for good.
From there they traveled to the coast but were undone by Duluth 8-0 & 7-1 in the final games of the regular season. Now comes Rochester & the conference championship while T & F will go for the same, but in Duluth.
Concordia ⚾️ was rolled by Bethel 11-2 to open the week. They were back at in Wednesday against Carleton, with better results - 6-5 & 4-3. Always enjoy the symmetry in sports! In both games the Cobbers came back from a multi-run deficit late.
Softball hooked Augsburg in-between and left the metro with a split, 4-2 (W) & 9-1. In the win they scored four unanswered runs and Megan Gavin did the rest, striking out 11.
Track & Field took the baton at the conference heptathlon/decathlon and did not disappoint! They used that to spring into Saturday at St. Olaf with the men taking fifth while the women just made the podium.
The success didn't continue on the diamond as Chris Coste's club dropped all three against St. Thomas: 6-1, 9-3 & 7-1 between Saturday & Sunday. Now they get to play a full-fledged D1 on Monday in North Fargo.
With less than a week remaining in the season Minnesota is in a tie for the third worst record in the league. With a loss to Detroit on Tuesday it would be a five-way knot of teams with 21 losses - barring outcomes of games Monday. Orlando seems bound & determined to not win again which will firmly test the resolve of all the other top, bottom teams. Of the six teams in contention for the ping-pong balls, the Howl is the only one that has a winning record over the last 10 games. So like their Purple & Gold comrades they are not going to go quietly into the offseason. But maybe they will similarly have good draft fortune when the order is announced on June 22. We'll find out in six weeks.
For now, those are the big-picture implications of what Anthony Edwards' team did and the ramifications matter more than the outcomes.
The Stinks head into two much-needed days off with another week full of lost series, this time against Texas (3-1) & Detroit (1-1) after a rain-out today.
With all the losing have come the typical calls for people to be fired.
Baldelli doesn't have the success-equity to merit genuine job security but he has helmed enough accomplishments by the team that the crazy fringe won't get their wish.
With 132 games left on their schedule and the warm months ahead of them the offense should stabilize, even without Byron Buxton for the next stretch of games. But the same may be true of the teams that they'll have to beat to get out of the gutter so the pitching will need to carry a larger portion of the responsibility than they have been so far.
That's some deep analysis, I'm aware but what else is there to say?
Following the late-season slump, losing 7 of the final 10, Fargo has rebounded to make the championship game. It took all three games in Tri-City but just the first two of the Western Finals. They blitzed the goalie for six scores in Sioux City while only giving up one. Then, back on home ice, Andrew Miller shut them out in place of the suspended Brennan Boynton while the offense added three more.
They will go against Chicago with the winner raising the cup for the second time in the franchises history. If successful the Bolts would have done so for two of the last three championships.
With single-digit days until the Birds take the field Colorado purchased the contract of righty Frank Duncan. No subsequent move has been announced but the replacement will almost surely be a step down.
He's the 83 player to end up in the majors. Not bad for an organization nearing it's 25th season!
The week ended with a big-time softball tournament on the Northern fringe of Fargo. During the event Central Cass may have distinguished itself as the best team in the state regardless of division. West Fargo's legacy is long established but now with CC you have to wonder if there isn't something in the water on the west side of the FMWF!
But in-person action was limited to one event, Shanley visited South ⚾️ .
And as always, there were more college commitments made by local standouts - so don't miss out!
Fargo's 🏈 team was back on the field Saturday in Woodbury, but exited with more questions than answers. They were able to get a little more out of Jamus Neal's arm (178 & 2 TDs) but the rushing was as ineffective as you may ever see - 17 carries for 7 yards. The 27 - 0 hole that they were in at halftime did not lend itself to a run-heavy approach but remains a looming question mark for the team again this year. The primary recipient through the air was Jon Baune once again. He reeled in 10 of the completions for 148 yards & one of the scores. The other TD, as well as 61 of the yards went Nate Soto's way.
Not surprisingly, the defense was light on standouts but Cornelius Wahlo managed two sacks while Travis Williams had the lone interception.
The loss brought them to 1-2 on the season.
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