The week began with another item for Cade Feeney's bio as he was included on another Freshman All-American list. It was just the beginning of a busy week for the ⚾️ team's ops.
Pitcher Kevin Folman got a win for Chi-WS's low-A affiliate. He was joined in the major's system by Bennett Hostetler (drafted by Miami) & Parker Harm (signed by KC) on Tuesday. Jake Malec also made his first foray into pro ball by signing with Great Falls. The road to the Show is a LOOOONG one but the three of them took necessary steps toward it!
The former two got a bit of frosting to their week by also making an honors list, All-Midwest to be exact.
🏐 also broke through, with the announcement of their schedule. It's road heavy but the August/September stretch should have them ready when they get back to the Fieldhouse!
It was a week of change for the Bolts. As some of their best players prepare for the possibility of being drafted it was announced that Matt Mania will be apart of the Under-17 Select Team set to compete in the "Five Nations Tournament" in Switzerland a month from now.
Then came some more unexpected news, of a less celebratory variety. Leading the team to the championship round seems to have been enough for a couple of the coaches, HC Pierre-Paul Lamoureux & associate HC Chad Demers have stepped down from their positions. The latter is joining the Air Force Academy's operation while Lamoureux's reasons for resigning are not specifically known at this time. In just two year P-PL set some big shoes for the next guy, helming them to 62 wins and the championship berth.
That all happened concurrent to camps for the next generation of players, so general manager Cary Eades has had his hands full over the last few days!
With one game left in their seven-game home stand the team has stayed within range of Milwaukee & Chicago by winning four of the last six. The bats continue to be the motor for their success while the pitching has regularly been giving up crooked numbers, with the low for the week being a four-run day by Gary in a loss by the Birds. They've had a significant talent drain so struggles are not a surprise but with a championship caliber offense it is a concern.
Despite being the middle of July the prep level made some waves. First came the last of the exhibitions games for the recent graduates in Bismarck & West Fargo. Then with some more reshuffling of ADs as Sheyenne (Cory Herrmann) & Shanley (Reggie Jackson) each got their new leaders in place. Along with those was some tournament success by South's boys 🏀 in St. Michael & Davies' winning in Fergus Falls.
And as always, there was more recruiting news for several of the next-best players in the region!
Fargo's team went wire-to-wire against the "Twin Cities" with a bounce-back 30 - 8 victory. Will Tudmon managed to turn an 11-21 day passing into 264 yards with 4 scores while leading the way on the ground again with 65 yards on 11 carries. Two of the 11 completions went to Rodney Stewart who scored both times while churning out 107 yards. Dev Alger caught four of his chances for the other two scores while racking up 72.
The other side of the ball finished with a meager one sack & one interception but more than made up for it with a suffocating overall performances - giving up 206 total yards & the one score late in the third quarter.
It was an emphatic comeback from a 46 - 7 drubbing against Minneapolis's team. They'll have the chance to keep it going over the final two Saturday's of the month at home. A win in their next game would put them one win behind second place in the league, so JG Stadium should get a good crowd! With the winless Bismarck team set to be the finale they'll still need good fortune but are likely to make the next two weeks interesting.
A season with more losses than wins came to it's end in La Crosse, WI but the men saved their best for last. Six weeks removed from their previous best showing on the pitch, against the same team - probably not a coincidence - the Fuze got the first two scores of the evening off the foot of Diego Valle, who was matched later by Sam Coxon who also netted a pair to give them their third shutout of the year & only four-score match (best for last). It capped a stretch over the final five games of the season during which they won three of their four total victories. Can only hope that it will springboard them into more success & more support next Summer!
West Fargo opened the week in yet another tournament, advancing to the final four with a win over Excelsior but falling in that round to Papillion. Moorhead's team got a pair of shutouts against EGF to start their week while Post 400 split with Grand Forks.
Moorhead got back to .500 with another double takedown, this time over Detroit Lakes. Casselton got one against Valley City but couldn't muster the third & fourth runs to get their own sweep. P400 came back against Mandan but finished on the wrong end of both results. Moorhead's winning streak was snapped by Perham in the second game but that still gave them a split of the pair.
Post 2 handled Bismarck twice over while Casselton came up short against Wahpeton in their twin-bill. Kindred closed their regular season against the Fargo Jets, winning the second with a no-no by Matt Pearson after coming up a few runs short in the first game.
Then came the weekend & the second annual "Pete" tournament.
Brainerd opened with a shutout win over Post 400 who then rebounded with a one-run loss to Sioux Falls' Post 15. Post 2 got a walk-off win over Brandon Valley while Moorhead stomped Brainerd. Post 400 found their footing against Moorhead with an 11-run win on Saturday which set up a Moorhead/Post 2 final. Post 2 defended their home field thanks to a five-run second inning. You can see pictures of the contest.
D/G/F finished the week with a championship appearance after defeating New York Mills but couldn't take the sub-state against Breckenridge.
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