Midgets Claim Third at State

So why am I posting about the third-place game at the Class A tournament and not the championship?


What Williston did at the state tournament was amazing, as they turned it on and won a state title with pitching, tossing three consecutive consecutive shutouts. But, I never saw it.

Instead, I found myself at the capital city watching 14 innings of baseball that turned out to be just one game. I arrived at the Mandan Memorial Field (or Ressler Field...I'm not positive on which is the official title of the ballpark) intent on watching a couple of games and then heading home.

That certainly wasn't in the plans as Dickinson and Century went at it, taking a 1-1 tie into the 8th inning...then into the 10th inning...then into the 12th and 13th and finally into the 14th frame. The Midgets finally won the exhausting affair on Ben Herauf's bases-loaded infield single, claiming a game in which there really wasn't a loser.

There wasn't much offense to speak of throughout the game as both teams' pitching and defense continually eliminated threat after threat. Still, the Midgets were able to take an early lead on Herauf's fourth-inning home run, only to see the Patriots knot the game on Evan Kendall's run-scoring single in the top of the fifth.

The rest of the game was donuts, though the two teams combined for 22 hits. While I prefer to see a little more offense in games it was still a fun game to watch and I certainly appreciated it. The only problem was, I had to be back home by a certain time, my backside was sore from the bleachers before the championship ever started and basically I was ready to pull the plug before the first pitch of the title game was thrown. Ah well...there was still people there covering the game and I could read about it later.

Anyway, if you want to get a recap from the Press' Chris Aarhus, I highly suggest giving this a click and you will be transported to sed recap.