Sports
Tournament time awaits Bottineau Legion team
Matthew Semisch
07/22/2014
The Bottineau Post 42 American Legion baseball team closed out its regular season slate last week by splitting evenly a four-game docket.
All of Bottineau’s action last week was bunched in tightly, as the team played all of its final four games of the regular season over a two-day stretch.
Post 42 split a twin bill at home against Makoti and Washburn on Wednesday before picking up a win and a loss at Surrey the following day.
Post 42 was scheduled to finish its regular season on Monday on the road against New Rockford. However, that game was canceled over the weekend before.
As a result, Bottineau will open sectional tournament play in Makoti on Wednesday after having posted a 14-7 regular season record.
LATE SURGE FROM MAKOTI SINKS POST 42
The final week of Bottineau’s regular season looked as though it was getting off to a promising start Wednesday against Makoti. It’s easy, after all, to think that when a team is up 4-0 after the first two innings.
Post 42 third baseman Andrew Hill got things going in the bottom of the first inning by leading off with a base hit.
Hill, a Minnesota State Community and Technical College recruit, has been one of Bottineau’s leading lights this season. Over the course of the Legion regular season, he posted a .619 batting average and .757 on-base percentage.
Both Hill and pitcher Parker Engelhard, Bottineau’s second batter up in the game, scored in the frame to put Post 42 up by a pair of runs.
That lead was then extended to 4-0 when first baseman Kellen Lagerquist and second baseman Jackson Johnson both crossed home plate in the bottom of the second inning.
Makoti later pulled two runs back, one in the fourth inning and another in the fifth, to cut Bottineau’s lead to 4-2.
Post 42 restored some extra health to its lead in the bottom of the fifth inning, though, when left fielder Jesse Heil drove Lagerquist home for his second run of the game.
The resulting 5-2 scoreline held firm going into the top of the seventh inning. It appeared at the time as though Bottineau was in prime position to pick up a big win over a section rival.
Things didn’t turn out that way, however. Instead, Makoti’s offense came alive in the top of the seventh as it scored four runs to go ahead 6-5 for its first lead of the day.
Bottineau had no real answer for Makoti in the bottom half of the final regulation inning. Johnson and Hill both got on base, but then Engelhard struck out and catcher Lee Schneider grounded into a double play to end the game.
“It’s tough to watch one slip away, but especially in a game like that,” Post 42 head coach Derek Aus said. “We made a few mistakes in the seventh inning and Makoti capitalized.
“Credit to (Makoti), though, because they did what you’re supposed to do when opportunities come your way. It’s hard to see that happen when you’re getting close to the sectional tournament because you want to see your team playing clean baseball for seven innings or however long the game goes, and we let the game slip away from us.”
BOTTINEAU BOUNCES BACK
Dropping that rough decision to Makoti very easily could’ve derailed Bottineau. However, a game later Wednesday afternoon against last-place Washburn turned out to be just what the proverbial doctor ordered.
Post 42 again got off to a hot start in its second game of the day, this time posting four runs in the first inning. Bottineau batted around its lineup in the opening frame, and Hill, Engelhard, Schneider and Austin Kittleson all scored.
Post 42’s lead was extended to 6-0 in the second inning when Engelhard and Schneider both picked up their second runs of the game.
The lead then got bumped to 8-0 in the top of the third inning - Bottineau served as the road team despite playing at home - when a two-run home run from Hill left the Dakota College at Bottineau (DCB) Lumberyard.
“We got off to a good start with some runs early,” Aus said. “That helps because it allows everyone to calm down a little bit and play simple baseball and just concentrate on getting outs when we’re in the field.”
Washburn picked up its first run of the day in the bottom of the third inning before cutting Post 42’s lead to 8-2 in the bottom of the fourth. That’s how it stayed, though, as neither team managed to score again.
Schneider, a senior who will begin playing college baseball for DCB next spring, performed well on the mound Wednesday. Washburn gave itself plenty of chances by getting its fair share of runners on base, but Schneider and the defense around him controlled the damage very well.
Washburn left a runner on first base in both the first and second innings and left another three on in the bottom of the third.
Bottineau’s defense came up big again later in the game by stranding another Washburn runner in the fifth inning and two more still in the sixth.
“We made some big pitches there in the first couple of innings to get out of some real jams and again later on,” Aus said. “Lee gets a lot of credit for that because he came up with a lot of tough pitches that you usually only get from veterans like him.
“It’s that experience that we look for as coaches, and Lee and Andrew Hill are giving us really good senior leadership going into these last couple games before sectionals.”
POST 42 SPLITS WITH SURREY
Bottineau kept the momentum from its win against Washburn going into its road doubleheader at Surrey the following day. The first game of that twin bill ended up as a rout with Post 42 picking up a 10-4 win.
Five Bottineau runs in the top of the first inning set the pace. Post 42 then scored two more runs in the second frame and three more in the fifth.
The second game dealt Bottineau its seventh loss of the season. Surrey jumped out to a 5-0 lead through two complete innings and outlasted Post 42 in what ended up as an 8-4 victory for Surrey.
TOURNEY TIME
Bottineau finished an even 5-5 in its Legion section and will be the No. 4 seed in this week’s sectional tournament in Makoti.
Bottineau’s first tournament game is set for 11 a.m. Wednesday morning against fourth-seeded Makoti. The winner plays again at 5 p.m. that day against Beulah, which finished atop the section with a 7-3 record.