Sports
Bottineau legion enjoys busy week
Tyler Ohmann
07/03/2012
A very busy week turned into a pretty successful one for the Bottineau Post 42 legion baseball team. Despite ending their seven game win streak in a pair of losses to Rolette on Monday, Bottineau began a new one sweeping Burlington, Cando and New Rockford in doubleheaders the rest of the week.
Bottineau first baseman Cody Brooks said that playing four out of five days in a week has its ups and downs.
“You do get tired, but it is easier to get into a groove and get a feel for things,” Brooks said.
Rumble with Rolette
Bottineau began the week with games at home against a tough Rolette squad.
In game one Rolette’s Zach Thompson out-dueled the combo of Lee Schneider and Garrett Lynnes to nab a 7-5 victory.
Rolette jumped out to an early lead scoring runs in each of the first four innings. Bottineau, on the other hand, started sluggishly, scoring only once in the first four.
Bottineau turned on the heat late in the game scoring twice in the fifth and in the final inning, but eventually left two runners stranded to fall just short.
Justin McCloud led Bottineau by rapping four singles in four at-bats and scoring three of Bottineau’s five runs.
Bottineau stranded eight runners in the loss as Thompson went the distance for Rolette surrendering nine hits and striking out 12 Bottineau batters.
In game two the runs poured in for both squads, but again Rolette was able to come away with a 12-9 victory in the five-inning affair.
Taylor Milbrath led the Bottineau offensive attack with a 3-for-4 performance at the dish and three runs scored.
McCloud added a pair of hits and a pair of runs as well for Bottineau.
However, Rolette scored eight times in the fourth inning off of Zach Johnson in his third inning of relief.
Mark LaCroix came in to stop the damage, but Bottineau was unable to climb back.
However, one good sign was the offense that began to come alive in the games.
“We have a tough order one through nine, everyone is tough to get out,” Brooks said. “It’s kind of a team thing, when the team is firing, everyone is firing, but when the team is off, it seems to be really tough to put runs together.”
Bottineau bounces Burlington
Bottineau did manage to bounce back on Tuesday as they hosted Burlington for a pair of games.
The strong offense continued, as Bottineau blasted in 15 runs in the first game against Burlington.
Andrew Hill had a strong game going 2-for-2, as well as reaching base and scoring in all four plate appearances.
McCloud and Hunter Braaten each scored three times, while Brooks had two runs batted in (RBI) in the win.
Brooks also found success on the hill allowing only three runs in a five-inning complete game. He allowed only one hit in the game.
The second game didn’t go quite as well for Bottineau, though they did manage to come out on top in a dog fight.
Bottineau fell behind 2-1 in the fourth inning, but rallied in the fifth to get the win as they capitalized on Burlington mistakes to take a 3-2 victory.
Ging Martin had two hits and an RBI in the win, while LaCroix got the win on the hill, striking out the side in the final inning in relief for Milbrath.
Brooks said that Bottineau’s success this summer stems from a couple of things.
“We have a great coach who really teaches us a lot and we have a lot of really gifted athletes,” Brooks said.
Bottineau can do against Cando
On Thursday Bottineau continued their new streak with a pair of wins over Cando in Bottineau.
In game one McCloud tossed 6 1/3 innings ceding to LaCroix as the pair combined in a 6-4 win.
Bottineau led 4-0 after a two-run Brooks home run in the fifth. Cando crawled to within one in the sixth, but Bottineau scored twice in the bottom of the inning thanks to RBI knocks by Milbrath and Hill.
Brooks, who during his senior season this past spring broke the career record for home runs at Bottineau High School, said his power came about suddenly during his early high school days.
“Back when I first started out in high school, coaches always told me I had a good swing,” Brooks said. “I never thought I was a good batter, but out of nowhere I hit a home run, and I thought, ‘maybe I could do this again.’”
His offense, he said, has come around this summer after a bit of a lapse late in the high school season.
“During the high school season I was slacking a little bit at the end, I was lunging, but I think that I got it back now,” Brooks said.
In game two it was offense that was the name of the game as the teams dueled back and forth at the plate.
Bottineau hopped ahead first as they scored eight times in the opening frame, batting around the lineup.
Hill led off the barrage with a fly ball that hit the wall and turned into a triple, add an error and that put Bottineau ahead 1-0.
Braaten and Devin Bercier each scored for the second time in the second inning, as Bottineau opened up a 10-1 lead.
Bercier pitched a solid first inning, but Braaten came in to relieve him in the second and struggled a bit.
He allowed two runs in the third and another six in the fourth before Lynnes came in to replace him.
Eventually Cando tied the game in the fifth inning on a Jake Hagler single. However, Milbrath ended things with one swing to lead off the bottom of the inning.
Milbrath stepped up and drilled a gapper and hustled to third. After an errant throw, he scored the game-winner.
Rock New Rockford
Bottineau closed out their week last Friday with a pair of wins over New Rockford in games that both counted. Normally legion teams play two games, the first counts toward their sectional record, and the second does not. However, on Friday, in lieu of making two trips New Rockford and Bottineau played two seven-inning games that counted.
In game one Bottineau used a six-run fourth inning to rally past a New Rockford lead and come away victorious 9-6.
LaCroix went 3-for-4 at the plate, scoring twice and driving in two runs. Brooks also had two RBI. Bercier pitched all seven innings for Bottineau, giving up six runs on six hits.
Brooks said that having fun is an integral part of being successful.
“In baseball you’ve got to have fun,” Brooks said. “If you’re not having fun you are going to make errors and things are just not going to go your way, and we’ve got a good group of guys.”
Bottineau certainly did that in game two as they invoked the mercy rule after six innings, winning 12-2.
Bottineau jumped out to a hot start as they scored four times in the first inning thanks to RBI hits from Brooks, Lee Schneider and Kevin Graber.
Bottineau scored five more times in the fourth to knock the New Rockford starter out of the game.
LaCroix pitched all six innings for Bottineau as he scattered six hits and struck out six.
McCloud went 2-for-2 at the plate with two runs scored and an RBI. Schneider also went 2-for-2 with two runs scored.
After the 6-2 week Bottineau now stands at 15-3 overall for the season.
Bottineau plays twice in the upcoming week, beginning tonight at 5 p.m., as they host Surrey. Bottineau then travels to Surrey to play against Burlington at 5 p.m., Thursday.