Sports

Bottineau legion season ends at sections

By Tyler Ohmann

07/31/2012

After a tough loss to Casselton in last years Legion State Tournament, the Bottineau Post 42 Legion baseball team was hungry to return and try and take the title as most of their team remained intact.
That quest ended last Friday as Bottineau was eliminated on the Section tournament’s third day.

The tournament, which was held in Bottineau, was a bit of an unusual one, as teams that were not as competitive in the regular season showed up and several upsets unraveled the brackets, and made for unexpected match ups early on.

“It was a goofy tournament,” said Bottineau coach Derek Aus. “You try to tell kids to take it one game at a time, but it’s hard to not look ahead sometimes.”

“We knew going in that there would be six, seven teams that would do well and play for it,” Aus continued. “The upsets don’t surprise me, it just whoever gets hot at the right time.”

The tournament began with three upsets in the first round, including the third-seeded Bottineau falling to sixth-seed Surrey 6-4.

Surrey’s Brady Schwan tossed a complete game, striking out 11 Bottineau players and getting the win on the hill.

Bottineau did jump out to an early lead with a two-run first inning, but allowed Surrey to even it in the bottom half of the inning.

Surrey added two more in the third and runs in the fourth and fifth to keep their lead.

Bottineau scored a pair of runs in the fifth, but were unable to score in the games final two frames and took the opening round loss.

“Losing that first one hurt,” Aus said. “We ended up with some tough match ups after that.”

Devin Bercier was stuck with the loss after allowing six runs on seven hits in four innings pitched in the game.

Andrew Hill came in and pitched the final three innings. Hill also led Bottineau at the dish with a 1-for-3 night and two runs scored.

Taylor Milbrath and Mark LaCroix also had hits in the opening round loss. Milbrath’s was a double and LaCroix drove in and scored a run in the game.

Milbrath, who will be a college sophomore next year, was playing his final summer of legion ball. He said that Bottineau knew that it was going to be a tough tournament.

“It was really anybody’s tournament, and we knew that coming in to it,” Milbrath said. “We knew we had an equal shot at making, but whoever played the best, that’s who is going to win.”

Following the opening round loss, Bottineau found itself with a tough match up, facing a Rolette team that beat them in the regular season.

Worse than that, Rolette tossed their top pitcher, Zach Thompson, in the elimination game on Thursday morning.

However, Bottineau tossed their top pitcher as well, and LaCroix delivered.

LaCroix went the distance in the game, striking out seven and allowing only one run.

Bottineau scratched together three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to earn a 4-1 victory and send Rolette packing in the second round.

“It was a good match up and we had to fight for everything we got there too,” Aus said. “They had a good pitcher and it was tough, but even when Rolette got the lead we held it together.”

The runs in the final frame were generated from an unexpected source, as Thompson beaned three batters in the inning, and Zach Johnson of Bottineau, provided another base runner with a strong bunt.

“The bottom of the lineup came up huge for us,” Aus said. “Zack Johnson and Brody Moum getting on base was huge.”

Again Hill came up big in the win at the plate too. The Bottineau lead off hitter was 1-for-2 with a pair of runs, including one the last inning, after reaching base on a hit by pitch.

However, the momentum from Thursday’s victory did not quite carry into Friday as Bottineau found themselves in a hole early, one that they could not dig themselves out of.

Velva, who beat Cando twice to win the championship and advance to state, scored eight times in the first two innings off of Bottineau starter Cody Brooks, and never looked back, cruising to a 10-6 victory.

“Cody threw well this last game, but they just overpowered us. They hit the ball well,” Aus said. “They found some spots where we didn’t have people, and they just hit better than we did.”

Jon Mack pitched the entire game for Velva and allowed 13 hits, but only five earned runs as Bottineau left several men on base.

“It seemed like everything they hit was just a little out of reach,” Hill said. “We pounded the ball and it happened to go right where they were.”

Velva ripped 14 hits, including 11 off of Brooks. Bercier came in and pitched the final three-plus innings, but Bottineau was unable to surpass the Velva lead.

It did not come from lack of trying though, which made Aus proud of the team.

“We went down fighting, and I was happy to see that,” Aus said.

Bottineau scored three times in the sixth inning to make it a ball game, trailing by only four entering the final inning, but it wasn’t meant to be.

However, that drive to not give up is something Milbrath felt the team had all season.

“It is what we’ve done all year, we’re relentless,” Milbrath said. “We kept fighting, and we never say die, and kept going every game.”

Milbrath scored a pair of runs in the game, which wound up being his final legion game in his career.

“It has been really special,” Milbrath said. “All the friends I’ve made from Dunseith, Hunter (Braaten) and all the coaches and players, I’m very thankful for everything.”

“It is really frustrating, because we knew what we were capable of and we just came up short,” Milbrath added.

McCloud went 3-for-4 in the game and scored a pair of runs. Also successful at the plate was Braaten, who went 2-for-4 with a run and an run batted in (RBI) in the loss.

“No one team was better than another, and we knew that coming in,” Hill said. “We just went out there and came up short.”

The season ends with Bottineau finishing with a record of 21-8 overall on the season. Aus said that he enjoyed coaching the kids this season, and thinks that they should be proud of what they accomplished.

“I was really happy, and the kids should be happy too,” Aus said. “They probably had their eyes set on a state tournament, but they had a fantastic season.”

“They were fun to coach, easy to coach, and they are so unselfish, they made their season successful,” Aus added.

Things may change next season, depending on what recently graduated seniors on the team decide to do next summer. If none return, Hill said that it could be a different team altogether.

“It could be different, and I don’t know if Justin (McCloud), Cody (Brooks) or Mark (LaCroix) are coming back, but I hope they do,” Hill said.

Whoever winds up back on the team, there is no doubt in Hill’s mind they will fight for state once again.