Sports
Bottineau Legion season ends on section's third day
Tyler Ohmann
07/30/2013
Bottineau Post 42’s Legion baseball team ended their season last Friday with a 7-5 loss on the third day of the Section 5 Tournament.
Sixth-seeded Bottineau fell to the No. 5 team Sheyenne-New Rockford (SNR) in a close game in which both team’s had many chances to win.
The visiting Bottineau team scored three runs in the first inning to kick start their effort of survival in the elimination contest. However, the wind went out of their sails quickly as SNR scored to tie the game in the bottom of the first.
“Those early runs were important for us. Getting three that first inning relaxes everyone, but unfortunately we gave some runs back right away in the bottom of the inning,” stated Bottineau coach Derek Aus. “Losing that momentum was tough.”
Bottineau added a couple more runs, one more in the third and one in the sixth, but a three-run third won the game for SNR. Chance LaBrie pitched a strong three-hit game for SNR.
“LaBrie just took us out of the game after that first inning,” Aus stated . “He struck out 15, and gave up one bloop hit the rest of the game. We met a pitcher who got hot and shut us down.”
Bottineau’s three hits in the loss came from Cody Brooks, Andrew Hill and Devin Bercier. Christian McCloud pitched all six innings for Bottineau. He had four strikeouts and allowed five earned runs.
Bottineau had two errors.
In order to get into the position to be in an elimination game, Bottineau lost in round one 2-0 to Cando and then beat Burlington 17-7.
In the tournament opener for Bottineau they faced third-seeded and host Cando in Wednesday’s final game.
Despite out-hitting Cando 6-4, Bottineau could not scratch across any runs and were shut out by Brooks Larson.
Cando scored in the first and third off of Bercier, who went all six innings for Bottineau. He finished with four strikeouts and scattered four hits with one earned run.
Both Brooks and McCloud each had a pair of hits, but Bottineau didn’t do well with runners in scoring position.
“We had baserunners, but just couldn’t string any hits together,” Aus stated. “Cody and Christian hit the ball well, but we never got that hit we needed with runners in scoring position.”
Things looked to have turned around for Bottineau on Thursday as they endured in the tournament with a 17-7 win over No. 7 Burlington in five innings.
Bottineau scored in each inning and had nine hits in the contest, but their biggest strength was being selective at the dish.
“Our lineup worked 15 walks in the game,” Aus stated. “We had people on base every inning and that was because of our patience at the plate.”
Hill went 2-for-2 and had two runs batted in (RBI). Both Brody Moum and Zach Johnson each had an RBI as well. However, it was Brooks who came up biggest with a 2-for-3 night and five RBI.
This weekend was the final one for Brooks, and Aus said he will be someone who will truly be missed.
“Cody had an outstanding tournament, and we will miss him in our lineup next year,” Aus stated. “(He is) such an unselfish player who did anything the team needed. Besides the offensive power he added to our lineup, it will be tough to replace the versatility and leadership that he brought us.”
He also pitched in the win and worked five innings and struck out six, while allowing only one earned run.
Overall Aus thought that the pitching was strong throughout the tournament for Bottineau, but the bats just didn’t come together at the right time.
“All three of our pitchers did an outstanding job of keeping us in games,” Aus stated. “You have to get some timely hits and put up some runs if you are going to win tournament games though. Our bats just didn’t produce enough runs.”
Bottineau finished with an 8-15 record on the season overall.
Cando went on to beat Harvey for the section title on Saturday. They will move on to the state tournament in Beulah, which starts on Wednesday.