Brady Butt tossed a 13-strikeout, complete game shutout as the Crookston Post 20 Legion baseball team beat Lancaster 9-0 Tuesday at Jim Karn Field.
Post 20 scored a run in the first when Alex LaFrance led off with a walk and stole second. Joey Doda would double to score LaFrance to make it 1-0. Ashton Larson bounced a ball to the pitcher and Doda got caught in a rundown for the first out before Larson was thrown out at second for the second out. Brooks Butt would follow with single and Brady Butt walked to put runners at first and second before a strikeout ended the inning.
With one out in the third inning, Larson drew a walk. Cade DeLeon courtesy ran and stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch. Following a strikeout, Brady Butt singled to bring home the run and make it 2-0 Crookston. In the fourth inning with one out Gunner Gunderson laid down a bunt for a hit and moved to second on a passed ball. Alex LaFrance would single to put a runner on the corners. LaFrance stole second to put runners on second and third before Doda drew a walk to load the bases. Larson lined to short for the second out of the inning. A wild pitch brought Gunderson home and after the throw to the plate got away from the pitcher, LaFrance tried to score but was tagged out for the third out of the inning with the Reds leading 3-0. “We have a few things to clean up, especially on the bases,” said coach Rob Silvers. “We also need to spend some more time in the cage because we’ll need to take better approaches at the plate then we did tonight.”
In the fifth inning, Brooks Butt reached on an error to lead off and then moved to second, third and scored on passed balls to make it 4-0. Crookston would put the game away in the sixth inning as Deleon lead off with a single and LaFrance reached on an error to put runners on first and second with nobody out. Following a strikeout, a passed ball moved the runners to second and third for Larson who delivered a two-RBI single to make 6-0. Larson moved to second on a passed ball and Brooks Butt singled to left scoring Larson to make it 7-0. Following a popout, for the second out, Gavin Salem was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second. Blake Fee hit an infield single to load the bases before Carter Bruggeman delivered a 2-RBI hit to make it 9-0. “We were finally able to put up the crooked number to put the game away and get that first win,” said Silvers. “We needed to do that because Brady threw a really good game. He had good command of his fastball and his off-speed was effective in getting hitters off balance.”
Crookston Post 20 improves to 1-0 on the season and are scheduled to play Monday in Fosston at 6:00 p.m., pending Fosston’s result in the high school section baseball tournament.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | |
| Lancaster | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| CROOKSTON | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | x | 9 | 13 | 4 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Brady Butt – Crox (WP) | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
For Crookston
Joey Doda 2-3, 2B, RBI, R
Brady Butt 3-4, 2 R
