After defeating Red Lake County earlier in the day, the Stephen-Argyle Legion baseball team battled Fosston on Saturday evening in the District 9 Division II North Sub-District Tournament. The winner would guarantee a spot in the Championship game of the tournament tomorrow, while the loser would be sent to the losers bracket. Due to rain, the location of the tournament was moved from Argyle to two separate locations in Roseau, and Fosston. Fosston was the home team playing on their home field, and they seemed to enjoy it, winning the game 10-6 and putting up 7 runs in the third inning.
After a 1-2-3 inning for Stephen-Argyle to start the game, Fosston wasted no time taking the lead in the bottom of the first. Cullen Norland led off with a single stole second base, and after two straight outs, came home to score on a 2-out single from Noah Mahlen, giving Fosston a 1-0 lead after one inning of play.
Stephen-Argyle would answer back in the top of the second with singles from Demetrius Oberg and Frank Finney, after a groundout put runners on second and third base, a wild pitch would allow Straet Spilde (who was courtesy running for Oberg) to scamper home and tie the game at 1-1.
Fosston once again took the lead back in the bottom of the frame, with a 2-out double from Jacob Gutterud, and a single from Cullen Norland. That would give Fosston a 2-1 lead after two innings of play.
Stephen-Argyle would again answer back with back-to-back walks from Izyk Strege and Nick Winge to start the top of the third inning. After they each stole a base to put them on second and third, Fosston would get two strikeouts. Fosston was one pitch away from being out of the inning, but a wild pitch would allow Strege to come home and tie the game at 2-2. Stephen-Argyle would end up loading the bases after that but a flyout would end the inning.
Fosston would break the game open in the bottom of the third inning putting up 7 runs to take a 9-2 lead. All 7 runs were scored with two outs and included 6 hits along with 3 Stephen-Argyle errors.
Stephen-Argyle would get a couple of hits from Blaine Smith and Izyk Strege in the top of the fourth inning but fail to score, keeping Fosston in front 9-2. Fosston would tack on another run in the bottom of the fourth inning, again with two outs on a single from Jacob Gutterud scoring Aiden Wolfe who doubled earlier in the inning.
Stephen-Argyle would put up a big inning of their own in the top of the fifth to get back into the game. The first six hitters would all reach base to score three runs and load the bases up. Frank Finney had a double that scored two runs, and Jackson Kekke had a rbi single as well. Fosston pitcher Carsen Boushee would work out of the jam getting three straight outs, leaving the bases loaded, and giving Fosston a 10-5 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth.
Demetrius Oberg would come in and pitch the fifth inning for Stephen-Argyle and put the first zero of the game up on the scoreboard, keeping Fosston in front 10-5 with two innings left to play.
Stephen-Argyle again got the bats going in the top of the sixth inning, with back-to-back hits from Demetrius Oberg and Jackson Woinorawicz. After a flyout, Jackson Kekke would deliver another rbi single to cut the Fosston lead to 10-6 and put runners on the corners with just one out. Fosston would turn a double play in the next at-bat on a flyout and throw out on a play at the plate to end the inning.
That seemed to be the last gasp for Stephen-Argyle, as they held Fosston to a zero in the bottom of the frame, but went down 1-2-3 in the top of the seventh giving Fosston the 10-6 win.
Stephen-Argyle will now face Crookston tomorrow morning in Argyle with the first pitch slated for 9:00 a.m. We will have the game on KROX Radio starting with the RiverView Health pregame show at 8:30 a.m. The winner will advance into the field next weekend, while the loser will see thier season come to an end. Fosston will now face Roseau tomorrow in the District 9 Division II North Sub-District Tournament Championship at 4:30 in Argyle.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | |
| Stephen-Argyle | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 12 | 3 |
| Fosston | 1 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | 10 | 14 | 0 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K |
| Izyk Strege – SA (LP) | 4 | 13 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 2 |
| Demetrius Oberg – SA | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Evan Chalich – Fosston | 2.2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 5 |
| Carsen Boushee – Fosston (WP) | 2.2 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| Thateher Palubicki – Fosston | 1.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
For Stephen-Argyle –
Demetrius Oberg 3 for 4, 3 runs
Frank Finney 2 for 3, 2 rbi, run
Jackson Kekke 2 for 4, 2 rbi
Jackson Woinorowicz 2 for 4, run, stolen base
For Fosston –
Cullen Norland 3 for 4, 2 rbi, 2 runs, 2 stolen bases
Jacob Gutterud 3 for 3, 2 runs, rbi
Aaron Norland 1 for 3, 2 rbi, run, hit by pitch, stolen base
Noah Mahlen 3 for 4, rbi
