The Crookston American Legion Nels T. Wold Post 20 Baseball team used an early three-run home run from Cade DeLeon and a solid pitching performance from Joe Doda to beat Win-E-Mac 8-6 in a game played in Erskine.
The game didn’t start well for Crookston as the first three batters struck out. In the second inning, Brooks Butt reached on an error and after the next two batters were retired, Jacob Miller reached on an error and Cade DeLeon blasted a three-run home run over the left field fence to give Crookston a 3-0 lead.
In the bottom of the third inning, Win-E-Mac started the inning with a Mason Spry single and came into score later in the inning and Crookston’s lead was 3-1.
Crookston answered in the top of the fourth inning when DeLeon led off with an intentional walk, Carter Bruggeman doubled for the second time in the game, Joe Doda walked and Blake Fee and Brooks Butt had back-to-back singles and four runs scored in the inning to give Crookston a 7-1 lead.
Win-E-Mac answered with three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning behind several hits and a Crookston error to cut Crookston’s lead to 7-4. Win-E-Mac answered with another run and then added a solo home run from Emelian Hanson to get within one run (7-6) through six innings.
Crookston was looking for an insurance run in the top of the seventh inning and Carter Bruggeman reached on an error on the shortstop and later scored on a double to the right-center field gap to give Crookston an 8-6 lead.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Joe Doda retired the first batter on a line drive to right field and Win-E-Mac said they had his pitch count at 107 pitches. Crookston only had Doda for 101 pitches, but the home team’s count is the number they had to go by and Crookston had to make a pitching change. Jacob Miller walked the first batter he faced on four pitches, but settled down and retired the next two batters and Crookston won the game 8-6.
With the win, Crookston will likely still be playing in a play-in game on Tuesday, but it will come down to a tie-breaker on whether Crookston vs Fosston game is played in Crookston or Fosston. The brackets should be released on Sunday.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | |
| Crookston | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 2 |
| Win-E-Mac | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 8 | 3 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K |
| Joe Doda – Crox | 6.1 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 3 |
| Jacob Miller – Crox | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
For Crookston-
Carter Bruggeman – 2-4, 2 doubles, 2 runs
Cade DeLeon – 1-3, 3 rbi’s, home run, 2 runs
