After rain and uncertainty of if games would be played today, the Red Lake County Legion and Stephen/Argyle Legion baseball teams met in the first round of the District 9 Division II North Sub-District Tournament on Saturday afternoon. All games were supposed to be played in Argyle today, but due to weather, games were moved to Roseau and Fosston, with this game being played in Fosston. The two teams went back and forth early in the game, but Stephen-Argyle used a 4 run fifth inning to pull away and win 7-2.
Stephen-Argyle was awarded the #3 seed in the tournament while Red Lake County was the #6 seed, designating Stephen-Argyle as the home team. Red Lake County got things started with a 2-out single from Ben Gullingsrud in the top of the first but nothing more, bringing Stephen-Argyle to the plate. Stephen-Argyle would also get one base runner in the first inning on a 2-out walk from Ty Winge, but he would be stranded on base leaving us scoreless after one inning of play.
Red Lake County would get on the board in the top of the second thanks to a Stephen-Argyle error. Brock Knott would work a 1-out walk, and Carson Erickson would then lay down a beautiful bunt forcing a quick throw from Stephen-Argyle that would sail into rightfield. Knott would run all the way from first and cross home plate giving Red Lake County the 1-0 lead. Stephen-Argyle starting pitcher Frank Finney would get out of the inning with a couple of strikeouts keeping the deficit at 1-0.
Finney would manufacture a run on his own in the bottom of the second to tie the game. He would work a five-pitch walk, steal second base, advance to third on a throwing error, and on an errant pickoff attempt at third, scamper home tying the game. Stephen-Argyle would tack on one more in the inning with a Jackson Kekke walk, Blaine Smith double, and Straet Spilde sacrifice fly, giving them their first lead of the game at 2-1 heading into the third inning.
Red Lake County wouldn’t go away, answering back in the third with back-to-back 1-out singles from Peyton Fish and Ben Gullingsrud. After a flyout, Brock Seeger would rope a line drive single down the right field line allowing Fish to slide into home safely tying the game at 2-2. Stephen-Argyle would go down quietly in the bottom of the frame, and the game would head into the fourth inning tied.
After a 1-2-3 top of the fourth for Red Lake County, Stephen-Argyle would reclaim the lead. Jackson Kekke would reach on a fielding error, and steal second base to put himself in scoring position with two outs. Carson Sahnnski would pinch hit and crush a ball to the fence scoring Kekke and giving Stephen-Argyle the 3-2 lead after four innings of play.
Red Lake County would have a great chance in the top of the fifth inning getting a leadoff walk from Gunnar Halvorsen, and a single from Peyton Fish, putting runners on first and second base with nobody out. Stephen-Argyle would go to the bullpen and bring in Jackson Woinorowicz. Woinorowicz would get a groundout to first base, a strikeout, and a groundout back to himself, facing three batters and retiring all of them to get Stephen-Argyle out of the jam still in front 3-2.
It would prove costly for Red Lake County, as Stephen-Argyle would break the game open in the bottom of the fifth. Nick Winge would lead the inning off with a double, and Ty Winge would lay down a bunt that was thrown into rightfield scoring Nick Winge, and making it 4-2. Demetrius Oberg would then single, and two batters later Frank Finney would drive two runners in with a double. He would advance to third on a wild pitch, and Jackson Kekke would lay down a perfect suicide squeeze to score him, and by the time the inning was over, Stephen-Argyle was in front 7-2.
Both teams would go down quietly in the sixth inning, leaving Stephen-Argyle just three outs away from securing a win and advancing to the next round. Blake Breiland would draw a leadoff walk but be thrown out trying to steal. After the second out of the inning, Peyton Fish would get hit by a pitch, and Ben Gullingsrud would walk, but nothing more would come of the inning, and Stephen-Argyle would win the game 7-2.
Stephen-Argyle will now play against Fosston tonight at 5:00 p.m., with the winner guaranteeing a spot in the District 9 Division II District Tournament next weekend. If Stephen-Argyle loses, they will need to win their first game tomorrow or their season will be over. Red Lake County will now play Warroad in a loser-out game tomorrow morning, and if they win, they will seal their spot in the District 9 Division II District Tournament next weekend, but if they lose, their season will also come to an end.
FOR STEPHEN-ARGYLE COACH JOHN LABINE’S COMMENTS, CLICK BELOW
Audio Player
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | |
| RLC | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 4 |
| Stephen-Argyle | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | – | 7 | 7 | 1 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K |
| Frank Finney – SA (WP) | 4 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Jackson Woinarowicz – SA | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Marshall Trudeson – SA | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| Will Gieseke – RLC (LP) | 6 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
For Stephen-Argyle –
Frank Finney 1 for 2, 2 rbi, 2 runs, walk, stolen base
Jackson Kekke 0 for 1, 2 runs, rbi, sac bunt, stolen base
Nick Winge 2 for 4, run
Ty Winge 1 for 3, run, walk
For Red Lake County –
Ben Gullingsrud 2 for 3, walk
Peyton Fish 2 for 3, run, hit by pitch
Brock Seeger 1 for 3, rbi
Brock Knott 0 for 2, run, walk
