The Crookston American Legion Post 20 baseball team traveled to Argyle on Monday night for a doubleheader against Stephen-Argyle. It turned into just one game due to darkness after the first game took almost 3 hours to play. Stephen-Argyle would win the lone game on the night with a walk-off suicide squeeze bunt to outlast Crookston 13-12 in a marathon back and forth game.
GAME ONE –
After a scoreless first inning, Crookston got on the board in the top of the second inning on a solo home run from Alex Longoria. Crookston would score one more run after Ashton Larson drew a walk, advanced to second base on a throwing error, and came home on a rbi single from Cade Coauette. That gave Crookston an early 2-0 lead.Â
Stephen-Argyle would answer back in the bottom of the second inning with a solo home run off the bat of Ty Winge. They would also bring another run around on a hit by pitch, throwing error by Crookston, and rbi single by Nick Winge to tie the game at 2-2 after two innings of play.
The offense continued for Crookston, as they plated four more runs in the top of the third. George Widman walked, and after a sac bunt, the Storm intentionally walked Alex Longoria. Ashton Larson would then single to load the bases, and Cade DeLeon would follow with another hit scoring two runs to give Crookston a 4-2 lead. Blake Melsa would also single to load the bases back up, and Cade Coauette would hit a sacrifice fly to bring another run in. Crookston would get one more run on a Stephen-Argyle error, and take a 6-2 lead.
Stephen-Argyle would again answer back for one run in the bottom of the third. Frank Finney would hit a 1-out single, and Ty Winge would hit a double down the left-field line to put runners on second and third base. Derek Morely would then lift a fly ball out to centerfield for a sacrifice fly to score Finney, and cut Crookston’s lead to 6-3 through three innings of play.
After a scoreless top of the fourth inning for Crookston, Stephen-Argyle would load the bases in the bottom of the fourth. After a quick groundout, back-to-back walks, and a hit batter gave the Storm an excellent opportunity to cut the Crookston deficit. Crookston would go to the bullpen and bring in left-handed pitcher Spencer Ness. Stephen-argyle would then score a run on a walk, and get a double from Frank Finney to tie the game at 6-6. Ty Winge would then get his third hit of the game and score two more runs to give Stephen-Argle their first lead of the day at 8-6. Crookston would then turn to Alex Longoria on the mound. Stephen-Argyle would score two more runs on a Crookston error, and a wild pitch, and take a 10-6 lead into the final three innings of play thanks to a 7-run fourth inning.
Crookston would get two runs back in the top of the fifth inning as the offenses continued to pour in runs for both teams. Blake Melsa would lead things off with a single, and after a Stephen-Argyle error, Lucas Miller would bunt for a single to load the bases. Gunnar Gunderson would then hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Melsa, and another Stephen-Argyle error loaded the bases once again. Jacob Miller would hit a groundball for an out at second base but that would score Cade Coauette and cut the deficit to 10-8. Stephen-Argyle would then intentionally walk Alex Longoria for the third time in the game, and load the bases. Crookston would be unable to bring another run across, and the threat would be over.
In the bottom of the fifth, Alex Longoria would strike out two hitters, and deliver the first 1-2-3 inning in the game, giving Stephen-Argyle a 10-8 lead after five innings of play.Â
Crookston’s offense would again come through in the top of the sixth inning and they would reclaim the lead. Cade DeLeon would reach getting hit by a pitch to start things off, and a Blake Melsa double would score his courtesy runner Carter Coauette to pull Crookston within one run. Back-to-back wild pitches would then score Melsa and tie the game at 10-10. Crookston would take the lead after Gunner Gunderson reached base on a fielders choice, stole second base, and came around to score on a go-ahead rbi single from George Widman. That gave Crookston the lead back at 11-10.
Stephen-Argyle would not go away, and the Storm would tie the game once again. Ty Winge continued his incredible game at the plate, hitting his second home run, another solo shot, and that would send us into the seventh inning tied at 11-11.
Jackson Woinorowicz who started the game on the mound and pitched three innings would come in for Stephen-Argyle and pitch once again in the seventh inning. For the fourth time in the game, the Storm would intentionally walk Alex Longoria to lead off the inning. Longoria would make them pay stealing both second and third base to put himself 90 feet away from scoring the go-ahead run. Cade DeLeon would get hit by a pitch to put runners on the corners, and that would bring Blake Melsa to the plate with one out. Another Stephen-Argyle error would score another Crookston run and Crookston had the lead at 12-11. Woinorowicz would work out of the inning with no more damage, and Crookston would need three outs to secure the win.
Stephen-Argyle had other thoughts in mind and would load the bases with a leadoff single, a walk, and a bunt single. That would put the tying run on third base and the winning run on second base with Jackson Woinorowicz coming to bat. A wild pitch would score the tying run, and after Woinorowicz walked, that put the bases loaded once again and the winning run on third. Longoria would induce a pop-out for the first out of the inning, and that would bring Ty Winge to the plate. Winge was 4-4 on the day entering the at-bat, so it was fitting he could play the role of hero. Stephen-Argyle caught Crookston by surprise and ran a suicide squeeze to score the winning run and win the game 13-12 in a walk-off fashion.
Crookston falls to 1-1 on the season and will be in action this weekend for the Dakota Classic Tournament in Lennox South Dakota beginning on Friday night. Stephen-Argyle improves to 4-1 with the win.
FOR CROOKSTON MANAGER ROB SILVERS COMMENTS, CLICK BELOW
| GAME 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
| Crookston | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 12 | 9 | 3 |
| Stephen-Argyle | 0 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 13 | 12 | 6 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K |
| Jacob Miller- Crookston | 3.1 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 3 |
| Spencer Ness- Crookston | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Alex Longoria- Crookston (LP) | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| Jackson Woinorowicz- Stephen-Argyle (WP) | 4 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 1 |
| Derek Morely- Stephen-Argyle | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| Jasin Lindgren- Stephen-Argyle | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
For Crookston –
Alex Longoria 1 for 1, home run, 4 intentional walks, 2 runs, 2 SB
Blake Melsa 3 for 5, 2 rbi, 2 runs
Lucas Miller 1 for 2, SB, HBP, BB
Cade DeLeon 1 for 3, 2 rbi, 2 HBP
For Stephen-Argyle –
Ty Winge 4 for 4, 2 home runs, 4 rbi, 3 runs
Frank Finney 2 for 5, 2 rbi, 2 runs
Izyk Strege 2 for 3, 2 runs, BB, HBP
GAME TWO –
COULD NOT BE PLAYED DUE TO DARKNESS
