Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Home plate heroes- Left: Luke Ystaas leaps up high to catch the ball. Right: Luke Ystaas and Colter Solderholm planning their strategy.
Day one of their home weekend baseball showcase at Jim Johnson Park was a resounding success for the SNR Black Sox, but once Saturday rolled around, good mojo was hard to come by.
The 'Sox scored early and late to take a 13-5 victory over the Rugby Panthers on Friday, April 26, but ran into tough opposition in the form of Region 4 state tournament contenders Park River/Fordville-Lankin and Langdon/Edmore/Munich, taking losses of 12-0 and 13-1 the following afternoon.
Against the Panthers, SNR racked up 10 hits, as Tucker Longnecker and Luke Ystaas each went 2-for-3 with a double and run scored. Johnny Grann also had two hits in the win, with singles also coming from Bo Belquist, Colter Soderholm, Teddy Allmaras and Caleb Price.
Soderholm worked the first five innings for the Black Sox before giving way to Belquist in the sixth.
The SNR bats went practically silent versus the PR/F-L Aggies and pitcher Nick Thompson. The two-time defending Class B champions were held at bay by the Black Sox until the fifth inning, when the floodgates opened and the Aggies scored all 12 of their runs.
SNR's only hit came from Belquist, a single in the third inning. Two other hitters reached by walk and hit batsman, respectively.
On the mound, Allmaras got the start, and was relieved by Koby Duda and later Nathan Holzwarth.
The final game of the tournament pitted the 'Sox against the Cardinals of L/E/M, and the visitors from the northeast wasted no time in taking a 3-0 lead. The big blow came in the third inning, when the Cards plated seven runs.
Longnecker took the loss, working all five innings. His hill counterpart, Ethan Sampson, scattered seven SNR hits, two each provided by Belquist and Duda. The other hits came from Longnecker, Grann and Nick Presnell.
Comprehensive boxscores were not available at press time.
After tournament play, the Black Sox sit at 5-5 overall. Next up for SNR will be a Region 3 varsity/JV doubleheader in Steele today (May 6) against the Kidder County Wolves starting at 4:30 p.m., followed by a key conference game Thursday in Carrington beginning at 3:30.
The team will also participate in the Enderlin/Central Cass Jamboree this upcoming Friday and Saturday, with many of the top area Class B teams expected to attend.
