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(NewsDakota.com)–Valley City entered championship play Saturday with a lot of optimism, having their two top pitchers available, needing two wins.

Wahpeton ended the optimism early.

Nineteen Wahpeton hitters came to the plate in the top of the first, with 13 consecutive reaching safely, 10 consecutive scoring, and three hitting three-run home runs in a 28-1 crushing of Post 60, winning Wahpeton their second-straight sectional title.

Wahpeton will represent the section in the state Class “B” American Legion  tournament starting Wednesday in LaMoure.

After batting for 31 minutes in the first, Wahpeton sent 13 more to the plate in the second and scored seven more times.  In the fifth, reserve Cooper Krause, one of six bench players to finish the game for Wahpeton, added a three-run blast, the fourth homer of the game for Wahpeton.

Valley City managed just an unearned run off of Wahpeton starter Tyler Grippentrog, who fanned 10 Valley City hitters.  Valley City struck out 46 times in five games during the tournament.

Still a run to the finals for Post 60, a run that saw them beat one of the best Section 1 pitchers in Lidgerwood’s Luis Vasquez and the high school state champions in Kindred, was a strong finish for a team that struggled the first month of the summer.

Wahpeton will be joined by representatives from six other sections and host LaMoure at the state tournament starting this Wednesday.  Sunny 98.3 FM will carry select games.