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N.D. (NewsDakota.com) Valley City Babe Ruth went into Tuesday’s district championship in a great spot.  Being undefeated VC would be needed to be beaten twice by Ellendale, while only needing to win one game to come away as district champs. Valley City would not wait around for a second game as they took an early lead in the first game and would keep on adding to that lead to come away with the win by score of 18-2 in five innings to claim their third straight district 6 tournament championship. 
 
Valley City would trail 1-0 after the first half inning, but at the end of the first inning VC would put up 2 runs to take 2-1 lead and hold that lead till the end.  VC would add 7 runs in the second, 4 runs in the third and 5 runs in the fourth, while Ellendale would only manage 1 more run in the third. 
 Rylee Bjork got the start on the mound for Valley City.  Bjork would throw all 5 innings giving up 2 runs(1 earned) on 4 hits while walking 1 and striking out 4 to pick up the win.
 
Offensively Valley City would pick up 11 hits in the game while drawing 11 walks as well to help out.  Leading the way for VC was Tanner Thomsen, who picked up 3 hits while driving in 4 RBI’s.  Dawson Dietrich and Riley Miller also chipped in with 2 hits a piece.
 
Coaches Comments:
“We came to play with a focus and determination to only play the one game.  From top down every one of our players were focused and into the game and it showed by their energy and fire they all had.”
“Getting a big inning like the 2nd inning was big, especially early on in the game. You could see some of the Ellendale players energy drop and something we feed on and kept going at it.”
“Rylee pitched just how I would have wanted him to pitch once got a big lead.  He threw strikes and didn’t give up many free bases, and our defense helped any attempted comeback from them.”
 
With the win Valley City now qualifies for the State Tournament that takes place in Hettinger starting July 31st.
 
VC will enter the state tournament with a 29-5 record.