HAZEN, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) The championship game of the 2019 American Legion State Class B Baseball tournament was held on Sunday afternoon at Slinde Field in Hazen, Post 181 scored seven runs in the home half of the third inning and never looked back as they go on to defeat Carrington Post 25, 15-5, winning by 10-run mercy rule on a walk-off single in the bottom of the sixth inning. It was their third consecutive walk-off win in the tourney. Thompson is the State B champ for the third consecutive year, beating Carrington in 2018 and Nelson County in 2017. Carrington finishes runner-up for the second straight year. Thompson ends their season at 22-4 overall, Carrington ends at 26-9.
Clay Odenbach was the winning pitcher, working five and a third inning, five earned runs, five strikeouts, four walks and six hits. Wade Strande came in after Odenbach hit his 105 daily pitch limit, working two thirds of an inning, no runs. Drew Page took the loss, working three innings, seven runs, six earned. Lucas Hendrickson worked an inning and Lucas Geiszler pitched an inning and two-thirds.
At the plate for Post 181, Trey Larimer was 3-for-4, with three singles and three RBI. Both Josh Sem and Hayden Overby hit two-run home runs in the game. For Post 25, Kyle Leapaldt hit a grand slam in the top of the fifth inning making the score 9-5 Thompson.
The tournament MVP went to Marcus Hughes of Thompson.
Thompson went 5-0 in the tournament, Carrington 3-2, both loses to Thompson. Below are the scores from Saturday and how both Thompson and Carrington got to the championship on Sunday.
SATURDAY’S RESULTS:
Fargo Bombers 10 Hazen 0, 6 innings
Thompson 1 MayPort 0, 9 innings
Carrington 4 MayPort 3
Thompson 3 Fargo Bombers 2