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CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – With 8 seniors and a new head coach, The Valley City High School Basketball Team is ready to rebound from their 2016 season.

The Hi-Liners failed to earn an EDC win and ranked last in the conference in runs scored and runs surrendered per game. Lance Lukes takes over the program as head coach and brings a record of success. He guided the 2016 Post 60 Legion Baseball Team to The Class A State Championship and earned 3 trips to the state tournament and runner up finish at the Babe Ruth level. Senior Nate Rodriguez expects the Legion Team’s title run to energize a turn around this spring 

 

On top of the core of seniors the Hi-Liner return 6 juniors to go along with the sophomores and freshmen joining the varsity ranks. With some more depth and a year of experience senior infielder Sam Jenson is confident in his team’s ability to compete

The weather has cooperated the last few weeks allowing Valley City to get outside and run through full practices. Coach Lukes says the hitting has been steadily improving but for now the emphasis has been on keeping teams off the scoreboard  

 

The season opener is set for Thursday against Fargo South. Both games of the doubleheader will be on KOVC and NewsDakota.com. Pregame starts around 4:45 with first pitch at 5, game 2 will start around 7.