VALLEY CITY, N.D. (Newsdakota.com) – Fargo Jets scored an unearned run in the bottom of the third inning and Calvin Clasen made it stand up as the Jets defeated the Valley City Royals 1-0 in a loser out game at the State Class A Senior Babe Ruth Baseball tournament Friday night.

With the win, the Jets will face the West Fargo Vets in the championship Saturday afternoon.

Clasen and Royals starter Alex Thornton had an old fashioned pitchers duel. Their pitching lines were nearly identical. Clasen allowed three hits in seven innings. Thornton allowed three hits in six innings. They both walked two. Clasen struck out three, Thornton one. Thornton did not hit a batter, Clasen one. But Thornton gave up one unearned run, an that was the difference.

For the first time in the tournament, Valley City failed to score in the first inning. Clasen retired the Royals 1-2-3 in the first. The Royals best scoring chance came in the top of the third when they would load the bases with a walk to Austyn Thornton, and single by Corey Nelson and Avery Bennefeld with one out. But Clasen would get the next two batters to end the threat.

In the bottom of the third, Chase Hansen led off with a single. He was sacrificed to second. Clasen would single to right to move him over to third. On the first pitch to Mitch Runcorn, Clasen would try and steal second, but Riley Gerhardt’s throw got by both Easton Hesch and Avery Bennefeld and into center field to score Hansen. That would be it for the offenses.

Thornton would  retire 11 of last 13 batters he faced, including the last seven in a row. For Clasen it was a bit tougher. After the third inning, the Royals would get a runner on at second with no outs in the fifth and second and third with two outs in the sixth, but no scoring. Clasen would set down the Royals 1-2-3 in in the seventh on three pitches to end the game.

Avery Bennefeld, Grady Karges and Corey Nelson would have the hits for the Royals. Valley City ends the season with a 23-15 record.

Fargo will now play West Fargo Saturday at noon. They will need to be West Fargo twice. The two teams met in the second round of the tournament and West Fargo won that game 8-5.

West Fargo Vets 6, Bismarck Caps 3

West Fargo scored five runs in the first inning then held off Bismarck for a 6-3 win earlier oin the day eliminating the Caps from the tournament.

In the first inning, Casey Reber scored on a wild pitch, and Griffen Staahl and Jack Newenhouse each had two run singles. Staahl would add an rbi triple in the fourth for insurance.

Bismarck chipped away starting with a three run third. Jaden Mitzel had an rbi single and Josh Lardy a two run single. Keegan Glatt would drive in Shea Huntington with a single in the seventh, but Evan Martin would get the next three batters to end the game.

The game can be seen https://newsdakota.com on the video page. Beginning at 11:50am