The Valley City Post 60 Royals let a late lead slip away against the Kindred Vikings before an apparent error with two outs in the bottom of the sixth allowed seven runs to cross.

Valley City fell into an early hole, allowing a pair of unearned runs as the Vikings raced out to a 3-0 lead after the second inning. The Royals would rally for four runs in the top of the third, as Gavin Gerhardt got himself in a rundown, which allowed Jack Samuelson to come on in to give Valley City a 4-3 lead.

Carver Pederson shut down the Vikings for the next two innings before a misread fly ball allowed the Vikings to put a man at second base with one out. A single by Kindred’s Andy Trom brought in the tying run. After being held scoreless in the top of the sixth, Valley City sat one out away from getting out of the sixth inning tied 4-4.

However, after the first base umpire ruled that James Schwehr’s backfoot came off the bag, a cavalcade of Vikings would come across to score as Kindred busted the game open, scoring seven two-out runs.

Pederson would get on and come around to score off a wild pitch in the seventh inning, but Gavin Gerhardt would go down looking to end the game, as Kindred claimed the 11-5 win. Counting the seven runs that Kindred scored after the error in the sixth, ten of the Vikings’ eleven runs came off or after Valley City’s fielding mistakes.

Due to pitch count rules, Carver Pederson, will be unable to pitch the rest of the tournament, and Ethan Miller will be available to pitch Sunday if Valley City wins their game tomorrow. Valley City will play Mandan tomorrow at noon on 1490 AM/ 96.3 FM KOVC and online at NewsDakota.com.