Cards played for Region 3 title Wednesday

It was kind of hard to believe, but the Region 3 Baseball Tournament at City Park May 23-25 represented the first home games all season for the Carrington Cardinals in the physical sense.

The weather needed to cooperate just enough in the last few weeks of the season for the outfield to dry sufficiently from heavy snowpack and rain to make the venue playable.

Seeded second coming into play, the Cards opened up with a meeting with surprise first-round winner SNR. The sixth-seeded Black Sox won their first Region 3 game of the season with a 14-7 victory over Kidder County in Steele on May 18 in the first round.

The two rivals played another classic, but the Cards had to weather a late rally with SNR's Haydon Meier hitting a two-run double in the top of the seventh, and pulled out a win by the count of 5-4.

Hudson Schmitz got the win with five-plus innings of solid work, but gave way to Grady Shipman after his pitch count ran high. Shipman pitched well until the seventh, when Lucas Hendrickson came in for the last few outs and the save.

Hendrickson had three hits in four at-bats for Carrington in the win with a pair of RBIs, and he was part of the pitching trio which had nine combined strikeouts.

Taking the loss for SNR was Keaton Cudworth. Meier had two doubles in defeat for the 'Sox (3-13).

Top-seeded LaMoure/Litchville-Marion was next, and the Cards played the Loboes even-up for five innings, trailing just 2-0.

However, the sixth inning was when everything fell apart for CHS' chances. L-L-M put up an eight-spot in that frame, and won by 10-run rule, 10-0, to advance to the championship game.

Landon Piehl shut down the Cardinal hitters once again, as he did earlier in the season, for a one-hit shutout. Dylan Carlson and Corban Potts each had two hits in LaMoure's column, as they improved to 11-1 for the season.

Hendrickson took the loss in spite of pitching well for three innings, and was relieved by Josh Bickett and Kael Kovar.

With an eye on saving their season, the Cards turned to Hendrickson once again against Kidder County in loser-out play, and got the most out of him for three-plus before giving way to Kovar. The junior managed the next few innings with minimal damage, and Shipman got the save in a 4-1 win over the Wolves.

The CHS pitching staff gave up just two hits in the win, and Kovar had a triple at the plate. Shipman reached all four at-bats without a hit, as he was walked and hit by pitch two times apiece.

Isiah Oster was the losing pitcher for Kidder County, whose season ended at 13-7.

The Cards and Loboes hooked up once again this past Wednesday, with Carrington needing two wins over L-L-M to advance to the State Class B Tournament in Fargo.

It didn't come to pass, as the defending region champion Loboes ousted the Cards, 4-1.

Boxscores and a summary from that game will be published next week.

(Correction: In a past story, LaMoure/L-M was incorrectly stated as last year's state champions. Langdon/Edmore/Munich defeated the Loboes, 9-1, in the 2021 high school season. The LaMoure American Legion team, Post 19, won the state championship of the summer tournament.)

Region 3 Baseball

Tournament, Carrington

Quarterfinals

Carrington 5, SNR 4

SNR 011 000 2 - 4 7 2

Cgtn. 100 202 x - 5 10 2

Hudson Schmitz, Grady Shipman, Lucas Hendrickson and Hendrickson, Schmitz; Keaton Cudworth, Kaden Jensen and Koby Duda. W - Schmitz. L - Cudworth. SV - Hendrickson.

Highlights: Hendrickson 3 hits, 2 RBI; Carrington pitchers combined for 9 strikeouts.

Semifinals

LaMoure/L-M 10, Carrington 0

Cgtn. 000 000 - 0 1 1

L-L-M 002 008 - 10 7 1

Hendrickson, Josh Bickett, Kael Kovar and Schmitz; Landon Piehl and Garrett Hebl. W - Piehl. L - Hendrickson.

Highlights: Piehl one-hitter; Dylan Carlson and Corban Potts 2 hits each.

Loser-Out

Carrington 4, Kidder Co. 1

KC 000 001 0 - 1 2 1

Cgtn. 210 100 x - 4 4 1

Hendrickson, Kovar, Shipman and Schmitz; Isiah Oster and Collin Zimmerman. W - Hendrickson. L - Oster. SV - Shipman.

Highlights: Carrington combined two-hitter, Kovar triple, run scored; Shipman 2 HPB, 2 BB, 2 runs scored.