The Official Newspaper for Foster County
The Official Newspaper for Foster County
Max Whitman steps on second base for the force out, and gets ready to release the baseball for a double play attempt against Kidder County. Kael Kovar is in the foreground.
Owen Hagel makes solid contact with a Kidder County offering to drive in a run, one of the crucial at-bats in a 5-4 win for the Cards in Steele.
Third baseman Corbin Clifton steps into a throw across the diamond for the putout at first base. Shortstop Kael Kovar backs up the play.
Carrington came back to the pack slightly with the return to Region 3 play, but in the end, it meant retaining their unbeaten string to begin the season to that point.
Grady Shipman matched Kidder County ace Blake Braun strikeout for strikeout (13 each), and a big second inning rally was enough to carry the Cards to a nailbiting 5-4 win over the Wolves Friday, April 28, in a matchup of league contenders.
In the nightcap, it was the Cards' three runs in the sixth inning that broke a 4-4 deadlock and enabled them to take an 8-5 win over the South Border Mustangs. Both games were played at Steele's Pirate Field.
The split-team quadrupleheader, which also involved the SNR Black Sox facing the Wolves and Mustangs, was moved from New Rockford to Kidder County due to the Sox' field recovering from a rain shower that hit the area the previous night.
Game one featured Shipman's effective wildness, as the junior right-hander mixed in his fastball with working around four walks. He had another big day at the plate from the left side, going 4-for-4 with a double, two stolen bases and two runs.
In the second inning, the Cards made use of clutch hits, notably Josh Bickett's two-run, two-strike double, a single from Shipman and double by Hudson Schmitz to extend their lead to 5-0. CHS got on the board in the first inning with Owen Hagel's RBI single to score Shipman.
Collin Zimmerman got things going for the Wolves in the second with a worm-burner double down the left field line, and would score on a bases-loaded walk to put Kidder County on the board. Simon Hager would later come around on Braun's RBI groundout.
In the fifth, Shipman got in another jam, surrendering a run-scoring double to Braun and 6-3 putout by Isaiah Oster to bring the score to 5-4.
He would give way to Kael Kovar for the seventh inning, and the senior made things interesting with a leadoff walk to Zimmerman. However, he was erased on a steal attempt, and Kovar got the final two outs for the save.
Also with two hits for the Cards in the win was Corbin Clifton, and Jack Erickson added a single as well for CHS. Jace Larson had Kidder County's other hit.
Kovar would get the ball in game two against South Border, and ran into trouble in the third inning before being pulled for Schmitz in relief.
In that frame, the Mustangs' Berkley Frantz led off with a double, scoring one batter later on Jace Nitschke's single. Nitschke would plate himself on the third of three straight walks, and Rykan Salwei scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-1 in favor of the visitors.
Carrington would add single runs in the fourth and two in the fifth to tie the game, and broke through with a Clifton RBI double to score Kovar and give the Cards a 5-4 advantage. Clifton would later score on a two-error play, and Jake Otto, who had an RBI single the previous inning, came home on a groundout by Bickett.
The Cards added an insurance run from Bickett on the bases in the seventh, and the sophomore finished up an inning-plus of relief work to get the save for Schmitz.
Mustang reliever Jace Nitschke took the loss.
Frantz led South Border with two of the team's five hits, with the others coming from Colin Goettle (double), Jace Nitschke and Cole Nitschke.
Clifton had two hits, and others to get hits included Shipman, Schmitz and Tate Wolsky.
Region 3 Baseball
Carrington 5, Kidder Co. 4
at Steele
Cgtn. 140 000 0 - 5 10 0
KC 002 020 0 - 4 3 0
Grady Shipman, Kael Kovar (7) and Hudson Schmitz; Blake Braun and Collin Zimmerman. W - Shipman. L - Braun. SV - Kovar.
Carrington: Shipman 4-4, double, 2 SB, 2 runs, RBI; 6 IP, 3 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 13 K; Corbin Clifton 2-3, run; Owen Hagel 1-3, RBI; Jack Erickson 1-3, run; Josh Bickett 1-4, double, 2 RBI; Schmitz 1-4, double, RBI.
Kidder Co.: Braun 1-3, double, 2 RBI; CG, 10 H, 5 ER, 13 K; Zimmerman 1-2, double, 3 SB, 2 runs; Jace Larson 1-3, run; Simon Hager 2 SB, run.
Carrington 8, South Border 5
at Steele
Cgtn. 100 123 1 - 8 6 1
SB 103 001 0 - 5 5 4
Kovar, Schmitz (3), Bickett (6) and Clifton; Marshall Lindgren, Rykan Salwei (3), Jace Nitschke (5) and Daniel Schumacher. W - Schmitz. L - Nitschke. SV - Bickett.
Carrington: Clifton 2-5, double, SB, 2 runs, RBI; Shipman 1-2, double, SB, RBI; Schmitz 1-2, 4 SB, run; Jake Otto 1-4, 2 runs, RBI; Tate Wolsky 1-5, 2 SB, run; Bickett and Kovar run, RBI; Erickson RBI.
South Border: Berkley Frantz 2-4, double, 2 runs; Colin Goettle 1-3, double, run; J. Nitschke 1-4, run, RBI; Cole Nitschke 1-3; Schumacher RBI; Salwei run.
