After opening the Section 7A Tournament with four wins in a row, the No. 7-seeded Littlefork-Big Falls baseball team was knocked out of the double-elimination portion of the tournament Tuesday in Hibbing.
“It's not the way we wanted it to end, but like I told those guys, 'When you walk away, keep your heads held high for the run that (you) had,'” said Vikings head coach Dan Beste. “It's about the journey, not the destination. We had a lot of fun this last couple of weeks.”
L-BF lost its first tournament game to top-seeded Ely, 13-2, in five innings.
After a scoreless opening inning, errors plagued the Vikings when they gave up seven runs to the Timberwolves in the top of the second with Rylan Henrickson pitching for L-BF.
Henrickson left the mound after the second inning. Of the seven runs he gave up, two were earned on five hits with two walks.
“If you give a team like Ely, or a team like South Ridge, extra outs in an inning because of errors, they're going to make you pay, and that's what happened (Tuesday),” Beste said.
Evan Wimmer pitched the final three innings for L-BF when he gave up four runs in the third and two more in the fifth. Of those six runs, three were earned on seven hits with two walks. He struck out two batters.
Ely's starting pitcher, Louis Gerzin, kept the Vikings scoreless in his three innings on the mound.
The Timberwolves brought Pat Huisman in to pitch in the fourth inning when L-BF scored both of its runs, which Wimmer drove in with a single after Taylor DeLack doubled and Darian Erickson singled.
The Vikings ended up with only four hits as DeLack added a single in the bottom of the fifth.
SR 13, L-BF 0
L-BF then played an elimination game Tuesday evening against No. 3-seeded South Ridge, which scored 10 runs in the bottom of the first and ended up shutting out the Vikings, 13-0, in five inning.
Henrickson once again started on the mound for L-BF, but lasted only two-thirds of an inning. He was charged for 10 runs, four earned, on seven hits with a walk.
DeLack relieved Henrickson and pitched the rest of the game, allowing three runs, one earned, on four hits with two walks while striking out five.
The Vikings could only muster two hits over five innings off Panthers pitcher Spencer Otis, who also walked two and hit a batter while striking out seven.
DeLack and Jacob Franz each singled for L-BF.
The Vikings' season ended at 10-12, while South Ridge advanced to play against Ely for the Section 7A championship in Hibbing.
L-BF's graduation losses include three players who saw significant playing time this season — DeLack and outfielders Eric Thydean and Jacob Franz.
"We're losing three seniors, a couple of key pieces to our team this year, but they're leaving this program on a positive note in the right direction," said Beste, who finished his second year as the Vikings' head coach. "We've got to improve next year. (After) being a .500 team this year, we're going to shoot for being over .500, getting to this (tournament) game and winning this game, and so on."
Game 1
Ely 13, L-BF 2 (5 innings)
Ely 0-7-4 0-2 – 13 12 3
L-BF 0-0-0 2-0 – 2 4 7
Game 2
SR 13, L-BF 0 (5 innings)
L-BF 0-0-0 0-0 – 0 2 1
SR 10-3-0 0 X – 13 11 2
