July 25, 2012

Walleye head into Section 6 Tournament as No. 2 seed

By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor

With wins over Surrey and Crosby this past week, Watford City secured the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Section 6 American Legion Baseball Tournament. And if the Walleye can keep playing quality baseball, Pat Spacher, head coach of the team, likes their chances of making a repeat trip to the State American Legion Tournament.
“We go into the tournament as the No. 2 seed with Garrison having the No. 1 seed,” states Spacher. “We have to continue swinging the bat well and shore up our defense to win this tournament. If we can throw strikes and put up runs, we can make it to State.”
The Walleye, who finished the season with a 22-12 overall record, were 10-2 in league play.
Both Watford City and Garrison will receive a first round bye in the Section 6 Tournament with the Walleye taking on the winner of the Makoti vs. Stanley game on Thursday in Crosby.
“It has been a pretty interesting year,” states Spacher. “All of the teams have been pretty evenly matched and the teams that have won this year have come ready to play and have given maximum effort.”

Walleye 6, Surrey 2
Walleye 10, Surrey 0

Watford City swept Surrey with two big individual performances last Wednesday afternoon. Nate Egeberg hit a grand slam in the fifth inning of the first game to propel Watford City to a 6-2 win over the Blue Sox, and then Lucas Nicholson pitched a no- hitter in the second game to cap off a 10-0 Walleye win.
Watford City led Surrey 2-0 after three innings of play in the first game with the Blue Sox coming back to deadlock the game 2-2 after four innings of play.
With the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth inning, Egeberg came through in a big way for the Walleye as he hit a grand slam to secure the 6-2 win for Watford City.
Andrew Sampsel picked up the win on the mound for Watford City as he struck out seven batters, while giving up three hits and six walks in seven innings of work.
At the plate, Egeberg was one for three with a grand slam and four RBIs, Brice Brenno was one for one with two runs scored, two walks and one hit by pitch; Brandon Taylor was one for four with one run scored, and Jayden Grotte was one for three with a double and one run scored.
In the second game of the day, Lucas Nicholson was perfect on the mound for the Walleye as he struck out eight batters and gave up three walks as he pitched a no-hitter.
While Nicholson was taking care of business on the mound for the Walleye, Watford City scored 10 runs on 12 hits to cap off a 10-0 win.
At the plate, Brice Brenno was two for three with one home run and three RBIs, Brandon Taylor was two for three with two runs scored, Nate Egeberg was three for three with a double and two runs scored and one RBI, Keegan Thompson was one for three with one run scored, Jayden Grotte was two for two with two RBIs and two runs scored, and Dillion Smith was one for three with one RBI and one run scored.
Game 1                                                            R    H    E
Watford City          0    0    2    0    4    0    x    6    4    1
Surrey                    0    0    0    2    0    0    0    2    3    0
Game 2                                                            R    H    E
Watford City                          3    2    0    5    10    12    1
Surrey                                     0    0    0    0     0      0    0

Walleye 15, Crosby 4
Walleye 11, Crosby 1

Watford City had its bats going on Friday as the Walleye scored 26 runs on 22 hits to sweep Crosby by scores of 15-4 and 11-1.
In the first game of the day, after leading Crosby, 5-4, after two innings of play, the Walleye scored eight runs in the the top of the third inning to put the game on ice.
Nate Egeberg picked up the win on the mound for the Walleye as he struck out eight batters, while giving up three walks and three hits.
At the plate, Tyler Bates was three for three with a double and four runs scored, Brice Brenno was two for two with a pair of doubles and three RBIs and three runs scored, Brandon Taylor was two for three with two doubles and two RBIs, Nate Egeberg was two for three with a double and three RBIs, and Dakota Neether was one for two with one RBI and two runs scored.
In the second game of the day, Watford City kept its hitting going as the Walleye led 7-0 after two innings of play and then coasted to the easy 11-1 win.
Dakota Neether earned the win on the mound for the Walleye as he struck out five batters while giving up three hits and three walks.
At the plate, Tyler Bates was three for four with three runs scored, Brice Brenno was one for two with one RBI and three runs scored, Brandon Taylor was one for two with three runs scored, Nate Egeberg was one for two with four RBIs, and Brandon  Allex was one for one with two RBIs.
Game 1                                                            R    H    E
Watford City                   3    2    8    2    0    15    13    4
Crosby                            1    3    0    0    0    4    3    2
Game 2                                                          R    H    E
Watford City                   4    3    0    2    2    11    9    2
Crosby                            0    0    0    0    1     1     3    3

WATFORD CITY WEATHER