June 21, 2016

Walleye to host Velva Legion baseball action

Walleye to host Velva Legion baseball action

By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor

The Watford City American Legion baseball team took a beating last week as the Walleye dropped a pair of games to Williston on Tuesday, June 14, before bouncing back to split with Mandan on Friday.
With a 2-4 overall record, and a 2-1 record in league play, Pat Spacher, Walleye head coach, is happy with his team’s performance early in the season.
“We’re doing a great job offensively, getting on base and getting hit by pitches at a pretty incredible rate,” states Spacher. “Our pitchers are battling, but we’re just not getting the results we want.”
Spacher sees the keys to getting more wins are improving defensively and throwing more strikes.
“We will be playing a lot of games this week,” states Spacher. “And it will be nice to finally have our full team by the end of the week.”
This week, the Walleye will host Velva on Friday at 5 p.m. before traveling to Beulah on Saturday and Williston on Monday.

Williston 21, Walleye 9
Williston 7, Walleye 3

Watford City was no match for a hard-hitting Williston American Legion baseball team on Tuesday as the Walleye dropped two games by scores of 21-9 and 7-3.
In the first game, Williston held a 8-0 lead through the top of the third inning before the Walleye would rally with eight runs in the bottom of the inning to tie the game, 8-8.
But Williston would not be denied the win as they scored two runs in the sixth inning and then slammed the door shut on Watford City with an 11-run seventh inning.
At the plate, Hunter Neether was three for four with two RBIs.
Heath Chaffin took the loss on the mound for Watford City.
Watford City’s offensive struggles continued in the second game as the Walleye dropped a 7-3 decision.
While the Walleye would score two runs in the bottom of the first inning to take an early lead, a five-run fourth inning gave Williston the win.
Logan Mehlhoff took the loss on the mound for Watford City.
Game 1                                                                    R    H    E
Williston                  5    2    1    0    2    11    0    21    16    0
Watford City            0    0    8    1    1    0    0    9    6    5
Game 2                                                 R    H    E
Williston                 1    0    1    5    0    7    6    2
Watford City           2    0    1    0    0    3    2    0

Mandan 10, Walleye 9
Walleye 8, Mandan 7

After losing to Mandan, 10-9, on Friday evening, Watford City bounced back to take the second game, 8-7.
In a close first game, Mandan led the Walleye, 3-0, after two innings before the two teams started trading runs.
Mandan would tack on two runs in the third inning with the Walleye answering with their first three runs of the game to trail 5-3. While Mandan would score three runs in the fourth, Watford City would answer back with four of their own to cut their deficit to 8-7, after four innings of play.
Watford City would tie the game, 9-9, after seven innings of play with Mandan scoring the winning run in  the eighth inning.
Brandon Roff had the hot bat for the Walleye as he went two for three at the plate with three RBIs.
Hunter Neether took the loss on the mound for Watford City.
In the second game, Watford City picked up its second win of the season with an 8-7 win over Mandan.
After trailing Mandan, 5-2, after three innings of play, Watford City would score four runs in the seventh inning to take the win.
Heath Chaffin had a solo home run to lead Watford City’s offensive effort, while Brett Skarda earned the win for the Walleye.
Game 1                                                                    R    H    E
Mandan            3        0    2    3    1    0    1    0    10    8    1
Watford City     0        0    3    4    2    0    0    0    9    6    3
Game 2                                                                 R    H    E
Watford City   2        0    0    2    0    0    4    0    8    8    3
Mandan           2        0    3    0    1    1    0    0    7    9    1

WATFORD CITY WEATHER