[FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA] – The #10-ranked MinnDak Millers claimed the championship of the Liberty Bank/Albaugh/Des Moines Hall of Fame Invitational this past weekend in Elkhart, Iowa. The Millers went undefeated at 6-0 on the weekend to improve their season record to 10-0.
MinnDak was without John Tschida, Bob Fleming, Guy Carlson, Lamar Noriega and Ward Gosse on the weekend. The Millers would to extend a thank you to Gerald Muizelaar for once again putting on the MinnDak uniform as well as Nick Winecke for playing with the Millers after playing in last year’s ISC with MinnDak.
Below are summaries for each game.
Pool Play – “Pool Aâ€
Saturday
#10 MinnDak Millers 7
#25 Thomson Area Merchants (Thomson, Ill) 2
The Millers opened the weekend against Thomson, playing the Merchants for the second time in as many weekends. MinnDak jumped on the board first in the second inning and with two outs, BJ Boom singled, Nick Winecke doubled then Zach Goring had an inside-the-park home run.
Thomson countered with a run in the third. MinnDak countered in the fourth when BJ Boom singled with one out. Nick Winecke singled and Zach Goring drove in Boom with a single.
Thomson scored their final run of the game in fourth.
The Millers added another run in the sixth. Jason Wandler led off with a triple then scored on BJ Boom’s triple. The top of the seventh saw MinnDak add two more runs. Lucas Goring led off with a single. Gregg Cascaes then sacrificed him to second. Chad Boom singled. Roman Foore’s double plated Goring and moved Boom to third. Boom scored on Tony Kunka’s sacrifice fly to centerfield.
MDM 020 101 2-7 12 1
TAM 001 100 0-2 3 0
WP-Travis Price (3-0)
LP-Steve Manson
HR-Zach Goring (IP 1), MinnDak
Chad Boom, 2-4, 2B, R
Roman Foore, 2-4, 2B, RBI
BJ Boom, 3-3, 3B, 2 R
Nick Winecke, 2-3, 2B, R
Zach Goring, 2-3, IP HR, 3 RBI, R
Travis Price, 7 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 11 K, 0 BB
#10 MinnDak Millers 10
#11 Townline (Green Bay, Wisc) 5
Facing Townline for the second time in as many weekends, MinnDak jumped out to an early lead. Lucas Goring led off the game with a single. Two batters later, Chad Boom reached on an error that scored Goring. Boom would later score on Tony Kunka’s sacrifice fly to centerfield.
MinnDak made the score 3-0 in the second when Zach Goring singled with two out. Lucas Goring singled and Gregg Cascaes walked to load the bases. Chad Boom walked to plate Zach Goring. In the fourth, MinnDak added another run when Zach Goring led off with a single then advanced to second Lucas Goring’s ground out. A Gregg Cascaes single scored Zach Goring to make it 4-0. Townline mounted a comeback in the fifth, scoring five runs behind Jon Zipperer’s grand slam. The Millers rallied for the victory in the top of the seventh. Roman Foore led off with a walk. Tony Kunka homered to put MinnDak up 6-5. Two batters later, Tim Tweiten singled then Jason Wandler homered. Zach Goring and Lucas Goring had back-to-back singles and would then score on a single by Gregg Cascaes.
MDM 210 100 6-10 11 3
TL 000 050 0-5 2 1
WP-Rick Lang (1-0)
LP-Betto Guerrieneri
S-Gerald Muizelaar (2)
HR-Tony Kunka (1), Jason Wandler (1), MinnDak
Lucas Goring, 3-5, 2 R
Gregg Cascaes, 2-3, 2 RBI
Tony Kunka, 1-2, HR, 2 RBI, R
Jason Wandler, 2-4, HR, 2 RBI, R
Zach Goring, 3-4, 3 R
Rick Lang, 6 IP, 2 H, 5 R, 0 ER, 6 K, 2 B
Gerald Muizelaar, 1 IP, retired all 3 batters faced
#10 MinnDak Millers 11
#12 Albaugh, Inc. (Elkhart, Iowa) 2, 5 innings
MinnDak closed out Pool Play with a victory that earned them the top seed in their pool. The Millers jumped on the board in the top of the first. Lucas Goring led off with a single. Gregg Cascaes bunted him to second. Chad Boom walked and Roman Foore singled Goring home. Albaugh tied the game in the bottom of the first, before moving ahead 2-1 in the bottom of the third. The MinnDak bats came alive in the fourth. With one out, Lucas Goring singled then scored on Gregg Cascaes’ triple. Chad Boom doubled to score Cascaes. Roman Foore reached on an error. Tony Kunka’s single plated Chad Boom, with Roman Foore scoring on BJ Boom’s fielder’s choice. The fifth saw Lucas Goring lead off by reaching on an error. Gregg Cascaes walked. Both players scored on Chad Boom’s double. A single by Roman Foore scored Boom. Tony Kunka and Jason Wandler both walked. With one out, Tim Tweiten singled to score Kunka. Two batters later, Wandler scored on a single by Lucas Goring.
MDM 100 55-11 12 0
Alb 101 00-2 4 2
WP-Gerald Muizelaar (2-0)
LP-Darren Dubsky
HR-None
Lucas Goring, 3-5, 2 RBI, 3 R
Chad Boom, 2-2, 2 2B, 3 RBI
Roman Foore, 2-4, 2 RBI, 2 R
Gerald Muizelaar, 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 K, 1 BB
Bracket Play
Sunday
Quarterfinals
#10 MinnDak Millers 6
#28 Des Moines Stampede (Des Moines, Iowa) 2
The Millers jumped on the board in the second inning, when with one out, Tony Kunka walked, then Jason Wandler hit a homer. MinnDak added another pair of runs the next inning. With two outs, Chad Boom walked, Roman Foore doubled Boom home, with Tony Kunka singling home Foore. The Millers made the score 6-0 in the fourth when they scored two runs on a pair of Stampede errors. Des Moines scored two runs in the sixth then another two in the seventh but would get no closer as MinnDak held on for the win.
DM 000 002 2-4 5 0
MDM 022 200 x-6 8 2
WP-Rick Lang (2-0)
LP-Kim Hansen
HR-Jason Wandler (2), MinnDak
Roman Foore, 1-4, 2B, RBI, R
Tony Kuna, 2-2, RBI, R
Jason Wandler, 2-3, HR, 2 RBI, R
Rick Lang, 6.1 IP, 4 R, 4 ER, 8 H, 8 K
Gerald Muizelaar, .2 IP, struck out both batters faced
Semifinals
#10 MinnDak Millers 4
#8 Circle Tap (Denmark, Wisc) 3
The semifinals saw the Millers square off with Circle Tap. MinnDak jumped on the scoreboard early. With two outs in the first inning, Chad Boom and Roman Foore recorded back-to-back singles. Tony Kunka walked to load the bases. Jason Wandler doubled to score Boom and Foore and put MinnDak up 2-0. CT countered in the bottom of the first to tie the score and took the lead in the fourth. The seventh inning saw Tony Kunka walk then Jason Wandler homer to put MinnDak ahead for the victory.
MDM 200 000 2-4 5 2
CT 200 100 0-3 4 0
WP-Travis Price (4-0)
LP-Collin McKenzie
HR-Jason Wandler (3), MinnDak
Jason Wandler, 2-3, 2B, HR, 4 RBI
Travis Price, 7 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 H, 4 BB
Championship
#10 MinnDak Millers 6
#19 Quad City Sox (Davenport, Iowa) 1
MinnDak claimed the tourney championship with a 6-1 victory over Quad City. With one out in the second inning, BJ Boom walked. Two batters later Zach Goring singled. Both players scored on Lucas Goring’s single. The Millers jumped on the board again the next inning when Chad Boom and Roman Foore singled back-to-back with one out. Two batters later, Jason Wandler recorded his fourth homer on the weekend to put the Millers up 5-0. MinnDak added another run in the fifth. Roman Foore led off with a walk. Tony Kunka singled, moving Foore to third. Jason Wandler reached on a fielder’s choice that scored Foore. Quad City scored their lone run in the top of the sixth.
QC 000 001 0-1 3 3
MDM 022 010 x-6 12 1
WP-Gerald Muizelaar (3-0)
LP-Al Rebling
HR-Jason Wandler (4), MinnDak
Lucas Goring, 2-4, RBI
Jason Wandler, 1-3, HR, 3 RBI, R
BJ Boom, 3-3, 2B, R
Gerald Muizelaar, 7 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 H, 13 K, 0 BB
MinnDak is off this coming weekend before returning to action next weekend at the Eau Claire Classic in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The Millers would like to extend the best of luck and a safe trip to teammates Gregg Cascaes, Lucas Goring and Travis Price, as well as all of Team USA, at the World Cup of Softball next week in Prague.
Brett Bresnahan
breshz(at)minnesotafastpitch.com
http://www.millers.minnesotafastpitch.com
http://www.minnesotafastpitch.com