Henning to play Deer Creek in elimination bracket on Saturday in Perham

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

The Henning North Stars picked up a pair of wins and advanced to the second weekend of the Region 11C tournament. On Friday night the North Stars, who came into the tournament as the fifth seed from the Hi-10, defeated Resorters League fourth seed Kensington by a score of 10-3, before falling to Hi-10 top seed New York Mills by a score of 10-3, a game Henning led 3-2 in the seventh inning.

On Sunday, Henning advanced to the second weekend of action with a 4-2 win over Vergas to advance in the elimination bracket. With Sunday’s win the North Stars will square off against Hi-10 third seed Deer Creek on Saturday at 4 p.m. in New York Mills. Deer Creek swept the season series against Henning by scores of 8-0 and 8-6. 

The winner of the game will take on the loser of Urbank and Perham on Sunday at 3 p.m. in Perham. The Region 11C tournament is scheduled to wrap up on August 9 with the championship game and elimination bracket championship in Perham. The top two teams from Region 11C advance to state. 

Saturday

A two-run double by Nick Lindberg in the top of the seventh inning put the Henning North Stars in the driver’s seat to knock off top seeded New York Mills on Saturday night. Unfortunately, the North Stars were unable to hold on to the lead as NY Mills scored three runs in the seventh inning and five more in the eighth inning to come away with a 10-3 win on Saturday night.

Lindberg put the North Stars in front 1-0 when he connected with a solo home run in the top of the first inning. Brandon Kupfer connected with a solo home run of his own in the bottom of the second inning to tie the game up at 1-1. 

The game would remain 1-1 until the top of the seventh inning when Owen Harig led off the inning by reaching on an error and Ryan Despard was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second base with one out. That’s when Lindberg connected on a two-run double to right field to give the North Stars a 3-2 in the seventh inning. 

Unfortunately, Zach Hocking led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a walk for NY Mills, before Finn Roder reached base on a bunt single. Derin Gaudette tied the game at 3-3 when he followed with an RBI single, before Logan Small put the Millers in front 4-3 with a one out single of his own. Gaudette would later score on a passed ball to give NY Mills a 5-3 lead heading into the final two innings of action.

DaShaun Robinson took over for Austin Maneval on the mound and struck out three of the four hitters he faced in the eighth inning, before NY Mills scored five more runs in the eighth inning to come away with the win. Among the highlights of the inning was a bases loaded walk by Gaudette to force in a run, before Jonah Johnson connected with a grand slam home run to put the Millers up 10-3.

Lindberg led the way offensively for the North Stars by driving in all three runs and collecting a pair of extra base hits. Garrett Kuhn-Rice went 3-5 at the plate, while Stephen Lindberg picked up a pair of hits in the loss. 

Nick Lindberg took the loss on the mound as he went seven innings and gave up nine hits, five runs of which four were earned, walked two batters and struck out seven. Eric Fick pitched one inning and gave up two hits, five earned runs and walked four hitters. 

AB R H     BI

Owen Harig 5 1 0 0

Ryan Despard 4 1 0 0

Nick Lindberg 5 1 2 3

Garrett Kuhn-Rice 5 0 3 0

Stephen Lindberg 5 0 2 0

Eric Fick 4 0 0 0

Ayden Olson 4 0 1 0

Austin Koep 4 0 0 0

Joey Lindberg 3 0 0 0

HITTING- 2B- Nick Lindberg; HR- Nick Lindberg

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- Nick Lindberg 7.0-9-5-4-2-7, Eric Fick 1.0-2-5-5-4-1

Sunday

The North Stars took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning when Austin Koep scored on a wild pitch, before adding a pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning on an RBI single by Garrett Kuhn-Rice and another wild pitch to give the North Stars a 3-0 lead.

Despite the early deficit the Loons made a game of it as Aaron Felker connected with an RBI single to center field with two outs to make the score 3-1 and cut the deficit to just a single run in the top of the eighth inning when Jonathon Hoffmann hit into a fielder’s choice to bring Drew Mekalson across the plate to leave the score at 3-2 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning. 

The North Stars would get back a run in the bottom of the eighth inning when Eric Fick scored on an error with two outs to give Henning a 4-2 lead. 

The Loons brought the tying run to the plate with two outs, but came up just short in its effort to knock off Henning and fell by a score of 4-2. 

Henning was led offensively by Ryan Despard, Kuhn-Rice and Fick who all collected a pair of hits in the win. Kuhn-Rice pitched a complete game for Henning as he went nine innings and gave up eight hits, two earned runs and struck out six batters to collect the win.

Felker led the way offensively for the Loons as he went 3-4 with an RBI. Noah Mekalson also finished with a pair of hits, while Hoffmann took the loss on the mound as he went seven innings and gave up three earned runs and seven hits, while striking out three batters. Drew Mekalson pitched the final two innings and gave up two hits one unearned run and struck out three batters.

AB R H     BI

Owen Harig 5 1 1 0

Ryan Despard 5 0 2 0

Nick Lindberg 3 1 1 0

Garret Kuhn-Rice 4 0 2 1

Stephen Lindberg 4 0 1 0

Austin Koep 3 1 0 0

Eric Fick 4 1 2 0

Joey Lindberg 3 0 0 0

Jesse LaManna 4 0 0 0

HITTING- 2B- Garret Kuhn-Rice, Nick Lindberg

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- Garrett Kuhn-Rice 9.0-8-2-2-1-6