Henning to face Nimrod in elimination bracket of Region 14C tournament

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

The Henning North Stars picked up a pair of wins and advanced to the second weekend of the Region 14C tournament on Sunday afternoon. 

Heading into the tournament as the eighth seed the North Stars defeated the ninth seeded Vergas Loons in the opening round of the region tournament on Friday night by a score of 6-4, before falling to top seeded New York Mills by a score of 7-0 on Saturday night.

In the elimination bracket, the North Stars defeated the Staples Lumberbats by a score of 6-2 to advance to the second weekend of the region tournament in just their first year of fielding a team. Henning will take on fifth seeded Nimrod on Saturday at 11 a.m. in Perham. If the North Stars win the game they will play on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Sebeka against the loser of second seeded Midway and third seeded Deer Creek. 

Henning is currently 5-18 on the season and fell to Nimrod on July 20 by a score of 7-3. 

Friday

Just one week after falling to Vergas by a score of 5-2 at Tony Kawlewski Field in Henning, the Henning North Stars knocked off the Loons by a score of 6-4 in the opening round of the Region 14C tournament on Friday night.

After taking a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning thanks to a Nick Lindberg RBI single, the North Stars found themselves in a hole as Vergas picked up a single run in the second and fifth innings, while scoring a pair of runs in the fourth inning, to lead by a score of 4-1. 

Fortunately for Henning, they put together a big four-run bottom of the sixth inning to blow past Vergas and take the lead for good. The big inning started with a ground out to shortstop, before Erick Fick walked, Garrett Kuhn-Rice picked up a single and Jesse LaManna reached on an error to load the bases with just one out. Stephen Lindberg was hit by a pitch to force the second run of the game across the plate, before Owen Harig hit a two-run single to tie the game at 4-4.

After Nick Lindberg was intentionally walked to load up the bases with one out, Stephen Lindberg scored on a balk to make the score 5-4 in favor of Henning. 

The North Stars added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth inning when Harig hit a single to the pitcher that brought LaManna across the plate to give Henning a 6-4 lead. 

  Harig led the team with four hits and three RBIs, while Nick Lindberg and Jayden Harig also picked up a pair of singles in the win. 

Nick Lindberg picked up the win on the mound for Henning as he went 3 1/3 innings in relief of Stephen Lindberg. Nick gave up just one hit and struck out eight hitters, while Stephen pitched 5 2/3 innings and gave up eight hits, four earned runs and struck out four hitters. 

AB R H     BI

S. Lindberg 3 1 1 1

O. Harig 4 1 4 3

N. Lindberg 4 0 2 1

J. Harig 5 0 2 0

D. Marso 5 0 0 0

J. Lindberg 4 0 0 0

E. Fick 3 1 1 0

G. Kuhn-Rice 4 1 1 0

J. LaManna 4 2 0 0

HITTING- 2B- S. Lindberg

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- S. Lindberg 5.2-8-4-4-1-4, N. Lindberg 3.1-1-0-0-0-8

Saturday

Henning returned to New York Mills on Saturday to take on the top seeded Millers. 

The North Stars stayed right with the top seeded NY Mills team for a majority of the game, trailing just 1-0 until a four-run bottom of the seventh inning broke the game open for the Millers. NY Mills would go on to defeat the North Stars by a score of 7-0 to send Henning into the elimination bracket. 

Despite being shut out, the North Stars had a few chances to score in the game, including the top of the sixth inning when they had a pair of runners reach on back-to-back one out singles, and eventually loaded up the bases with two outs. 

The North Stars were led offensively by Stephen Lindberg who picked up a pair of hits in the loss. 

Erick Fick took the loss on the mound as he went six innings and gave up three earned runs and five hits, while striking out four hitters. Garrett Kuhn-Rice pitched one inning in relief and gave up a pair of unearned runs, while Nick Lindberg pitched one inning in relief and gave up two earned runs and a pair of hits in the eighth inning. 

AB R H     BI

S. Lindberg 4 0 2 0

O. Harig 4 0 0 0

N. Lindberg 4 0 1 0

J. Harig 3 0 0 0

J. Lindberg 3 0 0 0

A. Koep 4 0 0 0

G. Kuhn-Rice 3 0 0 0

E. Fick 3 0 0 0

J. LaManna 2 0 1 0

HITTING- 2B-

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- E. Fick 6.0-5-3-3-5-4, G. Kuhn-Rice 1.0-2-2-0-1-1

Sunday

In their third game in as many days, the Henning North Stars defeated the Staples Lumberbats by a score of 6-2 to advance to the Region 14C second weekend on Sunday afternoon. The North Stars collected 10 hits and took advantage of four Staples errors that led to three unearned runs and proved to be a big difference in the game. 

Henning took an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning when Stephen Lindberg hit a two out RBI single, before Owen Harig followed him with an RBI double to make the score 2-0. The game turned into a pitchers duel until the North Stars struck again in the bottom of the sixth inning when a pair of runners scored on a Nick Lindberg error to make the score 4-0 in favor of Henning. 

Staples got on the scoreboard in the top of the seventh inning when Garrett Kuhn-Rice was called for a balk, but the North Stars quickly got the run back in the bottom of the seventh inning when Jayden Harig hit an RBI double to left field to bring Kuhn-Rice across the plate to make the score 5-1. 

Henning added another run in the eighth inning on another Staples error, before Staples scored a run on a fielder’s choice to end the game by a score of 6-2. 

The North Stars were led offensively by Owen Harig and Kuhn-Rice who both collected three of the North Stars 10 team hits. 

Kuhn-Rice picked up the win on the mound as he went nine innings and gave up seven hits and just one earned run, while striking out five hitters. 

AB R H     BI

S. Lindberg 4 0 1 1

O. Harig 4 1 3 1

N. Lindberg 3 0 0 0

J. Lindberg 4 1 0 0

G. Kuhn-Rice 4 1 3 0

E. Fick 5 0 0 0

J. Harig 4 1 1 1

O. Lindberg 3 0 1 0

J. LaManna 4 2 1 0

HITTING- 2B- G. Kuhn-Rice 2, O. Harig 2, J. Harig

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- G. Kuhn-Rice 9.0-7-2-1-1-5