Fergus Falls started their pool play games with a convincing 12-2 win over Redwood Falls on the back of a brilliant pitching performance by Benett Thielke. The Otters wasted no time in the first with Caleb Fronning singling and coming around to score on Nolan Felstul’s single. Felstul scored on Jacob Jenc’s single. The Otters added two more in the 2nd when Hunter Welle doubled and came around to score on Fronning’s single. The Otters tacked on 4 more in the 3rd with Brody Krein, Jenc, Kadyn Zender, and John Abrahams (2B) all getting hits and coming around to score. Fronning, Zender, and Abrahams scored the final 3 runs for the Otters.

After the win in game one, the Otters needed a win in game 2 against Morris to advance to the championship bracket. Fronning led off the game with a walk and came around to score on Thielke’s ground out. Krein singled and came around to score on Jenc’s single. The Otters put two more on the board in the 2nd when Zender singled and scored and Kellen Funkhouser walked and scored. Morris battled back with 4 in the 3rd and one in the 4th to take the lead. The Otters came to bat in the top of the 5th needing one run to tie. The Otters were down to their last out when Thielke singled and scored on Krein’s single to tie the game. Felstul and Krein both scored on a past ball to put the Otters up 7-5. Fronning came in to close the door in the 5th and put the Otters to 2-0 in the tournament. Josh Horgen pitched very well for 4 innings to keep the Otters in the game.

With the win against Morris, the Otters were guaranteed the #1 seed out of their pool for bracket play before their last pool play against Richfield. The Otters used the final pool play game as a tune-up for bracket play. As they have done in the first 2 games, the Otters jumped on the board in the top of the 1st when Thielke missed a home run by mere inches and had to settle for a double off the fence and then came around to score. Felstul then singled and scored on Jenc’s sacrifice fly. The Otters were held in check until the 4th when Krein hit a home run over the center field fence. The Otters, down 6-3 going into the top of the 5th showed some life with Horgen walking and coming around to score and Zender singling and scoring.

In bracket play, the Otters matched up against a very tough Marshall Black team. Again, the Otters scored twice in the top of the first when Fronning and Thielke singled and came around to score on Felstul’s double. Marshall Black responded in a big way and scored 8 in the bottom of the 1st. The Otters settled down after a rough first inning. Krein, Fronning, and Felstul all pitched in the game with Felstul pitching the final 2 innings and only had one baserunner due to a walk. In the 4th, the Otters showed some life when Fronning doubled and scored on Thielke’s single and Krein singled in Thielke. The Otters couldn’t quite come back all the way. Marshall Black ended up in the championship game after winning 2 more on Sunday. Results for the championship were not available at the time of submission.

Hitting leaders for the tournament were: Fronning and Krein with 6 hits, Thielke with 5 hits, Felstul, Jenc, and Zender with 4 hits, Horgen, Abrahams and Welle with 2 hits, and Funkhouser and Logan Schoon with 1 hit.

The Otters completed a very successful season with a 23-7 season. The Otters were coached by Chad Felstul, Darren Krein, and Dick Felstul.