Team North Wins High School All-Star Baseball Series for 2nd Straight Year
Team North won the All-Star Baseball Series at the Chaska Athletic Park over the weekend. In pool play, Team North went 1-1, earning the top seed with a roster which was composed of a contingency of local baseball players as well as Central Lakes Conference players. Of the 20 players on the roster, 9 of them were from local school or CLC schools.
Pool play results saw Team North top Metro West 7-6 and fall to Metro North 5-0. Aaron Smith from St. Francis, the pitcher for that game, was named the Most Outstanding Pitcher in the Tournament. Each team in the pool went 1-1 and with the tiebreaker being runs allowed, Team North advanced to the championship game on Saturday Night, facing the undefeated Metro East team. Records in the other pool were Metro East 2-0, Metro South 1-1 and South 0-2. Metro South took third place with a win over Metro West and South took fifth place with a win over Metro North.
Josh Dykhoff was named the Most Outstanding Player in the Tournament.
Fergus Falls representative Carter Thielke had a good series, turning in two double plays in the field and going 2-for-4 at the plate with two runs batted in, one stolen base and one hit by pitch.
Fergus Falls High School Assistant Coach Shane Thielke noted, “With 20 players on the roster, the coaches did a nice job of giving every player chances to compete. This was more of a challenge for the outstate coaches as the metro rosters were set at 16, allowing players to stay in the game and get into a rhythm with many of them playing complete games. Outstate players played half of each game at most.”
Champions!
Josh Dykhoff of Wadena-Deer Creek got the start on the mound in the championship game against a talented Metro East lineup. Dykhoff went four innings without giving up a single run. Isaac Wensloff of Roseau went the final four innings, keeping the 4A lineup in check.
North held a 2-0 advantage going into the late innings and Metro East was able to scratch across 2 runs to tie the game, pushing it to extra innings. In the top of the 8th the North broke the game open with 5 runs and held on for a 7-2 win, repeating as the High School Baseball All-Star Series Champions.
Every local player notched multiple hits in the tournament and Josh Dykhoff of Wadena-Deer Creek was awarded the Dale Welter Award as the Most Outstanding Player in the tournament for his performance on the field, at the plate and on the mound over 3 games.
Carter Thielke in the field.
