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12U MN Crop Dusters Take 2nd Place

By Chad Felstul, 09/07/22, 9:45PM CDT

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The 12u MN Crop Dusters resumed the AFBL #1 Tournament from August 27 on Tuesday night in Shakopee with bracket play. The Crop Dusters faced the Hit Dawg in the semifinals and came out victorious 7-0. With the win, the Crop Dusters moved on to the championship to face the Minnesota Blizzard Blue and lost 3-20.

Against the Hit Dawg, Dexter Felstul was tapped to start on the bump for the Dusters. Felstul set the Hit Dawg down in order in the top of the 1st. In the second, Derek Erasmus reached on an error, Felstul and Luke Novak walked, and Matthew Scott got the Dusters on the board with an RBI bases-loaded walk. As he did in the first, Felstul set the Hit Dawg down in order in the 2nd. The Dusters added another run in the bottom of the second with Tyson Runk reaching on a dropped third strike and coming around to score on Logan Olson’s groundout. Owen Hanson also walked in the inning. In the third, Felstul gave up a hit and walked a batter but Erasmus helped out his pitcher by turning a double-play by touching third and throwing to first to get out of the inning. In the bottom of the 3rd,  the Crop Dusters added 2 more with Felstul singling and coming around to score on a wild pitch and Novak walking and scoring on another wild pitch. The Hit Dawg led off the 4th with a double but that base runner was quickly erased when Easton Misegades gunned out the would-be base stealer at 3rd. The Dusters added 2 more in the bottom of the 4th with Misegades walking and making a tremendous baserunner play by taking second after his walk while the catcher wasn’t paying attention, Nolan Schroeder singling Misegades to second. Olson laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move the runners to 2nd and 3rd which set the table for Cooper Boeckenheuer who smashed a single to center scoring Misegades and Schroeder. Erasmus relieved Felstul on the mound in the 5th and 6th and didn’t allow any runs. The Crop Dusters wrapped up the scoring in the bottom of the 5th with Adam Keifer singling and scoring. Felstul and Novak singled in the inning and Owen Schmitz walked. For the game, Felstul pitched 4 innings, giving up 2 hits and striking out 3. Erasmus pitched 2 innings, only giving up 1 hit and striking out 2. With the win, the Dusters moved on to the championship game against the Minnesota Blizzard Blue.

In the championship game, the Blizzard Blue came out hot in the top of the first with every ball finding a hole or gap and put up 8 runs in the inning (which was 7 more runs than the Dusters gave up in the previous 3 games). Schmitz was able to steady the Dusters plane with two and a third solid innings while giving up 0 runs, only 2 hits, and striking out 3 to keep the Crop Dusters in the game. The Dusters were held scoreless until the bottom of the fifth. In that inning Felstul led off with a double to right center, Novak followed with a single. Schmitz laced a single to left, scoring Felstul. Runk scored Novak with a ground out and Schroeder singled in Schmitz.

Hitting leaders for the Crop Dusters for the tournament were Felstul with 7 hits (2 2b’s), Novak with 5 hits (2 2b’s), Schroeder with 4 hits, Grady Shebeck, Olson, Scott (1 2b), and Keifer with 3 hits, Misegades with 2 hits, and Schmitz, Boeckenheuer, Hanson, and Runk (2b) with 1 hit each.

The Crop Dusters wrap up their fall schedule with the 2022 Fall Club Championships in Inver Grove Heights on September 16-18.