Loboes take advantage of Cardinals' miscues to win Region 3 tourney
May 25—CARRINGTON, N.D. — Ever since the LaMoure/Litchville-Marion Loboes lost in the 2020-21 state championship game, the team has been working to get back there and on Wednesday, May 25, they took the first step. The team came into the Region 3 tournament as the top seed and ran the table, finishing it off with a 4-1 win over the host team, the No. 2-seeded Carrington Cardinals.
"After getting second last year during the state, their goal was to get back to state," Loboes head coach Derold Haugen said. "One of the obstacles in the way is taking the region. So, we're looking forward to it."
The Cardinals (6-6) started off playing well as Grady Shipman led off with a walk in the top of the first. The next batter was Noah Paulson who hit a line-drive single to left field to score Shipman and make it 1-0.
Cardinals head coach Wayne Shipman said he was happy with his team's start because it went according to his game plan.
"I thought it was a good start," Shipman said. "I said, 'If we can get a run or two to start with let them know we came to play today.' But, in the bottom of the inning we made a couple of mistakes in the field, gave up two runs, had a double-play ball that we didn't get any outs on so that gave them two runs when it could've been zero."
However, the Cardinals lead wouldn't last long as their defense struggled with the Loboes scoring three runs on two errors and a balk to take a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the second second.
The Loboes (13-1) added another one in the bottom of the second after Connor Johnson grounded to shortstop Hudson Schmitz who let the ball go through his legs. Later in the inning, Corban Potts singled, and Tate Mart got caught in a rundown between third and home allowing Potts and Johnson to move up to second and third, respectively. During the next at-bat, the Cardinals starter, Shipman, unleashed a wild pitch to the backstop allowing Johnson to score and make it 4-1.
Loboes starter Anthony Hanson was taken out of the game with one out in the seventh due to reaching the tournament combined pitch maximum of 135. The junior openly showed his disappointment at not being able to finish the job. Hanson said he was fueled by the opportunity to continue his team's season.
In the win, the Potts came around to score and credits his team's experience with their ability to get the job done.
"We're all pretty good ball players and we like to work hard," Potts said. "We've been playing for a long time and gotten better over the years."
The Loboes will wait and see which team they will face in the state tournament starting Thursday, June 2, in Fargo.
CHS 1, L/L-M 4
CHS: 1 0 0 0 0 0 0-1 3 6
L/L-M: 3 1 0 0 0 0 X — 4 1 0
WP: Anthony Hanson LP: Grady Shipman
Tournament awards:
All-Academic Team:
Joshua Bickett-Carrington
Jack Erickson-Carrington
Lucas Hendrickson-Carrington
Jake Otto-Carrington
Kael Kovar-Carrington
Ethan Roller-Carrington
Hudson Schmitz-Carrington
Bryce Larson-Kidder County
Grad Larson-Kidder County
Isaiah Oster-Kidder County
Trey Silbernagel-Kidder County
Landon Piehl-L/L-M
Cyle Warcken-L/L-M
Blase Isaacson-L/L-M
Connor Johnson-L/L-M
Max Musland-L/L-M
Jakody Lewis-L/L-M
Garrett Haakenson-M/DP/L/GCC/K
Kaleb Short-M/DP/L/GCC/KKyle Johnson-M/DP/L/GCC/K
Ross Thompson-M/DP/L/GCC/K
Zachary Gibson-M/DP/L/GCC/K
Anthony Bullis-M/DP/L/GCC/K
Kaden Jensen-S/NR
Nick Berglund-S/NR
Koby Duda-S/NR
Caden Price-S/NR
Keaton Cudworth-S/NR
Connor Knatterud-S/NR
Brody Weisenburger-S/NR
Easton Simon-S/NR
Vinnie Ruppell-S/NR
Colin Goettle-South Border
Jace Nitschke-South Border
Daniel Schumacher-South Border
James Schumacher-South Border
Cole Nitschke-South Border
Berkley Frantz-South Border
Rykan Salwei-South Border
Seth Wolf-South Border
All-Region Team:
Grady Shipman-Carrington
Lucas Hendrickson-Carrington
Hudson Schmitz-Carrington
Grant Pfaff-Kidder County
Blake Braun-Kidder County
Jace Larson-Kidder County
Landon Piehl-L/L-M
Anthony Hanson-L/L-M
Corban Potts-L/L-M
Tate Mart-L/L-M
Garrett Haakenson-M/DP/L/GCC/K
Cade Stein-M/DP/L/GCC/K
Nick Berglund-S/NR
Koby Duda-S/NR
Connor Kosiak-South Border
Seth Wolf-South Border
Senior Athlete of the Year: Corban Potts-L/L-M
Coach of the Year: Derold Haugen-L/L-M
Eric Hewitt "Iron Fist Award": Ander Azaola-M/DP/L/GCC/K
