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Surrey Blue Sox end 16-year state tournament drought

Alex Eisen/MDN Surrey Blue Sox infielder Chris Sowitch in a Class A American Legion baseball game played earlier this season at Corbett Field.

WATFORD CITY — From being the overlooked No. 5 seed to win the American Legion Class A Northwest Region championship, the Surrey Blue Sox certainly picked the right time to play their best baseball of the season.

Surrey won its 13th regional title in program history, and first since 2002, with a 11-4 victory Friday afternoon against top-seeded Beulah in Watford City.

“We just put it all together: hitting, pitching and defense,” Surrey coach Kelly Wetzel said. “This is a great feeling and it’s really good for the kids. That’s the main thing. They were just excited to get back (to state). And the fans, it means a lot to them.”

Beulah scored four runs in the top of the first inning, only to be matched by four runs from Surrey in the bottom half. The Blue Sox scored in every inning of the championship game except the fifth. Six different players helped record Surrey’s seven hits and four players picked up RBIs: Jayden Wetzel, Chris Sowitch, Mitch Scopa and Connor Dyke.

“We are just so resilient,” Kelly Wetzel said. “We kind of took the wind out of their sails and that’s the way we did it all weekend. Every game we got out early, except this last one.”

Mason Dunn pitched a complete game, holding Beulah to four runs on nine hits.

“We pitched three complete games throughout the tournament,” Wetzel said. “We had one game where we had 16 hits and three other games where we had like 10 hits or more. We just put it all together, that’s all I can really say.”

Surrey went undefeated (4-0) in the double elimination regional tournament. The Blue Sox defeated the No. 4 Willison Oilers (10-0), No. 1 Beulah (8-7) and No. 2 Watford City (17-4) to reach the title game.

The Class A American Legion State Tournament is being held in Willison from August 1-5.

“We just have to keep playing ball like we have been,” Wetzel said. “We have been pretty aggressive on the bases and we have good team speed. But, it basically all comes down to pitching and defense. If we can throw strikes and our defense is solid, then that’s the key.”

Alex Eisen covers Minot State athletics, the Minot Minotauros and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @AEisen13.

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