AP Photo Minot High junior Carson Deavers (7) fields the ball at third base, would make the throw for the out at first in early action against Bismarck Legacy in the WDA Finals

The Western Dakota Association (WDA) baseball tournament concluded on Saturday, May 25, with a few surprises. The weather cleared up after rain and nearly snow at the start of the WDA tournament and the sunshine gave teams pleasant playing conditions. The tournament established seeding for the NDHSAA Class A tournament to be held Thursday, May 30-Saturday, June 1, in Jamestown.

Legacy 3, Minot High 1

In the final game, it was a defensive battle between the top seeded Magicians and the second seeded Sabers. There were only two minor statistical edges for Bismarck Legacy compared to Minot High. The Sabers had five strikeouts compared to three for the Magicians and Minot High had one error in the game while Legacy had none for the 3-1 win.

Legacy was able to get a run across the plate at the top of the first inning of play when junior Drew Beasley hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score senior Marcus Butts on the play. Legacy would add another run at the top of the fourth and their final run at the top of the fifth inning to hold a 3-0 lead at that point.

With two out at the bottom of the fifth inning of play, senior Blays Ostrom singled to reach and junior Treyton Stewart was walked. Two batters later, with one out, junior Aidan Diehl was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Two batters later with two out, senior Parker Hann was walked to give the Magicians their only score in the game.

As a team, Minot High was 7-for-28 at the plate. Stewart was 2-for-2 while senior Braden Nelson was 2-for-3 batting. Hann, junior Carson Deaver and Ostrom each had a hit in the game. Senior Adam Roedocker pitched seven innings and allowed three runs on seven hits with an earned run mark of two in the game. He walked one batter and had three strikeouts from the mound.

Legacy was 7-for-25 at the plate. Beasley, Butts and junior Ben Watson each had two hits in the win.

Minot High will face Fargo Davies in the first round of play at the state tournament in the second game of day one as the west second seed. Legacy will face West Fargo Horace in the third game of day one as the top seed from the west.

Williston 14, Bismarck High 2

Williston punched their ticket to the 2024 NDHSAA Class A State Baseball tournament with a 14-2 win over Bismarck High on Saturday. The Coyotes were 11-for-24 at the plate with three errors as a team. Sophomore Justin Irgens, junior Chase Collings and sophomore Jaxon Jeannotte each had two hits in the game while all but one player had at least one hit.

Senior Jayden Iba pitched three innings and allowed two runs on three hits with an earned run mark of two. Senior Conner Ekblad pitched two innings with no runs and no hits allowed.

Bismarck High was 3-for-20 with no errors in the game. Junior Tanner Groseclose, sophomores Drew Taylor and Aidan Rakowski each had a hit in the loss. Sophomores Brady Vogel pitched one inning, Tristan Schulz pitched two and one-third innings and Rakowski pitched two-thirds innings in the loss.

Mandan 9, Dickinson 6

Mandan will make the trip to Jamestown representing the WDA at the state tournament with a 9-6 win over Dickinson saturday. The Braves were 12-for-33 batting in the game. Sophomore Ty Weller was 3-for-3 batting and senior Gage Miller was 3-for-4 in the game. Senior Tukker Horner was 2-for-5 at the plate as well.

Dickinson was 7-for-30 batting. Seniors Jace Kovash, Kaeden Krieg and junior Camden Kubas each had two hits in the game.