That wasn’t the combined stat line between the Minot Vistas and South East Twins (Sask.) during their game Friday at Corbett Field as part of the Justin Demary Memorial Invitational. No, that was just the Vistas’ first inning.

Minot couldn’t have asked for a better start to a tournament run they hope ends with a trophy than the one that lasted approximately 40 minutes. The Vistas used a 16-run first inning to coast to a 19-0 mercy-rule shortened five-inning game against the Twins in their tournament-opener. It was their largest margin of victory this season, eclipsing their previous mark of 10 runs, which they had done three times earlier this year.

“I’ve been a part of some really big innings,” Minot coach Pat Arnston said. “I’ve been involved in baseball for a really long enough time, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it start that way. I’ve seen double digits before, but not that quickly.”

The Vistas (22-11) batted through the order twice, as Tegan Schindler, Tre Stewart and Kellan Burke all had three plate appearances in the first inning. Before the Twins’ pitching staff could record their first out of the game, the Vistas had already brought 16 batters to the plate and had plated 13 runs. It wasn’t until Gannon Hedberg’s sacrifice fly as Minot’s 17th batter of the inning did the Twins get that elusive first out.

Mike Kraft/MDN Minot starting pitcher Brody Mueller throws a pitch during the Justin Demary Memorial Invitational at Corbett Field on Friday. Mueller tossed a complete-game two-hitter in the win.

“Once you have nine runs and no outs, it makes it pretty easy to keep your foot on the gas and we just knew we had to keep going,” Schindler said.

South East (8-20) – coming off a 5-0 loss to Mandan in its first game of the tournament – needed three pitchers to get out of the first inning, with starting pitcher Ryker Harrison and reliever Nathan Walkeden unable to secure an out in their respective outings. Camden Husband went the rest of the way for the Twins, keeping Minot’s offense in check for the most part, allowing just three runs on seven hits in four innings of work.

Eight of Minot’s starters recorded at least one hit and six had multiple. Stewart led the team with a 3-hit performance, scoring twice. Seven Vistas tallied an RBI, with six recording two or more. Hyrum Maples went 2-for-3 with a team-high four RBIs to go along with scoring three times. Maples and Mason Stewart each had two-run hits during the first-inning onslaught.

Minot starting pitcher Brody Mueller was happy for the run support, but he didn’t really require much. He went the distance, pitching all five innings, allowing just two hits while striking out 10. He threw fewer pitches (66) for the game than the Twins did in the opening inning.

“It’s nice knowing you have a secure lead behind you and a good field behind you,” Mueller said. “It’s comfortable knowing you have a good defense out there and they’ve got your back.”

Mueller retired seven or the final eight batters he faced and recorded five of the final six outs via strikeout. After being sidelined for roughly 40 minutes during the bottom half of the first inning, Mueller needed just 14 pitches to get out of the second, striking out two in the process.

“He was really sharp,” Arnston said. “Sometimes it’s hard to pitch after some big offensive innings like that when you’re sitting out for a long time. For him to go out and punch out a bunch of guys right away and get us back in the dugout to hit is very helpful.”

With a 16-run inning difficult to replicate, anything else seems pretty pedestrian, but the Vistas did put up three more runs the following inning. Maples put a bow on his 4-RBI day with a single to left to score Mueller, and Hedberg singled to third to bring home Maples.

Despite the game’s result never being in doubt, the Vistas kept their focus.

“We just have to stay dialed in that in our mind anything can flip at any point in the game and we’ve seen that before,” Mueller said. “We just stayed locked in and made the plays and kept hitting and it went our way.”

There’s little margin for error in order to make it to Sunday’s championship game, so winning the first game is extra important.

“You gotta win,” Arnston said. “We’re going to have to win more. We’re going to have to win at least two more to get to Sunday, but it’s a good start. No matter who we play we have to try and defend our homefield and keep the trophy in town.”

MINOT 13, SOUTH CENTRAL (SASK.) 4

Hours removed from their best offensive outing of the season, the Vistas still had a bit more left in the tank for their contest against South Central (Sask.) in both teams’ second game of the Justin Demary Memorial Tournament.

It may not have been 19 total runs and 16 in the first inning, but a win is a win and the Vistas have the inside track on one of two spots in Sunday’s championship game following a 13-4 victory over the Cubs on Friday night.

It was the third inning this time that propelled the Vistas to victory, scoring six runs and taking advantage of three errors and a balk in the frame to take a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Minot brought nine batters to the plate and produced three extra-base hits.

“There were some guys seeing the ball well,” Arnston said. “I think playing at home, they enjoy that. It’s easy to get ready. We’re not riding a bus around. We got some big swings from the bottom of the order, too. That’s a big thing. When you’re starting to get a lot of barrels from the 6, 7, 8, 9 turning it over to the top, it’s easy to put up some crooked numbers.”

The Vistas entered the inning trailing 3-1, but quickly erased that deficit. Mason Stewart led off the inning with a double and scored on the Cubs’ first error of the inning following a sacrifice bunt by Schindler that saw the throw go wide of first baseman Marshall Thiessen. Burke brought in Schindler with an RBI triple down the right-field line. A balk by Cubs starting pitcher Kaleb Heppner allowed Burke to score the go-ahead run.

The Cubs (21-2) committed two more errors to bring two additional runs across for the Vistas, and Drew Jordan punctuated the inning with a two-run double to center to score Carson Deaver and Oliver Deschamp.

“When I go up to the plate, I just try to do a job anytime and I just happen to be banging the baseball around the field today,” Jordan said.

Vistas starting pitcher Tre Stewart got off to a rocky start, surrendering three runs in the first as South Central opened the game with five straight hits. The Cubs led off with back-to-back doubles from Haiden Friesen and Jackson Friesen. Thiessen tacked on a third double to give the Cubs an early 3-0 lead.

Tre Stewart settled down from there, allowing just one run over his final 5 2/3 innings of work on the mound, handing the Cubs just their second loss of the season.

“Tre really settled in and he located better,” Arnston said. “He was throwing a lot of fastballs up in the zone and guys hit him. In the first inning, we didn’t necessarily play poorly, they were just barreling them up and then he settled in and located much better and started pitching to better spots in better sequences and then the bats woke up.”

The Vistas went to their bullpen for all of one pitch throughout the course of their first two games.

Heppner’s night was done after three innings, replaced by Logan Lesser to start the fourth. It didn’t slow Minot’s offense one bit. The Vistas put their first five hitters on base and scored four more runs before Lesser recorded his first out. Burke added his second extra-base hit and his second RBI with a double to right and Mueller plated two on a ground-rule double to left. An RBI single by Braden Nelson gave him three hits and two RBIs for the night.

Jordan again capped off a big inning, this time with a two-run shot over the left field fence on the first pitch he saw from Lessen. Jordan was a triple shy of the cycle, going 4-for-4 with four RBIs.

“I didn’t know it was gone to be honest,” Jord

an said. I thought it was just going to be another double and then a teammate picks me up, but it ended up going over the fence.”

The Vistas look to clinch a spot in the championship game on Sunday with games today against Swift Current (Sask.) at 2:30 p.m. and Mandan at 7 p.m. at Corbett Field.

“We just have to stay on task and we’ve done a really good job so far of just paying attention to what we have to do,” Arnston said. “No. 1 we have to pitch. If we don’t pitch well, nothing goes well. If we pitch well tomorrow I think we’ll be OK.”