MinnDak Millers WinAlbaugh Invitational
Fargo, North Dakota
The #10-rankedMinnDak Millers claimed the championship of the Liberty Bank/Albaugh/Des MoinesHall of Fame Invitational this past weekend in Elkhart, Iowa. The Millers went undefeated at 6-0 on the weekend to improve theirseason record to 10-0.
MinnDak was withoutJohn Tschida, Bob Fleming, Guy Carlson, Lamar Noriega and Ward Gosse on theweekend. The Millers would to extend athank you to Gerald Muizelaar for once again putting on the MinnDak uniform aswell as Nick Winecke for playing with the Millers after playing in last year'sISC with MinnDak.
Below are summariesfor each game.
Pool Play – "Pool A"
Saturday
#10 MinnDak Millers 7 #25 Thomson Area Merchants (Thomson, Ill) 2
The Millers openedthe weekend against Thomson, playing the Merchants for the second time in asmany weekends.
MinnDak jumped onthe board first in the second inning and with two outs, BJ Boom singled, NickWinecke doubled then Zach Goring had an inside-the-park home run.
Thomson counteredwith a run in the third. MinnDakcountered in the fourth when BJ Boom singled with one out. Nick Winecke singled and Zach Goring drove inBoom with a single.
Thomson scored theirfinal run of the game in fourth.
The Millers addedanother run in the sixth. Jason Wandlerled off with a triple then scored on BJ Boom's triple.
The top of theseventh saw MinnDak add two more runs. Lucas Goring led off with a single. Gregg Cascaes then sacrificed him to second. Chad Boom singled.
Roman Foore's doubleplated Goring and moved Boom to third. Boom scored on Tony Kunka's sacrifice fly to centerfield.
MDM 020 101 2-7 12 1
TAM 001 100 0-2 3 0
WP-Travis Price (3-0)
LP-Steve Manson
HR-Zach Goring (IP 1), MinnDak
ChadBoom, 2-4, 2B, R
Roman Foore, 2-4, 2B, RBI
BJ Boom, 3-3, 3B, 2 R
Nick Winecke, 2-3, 2B, R
Zach Goring, 2-3, IP HR, 3 RBI, R
Travis Price, 7 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 11 K, 0 BB
#10 MinnDak Millers 10 #11 Townline (Green Bay, Wisc) 5
Facing Townline forthe second time in as many weekends, MinnDak jumped out to an early lead.
Lucas Goring led offthe game with a single. Two batterslater, Chad Boom reached on an error that scored Goring.
Boom would laterscore on Tony Kunka's sacrifice fly to centerfield.
MinnDak made thescore 3-0 in the second when Zach Goring singled with two out. Lucas Goring singled and Gregg Cascaes walkedto load the bases. Chad Boom walked toplate Zach Goring.
In the fourth,MinnDak added another run when Zach Goring led off with a single then advancedto second Lucas Goring's ground out.
A Gregg Cascaessingle scored Zach Goring to make it 4-0.
Townline mounted acomeback in the fifth, scoring five runs behind Jon Zipperer's grand slam.
The Millers ralliedfor the victory in the top of the seventh. Roman Foore led off with a walk. Tony Kunka homered to put MinnDak up 6-5.
Two batters later,Tim Tweiten singled then Jason Wandler homered.
Zach Goring andLucas Goring had back-to-back singles and would then score on a single by GreggCascaes.
MDM 210 100 6-10 11 3
TL 000 0500-5 2 1
WP-Rick Lang (1-0)
LP-Betto Guerrieneri
S-Gerald Muizelaar (2)
HR-Tony Kunka (1), Jason Wandler (1), MinnDak
Lucas Goring, 3-5, 2 R
Gregg Cascaes, 2-3, 2 RBI
Tony Kunka, 1-2, HR, 2 RBI, R
Jason Wandler, 2-4, HR, 2 RBI, R
Zach Goring, 3-4, 3 R
Rick Lang, 6 IP, 2 H, 5 R, 0 ER, 6 K, 2 B
Gerald Muizelaar, 1 IP, retired all 3 batters faced
#10 MinnDak Millers 11 #12 Albaugh, Inc. (Elkhart, Iowa) 2, 5 innings
MinnDak closed outPool Play with a victory that earned them the top seed in their pool.
The Millers jumpedon the board in the top of the first. Lucas Goring led off with a single. Gregg Cascaes bunted him to second. Chad Boom walked and Roman Foore singled Goring home.
Albaugh tied thegame in the bottom of the first, before moving ahead 2-1 in the bottom of thethird.
The MinnDak batscame alive in the fourth. With one out,Lucas Goring singled then scored on Gregg Cascaes' triple.
Chad Boom doubled toscore Cascaes. Roman Foore reached on anerror. Tony Kunka's single plated ChadBoom, with Roman Foore scoring on BJ Boom's fielder's choice.
The fifth saw LucasGoring lead off by reaching on an error. Gregg Cascaes walked. Bothplayers scored on Chad Boom's double.
A single by RomanFoore scored Boom. Tony Kunka and JasonWandler both walked. With one out, TimTweiten singled to score Kunka. Twobatters later, Wandler scored on a single by Lucas Goring.
MDM 100 55-11 12 0
Alb 101 00-2 4 2
WP-Gerald Muizelaar (2-0)
LP-Darren Dubsky
HR-None
Lucas Goring, 3-5, 2 RBI, 3 R
ChadBoom, 2-2, 2 2B, 3 RBI
Roman Foore, 2-4, 2 RBI, 2 R
Gerald Muizelaar, 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 K, 1 BB
Bracket Play
Sunday
Quarterfinals
#10 MinnDak Millers 6 #28 Des MoinesStampede (Des Moines, Iowa)2
The Millers jumpedon the board in the second inning, when with one out, Tony Kunka walked, thenJason Wandler hit a homer.
MinnDak addedanother pair of runs the next inning. With two outs, Chad Boom walked, Roman Foore doubled Boom home, withTony Kunka singling home Foore.
The Millers made thescore 6-0 in the fourth when they scored two runs on a pair of Stampede errors.
Des Moines scored two runs in the sixth then another twoin the seventh but would get no closer as MinnDak held on for the win.
DM 000 002 2-4 5 0
MDM 022 200 x-6 8 2
WP-Rick Lang (2-0)
LP-Kim Hansen
HR-Jason Wandler (2), MinnDak
Roman Foore, 1-4, 2B, RBI, R
Tony Kuna, 2-2, RBI, R
Jason Wandler, 2-3, HR, 2 RBI, R
Rick Lang, 6.1 IP, 4 R, 4 ER, 8 H, 8 K
Gerald Muizelaar, .2 IP, struck out both batters faced
Semifinals
#10 MinnDak Millers 4 #8 Circle Tap (Denmark,Wisc) 3
The semifinals sawthe Millers square off with Circle Tap.
MinnDak jumped onthe scoreboard early. With two outs inthe first inning, Chad Boom and Roman Foore recorded back-to-back singles. Tony Kunka walked to load the bases.
Jason Wandlerdoubled to score Boom and Foore and put MinnDak up 2-0.
CT countered in thebottom of the first to tie the score and took the lead in the fourth.
The seventh inningsaw Tony Kunka walk then Jason Wandler homer to put MinnDak ahead for thevictory.
MDM 200 000 2-4 5 2
CT 200 100 0-3 40
WP-Travis Price (4-0)
LP-Collin McKenzie
HR-Jason Wandler (3), MinnDak
Jason Wandler, 2-3, 2B, HR, 4 RBI
Travis Price, 7 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 H, 4 BB
Championship
#10 MinnDak Millers 6 #19 Quad City Sox (Davenport, Iowa) 1
MinnDak claimed thetourney championship with a 6-1 victory over Quad City.
With one out in thesecond inning, BJ Boom walked. Two batterslater Zach Goring singled. Both playersscored on Lucas Goring's single.
The Millers jumpedon the board again the next inning when Chad Boom and Roman Foore singledback-to-back with one out.
Two batters later,Jason Wandler recorded his fourth homer on the weekend to put the Millers up5-0.
MinnDak added another run in the fifth. Roman Foore led off with a walk. Tony Kunka singled, moving Foore to third.
Jason Wandlerreached on a fielder's choice that scored Foore.
Quad City scored their lone run in thetop of the sixth.
QC 000 0010-1 3 3
MDM 022 010 x-6 12 1
WP-Gerald Muizelaar (3-0)
LP-Al Rebling
HR-Jason Wandler (4), MinnDak
Lucas Goring, 2-4, RBI
Jason Wandler, 1-3, HR, 3 RBI, R
BJ Boom, 3-3, 2B, R
Gerald Muizelaar, 7 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 H, 13 K, 0 BB
MinnDak is off thiscoming weekend before returning to action next weekend at the Eau ClaireClassic in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
The Millers wouldlike to extend the best of luck and a safe trip to teammates Gregg Cascaes,Lucas Goring and Travis Price, as well as all of Team USA,at the World Cup of Softball next week in Prague.
Brett Bresnahan
breshz(at)minnesotafastpitch.com
