, 
, 
, 
, 
, 
, 
, 
, 
As hosts, the Luverne Senior American Legion team had an automatic bid to play in this year’s Minnesota Division II American Legion Baseball State Tournament played at Redbird Field Friday-Sunday.
After playing 22 innings in two games, it was clear Post 123 belonged in the tournament.
Although Luverne lost both games in the tournament, baseball fans will remember the games for a long time.
Luverne’s first tournament game, played Friday night, went to 15 innings before Wadena scored a run to win 1-0.
Wadena went on to win the tournament championship on Sunday.
In the consolation semifinals, Luverne was tied with Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton 1-1 until the top of the final inning when DGF scored six runs to win 7-1.
“Overall we can feel very good about our tournament performance,” said Codie Zeutenhorst, Luverne head coach.
At one point, the Luverne team had only given up two runs in 21 innings of state tournament play.
“That’s pretty impressive,” Zeutenhorst said. “It’s a credit to our pitching and defense. We just didn’t get the timely hits we needed to win, which of course is a credit to the pitching we were facing at state.”
Post 123 ends its season with a 13-9 record overall.
“We had a good group of seniors who led this team, and I look forward to the kids coming up,” Zeutenhorst said.
“If you look at the younger classes, there’s a lot of good baseball being played in Luverne, and that’s a credit to the players and parents,” he said.
“I’m looking forward to the future.”
Wadena 1, Luverne 0
“This game was the talk of the tournament – one to remember.”
That’s how Zeutenhorst summed up his team’s 1-0 loss to eventual tournament champion Wadena in a 15-inning, 3 1/2-hour game in front of a huge crowd at Redbird Field Friday night.
The game was a classic pitchers’ duel.
Luverne’s Kaden Anderson and Conner Connell combined to strike out 19 batters while giving up only six hits and no runs in fourteen innings on the mound.
Wadena pitchers Josh Dykhoff and Payton Rondestvedt combined to strike out 22 batters and gave up six hits and no runs.
“In a game like that neither team deserves to lose, but someone has to,” Zeutenhorst said.
“It was unfortunate that Anderson went down to injury,” he said, “but Connell did everything we asked of him. We just didn’t get the connected hits we needed to score runs.”
Casey Sehr had four hits for Post 123. Connor Overgaard hit a double in the 13th inning.
“Pitching was the star,” Zeutenhorst said.
When Connell came to the mound during the sixth inning, there were runners on first and second bases with one out.
Connell struck out the first six batters he faced. He struck out all three batters that came to the plate in the seventh, ninth and twelfth innings.
Jacob Stroh came in to pitch during the fifteenth inning. He struck out one and gave up one hit and one run.
Wadena, playing as the home team, finally scored a run in the bottom of the 15th inning to end the game.
With runners at first and second bases, a Wadena batter beat out the ball to first base, allowing the winning run to score from second base.
“It was tough,” Zeutenhorst said. “Anytime you pitch and play defense that well, you expect to win. But that’s the game of baseball.”
Luverne 000000000000000 0
Wadena 000000000000001 1
AB R H BI
B Ripka 7 0 1 0
E Beyer 7 0 0 0
K Anderson 3 0 0 0
W Serie 3 0 0 0
Casey Sehr 6 0 4 0
R Sneller 3 0 0 0
C Connell 6 0 0 0
C Overgaard 5 0 1 0
E Domagala 5 0 0 0
Carter Sehr 5 0 0 0
DGF 7, Luverne 1
After playing fifteen innings the night before, Luverne returned to Redbird Field Saturday noon for a consolation semifinal game.
Post 123 lost to Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton 7-1 to end their tournament play and the 2022 season.
Luverne scored its only run of the game in the bottom of the first inning when Braydon Ripka scored on a Casey Sehr RBI single.
Post 123 held DGF scoreless until the fourth inning when DGF plated one run to tie the game.
The game remained a 1-1 draw until the top of the seventh inning when DGF scored six runs.
In the bottom of the final inning, Luverne’s Carter Sehr, Ripka and Ethan Beyer hit consecutive singles but were unable to score any runs.
Beyer led the offense for Luverne with two hits.
Beyer also pitched a nearly-complete 6 2/3 innings for Post 123.
The veteran pitcher struck out nine and gave up only two hits and one run in the first six innings before giving up four hits and four runs in the top of the seventh frame.
Stroh replaced Beyer on the mound and gave up one hit, two runs and one walk.
Casey Sehr then came in to pitch, striking out one and giving up one run.
“I told the kids after the game that’s what happens when you are playing top teams at state and let them hang around for six innings,” Zeutenhorst said. “Eventually they will score. And that’s what happened.”
DGF 0 0 0 1 0 1 6 7
Luverne 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
AB R H BI
B Ripka 3 0 0 0
E Beyer 4 2 2 2
K Anderson 4 0 1 1
Casey Sehr 4 1 2 1
W Serie 4 0 1 2
E Domagala 3 0 1 0
C Overgaard 1 1 1 0
P Kroski 2 1 1 0
Carter Sehr 1 1 0 0