RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesAug. 4—LISBON, N.D. — Thompson's hopes of winning a second consecutive North Dakota Class B state American Legion baseball championship appeared to be in jeopardy after one and a half innings Tuesday afternoon in Lisbon.
Then the rally started.
Thompson stormed back from a five-run deficit to beat Grafton 12-6 in the second championship game, winning its third Class B state Legion title in the last four years.
Thompson lost to Garrison earlier in the tournament, battled through the elimination bracket and beat the Spoilers 5-2 in Monday's first championship game to force a winner-take-all Game 2.
"(A championship) is always our goal," head coach Nate Soulis said. "It's not necessarily that you have to win all these championships to play with a standard of what we want to do at Thompson, it's when you go through the process the right way like these kids did for a long time.
"They continuously got better, took coaching well and worked on their craft to put themselves in a position and just really prepare through the year. This tournament after we stumbled a little bit, they had the grit and toughness to continue to stick with it."
The comeback began in the bottom of the second inning. Jacob Olson hit a two-run double and a fielding error on the ensuing at-bat allowed Eli Gemmill to reach first as another run scored to make it 5-3.
"We talked after the top of the second, it's just about chipping away at it," Soulis said. "It happened a little bit faster than maybe I had thought, but it's just about getting a few runs, getting a little bit of confidence, and that's what they did."
Designated hitter Cooper Larson led Thompson with four hits. He hit an RBI single in the third inning to draw Thompson within one, and a fielding error on the same play sent Larson to second base and another run home to make it 5-5.
"He showed out in a big way today," Soulis said. "I'm really proud of how he's grown throughout the summer, and it's a tough adjustment coming into a town and a program where you don't know anybody, but he just put his head down and worked. He's a great kid."
Dex Avdem broke the 5-5 tie in the fourth inning with a sacrifice fly. Grafton managed to even the game up in the top of the sixth thanks to an RBI single from Trenten Keena.
That was the only run Grafton scored after the first two innings, though. Avdem came on in relief for starting pitcher Kaden Loiland with no outs in the first inning and pitched the final seven innings.
He finished with three strikeouts, issued no walks and allowed five hits.
"He did awesome," Soulis said. "It's tough for anybody to come into a game of that magnitude and it's 3-0, there's two runners on, nobody out. To go 1-2-3 and get out of that inning was a huge confidence booster for him, and he just really settled in, mixed it up really well."
Thompson responded to Grafton's game-tying run in the sixth by scoring six runs in the bottom of the inning.
A bases-loaded wild pitch gave Thompson a 7-6 lead. Thomas Schumacher hit an RBI single and Loiland followed it up with a two-RBI single to make it 10-6.
Thompson added two more runs thanks to a wild pitch and an RBI single from Eli Schumacher.
"We just stuck to our approach," Soulis said. "The bottom of the order was phenomenal all weekend and really set the table. They drove in runs, played a little small ball. ... Hitting is contagious, and once you see a guy barrel up a baseball, it seems like that's how the ball rolls sometimes."
Although Thompson returned experienced leaders such as Thomas Schumacher, there were several new faces on this year's championship team. Thompson lost six players in the offseason.
"It's just the next man up," Soulis said. "A lot of kids grow up watching these guys, and they want to be the next ones up. That's pretty special in my mind, it's something that's really helped over the last few years, guys seeing how it's done that are in the program and maybe not contributing but practicing on the team, and once they see how it's done and it's their turn, they take the reins."
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