Baseball team looks for consistency
By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor
Watford City lost its first game 7-6 to the Williston Coyote Junior Varsity last Monday and then came back to take the second game 7-3.
“We hit the ball pretty well at times during both games,” stated Justin Johnsrud, Wolves head coach. “But we need to start playing better defensively. We gave up seven runs on three hits in game one. We will need to cut down on the mental miscues and fielding errors if we want to compete for the top spot in Region 7.”
The next action for the Wolves will be on Thursday when Watford takes on Lewis & Clark and then travels to New Town on Friday. The Wolves will close out the week at Williston on Saturday and then host the Coyotes on Monday.
Williston 7, Watford City 6
Watford City 7, Williston 3
After a huge first inning that saw both teams score five runs, the only other scoring in the game came in the fifth inning as the Coyotes squeaked out a 7-6 win over the Wolves.
Andrew Sampsel and Nate Egeberg both homered in the bottom of the first inning to provide the Wolves with its offensive effort.
In the bottom of the fifth inning with the Wolves trailing the Coyotes by two runs, Clay Billing drove in Lucas Nicholson to cut the Williston lead to one run. But that was as close as the Wolves would get as the Coyotes retired the next two batters.
Nate Egeberg took the loss on the mound for the Wolves.
In the second game, the Wolves relied on a six-run second inning to knock off the Coyotes 7-3.
A three- run homer by Brice Brenno that scored Nate Egeberg and Clay Billing got the Wolves into the scoring column in the bottom of the second inning. But that was just the start of Watford City’s offensive effort as Mitchell Liebel would score on a Davis Zubke double, followed by Zubke scoring on a Quayde Shores single. Watford City’s final run of the inning came when Shores scored on a fielder’s choice.
Brice Brenno picked up the win for the Wolves.
Game 1 R H E
Williston 5 0 0 0 2 7 3 2
Watford City 5 0 0 0 1 6 8 6
Game 2 R H E
Watford City 0 6 0 1 0 7 6 2
Williston 2 1 0 0 0 3 5 2