The Aberdeen Smittys finished their home tournament with a 3-1 record with their only loss by one run in extra innings.
The Aberdeen squad lost 5-4 to Milbank on Sunday at the Smittys/Vern Jark Wood Bat Tournament, but completed tourney play with a 9-6 win over Clark-Willow Lake. Milbank finished the tournament with a perfect 4-0 record.
The Milbank and Aberdeen Smittys game was a battle between two teams that were undefeated in the tournament. The matchup needed extra innings to be decided. Milbank scored a single run in the top of the ninth inning with a walk and an RBI double by Matt Stephan.
"Milbank did a really good job," said Smittys Coach Justin Downes. "They hit better than us and fielded a little bit better than us and ran the bases well. It was a fun game and a good game. We had opportunities to win but they played a little bit better game than we did."
Stephan led Milbank by going 4-for-5 at the plate with two doubles. Landon Hammer added two hits including a double.
Carter Paulson and Matt Swallow led Aberdeen with two hits each. One of Paulson's hits was a double. Pitcher Zach Andera struck out 11 batters.
"Zach threw a good game. He pitched really well for us and did his part," said Downes.
In Aberdeen's second game of the day, the Smittys were just three outs away from a shutout win in the fifth inning but Clark-Willow Lake did not quit. The visiting team tallied five runs in the fifth inning and one more in the seventh to extend the game.
Aberdeen's Dalton Cox had a no-hitter going into the fourth inning. Aberdeen scored five runs in the second inning with the help of four Clark-Willow Lake errors.
"They did a nice job of coming back in the fifth inning and put up a five-spot," said Downes. "They took advantage of a couple of miscues. They made it interesting in the seventh inning, too. They are a good, young team and played pretty well. Cox pitched well for us."
Jake Karber, Seth McGraw and Dylan Wicks had two hit each for Clark-Willow Lake.
For the Smittys, Lucas Lorenz, Swallow and John Frisco had two hits each. Lorenz hit a double.
Bloomington Blue finished the tourney on a high note by sweeping two shutout games on Sunday. The Minnesota squad beat Clark-Willow Lake 7-0 and Warner-Ipswich-Northwestern 11-0 in five innings.
Against Clark-Willow Lake, Kyle Lynch smacked three hits for Bloomington, including a double and a triple. Noah Luedtke had two doubles and Josh Hanson added two hits. Pitcher Jamie Kaye struck out 10 batters.
Bloomington's hit parade continued against W-I-N as Lynch hit another triple. Ryan Mariska had two hits, including a double, and drove in five runs. Luedtke totaled 10 strikeouts in earning the pitching win.
The Aberdeen Smittys (14-13) return to action on Tuesday playing Valley Springs at 3 p.m. and Mitchell at 5 p.m. Both games will be played at Mitchell.
"Overall, we did OK," said Downes about the Smittys tournament. "We would have liked to be 4-0 but lost to a good Milbank team. We had a couple of games with Bloomington and got up and hit the ball well over the course of the weekend. We had good pitching."
Clark-Willow Lake|0000000-053
Bloomington Blue|201031x-7111
Lane Hovde and Levi Sauder; Jamie Kaye and Josh Hanson. 2B-Bloomington, Kyle Lynch, Noah Luedtke 2. 3B-Bloomington, Lynch.
Bloomington Blue|05420-1162
W-I-N|00000-021
Noah Luedtke and Luke Melcahy; Lane Myer, Kade Hollenbeck (3) and Gavin Stuchl. 2B-Bloomington, Ryan Mariska, Jake Irvin. 3B-Bloomington, Kyle Lynch.
Milbank|300010001-5103
Aberdeen Smittys|011002000-4103
Sean Zimney, Justin Ackerman (6) and Matt Stephan; Zach Andera, Jordan Allbee (9) and John Frisco. 2B-Milbank, Stephan 2, Landon Hammer; Aberdeen, Carter Paulson.
Clark-Willow Lake|0000501-684
Aberdeen Smittys|250110x-9103
Dylan Wicks and Levi Sauder; Dalton Cox, Jesse Babcock (5) and John Frisco. 2B-Aberdeen, Lucas Lorenz.