MANDAN, N.D. _ West Fargo's three aces proved to be the winning hand at the North Dakota Class A state baseball tournament.
Andy Young came on in relief to strike out three straight batters with the bases loaded in the seventh inning as the Packers claimed their first state title with a 2-0 win over Fargo Shanley on Saturday.
Young, who tossed a three-hitter in the tournament's first round, was named senior athlete of the year by the state's Class A coaches.
"Last year we watched Fargo South celebrate. This feels great," Young said. "We rode our pitching and defense."
The Packers were well-armed for the three-day tourney.
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"Steckler did all that we asked him to do," West Fargo coach Brett Peterson said of starting pitcher Zach Steckler. "And you should have seen the look in Andy's eyes when I brought him in. He was determined not to give up a run."
Just like Young and Camran Bonnema, who threw a one-hitter in the semifinals, Zach Steckler, continued the mound mastery in the title game. He cruised through the first five innings and allowed a bunt hit in the sixth to end a string of 40 straight batters faced without a hit.
In three games, the Packers allowed eight singles.
"Going into the season, our question mark was pitching," Peterson said. "From May 1 on, those three guys have been likes out."
Shanley didn't go down without a fight. Joe Hallock, Jake Salentine and Alex Widmer started the seventh with solid hits to load the bases and prompt Peterson to bring on Young, his ace in the hole.
"It was nice to have that in our back pocket," Peterson said.
The game was a rematch between teams that played for the East Region title last week. The Packers won that game 3-2 in eight innings after being swept by the Deacons in the regular season.
West Fargo took a 2-0 lead off Hallock in the first inning.
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With one out, Landon Uetz and Young ripped back-to-back singles and moved up on a passed ball. Tucker Bucholz singled to left, scoring Uetz. Young also came home when Shanley left-fielder Peter Simon overran the ball. Hallock struck out the next two batters to put out the fire.
And it stayed out, thanks to Hallock and the Deacons' defense.
"One little burp in the first inning, otherwise Joe was in control the whole way. Unfortunately we couldn't get any kind of offense to reward him," Shanley coach Joel Swenson said. "Every game we've played this year has been down to the wire."
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Joe Hallock and Alex Widmer. Zach Steckler, Andy Young (7) and Tucker Bucholz. W-Steckler. L-Hallock.
