North Dakota Preps

Not to take anything away from either team, as both are undeniably talented and well-coached, but I don't feel the gap between Central Cass/Thompson and the rest of the east is as wide as people make it out to be. Sure, both are rightfully considered favorites among their region competition, but I wouldn't be surprised to see more close games.

Regardless, pitching depth is going to be especially important this season with how many games are yet to be played in only a little over 3 weeks.

If Duchscherer played HS SB would Kindred be the favorite?

Flip wrote:If Duchscherer played HS SB would Kindred be the favorite?

Hard to say, but if she is already the best class B girls basketball player in the state and supposedly her best sport is softball, then her presence would certainly be a big boost. If she played HS ball, it would probably improve K-R's defense and help out the young pitchers.

Even in ND class B softball the importance of defense can't be overstated. Look at K-R two years ago, undefeated season, hardly a close game except for Central Cass, and last year they lost a few games even with the same pitcher (Klinnert), but with a defense that wasn't as good (replaced C, 2B, SS, CF, 1B).

Flip wrote:If Duchscherer played HS SB would Kindred be the favorite?

What is the reason she doesn’t play HS softball again?

Dakotastater wrote:

Flip wrote:If Duchscherer played HS SB would Kindred be the favorite?

Hard to say, but if she is already the best class B girls basketball player in the state and supposedly her best sport is softball, then her presence would certainly be a big boost. If she played HS ball, it would probably improve K-R's defense and help out the young pitchers.

Even in ND class B softball the importance of defense can't be overstated. Look at K-R two years ago, undefeated season, hardly a close game except for Central Cass, and last year they lost a few games even with the same pitcher (Klinnert), but with a defense that wasn't as good (replaced C, 2B, SS, CF, 1B).

That 2017 team was as good defensively as you will see. I saw a game where their opponent put up a season-high four runs on them, but they threw out three runners at the plate and turned three double plays (a crazy number in softball) to pull out the win. Defense is so huge!!!

yellowjacket wrote:

Flip wrote:If Duchscherer played HS SB would Kindred be the favorite?

What is the reason she doesn’t play HS softball again?

Plays for an AAU team out of South Dakota, or at least she did.

I was told they mentioned during the Class B basketball tournament she had SEC offers for SB.

Flip wrote:

yellowjacket wrote:

Flip wrote:If Duchscherer played HS SB would Kindred be the favorite?

What is the reason she doesn’t play HS softball again?

Plays for an AAU team out of South Dakota, or at least she did.

I was told they mentioned during the Class B basketball tournament she had SEC offers for SB.

I was told she was a shortstop, but I guess I assumed she pitched given all the accolades.
She must have a mighty bat as well as defensive skills? If so, walk her. Don't let her beat you. She/ her family probably knows and expects this, and is probably why she stays away from the Class B competition.

Just my own speculation.

I am speaking specifically for the East (mostly in the south) this year's scores make NO SENSE!!

Scores from East-West Invitational in Casselton
Central Cass 6, DLB 0
Central Cass 14, Bishop Ryan 4 (5)
Central Cass 9, Thompson 1
Central Cass 11, Velva/Drake/Anamoose/Sawyer 1 (6)
DLB 7, Kindred 6
Kindred 13, Watford City 1 (5)
Heart River 12, Kindred 2 (5)
Heart River 6, Hillsboro CV 0
Northern Cass 2, Heart River0
Velva/Drake/Anamoose/Sawyer 7, Northern Cass 3
Northern Cass 4, Mayville Portland GC 3
Manville Portland CG 11, Hankinson 1 (5)
Mayville Portland CG 8, Bishop Ryan 2
Hankinson 8, Watford City 2
Hillsboro CV 15, Watford City 12 (8)
Hillsboro CV vs. DLB called.
Velva/Drake/Anamoose/Sawyer 2, Thompson 1
Bishop Ryan 9, Thompson 4

Thompson went 0-3. Surprising.

After finally getting a few games in this season, here is my top 5.

1. Central Cass
2. DLB
3. HEART RIVER
4. VELVA
5. MAY-PORT

A few other teams could beat some of these teams if they had a good game, but these five seem to be most consistent in my opinion.

a few questions on East vs West:

Why was the one game cancelled?
Why did Hankinson only play 2 games?
CC used 3 starting pitchers. Did any other team use that many?

vikingman wrote:a few questions on East vs West:

Why was the one game cancelled?
Why did Hankinson only play 2 games?
CC used 3 starting pitchers. Did any other team use that many?

**HCV/DLB game was cancelled as HCV was undermanned from injuries; going to guess both coaches agreed to the calling of that game

**Stanley was removed from the original schedule...Hankinson was a late add to fill it back to 12 teams; MPCG played 2 East Teams & 1 West Team while Hankinson/T-S/L played 2 games & Central Cass played 4 (rescheduled their PPD game with Thompson for Saturday).

**Can't answer your third question...

HCV used three different varsity pitchers during the event, but one of them got hurt in the first inning of their Watford City game. It was their 8th game of the week so their other pitchers had been heavily taxed.

kboftw wrote:HCV used three different varsity pitchers during the event, but one of them got hurt in the first inning of their Watford City game. It was their 8th game of the week so their other pitchers had been heavily taxed.

Did they have 9 healthy players?

Some CC stats from east-west: in the 4 games, 3 pitchers compiled 30 strikeouts to 0 walks, 2 earned runs (4 unearned)

hits for CC 46, opponents 12

After the first 2 games of the season I was a bit concerned, but CC has totally dominated since then.

Thompson also pitched 3 different girls in their games.

Is the Velva 8th grader the same kid that pitched in last year's state tournament for Bishop Ryan? I remember they had a 7th grader that was doing well last year - didn't remember the name. Anyway, she's pretty good.

Central Cass is just so dang complete. Coach drives me crazy, but he gets results.
In the words of "the Sheriff" Dennis Green - "Crown 'em."

Things are super hazy so far this year. Once I looked at the rosters, I think I realized why. There are SO MANY young teams this season and because of that, inconsistency has to be expected to a point. I have also noticed teams are starting to try build pitching depth more than in the past. By doing that, you see some erratic scores with a high-rated team throwing their third pitcher against another team with their ace. I still see Central Cass, Thompson and Kindred as the teams to beat in the East and D-L-B as the favorites in the West. All of these teams have suffered losses, but they are built to do well in the postseason in my opinion. There will definitely be some exciting tournaments this season!

Yes, the 8th grade pitcher from Velva is the same from Bishop Ryan last year.
DLB, I believed used 2 pitchers last weekend.

After seeing the double-header yesterday, is it safe to assume that the HCV pitcher who was injured over the weekend still out of the lineup?

For the first time in the 3 years of the A vs B invite, Class A held the edge over Class B--8 to 4. In 2017 Class B dominated with 9 wins to 3, in 2018 the gap was just 7 wins to 5.

When Mike Mason of ND Sports Channel speaks -- listen! Last year Madison Sweep came up in a big situation and he gave the advice that she should be walked. Instead she was pitched to and she hit a big homerun. This year, Belle Linnard came up in a similar situation and Mike mentioned that they needed to be careful in pitching to her because of her homerun power. They gave her a pitch that looked well out of the strike zone from my vantage point, but she put it over the center field fence to win the game.

I've never watched a softball game other than CC, so most games are not very dramatic, but the game yesterday against F North was a classic.

Condensed game is here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdp7beseIguysrH04Yh8F6g

And the full webcast from ND Sports Channel is also available.

The CC vs Shanley game may get put up within a day or 2.

I saw that Stanley defeated Divide County by a score of 37 - 30. That must have been one LONG night. Imagine scoring 37 runs and yet the 10-run rule never comes in to effect.

Some good games happening in the regional tournaments.

In the West, I saw that Des Lacs fell to Velva in a close one, and will now play Kenmare in the qualifier. Bishop Ryan is in the other qualifier with Washburn, while Heart River and Velva play for the championship.

In the East, it's a re-match of last year's championship game with Central Cass and Thompson. Both teams got there with walk-off hits in the bottom of the 7th. Hankinson (lost 3-2 to CC) battles Kindred for a qualifier and HCV (lost 7-6 to Thompson) and Mayville will compete for the other one.

Central Cass, I believe, is still the team to beat but it's clear that nobody is afraid of them. It's shaping up to be a very good state tourney in Fargo.

One quick correction:
DLB will play Washburn and Bishop Ryan plays Kenmare.

so why is it that the baseball tournament has games scheduled in 3-hour intervals, but softball games are 30 minutes after previous game? I hate wasting my time getting to a park early because you never know if the preceding game is going to be a quick one. I wasted 1 1/2 hours waiting for the region championship in Thompson (I had no interest at all in watching the previous game). I can see some reasoning for doing this at Regions when it's a school day and and you don't have lights, but for a state tournament, that shouldn't be a factor.

Also, can anyone list the 1st day's matchups?

http://www.ndhsaanow.com/brackets/softb ... tournament

Would it be shocking to see the East sweep the first day?