Minnesota made it's 10 picks and then added another nine players from the pool of the undrafted. Could it have been handled better? Yes. But the same latitude given to the Howl for some of their first playoff struggles should also be extended to KA-M. Doesn't mean he should make trades with division opponents again next year, or ever, but is a reasonable way to regard his execution.
NDSU started the week with a fifth place showing at the League championship. It continued with the six time League Field Athlete of the Week Trevor Otterdahl in Des Moines. Before he could get to huckin' Kelby Anderson and some of the ladies showed-out Thursday. They kept it going Friday as Amanda Anderson stepped into the spotlight while the men had their own set of strong showings. Both halves kept adding to the hardware as the relay wrapped Saturday.
A day earlier ⚾️ got it's 24th victory, 8 - 3 over SDSU even as the cancellations continued to pile-up. The win came after Jake Drew & Tristen Roehrich were named to the National ⚾️ Writers Association Watch List.
After their own cancellation Saturday softball finished the week with a split against North Dakota. They scored seven straight runs to secure the game 2 win.
Before Sunday was over East Grand Forks native Nate Deziel shot a school record 65 in the first round of the League championship, good enough to put him two shots ahead of the field!
Beyond the lines, Tyree Eady chose North Texas for his final year on the court while Jarius Cook will suit up for Jacksonville (FL) University. The local women's team did make some additions of it's own, to the coaching staff.
Then came the big days for the former 🏈 players. Christian Watson was selected 34th overall when Minnesota stupidly traded with Green Bay. 102 picks later Cordell Volson got the call from Cincinnati as the runners up look to build on that success. After all the selections had been made came Brayden Thomas & Josh Babicz's time, signing with Los Angeles & Carolina.
Not to be overshadowed, former All-American & Olympian Erin Teschuk had a new best race ever!
Spring may not want to come but the sports are already concluding. With a pair of splits this week softball set itself up for a chance to end on a relative high-note. On Tuesday they scored as many runs in their win as they gave up to Minot between the pair of games but the bats were held in check for a solo score in their loss. Sunday, against Upper Iowa, it was another split but in much different fashion as they lost 14 - 3 but then came back to win 5 - 3 with a walk-off home run! Their season will end Monday afternoon against Winona State.
In-between the 🏃 team had the best showing in Des Moines in the 4x400 relay!
In other news, the year-long athletics director search came to an end with the incumbent, Chad Markuson, getting the upgrade from interim. With the head 🏀 coach position yet to be filled he will have that to do immediately.
The arrival of the future was put on hold as Memphis closed out the opening round series by winning game six. The Pack's alpha finished with the most points in the series ever, prior to their 21st birthday. While he talked about what he will work on this offseason his averages are nothing to sneeze at! With a month & a half until the draft the team has to figure out if Sachin Gupta is the one they want as the official GM. With things as stable as they've ever been it's a move that can further solidify the organization ahead of some key roster decisions.
Flipping a switch is clichéd sports jargon but winning 9 of 10 contests certainly qualifies for the expression. The best part is that in many of the wins both the pitching & the batting were beyond competent. How long that will remain the case is anyone's guess but the longer they lead the dvision the higher the chances they will act aggressively at the trade deadline. Then perhaps they will be able to exercise the decades long postseason demons. All of that is months away but the fun they're having now allows for such consideration!
The week started with a flourish and ended with a splat. The good was forward Tyler Rollwagen being named League Forward of the Week. The team then lost both of it's opening round games against Omaha, 5 - 2 & 4 - 2. It ended a turbulent season and Scott Langer's one year run as head coach of the club. Rumor is that they will replace him with St. Cloud assistant Nick Oliver.
Reminder that scores are added daily + there's a new home for recruiting news, so check back often!
Now for this week's highlights
The crummy weather wasn't able to prevent Moorhead from getting some dominant showing on the lacrosse field. Their girls started with an 18 - 5 win over Sauk Rapids/Rice/Sartell. They kept it rolling Saturday with a 12 - 7 win over Minneapolis North. The boys also ended the week against MPLS N, winning 16 - 2 to end a week that also included a 13 - 4 victory over St. Cloud. The Tater bats also also put out a 15 - 0 win over Davies on the softball field which they followed with a pair of wins over St. Cloud and a 14 - 13 nail-biter Saturday versus Hill-Murray. Lake Park also had a great showing with 12 - 2 win Friday against Menagha.
On the other diamond Moorhead had a double-up, 12 - 6 against West Fargo. Barnesville got it's first win of the season, 5 - 0 over Breckenridge as did Fertile/Beltrami 12 - 7 over Northern Freeze. To the Southwest Kindred had a 16 - 0 no-hitter against Enderlin with a 1-hit 19 - 1 win as dessert. Making up for all the postponed runs, West Fargo put up 22 versus Davies in 4 innings Wednesday. Sheyenne & Oak Grove also hit double-digits against both of the Eagles with a pair of shutouts.
Central Cass played to a tie against the Hankinson co-op until Catie Sinner walked it off with a two-run shot! CC's neighbors to the North put up 19 runs against Hillsboro. West Fargo had their own excitement in the form of a 8 - 0, no-hit win over North. The Spartans paid it forward with a 17 - 2 win over Devils Lake.
The 🎾 court also had some good times this week. Sheyenne took all nine off their crosstown rivals Tuesday and repeated the score versus South Thursday. West Fargo & Davies weren't far behind with 7 - 2 wins over Wahpeton & Valley City. The Eagles then got all nine against GFC Friday.
Shanley had a 4 - 0 win over the Knights as the signature win on the pitch. The Deacons Jake Skarperud was also the top individual finisher at the Wahpeton Invitational while Davies & Sheyenne rounded out the top three on the team-score side.
The track also made it's mark with both of the Mustang teams finishing ahead of Moorhead, South & Horace Thursday. The Spuds bounced back with record-setting performances Friday. Alonn Salman set a school record in the 100m dash, with the 4x100 relay following suit. The record-setting must have been in the air as Davies had the 9th fastest 4x100 in state history then their anchor, Cece Deebom, had the fastest 100m hurdle all-time in the state, fourth longest jump in Class A history as well as the eighth longest triple-jump.
Beyond the lines, Jay DeCann accepted the athletics director position for Mayville State. He won't be the only one moving on after this school year as Sheyenne's Tom Kirchoffner tendered his resignation as the head boys 🏀 coach. That came hours after Horace announced it's first 🏐 coach - Hadley Steffen.
A few more fresh faces were added to the men's roster.