CASSELTON, N.D. — For the first time in more than a month, the Valley City Post 60 Royals came up short, falling 4-3 to the host Casselton Haymakers in the opening round of the North Dakota Class A State Legion Baseball Tournament on Thursday.

Valley City (21-4) struck first in the bottom of the first inning, scoring on an error after Jack Samuelson narrowly missed a home run, pulling a ball just inches foul down the left field line.

Casselton answered in the top of the third, tying the game at 1-1 after a pair of infield singles and a Valley City fielding error set up a Carter Maasjo double play ball that pushed across the equalizer.

The Haymakers took the lead in the fifth on a chaotic play with the bases loaded. After a comebacker to the mound resulted in a force out at home, Royals catcher Corbyn Powell attempted to turn a double play. His throw to first deflected off the batter, Keagan Peterson, and caromed away, allowing a run to score from second to give Casselton a 2-1 edge.

Casselton tacked on single runs in both the sixth and seventh innings to extend their lead to 4-2.

Valley City mounted a final-inning comeback. Andrew Sykora launched a solo home run to center to begin the bottom of the seventh, trimming the deficit to one. Will Schwehr followed with a deep drive that just missed clearing the fence, settling for a long single. The Royals eventually loaded the bases with two outs, bringing Samuelson to the plate as the potential hero. But a hard line drive to short was snagged to end the game.

The loss snaps a 14-game winning streak for Valley City and sends them into an elimination matchup against the Minot Metros. First pitch is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Friday in Casselton.

Broadcast Information:
Catch every pitch of the Royals’ state tournament run on 1490 AM / 96.3 FM KOVC and online at NewsDakota.com.