The Hartford/Humboldt Wood Ducks kept their state tournament aspirations alive in the District 4B Tournament in Humboldt. After losing their opening-round game on Saturday, July 25th, they avoided elimination with a win on Sunday, July 26th.
Madison 2, Wood Ducks 1
In a low-scoring battle in the opening round of the tournament, #6 Madison defeated the #3 Wood Ducks 2-1. Madison scored two times in the top of the fifth inning. Karson Vessells cut the lead in half with an RBI sacrifice fly scoring Loren Jacobson in the bottom of the sixth, but that was the only run the Wood Ducks could get.
Curtis Flint finished with three singles. Jearl Jesson had two hits, one of them a double. Drew Eldeen and CJ DenBoer each had a single. Vessells had an RBI. Eldeen pitched eight innings and allowed two earned runs on six hits and a walk with nine strikeouts. Flint pitched one inning and allowed a hit with two strikeouts.
Wood Ducks 12, Flandreau Blue Teal 4
A four-run bottom of the second put the Wood Ducks in front early, and they stayed in front the entire game to advance in the district tournament. Flandreau put two on the board in the top of the third to make the score 4-2. Hartford/Humboldt added three more runs in the bottom of the third and two in the fourth for a 9-2 lead. The Blue Teal scored two more in the top of the seventh cutting the lead to 9-4, but the Wood Ducks put the game away with three runs in the bottom of the seventh.
Flint had two hits, including a double, and an RBI. Vessells and Brodie Herr each had two singles with an RBI. Chad Hunt, Jacobson, Jesson, and Larsen all had a hit with an RBI each. DenBoer added an RBI. Flint pitched six innings and allowed two earned runs on three hits and five walks with 11 strikeouts.
