By Owen Patterson

MINOT, ND – To begin the second half of the Northwoods League season, the Minot Hot Tots and Willmar Stingers were engaged in a drawn-out battle of two Great Plains West division rivals that finished with the Stingers on top, 13-6.

Minot would be the first team to score when Adam Burghult doubled home a run in the bottom of the first, but in typical Willmar fashion, the Singers were quick to recover. What started as a double followed by two walks and a hit batter, soon exploded into a five-run second inning after an Andrew Sojka grand slam.

Two innings later, the Stingers scored two more runs, going up 7-1 after three and a half innings. The Hot Tots continued to put runners on base, but no more runs would be added until the bottom of the fifth inning with Minot now trailing 10-1. In the fifth, Adrian Dominguez brought in a run for the Tots on a ground out, momentarily stopping WIllmar’s momentum.

Snapping back in the sixth inning, Willmar re-extended their lead with an RBI triple by Maximus Martin and RBI base-hit by Sojka. Minot continued to chip away at the lead with one run in the bottom of the sixth inning and three more in the seventh.

Jacob Mallozzi was brought in to pitch out of the bullpen in the eighth for Minot, and pitched well, recording two strikeouts. However, the defense was charged two errors in the inning resulting in an insurance run for Willmar.

Heading into the bottom of the ninth, the Hot Tots had a tall task, needing seven runs to tie the game. The inning got started well, with a double by Evan Dempsey, but nothing would follow, resulting in a 13-6 win for the Stingers.

Anthony Potestio had two equally impressive nominations for the First Command Play of the Game, but his robbery of a grand slam in the third inning took the cake.

Tomorrow evening, the Hot Tots and Stingers take the field for Independence Day baseball starting at 4:05 pm at Corbett Field.