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 By Jeff Baranick
With the arrival of scorching-hot weather on the
Northern Plains (successive days of 100+ degree
temperatures), we've reached the homestretch of
regular-season play in this 2026 North Dakota American
Legion baseball season. In this past week, KDKT Sports
Radio was on hand to call a pair of Class B District 1
diamond matchups—both involving Washburn Post 12. In the
first of those games, Washburn walloped Hazen Post 189
12-2; while in the second tilt, Post 12 fell to the
Beulah Cyclones 8-2. Those Cyclones were extremely busy
over the course of the week, playing 7 games total over
the course of four days. In non-league matchups, Beulah
swept the Class A Mandan A's 9-8 & 8-3; and in district
clashes, the Cyclones defeated Hazen 8-3 and downed
Central McLean twice (4-3 in 9 frames & 10-1). Beulah
did have its impressive 10-game winning streak snapped
by Washburn in the nightcap of its Thursday road
district doubleheader. That final tally was 13-1, as
Beulah couldn't muster much offense against Post 12
right-handed stalwart pitcher Ethan Retterath. Elsewhere
on the District 1 scene, Hazen came up short on the
scoreboard in five consecutive outings. After getting
thumped 11-1 by Washburn, the Astros lost four one-run
affairs—8-7 and 5-4 at the hands of
Hettinger-Scranton-New England-Lemmon and 2-1 and 5-4 to
Belfield-South Heart. Additionally, Garrison (District
1's 1st-place team) ran its overall summer record to a
sterling 27-3 by blasting Belfield-South Heart 12-2 &
16-0 and routing non-league foe Renville County 11-0 &
10-0. The Titans will enter this weekend's district
tourney in Washburn as the top-seeded squad for that
double-elimination extravaganza. They'll face either
Hazen Post 189 or the Bismarck Barons in an
opening-round contest at 10:00 am CT this Friday. The
final contests of this summer's District 1
regular-season slate will be held this Monday, Tuesday,
& Wednesday (July 13th, 14th, & 15th). Those encounters
will determine teams' final seeding for the upcoming
district tournament. On Monday, in a tussle to be
featured on KDKT Sports Radio, the Beulah Cyclones host
the Belfield-South Heart Knights, with first pitch
scheduled for 5:00 pm CT and KDKT's pre-game show
commencing around 4:40. The other league-games have
Washburn hosting the Bismarck Barons on Monday night and
Garrison entertaining the Barons and Washburn on Tuesday
& Wednesday evenings, respectively. We'll also note here
that KDKT will broadcast multiple games from that
District 1 tourney in Washburn beginning this Friday and
running potentially through Tuesday, July 21st. KDKT's
exact tournament broadcast schedule has yet to be
determined. Finally, the 50th -edition of the annual
Lions' All-Star Basketball Series was held this past
week with two sets of games staged in Bismarck and
Fargo, respectively, on consecutive mid-week days. On
Wednesday, the AA girls' and boys' teams pulled off a
sweep at BSC's brand-new Bavendick Center dealing their
A/B counterparts double-digit losses. In the girls'
game, Team AA beat Team A/B 85-70, while in the boys'
clash, AA raced past A/B 100-85. However, on Thursday at
Fargo South High School, Teams A/B turned the tables, as
the A/B girls downed the AA girls 79-69 and the A/B boys
rallied past the AA boys 97-93.
Filed
by Veteran KDKT Sportscaster Jeff Baranick
Listen for Jeff on Friday Night Live - Friday
Nights 9pm/Central
Check Out
This Season's NDHSAA Broadcast/Game Schedule
 This
Week's Wrap-Up: The Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks
were off during the week due to the All-Star Break
that saw the East Division All-Stars take down the
West Division 9-3. Earlier in the week, the
Redhawk's Jose Sermo defeated Sioux Falls' Josh
Rehwaldt in the AAPB All-Star Game Home Run Derby.
Following the All-Star Break, the Redhawks put up
video game numbers in the first two games against
the Chicago Dogs. Fargo-Moorhead won its opening
game after the break with a 20-11 win over the
Chicago Dogs. The Redhawks followed it up with a
13-4 victory in the second game of the series, and
Sermo hit a hat-trick with three home runs in the
victory. Chicago bounced back with a 9-6 victory in
the final game of the series. Fargo-Moorhead will
continue its homestand with a four-game series
against the Gary SouthShore RailCats on July
20th-22nd. The Badlands Big Sticks took on the
Mankato MoonDogs on July 12th-13th and split the
series. Badlands won the opening game 6-1 but
dropped the second game 15-3. The Big Sticks then
took on the Bismarck Larks in the Railroad to
Roosevelt Series on July 14th-15th. Badlands won the
opening game of the series 8-1, but Bismarck came
back with a closely contested 5-4 victory in game
two. The Big Sticks then matched up with one of the
best teams in the Great Plains West Division, the
St. Cloud Rox, and split the series. Badlands won
the opening game 3-1 but fell 9-4 in the final game
of the series. The Big Sticks took on the Minnesota
Mud Puppies this weekend and won the opening game
6-0. Badlands closes out the series with Minnesota
on July 19th before they host the Willmar Stingers
for a four-game series on July 20th-22nd. The
Bismarck Larks went 3-5 this week. The Larks were
swept by the Willmar Stingers on July 12th and 13th
with an 8-2 loss and a 9-2 loss. Bismarck then
hosted the Badlands Big Sticks and split the series.
Badlands won the opening game of the series 8-1, but
Bismarck won the second game of the series 5-4. The
Larks then traveled to take on the Willmar Stingers
and split the series, winning the opening game 15-4.
Willmar came back with a 9-6 victory in the final
game of the series. Bismarck closed out the weekend
against the Mankato MoonDogs and split the series.
The Larks won the opening game of the series 6-2,
but dropped the final game of the series 9-2.
Bismarck travels to take on the Mankato MoonDogs in
a four-game series on July 20th-22nd. The Minot Hot
Tots went 1-6 this week. Minot was swept by the
Duluth Huskies on July 12th-13th with losses of 17-1
and 15-12. The Hot Tots then dropped both games
against the Willmar Stingers on the 14th and 15th.
They fell in a close matchup, 12-11, on the 14th and
then lost 8-5 on July 15th. Minot continued their
road trip against the Mankato MoonDogs on July
16th-17th. The Hot Tots fell 13-5 in the opening
game of the series and dropped the second game 3-2.
Minot's lone win of the week came against the St.
Cloud Rox, 13-10 on July 18th, and they will close
out the series on the 19th. On the gridiron, the UND
Fighting Hawks were picked to finish fourth in the
MVFC behind South Dakota State, Illinois State, and
Youngstown State. The Fighting Hawks also had 11
players named to the MVFC Preseason Watch List. Liam
Becher, Kaden Vig, and Lance Rucker were each named
to the Stats Perform FCS Preseason All-America Team.
Rucker was also one of 30 athletes named to the Buck
Buchanan Award Preseason Watch List.
Filed
by KDKT Sportscaster Josh Coleman
Listen for Josh on Friday Night Live - Friday
Nights 9pm/Central
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