With temperatures near 90 degrees, Grand Forks Red River senior pitcher Ryan Richardson took the mound for an eighth inning Saturday when the championship game of the East Region tournament went to extra innings.
Red River coach Mark Varriano wasn’t worried about any fatigue from the heat.
“I have all of the confidence in the world in him; he’s been a shutdown pitcher for us,” Varriano said.
Richardson, a senior right-hander, showed no signs of slowing down as he finished off a complete game, allowing one run over eight innings to lead Red River to a 2-1 win over Fargo North at Kraft Field.
“I was really confident in the eighth because we were up at that point,” said Richardson, who struck out seven. “I knew if I threw strikes, our defense would make the play.”
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North scored the game’s first run in the first inning and held Red River scoreless until the sixth.
In the sixth, Red River tied the score at 1-1 when Brandon Walters hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Colin Hennessy.
In the eighth, Hennessy reached first base on an error and moved up to second on a Jordan Lunski sacrifice bunt. The Riders then pinch-ran for Hennessy with Casey Schumacher.
“Colin’s not slow, but Casey’s a little quicker,” Varriano said. “And we needed all of it.”
Schumacher scored the go-ahead run from second base on a soft single to center by Christian Bauduin. Schumacher slid into the plate just as the Spartans applied the tag.
“I was kind of nervous because I had been struggling earlier in the game,” Bauduin said. “But I was able to put the bat on the ball.”
From there, Richardson allowed one single in the eighth to Michael Boutain (3-for-4) before ending the game on a flyout to second baseman Logan Montgomery.
Red River finished the tournament throwing just three pitchers: Brady Regimbal, Hennessy and Richardson.
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“Basically, we have three No. 1s,” Varriano said. “They can step up at any point in time and dominate a game.”
North coach Jeff Fiechtner also complimented Red River’s pitching staff.
“Red River is a solid team,” he said. “We hung in there. But from our standpoint, we made errors in crucial situations. We lost, but we’re still playing so that’s a good thing.”
Both teams advance to next weekend’s Class A state tournament in Mandan. Red River will be the No. 1 seed, while North is the No. 2 seed.
