Cumberland Advocate: Sports

The Cumberland Post 98 Legion team evened their overall record at 5 and 5 after winning three of four games last week. The team is back at it this week with six games scheduled, including doubleheaders at Islander Park both Thursday and Friday night. The twin bills against Luck and Grantsburg both start at 5:30 p.m.

Post 98 started things off last Tuesday with 9-3 and 5-2 wins over Baldwin-Woodville on their home field. Graham Miller and Logan Jeffrey took the pitching victories, with Tommy Zappa getting a save in game two.

Cumberland received 11 hits in the doubleheader sweep, including three from Jeffrey and two each from Mitchell Blaser and Graham Severson. “It was nice to see our bats come alive, while our defense showed improvement and the pitchers threw well,” said Coach Chuck Jeffrey.

Thursday, Post 98 then traveled to Luck, where they lost 8-3 and won 13-3.

Tommy Zappa took the pitching loss in game one, giving up all eight runs in two innings of work. Shoddy Cumberland defense hurt his cause and led to six unearned runs.

Mitchell Miller pitched two scoreless innings in relief. “Mitchell showed enough potential that we plan on getting him back on the mound this week,” said Coach Mark Fuller. Graham Miller and David Rye had Cumberland’s only two hits in game one.

Post 98 broke out their bats in game two, as they knocked out ten hits and scored 13 runs. Eric Soren- son and Graham Miller had two hits each, while Beau Bergstom added a double.

“The kids have been fun to watch improve all summer. Eric Sorensen, Ryan Behling, and many of our other young players are getting better each game,” said Fuller.

Sam Clark took the pitching victory with help from Graham Miller. Cumberland traveled to St. Croix Falls on Tuesday, before returning home for Thursday and Friday’s contests.

For the season, Ryan Behling leads the team with a .571 mark, followed by Eric Sorensen at .416. “Our hitting is really starting to come along,” added Fuller.

The team will have three representatives travel to Osceola next Monday for the Legion All-Star game. The representatives will be named this Thursday. Game time on Monday is 5:30 p.m.

The Cumberland Old Timers Baseball team defeated Jim Falls, 13-2 in a game at Islander Park last Sunday afternoon.

Randy Bielmeier took the pitching win, allowing two runs, both unearned, on six hits. He struck out six.

Cumberland banged out 12 hits, including three by Gary Hendricks. Ritchie Narges had a nice running catch in left field, while Dean Bergstrom and Marty Lunde- quam also had nice defensive games for Cumberland.

The team travels to Spooner this Friday night for a game against the Rails.

The Islanders held their round robin tournament on Saturday at Islander Park. With a softball tournament alongside, the atmosphere made for a great day to play ball.

Cumberland’s day started out poorly, dropping the first game to the Haugen Knights 13-0 in seven innings. Cumberland’s offense just could not wake up for this one, and the team was only able to put four people on base with one hit, compared to the fifteen hits put up by the Knights.

The Islanders came out stronger in the second game, against Stanberry, taking an early lead when Jordan Erickson scored off an error. Nate Froehlich pitched another great game, striking out five batters and only giving up three hits. All of the Giants’ offense came in the fifth inning along with a couple defensive issues, which led to three runs for Stanberry. The Islanders’ late innings heroics were cut short this time, leaving four runners stranded in the last two innings with Cumberland taking their second loss of the day, 3-2.

The Islanders’ third, and last, game was a rematch against the Spooner Cardinals. Cumberland came out determined to record their first win of the day, scoring three runs in the first inning, all with two outs. That would end up being all the Islanders would need, with Tim Muellenbach having his best pitching outing of the summer. Both teams put two more runs on the board in later innings, making the final score 5-2 in Cumberland’s favor.

After all the games were done, the four teams’ sluggers got together for a home run derby. The Islanders’ Pierce FollansbeeDelong was finally able to battle off the other two finalists in the third overtime, sending a shot out of Islander Park, completing his cycle for the day.

The Islanders would like to thank everyone who came out to the ballpark on Saturday, enjoying the baseball, the refreshments, and the band, making for a great day. They are now 5-2 in league play with a big game against the St. Croix Ravens next Saturday at home, starting at 1:00. The Islanders will then travel to Webster on Sunday to make up a rained out game against the Orioles.