Phillies excellent at Extravaganza
Sports
Posted By Eric Mackenzie, The Daily Graphic
Posted 1 month ago
As the feature team for the annual Proz Extravaganza in Devils Lake, N.D. this weekend, the Portage Phillies lived up to their billing.
Carrying just 10 players for the two-day event, the Phillies won all four exhibition games against teams comprised of North Dakota's top fastpitch softballers.
"The young guys that came did an excellent job all weekend hitting the ball," said catcher Cliff McCartney. "We struck out maybe five times as a team the whole weekend over four games, so everybody was putting the ball in play."
Tanner Waldvogel was outstanding in the circle and at the dish during the Extravaganza, tossing for two wins and hitting three homers to be named the tournament's most valuable player.
The 19 year old's weekend was a rebound performance of sorts after a tough outing pitching in the back half of last week's doubleheader against the Notre Dame Clubs.
"It was probably alright for him to get a taste of adversity ... it didn't seem to hurt him at all," said McCartney. "He threw really well down in Devils Lake."
Two of Waldvogel's homers and one of his decisions came in the Extravaganza finale on Sunday, as he went 4-for-5 in a 14-4 rout of the Devils Lake Risers.
The Phillies also received a clutch long ball from Waldvogel's cousin, Bryce Graham, in Sunday's first game. Graham tagged a Kory Boehmer pitch in the bottom of the seventh for a walk-off dinger and a 7-6 Portage win over the Rookies/NDTC.
On Saturday, the Phillies opened the tournament with an 11-1 pounding of Lamotte's. They would follow that up with a come-from-behind effort against NDTC that resulted in a 7-4 triumph.
The hometown hopefuls had taken a 4-3 lead deep into the game backed by a three-run homer, but the Phillies rallied with four runs in the sixth off pitcher Kyle Everson, chipping away with base hits to seal up another victory.
sports@cpheraldleader.com
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