A spring infiltrated by winter weather, reduced the LaMoure/Litchville-Marion baseball team's season to 12 games to be played across a 38 day period.
The Loboes are making the best of it.
2021 marked the Loboes first-ever appearance in the Class B state finals. LLM rose up to defeat Renville County 5-4 in the state semifinals then went on to face Langdon Area/Edmore-Munich in the finals.
The Loboes wound up dropping 9-1 to the Cardinals last June, but the high-level loss has seemingly done nothing but motivate the Loboes' 2022 squad.
Since dropping 2-1 to Thompson in its season opener on April 8, LaMoure/LM has rattled off six straight wins over its Region 3 competition. LLM has played all six of its games in the last 10 days.
ADVERTISEMENT
LaMoure/LM had a nearly three week break in between their game against Shiloh Christian on Apr. 8 and its first conference matchup with Kidder County on April 26.
As of May 5, the Loboes have outscored their opponents 61-8 for an average margin of victory of nearly nine runs.
In the Loboes' 10-0 win over Dakota Prairie/Lakota/Midkota on April 28, pitcher Landon Piehl didn't allow a single run against, throwing a complete game shutout. Piehl earned the victory on the hill, throwing five innings, allowing just one hit and retiring 11 batters at the plate.
Out in the field, LaMoure/LM did not commit a single error. Garrett Hebl made 11 plays out in the field for the Loboes.
On the offensive side of things, LLM got things started in the first inning when Corban Potts tripled on a 3-2 count, scoring two runs. LLM racked up seven hits on the day. Potts and Hebl both tallied multiple hits. Hebl went 3-for-3 at the plate.
Another appearance at the 2022 State Tournament, slated for June 2-4 at Jamestown's Jack Brown Stadium, is not out of the question for the Loboes. LLM's football team wound up winning the 2021 9-man state championship while the Loboes' basketball team ended up taking third at the state tournament last March.
The slew of talent and strong chemistry has helped the Loboes charge out to a pretty good position in the Region 3 standings. LLM is currently leading the Region 3 pack, having gone 6-1 overall and 5-0 in the conference standings. Kidder County has taken the No. 2 spot with a 5-3 overall record and a 3-1 Region 3 record.
Carrington is ranked third in the current standings. The Loboes first test against the Cards is set for May 6. Final results of the matchup were not available when the Jamestown Sun went to press.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Loboes only have five games left on their schedule prior to the Region 3 tournament which is scheduled to run May 23-25 at Carrington High School. The rest of the Loboes' regular season games will be played within a 10 day period.
