The opportunities came, but Ely’s Junior Legion baseball team just couldn’t convert on enough of them.
The result was an early exit from last weekend’s Division II State Tournament at Parkers Prairie and a third consecutive 0-2 finish at state.
BOLD held off Ely 4-3 in a pressure-packed opening round game on Aug. 6.
In that game, Post 248 trimmed a three-run deficit to one in the seventh inning and put the tying run at third and the winning run at second with one out, only to come up short.
A similar scenario played out in Saturday’s consolation round clash as Royalton escaped with a 5-3 win.
This time around, Ely left the bases loaded in the fifth inning and stranded two more runners in the final frame.
Ely finished 15-3 for the season.
In the quarterfinal game, Ely had to deal with a little bit of everything, including a season-ending injury.
That came in the fourth inning when Henry Fetterer reached based on an error, but the sophomore-to-be injured his hip while running to first and had to be taken from the field via ambulance.
Fetterer’s play helped trim a 2-0 deficit to one, but BOLD, which consists of players from Bird Island, Lake Lillian, Olivia and Danube, scored two unearned runs to take a 4-1 lead.
That’s how it stayed until the seventh, when Post 248 came to life.
Parker Niskala led off with a single and DJ Johnson followed with his third hit of the game.
Tyde Brecke then singled to load the bases and Evan Leeson followed up with a single down the left field line, plating pinch runner Aaro Kari to make it 4-2.
That chased BOLD’s starting pitcher, and Owen Marolt flew out to left field, bringing in Johnson and trimming the gap to one.
That’s when the BOLD reliever, Grady Wegscheid, settled in. He got a strikeout and and a ground out to put out the fire and preserve his team’s win.
It was a solid outing for BOLD starter Edgar Kopel, who recorded 10 strikeouts while yielding eight hits. He walked just one batter.
Johnson was three-forthree at the plate and Brecke finished with two hits for Ely.
Marolt took the loss on the mound, and the seniorto- be had little luck.
He gave up seven hits with one walk, while only one of the four runs was earned. He also finished with six strikeouts.
In the consolation round, Royalton used a four-run third inning to build a 5-0 lead, but Ely starter Cedar Holman settled in from there and shut down the opponents the rest of the way.
Marolt singled and scored on a Holman hit to put Ely on the board in the fourth, and Post 248 scratched out one run in the fifth when Johnson reached base and scored when Merriman was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Royalton got out of further trouble, stranding three runners, and Ely threatened in the seventh when a walk and back-to-back hits by Merriman and Grant Chittum made it a 5-3 game.
This time, Royalton evaded further trouble with a game-ending groundout.
Holman worked six-andtwo- thirds innings on the mound, giving up seven hits and two earned runs with five strikeouts. Merriman got the last out in the seventh.
• Parker Prairie beat BOLD 14-11 in Sunday’s championship game.
