K-HEART SPORTS – 05/13/23 – 0700
MINOT, ND – Rain caused problems with the sports schedule on Friday. Early games were played, but later afternoon and evening games were cancelled at the Midseason Madness Softball event in Fargo. Hopefully weather cooperates today as 32 games are scheduled on the eight fields at the North Fargo complex. Rain also caused matches to be cancelled at the East-West Crossover for girl’s tennis. The individual portion of the event today is also cancelled.
High School Girls Softball
Midseason Madness – Fargo
Minot High def. Grand Forks Red River, 16-3
Bottineau def. Grafton, 13-10
Wilton-Wing def. Fargo Shanley, 20-10
West Fargo Horace def. Turtle Mountain, 8-7
Northern Cass def. Harvey-Wells County, 14-4
Renville County def. Kindred-Richland, 11-1
Minot High def. Grand Forks Red River, 16-3
Bottineau def. Grafton, 13-10
Wilton-Wing def. Fargo Shanley, 20-10
West Fargo Horace def. Turtle Mountain, 8-7
Northern Cass def. Harvey-Wells County, 14-4
Renville County def. Kindred-Richland, 11-1
High School Girls Tennis
East-West Crossover – Fargo
Minot High def. Fargo North, 5-0
Minot High def. Fargo Shanley, 5-0
Valley City def. Mandan, 5-0
Fargo North def. Jamestown, 5-0
Fargo South def. Jamestown, 5-0
Minot High def. Fargo North, 5-0
Minot High def. Fargo Shanley, 5-0
Valley City def. Mandan, 5-0
Fargo North def. Jamestown, 5-0
Fargo South def. Jamestown, 5-0
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BISMARCK, ND – The Northern Sun Conference baseball tournament was postponed on Friday. Play is scheduled to resume today.
College Baseball
NSIC Tournament – Bismarck/Mandan
NSIC Tournament – Bismarck/Mandan
Semifinal
#2 Minnesota State-Mankato vs #4 St. Cloud State, 10:30 am (Mandan)
Loser Out
#1 Augustana University vs #3 Minnesota-Crookston, 30 min after (Mandan)
Aug/Crookston winner vs semifinal loser, 30 min after (Mandan)
#2 Minnesota State-Mankato vs #4 St. Cloud State, 10:30 am (Mandan)
Loser Out
#1 Augustana University vs #3 Minnesota-Crookston, 30 min after (Mandan)
Aug/Crookston winner vs semifinal loser, 30 min after (Mandan)
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MINOT STATE TRACK & FIELD
ST. PAUL, Minn. (MSU) – Minot State’s reigning indoor shot-put champion earn All-NSIC honors once again, this time in the outdoor shot put with a runner-up finish. Chase Snyder led the way for the Beavers on Friday, finishing 2nd in the men’s shot put with a throw of 52 feet, 10 inches at the NSIC Outdoor Track and Field Championships hosted by Concordia, St. Paul. Tyler Hiatt from Sioux Falls won the event with a throw of 56 feet, 8 inches.
That helped the Minot State men to score 9 team points and put them in 10th place after Friday’s competition at Sea Foam Stadium. Wayne State led the men’s team standings with 47 points, while Minnesota State, Mankato leads the women’s team title race with 100.4 points. The Minot State women did not score any team points in Friday’s events. The NSIC Outdoor Track and Field Championships conclude today.
While Snyder finished second, Minot State hurdler Nathan Trujillo-Aragon finished first, albeit in the 400-meter hurdle prelims, sending him into the finals with the meet’s top time 55.03 seconds. Doing double duty, Trujillo-Aragon also qualified for the 110-meter hurdle finals as he was fifth in the prelims in 14.96 seconds. Trujillo-Aragon’s time was a new NCAA Division II-era school record and broke his own record of 15.15 he ran earlier this spring. Adding to the Beavers point total on the men’s side was Charles Hardcastle who finished 8th in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 9 minutes, 33.65 seconds. And poised to add to the Minot State scoring are Jacob Jensen and Nicholas Merillana who each qualified for the men’s 1,500-meter finals as Jensen was 9th in the prelims in 3:57.22, and Merillana was 12th in 3:59.12. On the women’s side, Nicole Reeves led the way for Minot State as she finished 15th in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase in 12:11.93.
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MINOT STATE-ASSISTANT A.D.
MINOT, N.D. (MSU) – Minot State’s Director of Athletics Kevin Forde is pleased to introduce the newest member of the Beaver Athletics administrative team. Jordan Quinlan joins the Minot State staff starting Monday, May 15, as the Beavers new Assistant Director of Athletics for Compliance and Student Life and as MSU’s Senior Woman Administrator. Quinlan joins the Beavers after spending the last three seasons as the assistant women’s soccer coach at NSIC rival Northern State. While serving as the assistant coach for the Wolves soccer program, Quinlan handled many of the duties directly related to compliance for the team including planning training sessions, coordinating team travel, organizing visits for recruits, monitoring weekly participation hours for the team, overseeing academic progress for players, and coordinating fund-raising events. Prior to her time at Northern State, Quinlan spent a year as an assistant coach at the University of Missouri, and also spent a season as the assistant coach at Iowa Western Community College where she was part of the staff that led the Reivers to third place at the NJCAA National Championships in 2018. She also spent a season as an assistant women’s soccer coach at Northwest Missouri State where she earned her Master’s in Sport and Exercise Psychology. Quinlan graduated from the University of Missouri in 2016 with a Bachelor’s in Nutrition and Exercise Physiology.
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TWINS-CUBS
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Rookie Matt Mervis crushed a tying RBI double in a seventh-inning breakthrough for the Chicago Cubs to rally past the Minnesota Twins 6-2. Mervis made his major league debut a week ago. Yan Gomes had the go-ahead RBI single in the seventh, Christopher Morel tacked on a two-run home run in the ninth and Drew Smyly pitched six strong innings for the Cubs to open a nine-game road trip. Gray, whose 1.39 ERA is the best in baseball among qualified pitchers, gave the Twins another stellar turn with nine strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings with four hits and one run allowed. Manager Rocco Baldelli gave the ball to Jovani Moran to finish the sixth by retiring Ian Happ — who had three hits — and Cody Bellinger, but Griffin Jax (2-5) stumbled in the seventh and lost the lead on four straight one-out hits. The Twins (21-18) had only four hits and have scored just 30 runs in 10 games this month. They’ve still been in first place in the AL Central for all but two days this season, but this was their fourth game in May with four hits or fewer.
UP NEXT
Cubs: RHP Hayden Wesneski (2-1, 3.93 ERA) pitches this afternoon. He has allowed just one run in each of his last three starts. Twins: RHP Joe Ryan (5-1, 2.45 ERA) takes the mound for the middle game of the series. He has finished six or more innings in all seven turns, allowing two or fewer runs in five of them.
Cubs: RHP Hayden Wesneski (2-1, 3.93 ERA) pitches this afternoon. He has allowed just one run in each of his last three starts. Twins: RHP Joe Ryan (5-1, 2.45 ERA) takes the mound for the middle game of the series. He has finished six or more innings in all seven turns, allowing two or fewer runs in five of them.
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VIKINGS-SMITH TRADE
CLEVELAND (AP) — The Browns’ defensive line has gone from disappointing to perhaps dominant. Cleveland, which has spent the offseason upgrading a unit that underperformed in 2022, agreed Friday night to acquire three-time Pro Bowl pass rusher Za’Darius Smith from the Minnesota Vikings, a person familiar with the deal told the Associated Press. The Browns are sending fifth-round picks in 2024 and 2025 to the Vikings for Smith, a sixth-round pick in 2025 and a seventh-rounder in 2026, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the teams had not announced the swap. In Cleveland, Smith will be paired up front with All-Pro end Myles Garrett, one of the NFL’s best edge rushers. Shortly after news of the trade broke, the Browns posted a photo of a smiling Garrett without any caption.
The 30-year-old Smith had 10 sacks last season, his first with Minnesota, and has 54 1/2 since breaking in with Baltimore in 2015. He signed a three-year, $42 million contract with the Vikings before last season, with $11.5 million guaranteed. After going 7-10 last season, the Browns made revamping their defense a priority. They’ve done so with the signings of free agent tackle Dalvin Tomlinson, end Ogbonnia Okoronkwo and safety Juan Thornhill. Smith should give the Browns two players capable of disrupting the pocket and another weapon for new coordinator Jim Schwartz.
Smith enjoyed a renaissance of sorts in 2022 with the Vikings after a back injury in 2021 limited him to one game with Green Bay. Smith had 8 1/2 of his sacks over the first seven games, though, and his pressure rate dropped off significantly over the second half of the schedule. The only game he missed was the meaningless regular-season finale, but a nagging knee injury limited his impact. With a scheduled salary cap hit of more than $15 million, Smith became an obvious candidate for release or trade for the cap-strapped Vikings. Smith even posted a message on Twitter in March that had strong farewell vibes and thanked the entire organization for an “amazing season and experience.” Two months later, the departure finally came — saving the Vikings more than $12 million in cap space. The Vikings ran a 3-4 scheme for their base defense, with Smith and Danielle Hunter at the outside linebacker spots, but Schwartz’s 4-3 system will make Smith more of a traditional defensive end. He played in a 3-4 over three seasons with the Packers, too.