MINOT, ND – The State Boys Tennis Tournament begins today here in Minot with the team dual competition. The individual tournament is Friday and Saturday. It is the first time in 10 years that a WDA team has hosted state.

 

 

First Round – 11 am
(1E) Grand Forks Red River vs (4W) Mandan
(2W) Bismarck Legacy vs (3E) West Fargo Sheyenne
(1W) Minot High vs (4E) Fargo Davies
(2E) Fargo South vs (3W) Bismarck Century

 

Consolation and Semifinals, 2 p.m.

5th Place and 3rd Place, 5 p.m.

Championship, 5:30 p.m.

————————————————–

 

MINOT, ND – The Boys State Soccer Tournament begins today in West Fargo. Minot High enters with a season high 8 match winning streak. Fargo Davies is the defending champion. The tournament runs through Saturday.

 

 

First Round
(1E) Fargo Davis vs (4W) Bismarck Century, 12 pm
(2W) Bismarck Legacy vs (3E) Fargo Shanley, 2 pm
(1W) Minot High vs (4E) Grand Forks Red River, 4:30 pm
(2E) West Fargo vs (3W) Bismarck High, 6:45 pm

————————————————–

 

MINOT, ND – Kindred and LaMoure-Litchville-Marion remain atop this weeks Class 11B and Class 9B football polls. The polls are voted on by the North Dakota Associated Press Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association.

 

 

Team (First Place Votes)                 Record    Points    Last Week
1. Kindred (15)                                    7-0           75          1
2. Dickinson Trinity                              7-0           48          2
3. Velva-Garrison-Drake/Anamoose   7-0 4        45          3
4. Thompson                                       7-0           27          5
5. Hillsboro-Central Valley                   6-1           26          RV

 

Others receiving votes: Oakes (6-1), Beulah (6-1)

 

 

 

Team (First Place Votes)             Record    Points    Last Week
1. LaMoure-Litchville-Marion (15)   7-0           75           1
2. New Salem-Almont                    7-0           49           2
3. Cavalier                                      7-0           39           3
4. MayPort-C-G                              6-1           36           4
5. North Prairie                               7-0           20           5

 

Others receiving votes: South Border (6-1), Divide County (7-0), Wyndmere-Lidgerwood (6-1), North Border (5-2)

————————————————————–

 

TWINS-TIGERS

 

CHICAGO (AP) — Luis Arraez won the AL batting title, hitting a third-inning double after walking twice to finish the season at .316, and the Minnesota Twins rolled to a 10-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday. Arraez was all but assured of topping the Yankees’ Aaron Judge for the batting crown when the day began. He removed any doubt by walking in his first two plate appearances and then hitting a drive that barely cleared the glove of right fielder Gavin Sheets before he was lifted for a pinch-runner. “It’s amazing,” Arraez said. “This was one of my goals. I’m living a dream right now. This is amazing for me because I worked hard for this.” Judge, who sat out the Yankees’ season finale, batted .311 with an AL-record 62 homers and a league-leading 131 RBIs. Arraez’s .316 average was the lowest for an AL champion since Boston’s Carl Yastrzemski hit .301 in 1968. “I couldn’t sleep last night, just thinking and thinking about it,” Arraez said.

 

Gary Sanchez and Jermaine Palacios homered during a six-run first inning for Minnesota, which snapped a four-game skid. The Twins finished at 78-84, a six-game improvement over 2021. The White Sox (81-81), last year’s AL Central champions, had their three-game winning streak snapped and finished 12 games worse than their 2021 record.

 

The 25-year-old Arraez became the fifth Twin to win a batting title, joining Rod Carew (seven), Tony Oliva and Joe Mauer (three apiece), and Kirby Puckett (one). “I think he achieved what he was hoping to do,” Minnesota manager Rocco Baldelli said. “And he’s not a guy who normally thinks about things on a personal level like that. He’s a team player and here to win and compete.” Arraez received a hug at the top of the dugout steps from Carlos Correa, who planned before the game to give him a Louis Vuitton roller bag in recognition of his achievement. “(Correa) is amazing,” Arraez said. “He sets an example for us. He’s a leader, and I love that guy a lot.” Arraez batted .361 (13 for 36) during a nine-game hitting streak to end the season. “It wasn’t easy,” Arraez said. “But my mind is strong.”

 

Sanchez hit his 16th homer, a three-run shot, off Chicago starter Davis Martin (3-6), and he added an RBI double during a three-run second. Palacios hit his second homer in as many games, a two-run shot. Martin was charged with nine runs in 2 2/3 innings and was pulled due to right biceps soreness. “He was feeling a little cramping,” interim Chicago manager Miguel Cairo said. “I didn’t want to take a chance.”

 

Louie Varland (1-2) allowed four hits in five scoreless innings in his fifth major league start. The 24-year-old struck out five and didn’t allow a walk. Josh Harrison was the only Chicago batter to reach second base against Varland as he led off the second with a double. Varland rebounded by striking out Mark Payton, Romy Gonzalez and Adam Engel in succession. Chicago didn’t score until the ninth, when Carlos Perez hit a one-out double off reliever Cole Sands to score Romy Gonzalez. Sands worked the last four innings for his first save. “That’s not the way we wanted to finish, but they played hard the last month,” Cairo said.

 

The Twins led the AL Central for 108 games but went 7-27 in their last 34 road games. “It was all the games you were looking for in the final game for us,” Baldelli said. Twins Split-squad spring training openers in Florida are on Feb. 25.

—————————————————-

 

VIKINGS-CINE

 

EAGAN, Minn. (AP) — With rookie safety Lewis Cine still in London following surgery on a broken lower left leg, Minnesota Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell promised the waylaid first-round draft pick he would call him Wednesday to check on his recovery. After accounting for the 6-hour time difference and a successful download of the Zoom app on Cine’s phone, they finally connected. The entire Vikings team was waiting for him on the video conference, starting their morning meeting with a roar of support for their injured mate. “The guys went crazy,” O’Connell said. Then came the singing of “Happy Birthday” in honor of Cine turning 23 in a most unexpected place — a hospital overseas.

 

“We’ve got his back,” fellow safety and special teams player Josh Metellus said. “Just seeing a smile on his face after what happened to him, that just livens us up more — just knowing that a guy could go through that and still wanted to see how we were doing, congratulating us on the win.” Cine was blocking on the punt return team in the first quarter at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium when he suffered the gruesome injury, a compound fracture in which the bone punctured the skin. He had a preparatory procedure on Sunday after Minnesota beat New Orleans 28-25 and the full operation on Tuesday at the Cleveland Clinic London Hospital performed by Dr. Aswinkumar Vasireddy, the orthopedic trauma group lead surgeon. Cine was expected to return to Minnesota on an NFL-provided private plane at the end of the week, O’Connell said. “I cannot say enough good things about the care he has received,” O’Connell said.

 

Drafted with the 32nd overall pick from Georgia’s national championship team, Cine was brought along slowly in training camp and beaten out by second-year player Camryn Bynum for the starting safety spot next to six-time Pro Bowl pick Harrison Smith. Cine had been limited to special teams, where his first NFL season ended in a fluky and painful fashion. He was placed on injured reserve on Tuesday after the surgery. O’Connell was Washington’s quarterbacks coach in 2018 when Alex Smith suffered a compound fracture in his right leg with breaks to both the tibia and the fibula. He needed two years to recover, and O’Connell acknowledged thinking “quite a bit” about Smith’s injury in the aftermath of Cine’s. “Just seeing that and seeing the look on his face, I just wanted him to know I was out there with him at the time and that everything was going to be OK. Because I believe that,” O’Connell said. Asked about Cine’s future, O’Connell said he’s confident he’ll be back on the field next season. “I just have such strong belief in Lew and his work ethic,” O’Connell said.