Records galore in marathon North Dakota-Alabama ALWS game

When Friday’s Fargo (N.D.)-Troy (Ala.) American Legion World Series game began at 7:05 p.m. on Friday night, few could’ve imagined the history it would set nor the emotional rollercoaster both teams would endure over the next six hours and 12 minutes.

When Fargo scored the winning run of a 5-4 victory at 1:17 a.m. Saturday morning, it came after 14 innings were played before and after a lightning and rain delay that lasted nearly two hours.

It was the longest time frame (six hours and 12 minutes) of a game in ALWS history and second longest in actual game time (four hours and 19 minutes).

In the end, both teams had multiple chances to win and both survived multiple opportunities that could’ve cost them defeat.

Winning coach Luke Rustad has more than 500 victories coaching Post 2 that includes a 2019 ALWS runner-up finish and he certainly understood how historic the result and effort was by both teams.

“You know what, wins are all special for different reasons,” Rustad said of his coaching victories. “They really are. The journey with the kids that I’ve coached is special.

“But the biggest part to me what that we played a really great team and we were challenged multiple times and we could’ve lost any team when they got the lead. So it wasn’t special because we won. It was special because we showed some fortitude and pushed through and came back every time.”

Just before the delay, Fargo starting pitcher Charlie Kalbrener appeared in control of the game as Post 2 led 2022 ALWS champion Troy 2-1 with two outs and none aboard in the top of the seventh inning.

But three straight Troy batters reached base to tie the score at 2; Matt Snell walked, Houston Markham singled and Evan Taylor singled to drive in Snell.

A few minutes later, lightning struck in the area and later a heavy rain soaked the Veterans Field at Keeter Stadium in Shelby, N.C., to suspend the game with Fargo coming to bat in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Once the lightning and rain stopped, tournament officials walked the grounds to determine the field’s playability and play was resumed at 11 p.m.

Rustad was eager to play if at all possible.

“I was thinking, ‘How well are you going to sleep when you go to bed in a tie game in the bottom of the seventh inning?’” Rustad said. “So I was thinking, ‘We’ve got to finish tonight. I don’t want to wait until tomorrow.’”

Little did Rustad or anyone else know that virtually another full game was about to be played as the teams went 7 1/2 more innings and played into the wee hours of the morning.

Drama was heightened for each team when they matched single runs in the 10th and 13th innings, with each score coming with two outs.

Finally, in the bottom of the 14th inning, Fargo’s Jaxon Beiswenger, Brady Manly and Landon Meier hit back-to-back-to-back singles with a throwing error after Meier’s single allowed Beiswenger to cross home plate and touch off a championship-style celebration.

“It’s been a busy 12 hours or so,” Beiswenger said on Saturday afternoon after Fargo completed its Stars division pool play with a 2-1 record after its 12-3 victory over Hudson (Mass.). “We played a six-hour game, which is something we’ve never done before. And it was awesome and something we’ll never forget and we’re just glad we got the win.”

The current legacy of the game is that 26 ALWS tournament records were set, most notably for length of game, total strikeouts and runners left on base.

Not since 1938 had an ALWS game lasted longer than four hours.

Then, the reason the game was stopped was because of darkness since nearby Duncan Park in Spartanburg, S.C., had no lights when the host team and San Diego, Calif., battled to a scoreless 8-8 tie in 14 innings on Aug. 31, 1938. After the tie, San Diego would win three of the next five games played between the teams to claim that year’s ALWS championship back when the ALWS format was a best-of-five series between two teams.

The 35 combined strikeouts (18 by Fargo pitchers and 17 by Troy) bested the previous record of 30 set in a 13-inning 2000 game between Danville (Calif.) and Columbia (S.C.). And the 33 combined runners left on base (18 by Fargo and 15 by Troy) bettered the previous record of 32 set in a 13-inning 1976 game between Warwick (R.I.) and Des Plaines (Ill.).

“What do they call those? Day-night doubleheaders?” Rustad said after his Saturday afternoon game. “So we’ve now basically played four games in this tournament and I’m so proud of my guys.”