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Thompson rides Larimer's pitching to Montgomery title

061719 S GFH MONTGOMERYCHAMP BrydenSantos01.jpg
Renville County outfielder Bryden Santos dives for a pop fly to right field during Sunday's Montgomery Memorial baseball championship game against Thompson Post #181 at Kraft Field. Nick Nelson / Grand Forks Herald

Thompson's Trey Larimer spent the last year redshirting as a freshman at Minnesota Crookston.

He's typically a catcher and outfielder in the Golden Eagles program and pitching duties are even rare during the American Legion season.

But in the championship game of the Robert Montgomery Memorial Tournament, Thompson turned to Larimer with league games approaching the rest of the week.

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Larimer delivered a strong five-inning, three-hit performance on the mound to give Thompson a 15-2 win over Renville County on Sunday at Kraft Field.

"I'm not use to throwing at all," Larimer said. "I've pitched in big games before. I was disappointed with the walks and beaning guys, but I did what I had to do and got the win and that's all I can ask for."

Thompson first-year coach Tom Nistler saved pitcher Cadyn Schwabe for league games and turned to Larimer, who hadn't thrown since last summer.

"It's a rare spot," Nistler said. "He did a really good job on the mound and got the job done."

Thompson put up a nine-run second inning to put the championship game away.

"Fun weekend," Nistler said. "We started off hitting the ball hard all over the field but right at guys. Today, we got a chance to drop some of those in and it was a relief for the guys who were frustrated not getting rewarded."

Larimer wasn't just strong on the mound for Thompson. In the top of the first, he set the tone offensively with a two-out double and later scored on a Clay Odenbach single.

In the second, Thompson pushed the lead to 4-1 with a Schwabe two-run double down the right-field line. Marcus Hughes, who was named Tournament MVP, followed with a run-scoring single.

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Odenbach was 3-for-4 with 4 RBIs to pace Thompson, who also had two doubles from Larimer.

Miller has covered sports at the Grand Forks Herald since 2004 and was the state sportswriter of the year in 2019 and 2022.

His primary beat is UND football but also reports on a variety of UND sports and local preps.

He can be reached at (701) 780-1121, tmiller@gfherald.com or on Twitter at @tommillergf.

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