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A season full of starts and stops had another start on Wednesday night.
That’s when the Ely Junior Legion baseball team returned to the diamond for the first time in in two weeks - and amazingly it was the second two-week layoff of an already abbreviated season.
Owen Marolt dominated on the mound, tossing a complete-game four-hitter with six strikeouts as Ely beat visiting Blackduck 8-2 at Veterans Memorial Field.
Blackduck rebounded to take the five-inning nightcap, but perhaps more important than the results was the opportunity to play for Post 248, which begins playoff action in just over two weeks.
Ely is now 6-4 for the season and has road dates with Taconite (July 16), Chisholm (July 18) and Barnum-Moose Lake-Willow River (July 23) ahead before the playoffs begin at the home ballpark July 28.
While a handful of Junior Legion players see double- duty as members of Ely’s Senior Legion team, the remainder had to shake off some rust as they returned to action Wednesday, some 72 hours after heavy rains wiped out a home date with Chisholm just minutes before the first pitch.
Marolt beaned the first Blackduck hitter he faced but quickly settled in, keeping the Drakes off balance.
Blackduck got on the board in the first inning, but Ely scored the game’s next seven runs.
Senior-to-be Caid Chittum ripped a two-run double to the right-center gap and finished with three hits and three runs batted in.
Drew Johnson sent one deep, doubling to the right field fence and scoring a run, and Marolt doubled and finished with two runs batted in.
In the nightcap, several Ely reserves played but Hunter Halbakken singled and scored a run, while Johnson had two hits.
Johnson made his first pitching appearance of the summer and worked four innings, allowing four hits and striking out two.
Lefty Stig Majerus tossed a scoreless fifth inning, giving up a hit and notching a strikeout.
