Dell Rapids 16U won both games of a double-header against Tea Gold at Volunteer Field on Thursday, July 8th. Dell Rapids won the first game 6-3 and took the second game 9-4.
Dell Rapids scored first in the bottom of the first inning when Braden Fersdahl scored on an error for an early 1-0 lead. Tea tied the game in the top of the second, but Dell Rapids added two more runs in the bottom of the inning. John Mortrude brought home two runs with a single to left field for a 3-1 advantage. Tea again tied the game in the top of the third inning with two runs. Dell Rapids scored the final three runs of the game in the bottom of the third when Brayden Pankonen and Will Jaton scored on a fielder’s choice. Joe Rechtenbaugh brought home the final run on a single to left field.
Mortrude had a hit and two RBIs. CJ Smith had a double and two RBIs. Rechtenbaugh had a single and an RBI. Fersdahl and Pankonen also had singles in the game. Rechtenbaugh pitched three innings allowing three earned runs on three hits with eight walks and a strikeout. Smith pitched two innings giving up a hit and striking out one.
Dell Rapids trailed early in game number two. They scored the first run in the top of the first on an RBI single by Dylan Mathis. Tea, however, scored three times in the bottom of the first for a 3-1 lead. Dell Rapids took control in the top of the third scoring six times. Mathis had an RBI ground ball, Aiden Boechler scored on a passed ball, Mortrude drew a bases-loaded walk, Evan Nelson drove home two with a single, and Mortrude stole home to give Dell Rapids a 7-3 lead. Dell Rapids added to the lead in the top of the fourth. Jaton had an RBI double, and Smith added an RBI single for a 9-3 advantage. Tea got their final run in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Mathis and Nelson both had a single and two RBIs. Jaton had a double and an RBI. Smith had a hit and an RBI. Micah Pickard and Boechler both had one hit. Mortrude had an RBI. Sutton Williams pitched all five innings allowing four runs, none of them earned, on five hits with 10 strikeouts.