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Sales Tax Revenue Continues to Rise in Dell Rapids in 2020

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Dell Rapids reported a 2.1% increase in sales tax revenue through the month of May in 2020 when compared to the same time period in 2019, but the month of June provided an even bigger boost to the City of Dell Rapids.

“We are showing a 9.2% increase total for the year of 2020 compared to six months in as of June 2019.  The months of April, May, and June have all been exceedingly higher than normal,” said City Administrator Justin Weiland at the last Dell Rapids City Council meeting.

The month of June saw almost a 30% increase compared to the month of June in 2019.  Sales tax revenue in the month totaled $124,396.22.  That is the highest collected amount since the months of July and August of 2017.  It was also the third straight month of over $100,000 in collected sales tax and fourth month overall in 2020.

The city has collected just over $55,000 more in the first half of 2020 compared to the first half of 2019.

Mudcats and PBR in Semifinals of District Tournament

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Rickeman Field in Dell Rapids is playing host to the District 4B Amateur baseball tournament.  The tournament started on Friday, July 24th and will concluded on Saturday, August 1st.  All ten teams in the Cornbelt League are participating in the tournament, and seven of those teams will qualify for the 2020 Class B Amateur Baseball Tournament in Mitchell August 5th – 16th.

Dell Rapids PBR and Dell Rapids Mudcats are both currently in a great spot to qualify for this year’s state tournament.

Dell Rapids PBR entered the tournament as the #8 seed after the Cornbelt League regular season.  PBR was in complete control of both of their games.  They opened the tournament against #9 Colman on Friday, July 24th.  PBR cruised to the next round with a 12-3 win.  They then played the #1 seed, Lennox, on Saturday, July 25th.  PBR had no troubles with Lennox with an 8-0 win to make it to the semifinals.

The Dell Rapids Mudcats entered the district tournament as the #3 seed and have only played one game to this point.  The Mudcats played the #6 seed, Madison, also on Saturday, July 25th.  The Mudcats earned a 4-3 walk-off win in the bottom of the ninth to also advance to the semifinals.

Both teams will play on Tuesday, July 28th.  PBR will get the night started at 6:00 p.m. against #5 seed Flandreau, and the Mudcats will follow at 8:00 p.m. against #2 seed Canova.  The winners of these two games will be the first two teams to qualify for the state tournament from District 4B.  Both PBR and the Mudcats need to win one game before losing four to qualify for the state tournament.

Tournament brackets, scores, and program can be found on our website here:  https://bigsiouxmedia.com/cornbelt-league-baseball/

Donald O’Brien

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MSgt. Donald James O’Brien, 75, passed away peacefully on Saturday, July 18, 2020. Of the Catholic faith, he was born in Dell Rapids, South Dakota on April 27, 1945, to the late Robert W. and Cecilia E. O’Brien.

A proud 20-year United States Air Force Veteran, Donald enjoyed serving with the Black Knights at Robins Air Force Base during his military career. He retired in 1984 having attained the rank of Master Sergeant. Subsequent to his retirement, he worked in maintenance for Centerville United Methodist Church until he ultimately decided to retire at the age of 63. Donald’s favorite pastime was going fishing in Bear Creek, where he absolutely loved catching fish, but never ate them. He was “rough around the edges,” but had a great heart and was always there for his family.

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his son, Jerry James O’Brien; and siblings, Jerry O’Brien and Lois Zimmer.

Donald is survived by his loving wife of 44 years, Porntiwa O’Brien; son, Bob John O’Brien (Carrie); stepson, P. Chanthawoharn, eight grandchildren; one great-grandchild; siblings, Vernie Feldhause and Bob O’Brien (Peggy); and his dogs, Squirt and Baby, who both miss him so much.

A memorial service celebrating Donald’s life will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, July 22, 2020, in the chapel of McCullough Funeral Home in GA.

McCullough Funeral Home and Crematory has the privilege of being entrusted with these arrangements. https://www.mcculloughfh.com/

Dell Rapids Legion Wins Fourth in a Row

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Photo taken and used with permission by Tammy Chamley, Dells City Journal

Zeb Schumaker drove in six runs on two doubles to lead Dell Rapids to a 15-5 win over Tea on Monday, July 20th at Rickeman Field in the final regular season game of the season.

Tea starting the game swinging at pitches early in the count.  The strategy worked in the top of the first inning as the first four batters reached putting the ball in play, and three of them scored for an early 3-0 lead.  Dell Rapids took the lead in the bottom of the second inning scoring four times.  Logan Stone had an RBI ground ball, Landon Ruesink had an RBI sacrifice fly. Drew Van Regenmorter was walked with the bases loaded to bring home another run, and Kaeden Eastman added an RBI single.

Tea took the lead again in the top of the fourth inning getting two runs on two outs making the score 5-4.  The Dell Rapids offense came alive from that point in the game.  Dell Rapids scored five runs in the bottom of the fourth on RBI singles by Ruesink and Jake Steineke.  Schumaker hit one of his doubles in the inning driving home three runs to give Dell Rapids a 9-5 lead.  Dell Rapids scored six more times in the bottom of the fifth inning.  Van Regenmorter had an RBI ground ball, Brandon Geraets walked with the bases loaded to score a run, and Schumaker again hit a three-run double.  Schumaker later scored on a wild pitch to end the game on the 10-run rule.

Schumaker had two doubles and six RBIs.  Steineke had two hits and and an RBI.  Noah Swartwout also had two hits.  Ruesink and Van Regenmorter each had a hit and two RBIs, Stone and Eastman both had a hit and an RBI, and Logan Ellingson also had a hit.  Geraets also had an RBI.  Stone pitched all five innings giving up five runs, four earned, on five hits with two walks and nine strikeouts.

Dell Rapids ends their regular season with an 11-8 record.  They will play in the Region 2B tournament starting on Monday, July 27th in Castlewood.  Their first game will be against Castlewood/Clear Lake at 5:00 p.m.

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Dell Rapids Legion Wins Two at Home

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The Dell Rapids Legion team hosted a triangular with Dakota Valley and Pipestone at Rickeman Field on Sunday, July 19th.  Dell Rapids earned a pair of wins after defeating Dakota Valley 4-3 and Pipestone 4-1.

Dell Rapids scored a run in each of the first four innings and held tough defensively for the 4-3 win over Dakota Valley.  Kaeden Eastman drew a bases loaded walk for the first run in the bottom of the first inning.  Logan Ellingson had an RBI double in the second inning to increase the lead to 2-0.  Zeb Schumaker drove an RBI single to center field for the third run of the game in the third inning.  Brandon Geraets added an RBI single in the fourth inning to push the Dell Rapids lead to 4-0. 

Dakota Valley got on the board in the top of the fifth inning after a double to cut the lead to 4-1.  They put together a rally in the top of the sixth.  The first two batters reached by an error, and then a double and single followed to make the score 4-3.  The next three batters were retired as Dell Rapids kept the lead.  Dakota Valley got a lead-off single in the top of the seventh.  A fielder’s choice moved the runner to second with one out.  Drew Van Regenmorter ended the game defensively after snagging a ground ball and getting a tag-out, throw-out double-play.

Geraets, Eastman, Schumaker and Ellingson all had a hit and an RBI in the game.  Brady Larson pitched a complete game giving up three runs, one earned, on six hits and just one walk.

In the final game of the day, Dell Rapids defeated Pipestone by a score of 4-1.  Dell Rapids again scored the first four runs of the game.

Eastman again got the scoring started in the bottom of the first with an RBI single.  Dell Rapids got the next three runs in the bottom of the second inning.  After the first three batters reached, Bryce Sommerfeld hit an RBI sacrifice fly to right field.  Landon Ruesink followed with a two-run double to center to make the score 4-0.  Pipestone scored their lone run in the top of the third on an RBI groundout.  Van Regenmorter ended the second game the same as the first with a tag-out, throw-out double play.

Ruesink had a hit and two RBIs.  Eastman had a hit and an RBI.  Riley Peter and Ellingson had the other two hits in the game for Dell Rapids.  Sommerfeld also had an RBI.  Noah Swartwout earned the win on the mound pitching six innings giving up an earned run on five hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.  Jake Steineke earned the save pitching the final inning walking two and striking out one.

Dell Rapids (10-8) will have their final regular season and final home game of the year on Monday, July 20th when they host Tea.  The seniors will be recognized before the game.  The game will also be webcast on Big Sioux Media.

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Dell Rapids 14U Plays at State Tournament

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The Dell Rapids 14U baseball team played at the South Dakota VFW Class A state tournament in Chamberlain Friday, July 17th through Sunday, July 19th.  Dell Rapids fell in both of their games in the tournament.

Dell Rapids opened the tournament on Friday against Elk Point-Jefferson.  Elk Point-Jefferson used a five-run fifth inning to get an 8-3 victory over Dell Rapids.  Dell Rapids scored first with two runs in the top of the first inning.  They extended their lead to 3-0 after a run in the top of the third inning.  Elk Point-Jefferson got two runs back in the bottom of the fourth to cut the lead to 3-2.  Then they scored five runs in the fifth and got another run in the bottom of the sixth for the win.

Six different players collected hits for Dell Rapids.  Grady Lamer had two hits.  Talan Millage and Quinn Carr each had a hit and an RBI.  Cole Ruesink, Tad Tjaden, and Cooper Frost also had hits.  Ethan Vanderwerf picked up an RBI.  Tjaden pitched four innings giving up four runs, one earned, on seven hits with two strikeouts and three walks.  Lincoln Fersdahl pitched an inning giving up three runs, none of them earned, on two walks and two strikeouts.  Carr pitched one inning giving up an earned run on two hits with two strikeouts.

Dell Rapids then played Madison Gold in the consolation bracket on Saturday.  Madison ended the tournament for Dell Rapids and advanced to the consolation championship with an 11-1 win.  Dell Rapids again scored first in the top of the first inning, but Madison answered with a run in the bottom of the inning for a 1-1 tie.  Madison’s offense then came alive with two runs in the third inning, three in the fourth, four more in the fifth inning, and the final run in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Fersdahl had the only two hits in the game for Dell Rapids.  Carr pitched four innings giving up six runs, five earned, on four  hits with six walks and eight strikeouts.  Ruesink pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up five runs, four earned, on four hits with two walks and two strikeouts.

Assistant Coach Steve Millage said, “The state tournament didn’t turn out how we had hoped, but we were pleased to qualify with such a young group.  We gained a lot of experience playing in the state tournament, and hopefully that helps us in the future.”

Dell Rapids School District Making Plans for In-Person Start to 2020-2021

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The Dell Rapids School District is making plans to start the 2020-2021 school year in person.  The administration has been working on the “Return to Learn” document, and Dell Rapids Superintendent Dr. Summer Schultz said that document is almost complete.

“We have established four tiers knowing that with a virus such as Covid, that this is a fluid situation.  We don’t know where we’ll be from one time to another.  And so we are going in on what we call level two.  We plan for on-site learning.  We expect our kids to be in school.  Now we also know that some students are considered medically fragile, and that’s just not the right environment for them.  We also know that some parents are going to choose to educate their children at home in what we’ll call ‘parallel instruction’, and that’s different than what we went into last spring,” said Dr. Schultz.

Under the level two, when kids are on site, if a parent decides to keep their child at home for “parallel learning”, Dr. Schultz said the parents will be taking on more of the ownership of the distance instruction.  She mentioned that the school is putting in devices, called Swivels, to help connect the home learners with what’s happening in the classroom.

The main areas still being determined are decisions on masks, transportation, and activities. 

“Masks are one of those areas from one school to the next can differ,” Dr. Schultz mentioned. “Masks are something that people have very strong opinions on, so we don’t want masks to be a deterant for someone to attend school or not to attend school,  But we also want to make sure we are providing the safest environment for our staff and for our students.  We are still trying to decide what that looks like when it comes to masks.”

Transportation and activities are the other two big areas that were still trying to be determined.  Dr. Schultz mentioned that keeping kids together in the same age/class group as much as possible throughout the day.  By doing that, the administration team is still trying to determine details of how students may be transported on buses before and after school, details of how before and after school Haven might work, and how students may travel to their different activities or sporting events.

The finalized “Return to Learn” document will be presented to the Dell Rapids Board of Education on Monday, July 27th.  Big Sioux Media will stream that meeting.

The school board has already made one change to the school year.  The first day of school has now been moved to Monday, August 31st with the 27th and 28th being orientation/open house activities for students and parents.

 

Dell Rapids 15/16s Finish Regular Season

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Photo taken and used with permission by Tammy Chamley, Dells City Journal

The Dell Rapids 15/16 Teener team finished their regular season with six games in the last two weeks.  They played three road games the week of July 6th and finished the season with three home games the week of July 13th.

The first road game was played on Monday, July 6th in Humboldt against West Central.  West Central won that game by a score of 4-3.  Dell Rapids scored a run in the top of the fourth inning, but West Central scored three times for a 3-1 lead.  Both teams got a run in the sixth inning and West Central led 4-2 heading into the final inning.  Dell Rapids was able to get one run, but the rally was stopped short of the come back.

Will Jaton had three hits in the game, while Dylan Mathis had two hits.  CJ Smith and Caleb Kittelson both had a hit in the game as well.

The second road game of the week was in Chancellor on Wednesday, July 8th.  Dell Rapids came home with an 8-1 victory over Chancellor.  After the first three innings went scoreless, Dell Rapids scored four times in the top of the fourth inning.  Chancellor scored a run in the bottom of the fifth, but Dell Rapids added a run in the sixth and three more in the seventh on their way to the win.

Mathis had three hits in the game.  Jaton, Smith, and Joe Rechtenbaugh all had two hits each.  Even Nelson, Josh Deknikker, Landon Ruesink, and Kamren Koster all had one hit each.

The final road game of the year came on Friday, July 10th when Dell Rapids traveled to Salem.  Once again Dell Rapids came home with a win, this time a 6-4 victory.  Dell Rapids scored the first three runs and never looked back.  They got a run in the top of the second inning and two more in the top of the fourth inning for a 3-0 lead.  Salem got one run in the bottom of the fourth, but Dell Rapids extended the lead back to three at 4-1 after a run in the top of the sixth.  Salem got a run in the bottom of the sixth, but Dell Rapids put the game out of reach after two more runs in the top of the seventh inning.

Six different Dell Rapids hitters had a hit in the game.  Ruesink, Brayden Pankonen, Jaton, Smith, Deknikker, and Kremer all collected a hit.

Photo taken and used with permission by Tammy Chamley, Dells City Journal

The first of three straight home games on consecutive nights was on Monday, July 13th against the Beresford 15s.  Dell Rapids won their third straight game with an 11-8 win over Beresford.  Beresford scored two in the top of the first, but that was the only lead they would hold.  Dell Rapids scored four times in the bottom of the first, two more in the second, and four more again in the third for a 10-2 lead.  Beresford tallied three runs in the top of fourth and three in the top of the fifth to pull within two at 10-8.  Dell Rapids got their last run in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Dell Rapids belted 15 hits in the game.  Mathis and Ruesink each had three hits apiece.  Pankonen, Jaton, and Nelson all had two hits each.  Kittelson, Rechtenbaugh, and Kremer each finished with a hit.

The second home game of the final week was on Tuesday, July 14th against West Central.  Dell Rapids was able to avenge the loss and win their fourth straight game.  Dell Rapids defeated West Central 7-1.  Dell Rapids scored four runs in the bottom of the first inning and three more in the bottom of the second for an early 7-0 lead.  West Central got their lone run in the top of the sixth inning.

Jaton and Kittelson both had two hits each.  Pankonen, Ruesink, Mathis, Smith, Rechtenbaugh, and Braden Fersdahl all had one hit each.

The final home and regular season game of the year came on Wednesday, July 15th.  Dell Rapids hosted Volga, but Volga ended the win streak by defeating Dell Rapids 8-5.

Dell Rapids will now play in the Region 2A tournament which will be held in Volga on Wednesday, July 22nd through Friday, July  24th.  Dell Rapids will play Madison Black in the first game of the tournament on Wednesday at 1:00 p.m.

PBR Drops Fourth Straight

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Dell Rapids PBR is still in search of their first win since a 6-5 victory against Madison on July 2nd.  After a loss to the Dell Rapids Mudcats on July 5th, PBR has dropped games to Salem, the Renner Bullets, and Lennox.

PBR traveled to Salem and dropped a close one 10-9 on Thursday, July 9th.  Salem scored four times in the bottom of the first inning for a 4-0 lead.  PBR got three runs back in the top of the third only to see Salem score three in the bottom of the inning.  PBR added four runs of their own in the top of the fifth inning, and the game remained tied at 7-7 until the final inning.  PBR scored two runs in the top of the ninth for a 9-7 lead, but Salem score three times with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to steal the victory.

Aaron Hansen, Nate McKee, and Casey Hansen all had two hits.  Riley Hoffman, Tanner Solberg, and Beau Behrend also had hits.  Solberg also had two RBIs.

PBR then hosted the Renner Bullets on Friday, July 10th with Renner earning an 11-4 win.  Renner scored six times in the top of the first inning and never trailed in the game.  PBR score three runs in the bottom of the third to cut the lead in half at 6-3, but Renner outscored PBR 5-1 the rest of the game for the win.

Jake Rechtenbaugh and Clarence Fjellanger both had two hits each.  Hoffman had a hit and RBI, and Behrend, Trey Randel, and Keegan Miller all had a hit in the game.

PBR’s most recent game was a Cornbelt League game at Rickeman Field against Lennox on Tuesday, July 14th.  Lennox exploded for 10 runs in the top of the ninth inning to take a 15-9 victory over PBR.

PBR scored in the bottom of the first when Carter Gullickson scored on a passed ball.  Lennox got two runs in the top of the third inning, but PBR scored for times in the bottom of the inning.  Weston Hansen hit a two-run double and later scored on an RBI ground out by A. Hansen.  Behrend hit an RBI single three batters later, and Dell Rapids PBR led 5-2 after three innings of play.  W. Hansen hit another RBI double in the bottom of the sixth inning to extend the PBR lead to 6-2.  Lennox got a run in the top of the seventh, but PBR responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning after Behrend and Randel scored on wild pitches to extend the lead to 8-3.  Lennox picked up two more runs in the top of the eighth to cut the lead to 8-5, and then put together a 10-run ninth inning to take a 15-8 lead.  W. Hansen notched another RBI in the bottom of the ninth inning.

W. Hansen had two hits and four RBIs in the game.   Carter Gullickson finished with three hits in the game.  Matt Gillogly and Randel both had two hits each.  Behrend had a hit and and RBI, and Solberg also had a hit.

PBR (6-8) will travel to Humboldt to play the Humboldt/Hartford Gamecocks on Thursday, July 16th.

Dell Rapids Legion Evens Record with Win in Humboldt

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The Dell Rapids legion team evened their season record after a win in Humboldt over Humboldt/Hartford on Monday, July 13th.  Dell Rapids came home with a one-run victory of 7-6.

Dell Rapids scored first after an RBI single by Ty Wood in the top of the second inning for an early 1-0 lead.  Humboldt/Hartford tied the game in the bottom of the inning after scoring on an error to make the game 1-1 after two innings.

Dell Rapids then scored the next six runs.  They picked up two runs in the top of the fourth on a two-run single by Zeb Schumaker.  Three more runs came home in the top of the fifth inning.  Logan Stone scored on a wild pitch, Kaeden Eastman hit an RBI single, and Schumaker drove home the third run on a bases-loaded walk.  Dell Rapids got another run in the top of the sixth on an RBI sacrifice fly by Brandon Geraets to lead 7-1 heading to the bottom of the sixth inning.  Humboldt/Hartford made a run scoring three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to cut the lead to 7-4.  Humboldt/Hartford got two more runs in the bottom of the seventh, but Stone was able to close the door to hold on for the win.

Stone, Jake Steineke, Drew Van Regenmorter, and Eastman all had two hits in the game.  Eastman also had an RBI.  Schumaker finished with a hit and three RBIs.  Wood also had a hit with an RBI.  Stone pitched all seven innings to earn the win.  He gave up six runs, but none of them earned, on five hits with two walks and three strikeouts.

Dell Rapids (8-8) will host Dakota Valley and Pipestone, MN on Sunday, July 19th.

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