Photo taken and used with permission by Joni Smith.
A day after qualifying for the 2019 13/14 State A Teener Tournament, the Dell Rapids 13/14 Teener team captured the Class A 14U Northeast region title on Friday, July 12th in Sisseton.
Dell Rapids played four games in three days in Sisseton during the tournament which started on Wednesday, July 10th after a rainout on Tuesday. Dell Rapids opened the tournament with a 21-0 pounding of Milbank on Wednesday, and then followed that with a 17-1 win over Sisseton later that night. Dell Rapids then punched their ticket to the state tournament with a big win over Volga on Thursday by a score 0f 9-6 which also put them into the region championship game.
Flandreau battled through the loser’s bracket to play against Dell Rapids in the regional championship on Friday. The game was close early as both teams scored two runs in the top of the first inning. The score remained tied 2-2 until the bottom of the fourth inning when Dell Rapids added two more runs for a 4-2 lead. Flandreau cut the lead to 4-3 after scoring a run in the top of the fifth, but Dell Rapids scored three times in the bottom of the fifth, and then added five more runs in the bottom of the six inning to secure the win.
Head coach Nate McKee said, “I was happy with how well we hit the ball all week. The hitting was contagious. Defensively we played great. Everyone knew their roles and played well. We have a lot of confidence after winning regions heading to Madison, but we will work on cleaning up a few things during practice before the start of the state tournament.”
Dell Rapids will look to a strong pitching staff to carry them through the state tournament. The South Dakota Class A 14U VFW State Tournament will be held at Flynn Field in Madison Friday, July 19th through Sunday, July 21st. Dell Rapids’ first game of the tournament will be at 5:30 p.m. against Elk Point-Jefferson on Friday.
Bracket information for the tournament can be found by clicking this link.