Photo taken and used with permission by Tanya Schmidt
The Dell Rapids 14U baseball team finished their season with a sixth place finish at the 2021 South Dakota Class A State tournament in Vermillion Friday, July 23rd through Sunday, July 25th.
Dell Rapids played the host team Vermillion in the opening round on Friday. Vermillion scored two runs in the top of the first, but Dell Rapids answered with two in the bottom of the inning for a 2-2 tie. The score remained 2-2 until the bottom of the fifth inning. Dell Rapids then scored four times and added one more in the bottom of the sixth for a 7-2 lead heading into the top of the seventh inning. Vermillion found their offense in top of the seventh getting six runs on seven hits to take they lead. They held Dell Rapids scoreless in the bottom of the inning and got the 8-7 come-from-behind win.
Dell Rapids then played Spearfish on Saturday and squeaked out a 4-2 win to advance to the consolation championship. Spearfish scored in the bottom of the first inning, but Dell Rapids got two in the top of the second for a 2-1 lead. Dell Rapids got two more runs in the top of the fifth, and Spearfish scored one in the same inning to make the score 4-2. Spearfish had the tying runs on third and second base with one out in the bottom of the seventh, but a line drive out and double-up on second for the third out ended the game to give Dell Rapids the win.
In the consolation championship on Sunday, Dell Rapids faced Madison Gold. Despite having an early lead, Dell Rapids fell to Madison by a score of 9-5. Dell Rapids scored three times in the top of the first inning, and Madison got two back in the bottom of the first. Dell Rapids added another run in the top of the second to lead 4-2, but Madison picked up five runs in the bottom of the second inning to take the lead for good. Dell Rapids scored one in the top of the third with Madison scoring two in the bottom of the inning for the 9-5 lead. Neither team scored in the final four innings of the game.
Cole Ruesink had six hits, with one double, during the state tournament games. Lincoln Fersdahl had four hits, one double, with three RBIs. Cooper Frost had three hits, two of them doubles, and four RBIs. Quinn Carr had two hits, with one double, and two RBIs. Grady Lamer and Talan Millage both finished with two hits. Tad Tjaden had a double and two RBIs. Kenny Swanson had a hit and one RBI.
Carr pitched 4 1/3 innings during the tournament allowing two runs, one earned, on two hits with four walks and 11 strikeouts. Fersdahl pitched four innings allowing no runs on three hits with four walks and four strikeouts. Tjaden pitched four innings and allowed two runs, one earned, on three hits with six walks and four strikeouts. Frost pitched three innings and allowed nine runs, but just two earned, on three hits with four walks and two strikeouts. Ruesink pitched 2 1/3 innings allowing three hits with a walk and three strikeouts. Millage pitched 2 1/3 innings giving up six runs, two earned, on seven hits, with one strikeout.
Dell Rapids finished with an overall record of 24-6 on the season.