The Dell Rapids Legion baseball team had their final two regular season games at Colton on Friday, July 16th. Dell Rapids split the two games with Colton. Colton won the first game 4-3, but Dell Rapids took the second game 7-4.
Noah Swartwout put Dell Rapids on the board in the top of the first inning in game number one by scoring on an error. The score remained 1-0 until the top of the fifth inning. Swartwout had an RBI ground out to score Ashaun Roach-Valandra to give Dell Rapids a 2-0 lead. Colton got one run back in the bottom of the sixth inning, and then tied the game in the bottom of the seventh with two outs to force extra innings. Brady Larson drove home a run in the top of the 10th inning for Dell Rapids on an RBI single to left field, but Colton scored two times in the bottom of the 10th to take the win.
Larson had two hits and an RBI. Roach-Valandra also had two hits. Swartwout had a triple and an RBI. Riley Peter added a double. Landon Ruesink, Bryce Sommerfeld, and Connor Libis all had a single in the game. Ruesink pitched 5 2/3 innings allowing an earned run on two hits with three walks and eight strikeouts. Larson pitched 1/3 of an inning allowing a run on a hit. Caleb Kittleson pitched 3 2/3 innings allowing two runs on three hits with a walk and four strikeouts.
In the five-inning second game, Colton scored first in the bottom of the first inning. Dell Rapids tied the game in top of the second inning on an RBI single by Sommerfeld. The scored was 1-1 after three innings of play. Dell Rapids then scored four times in the top of the fourth inning. Libis had an RBI double. Riley Peter scored on a wild pitch, and then Swartwout had a two-run single to give Dell Rapids a 5-1 lead. Dell Rapids added two more in the top of the fifth. Both Libis and Roach-Valandra scored on wild pitches to push the lead to 7-1. Colton put together a rally scoring three times in the bottom of the fifth, but Dell Rapids was able to stop the rally to secure the win.
Swartwout had a hit and two RBIs in the second game. Libis had a double and an RBI. Sommerfeld had a single and an RBI. Ruesink and Kittleson also had singles in the game. Andrew Van Dam pitched five innings allowing four runs, one earned, on six hits with seven strikeouts.
Dell Rapids will now play in a regional tournament Monday, July 19th through Thursday, July 22nd in Flandreau. Dell Rapids will play Flandreau on Monday at 6:00 p.m.