West Central 16U and Dell Rapids 16U got locked into a pitcher’s duel in Dell Rapids on Friday, July 14th. The two offenses only combined for five hits in the game. The pitching staffs also combined for only three walks and 18 total strikeouts. Dell Rapids was able to take advantage of two errors in the bottom of the seventh to get a 1-0 win and remain undefeated on the season.
Each team had one big threat in the game prior to the seventh inning. Dell Rapids had a runner get to third base with two outs in the top of the first, but West Central got a fly ball out to end the threat. West Central nearly broke the 0-0 tie in the top of the sixth, but they a had a runner tagged out at the plate to end the inning.
After the first batter was retired in the bottom of the seventh, Brandon Schmidt reached first and then advanced to second on an error. Matt Nelson bunted to try to move Schmidt to third. On the play, West central committed another error that allowed Nelson to reach safely and allow Schmidt to score the winning run.
Talan Millage had the only two hits for Dell Rapids. Logan Donovan, Carson Maeschen, and Schmidt all drew one walk each. Lincoln Fersdahl pitched all seven innings and allowed just four hits and recorded nine strikeouts.
