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Winning the first three games of the 2025 South Dakota American Legion State B Tournament in Milbank put the Dell Rapids Phils in the driver’s seat going into the final days of the tournament.\u00a0 Regardless of the outcome in Monday’s (Aug 4th) game, Dell Rapids was going to be in the championship game.\u00a0 That advantage helped them to claim their second legion title in three years as they defeated Parkston 11-0 on Tuesday, August 5th.<\/p>\n
On Monday, August 4th, Dell Rapids faced a Dakota Valley team that needed a win to stay in the tournament.\u00a0 Dakota Valley used that drive to help them to a 14-8 win to advance to the final day.\u00a0 Each team scored a run in the first inning.\u00a0 Dakota Valley then scored four times in the top of the second.\u00a0 Dell Rapids responded with three runs to make the score 5-4 after two innings of play.\u00a0 Dakota Valley, however, continued to rally.\u00a0 They added two runs in the third and then had a big six-run fourth inning to make the score 13-4.\u00a0 The Phils scored one time in the bottom of the fifth.\u00a0 Dakota Valley got another run in the top of the sixth.\u00a0 Dell Rapids put three more runs on the board in the bottom of the sixth to make the score 14-8, but that was not enough.<\/p>\n
Cole Ruesink had three hits, including a home run, and three RBIs.\u00a0 Jake Heinitz had two hits.\u00a0 Drake Eastman added a double and two RBIs.\u00a0 Connor Hanson had a single with an RBI.\u00a0 Jackson Peppel and Lincoln Fersdahl each had one hit.<\/p>\n
The win for Dakota Valley matched them against Parkston in the first game of the day on Tuesday, August 5th, with the winner advancing to the championship game against Dell Rapids.\u00a0 Parkston squeaked out a 1-0 win to advance to the title game.<\/p>\n
With their ace back on the mound for the title game, Dell Rapids played with all the confidence in the world.\u00a0 After Tad Tjaden set Parkston down in order in the top of the first inning, the offense got to work.\u00a0 Hanson had a two-out, RBI single to give Dell Rapids the lead.\u00a0 Hanson later scored on a passed ball to make the score 2-0.\u00a0 Eastman delivered a three-run double in the bottom of the second to extend the lead to 5-0.<\/p>\n
After loading the bases with no outs in the bottom of the third, Kenny Swason, Ruesink, Eastman, and Tjaden all drew bases-loaded walks, all one after the other, to make the score 9-0.\u00a0 Hanson had an RBI fielder’s choice ground ball, and Peppel added a sacrifice fly to run the score to 11-0.\u00a0 \u00a0Tjaden continued to shut down Parkston, and the game ended on the 10-run rule in the fifth inning.<\/p>\n
Gauge Bunkers finished with two hits.\u00a0 Eastman had a double with four RBIs.\u00a0 Hanson had a single with two RBIs.\u00a0 Ruesink had a hit with an RBI.\u00a0 Fersdahl also ended with a hit.\u00a0 Tjaden, Peppel, and Swanson all had one RBI each.\u00a0 Tjaden pitched all five innings and allowed two hits with no walks and recorded 11 strikeouts.<\/p>\n
Tjaden was named the MVP of the tournament, and Dell Rapids also won the Sportsmanship Award for the tournament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Winning the first three games of the 2025 South Dakota American Legion State B Tournament in Milbank put the Dell Rapids Phils in the driver’s seat going into the final days of the tournament.\u00a0 Regardless of the outcome in Monday’s (Aug 4th) game, Dell Rapids was going to be in the championship game.\u00a0 That advantage […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1361,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[140],"tags":[144,41],"class_list":["post-4042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legion-baseball","tag-dell-rapids-legion-baseball","tag-featured"],"yoast_head":"\n