The West Central 16U teener team placed second in the 2021 I-29 League Tournament finishing 3-1 in their four games from Friday, June 11th to Sunday, June 13th.
West Central cruised to an easy 18-1 win over the Tea Bolts in their Friday game. West Central scored in every inning of the game and held Tea to no hits in the game.
Owen Heath had a home run and three RBIs. Duece Sherard had a triple. Justin Zirpel had two hits, one triple, and an RBI. Dalton Mulder had two hits, including a double, with three RBIs. Dylan Stromer had a double and two RBIs. Gage Nelson had a hit and an RBI. Cade Vander Woude and Mason Berens both had an RBI. Heath pitched four innings allowing one unearned run on no hits with two walks and three strikeouts.
West Central gave up two runs to Baltic in the top of the first inning, but scored four of their own in the bottom of the inning on their way to a 5-3 win over Baltic in their first game on Saturday. Both teams scored a run in the fifth inning.
Stromer and Camden McDonald both had a hit and an RBI. Sherard, Gage Nelson, Zirpel, Mulder, and Vander Woude all had singles. Derek Renken pitched 2/3 of an inning allowing two earned runs on a hit with four walks. Andrew Zimmer pitched 3 2/3 innings allowing one unearned run on a hit with five strikeouts. Vander Woude pitched 1 2/3 innings allowing just two hits with a strikeout.
West Central had a come-from-behind win over Parker in the second game on Saturday. West Central scored two runs in the top of the first, but Parker got a run in the bottom of the inning. West Central got one more run in the top of the second, however, Parker scored six times in the bottom of the second for a 7-3 lead. West Central responded with four runs in the fourth, one in the fifth, and two more in the sixth to take a 10-7 lead. Parker only got one run in the sixth, and West Central got the 10-8 win.
Zirpel had three hits, one of them a home run and one a double, with two RBIs. Sherard had three hits, one double, with an RBI. Nelson had two doubles and three RBIs. Mulder had two hits and one RBI. McDonald and Renken each had a double and RBI. Vander Woude and Zimmer also each had a double. Stromer also collected a hit. Mulder pitched 3 2/3 innings allowing seven runs, none of them earned, on four hits with three walks and seven strikeouts. Zimmer pitched 2 1/3 innings allowing an unearned run on a hit with three strikeouts.
In the championship game on Sunday, West Central had a late rally against Dell Rapids, but fell 12-9. Dell Rapids led 4-2 after two innings of play and then scored seven straight to lead 11-2 heading into the bottom of the fifth. West Central scored two in the bottom of the innings to cut the lead to 11-4. Each team scored a run in the fifth inning for a 12-5 score. West Central scored four times before having an out recorded, but Dell Rapids was able to stop the rally for the win.
Zirpel had a triple and an RBI. Nelson also had a triple. McDonald had three hits and two RBIs. Vander Woude had two hits and an RBI. Stromer finished with two hits. Nelson and Zimmer both had a single. Zirpel pitched three innings allowing four runs, two earned, on two hits with six walks and a strikeout. Renken pitched 2 1/3 innings allowing seven runs, only two earned, on six hits with two walks and two strikeouts. Vander Woude pitched 1 2/3 innings allowed an earned run on four hits with two strikeouts.