The 2012 South Dakota State B Amateur Baseball Tournament field has been set. The tournament will be played in Mitchell at Cadwell Park starting Wednesday, August 1st and wrapping up on Sunday, August 12th. Seven Cornbelt League teams qualified for the state tournament this year, but a familiar team will not be in the tournament for the first time in 26 years. Dell Rapids PBR was disqualified from the District 4B Tournament on Saturday due to the use of a legion pick-up player from Colton during their game against Salem.
Dell Rapids PBR manager Jay Bentz appealed the decision in a special league meeting held Sunday evening in Humboldt, but the decision was upheld.
The Dell Rapids Mudcats will represent the league as the District 4B Champions. They defeated Canova in the championship game 13-2 Saturday evening. Jesse Kuretnbach led the Mudcats with four hits, including a double and three RBI. Travis Peters had three hits with an RBI and Matt Wilber had two hits with three RBI. Nate Henry, Mark Hauck, Gregg Hilmoe and Aaron Johnson all had two hits in the game as well. Johnson took the victory on the mound for the Mudcats.
The seven teams representing the Cornbelt League this year are District Champion Dell Rapids Mudcats, Canova, Madison, Colman, Harrisburg, Salem, and Lennox.
A complete schedule of the state tournament can be found at https://bigsiouxmedia.com/cornbelt-league-scoresstandings/.
*Additional reporting by Matt Hendrickson, KJAM Radio