Dell Rapids Youth Baseball Archives - Big Sioux Media Sports Network

Dell Rapids Youth Baseball has Champion and 4th Place Team at State

July 17, 2019 by Matt Larson, Big Sioux Media

The Dell Rapids youth baseball program had a champion and a fourth place team at state tournaments held Friday, July 12th through Sunday, July 14th. The Dell Rapids 12U team won their tournament held in Webster, SD. The 10U team had a fourth place finish at their state tournament also held in Webster.

Photo submitted by Todd Carr

The 12U team began pool play on Friday with a win over Flandreau 14-2. They followed that with a 10-1 over Lennox on Saturday. Those two wins gave Dell Rapids the number one seed in the championship bracket on Sunday. Dell Rapids started their day on Sunday with a win over Webster by a score of 13-0. After a lightening strike and a two and a half hour rain delay, Dell Rapids defeated Winner 13-5 in the championship game.

Photo submitted by Kurt Peppel

The 10U team opened their tournament on Friday with two wins. They defeated Worthing 10-0 and then beat Flandreau 11-0. Dell Rapids received a bye in the first round of the championship bracket as the #1 seed via a coinflip with West Central, which gave Dell Rapids the day off on Saturday. Dell Rapids fell to Lennox 9-4 in the semifinals on Sunday, and then lost to Flandreau 10-8 in the third place game.

Inspiration on the Infield

June 7, 2019 by Matt Larson, Big Sioux Media

Photo taken and used with permission by Shane Gerlach

Inspirational, courageous, heroic….these are just some of the words that describe Derek Gerlach.

Derek has been fighting against a cancerous brain tumor which was diagnosed in November. Since that day Derek has been fighting with a strength that can only be described as super human.

All of that strength and fight has led to some recent big wins. Derek was able to participate in a couple of baseball practice drills in May with his team. A recent MRI scan came back clean. And on Wednesday, June 5th, Derek inspired everyone by playing in his first baseball game of the season.

With leg braces in place, ball pants and jersey just right, Derek stepped out onto the field and played first base. He was able to be a part of three plays that night and step into the batters box for an at-bat.

Photo taken and used with permission by Shane Gerlach

The fight continues for Derek with more rounds of chemotherapy to keep the MRI results coming back clean, but for one evening, Derek was a normal 11-year-old boy playing the sport he loves. That night he showed us it’s not about always making the play or getting the big hit, but it’s the attitude, determination, courage, and fight you bring to what you do. On this night on the baseball field, Derek certainly inspired his teammates, coaches, and parents to always keep fighting.

To help support Derek’s fight, donations can be made to his Go Fund Me page found here, https://www.gofundme.com/help-derek-fight/.

Dell Rapids Youth Baseball Season Comes to End

July 8, 2018 by Matt Larson, Big Sioux Media

The Dell Rapids 10U and 12U baseball teams had their league season come to an end in the MinnDak “End of the Year” tournaments on Friday, July 6th through Sunday, July 8th. Six 10U teams and four 12U teams competed in this year’s tournaments held in Baltic, Garretson, Hills, MN, and Beaver Creek, MN.

A few of the local teams finished first or second in their respective tournaments. Dell Rapids Local Best took first place in the 12U Silver tournament. Dell Rapids County Fair placed second in the 12U Gold tournament, Dell Rapids T&C placed second in the 10U Silver tournament, and Dell Rapids ERC also placed second in the 10U Bronze division.

Dell Rapids Troys played in the 12U Gold tournament. Dell Rapids Jody’s Collision played in the 12U Silver tournament. Dell Rapids Minnehaha Funeral Home and Dell Rapids Nursing & Rehab Center played in the 10U Silver tournament. Dell Rapids Landmark and Dell Rapids 5Nines also played in the 10U Bronze tournament.

The MinnDak League is made up of teams from Baltic, Crooks/Colton, Dell Rapids, Flandreau, Garretson, Humboldt/Hartford, Hills/Beaver Creek, MN, and Sioux Falls. The teams compete in a 12-game regular season from mid May until the end of June. Teams are then split evenly into three different levels of tournaments. In 2018 there were a total of 17 teams that played in the 12U division and 25 teams that played in the 10U division.

Dell Rapids 10U Baseball Wins State Tournament

July 17, 2017 by Matt Larson, Big Sioux Media

A Dell Rapids 10U travel baseball team won the the South Dakota State VFW 10U Class A State tournament held in Humboldt July 14th – 16th. The team went undefeated throughout the weekend tournament.

Dell Rapids played two games on Friday, July 14th, to start the tournament. They defeated Tea 11-2, and then they beat Winner by a score of 18-1. Lennox was their next opponent on Saturday, July 15th. Dell Rapids earned an 11-8 victory to give them a 3-0 record heading into the semifinals. In the semifinal round held Sunday, July 16th, Dell Rapids beat West Central 10-0 to advance to the championship game. Dell Rapids then defeated Madison 14-4 to bring home the title.

Five pitchers shared the mound for Dell Rapids over the weekend. Lincoln Fersdahl pitched a total of 10 innings giving up just four runs with 17 strikeouts. Quinn Carr pitched five innings allowing five runs while having nine strikeouts. Cooper Frost pitched three innings giving up four runs while striking out eight batters. Talan Millage finished with 3 2/3 innings giving up one run and having four strikeouts. Cole Ruesink pitched 1 1/3 innings of scoreless baseball while striking out three batters.

The team had a .600 batting average for the entire tournament. Millage led the team going 11-14 with 11 runs scored. Brandon Nyman was 12-16 with six runs scored. Fersdahl finished 11-15 while scoring 12 runs. Carr was also 11-15, one of those hits a home run, with five runs scored. Frost was 10-16, and he also had a home run and scored seven times. Grady Lamer was 10-17 with seven runs scored. Ruesink finished 7-14 with eight runs scored. Ethan Vanderwerf had five hits with three runs. Carson Crosby had four hits, and Matthew Nelson collected three hits in the tournament.

Front, left to right: Talan Millage, Carson Crosby, Cooper Frost, Grady Lamer, Cole Ruesink
Back, left to right: Quinn Carr, Lincoln Fersdahl, Ethan Vanderwerf, Matthew Nelson, Brandon Nyman, Lane Weiland
Not Pictured: Joshua Fletcher and Braden Gruis
Coaches: Todd Carr, Steve Millage, Mark Vanderwerf

Dell Rapids Youth Baseball Places Well in MinnDak Tourneys

July 9, 2017 by Matt Larson, Big Sioux Media

Four of nine Dell Rapids teams took home first or second place in the 2017 MinnDak “End-of-the-Year” tournaments Friday, July 7th, through Sunday, July 9th. The Midget tournament was held in Humboldt, and the Pee Wee tournament was held in Colton.

Dell Rapids had three Pee Wee teams play in the Gold Bracket and three teams play in the Bronze Bracket. Dell Rapids T&C and Dell Rapids ERC competed in a very exciting back-and-forth championship game in Colton. The game ended with T&C taking first place and ERC finishing second. The Dells Nursing and Rehab Center team placed first in the Bronze Bracket also in Colton.

Dell Rapids youth baseball had one Midget team play in the Gold Bracket and two teams play in the Silver Bracket. Dell Rapids Jody’s Collision played their way to a second place finish in Humboldt.

Dell Rapids had three teams play in Midgets (ages 11-12), six teams play in Pee Wees (ages 9-10), four teams in the Transition League (ages 7-8), and five teams play in Coach Pitch (ages 6&U) in the 2017 baseball season. The MinnDak League consists of teams from Baltic, Crooks/Colton, Dell Rapids, Flandreau, Garretson, Hills/Beaver Creek, and Humboldt.

Dell Rapids NSS Takes 2nd at 12U State

July 21, 2014 by Matt Larson, Big Sioux Media

Photo courtesy of Stone Photography

The Dell Rapids NSS 12U team finished second at the 2014 12U VFW State Tournament held in Humboldt Friday, July 18th, through Sunday, July 20th. The tournament had 16 teams from Dell Rapids, Humboldt, Madison, Tea, Vermillion, Volga, Chamberlain, Custer, Groton, Milbank, Lennox, Parkston, and Elk Point-Jefferson. The teams were put into four pools of four teams each. The winner of each pool played for the championship on Sunday.

Dell Rapids NSS won all three of their pool-play games. They defeated West Central 11s by a score of 11-6, Milbank 9-8, and Lennox 12-0 to advance to the championship round on Sunday.

Photo courtesy of Stone Photography

In the semi-final round, Dell Rapids NSS defeated Tea by a score of 6-2. In their fifth game of the tournament, Dell Rapids NSS fell to the Madison 12s by a score of 7-0 in the championship game, for a second place finish.

Photo courtesy of Stone Photography

The Dell Rapids Devils 11U team also participated in the state tournament, playing hard-fought games against Tea, Volga and Chamberlain.

Photo courtesy of Stone Photography

Dell Rapids Youth Baseball Teams Play in Yankton

May 12, 2014 by Matt Larson, Big Sioux Media

Photo submitted by Kiley Stone

Three youth baseball teams played in Yankton on Saturday, May 10th, and Sunday, May 11th.

The 10U team ended their tournament on Saturday winning two of three games. They won their first game against Hinton, Iowa 12-6. They followed that with a win over the Yankton Hurricanes 12-0. In their final game, they lost to Flandreau 9-7.

Photo submitted by Kiley Stone

The Dell Rapids Devils played in the 11U bracket on Saturday. In their first game against the Dakota Thunder, the Devils fell behind 10-0 before rallying. Time ran out for the Devils as they fell 12-9. In the second game, the Devils fell to the Crooks Stangs 11-6. The Devils ended their day with a loss to the Yankton Bucks 14-2.

Photo submitted by Kiley Stone

The Dell Rapids NSS team played in the 12U bracket on Sunday. They lost their first game to the Yankton Twins 4-1. NSS won their second game against Parkston 5-3. Dell Rapids dropped their third game of the day to West Central 5-4.