The West Central 16U baseball team finished 1-2 at the 2022 South Dakota VFW Class A State Tournament and finished fourth.  The tournament was hosted by Dakota Valley in North Sioux City Friday, August 5th through Sunday, August 7th.

West Central 10, Flandreau 0

West Central earned a shutout win over Flandreau in the opening round of the tournament on Friday.  After a scoreless first inning, West Central got on the board in the bottom of the second.  Cain Grocott had an RBI groundout for a 1-0 lead.

The big inning game in the bottom of the third.  Jesse Jost had an RBI single.  Landen Holewa followed with an RBI bunt single, and then Hayes Cain scored on an error to make the score 4-0.  Holewa later scored on a passed ball, and Grocott had an RBI single for a 6-0 lead.  West Central then scored four more times in the bottom of the sixth.  Holewa had a bases loaded walk, Will Nester had an RBI single, and Jost and Holewa scored on wild pitches to end the game on the 10-run rule.

Jost had two hits and an RBI.  Holewa finished with a hit and three RBIs.  Grocott had a hit and two RBIs.  Nester added a single and RBI.  Keaton Vessells, Maison Schuldt, Jack Sebert, and Jonathan Murray all had singles as well.  Sebert pitched four innings and allowed two hits with four strikeouts.  Cade Vanderwoude pitched two innings and allowed a walk with three strikeouts.

Tea 10, West Central 1

Tea got all 10 of their runs before West Central could score in the semi-final round on Saturday.  The first run came in the top of the second, and Tea led 1-0 after three innings of play.  They then had a five-run fourth inning.  Tea got two more runs in the sixth and seventh innings.

West Central’s lone run came in the bottom of the seventh inning on an RBI single by Jost.

Jost had two of the five hits and also an RBI.  Sebert, Carter Evans, and Karson Vessells all had a single.  Ke. Vessells pitched 3 2/3 innings and allowed six runs, five earned, on five hits and four walks with eight strikeouts.  Cyrus Maras pitched 2 2/3 innings and allowed four earned runs on four hits and a walk with two strikeouts.  Alex Siemonsma pitched 2/3 of an inning.

Dell Rapids 11, West Central 3

Dell Rapids scored three runs in the top of the first inning for an early 3-0 lead in the third/fourth place game on Sunday.  They added another run in the top of the third.  West Central cut the lead in half with two runs in the bottom of the fourth.  Nester scored on a wild pitch, and Schuldt had an RBI sacrifice to the pitcher for a 4-2 score.

After Dell Rapids scored one run in the top of the fifth, they delivered the big blow in the top of the sixth.  Dell Rapids scored six times to push the lead to 11-2.  Jost scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh for West Central’s final run of the tournament.

Nester finished with two of the team’s four hits.  Schuldt had a single and an RBI, and Ke. Vessells had a single.  Schuldt pitched 2 1/3 innings and allowed four hits, three earned, on five hits and three walks with two strikeouts.  Holewa pitched 3 1/3 innings and allowed seven runs, all unearned, on five hits and two walks with five strikeouts.  Sebert pitched 1 1/3 innings and allowed two hits with two strikeouts.

The West Central 16U baseball team claimed the Region 3A title with a 5-1 win over Dell Rapids on Wednesday, July 27th in Humboldt. 

West Central broke a 0-0 tie with three runs in the bottom of the third inning.  Landen Holewa had an RBI single, and Will Nester followed with a two run single for a 3-0 lead.  After Dell Rapids scored one run in the top of the fifth, West Central added two more in the bottom of the inning.  Holewa reached on an error that scored Jesse Jost, and Nester added another RBI with a single.

Keaton Vessells kept the Dell Rapids hitters baffled all night.  He allowed one earned run on no hits and four walks while recording 11 strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings.  Nester pitched 1/3 of an inning and allowed two hits.

Nester finished with two hits and three RBIs in the game.  Holewa had a single and two RBIs. Cain Grocott finished with two hits.  Ke. Vessells, Carter Evans, Jonathan Murray, and Karson Vessells all had a single in the game.

West Central will play Flandreau in the first game of the 2022 South Dakota VFW Class A 16U State Tournament on Friday, August 5th at 12:00 p.m.  The tournament is being hosted by Dakota Valley in North Sioux City.

West Central erased a 6-0 deficit to get a 7-6 extra inning win over Dell Rapids in the Region 3A tournament on Tuesday, July 25th.  Because there are only four regions, the top two teams from Region 3A will qualify for the state tournament.  West Central advancing to the championship game means a state tournament spot.

Dell Rapids built a 6-0 lead in the first three and a half innings.  They scored three runs in the top of the second, two in the top of the third, and one more in the top of the fourth.  West Central started their comeback in the bottom of the fourth with two runs.  Keaton Vessells had an RBI double and then scored on an RBI ground ball by Maison Schuldt.

West Central continued the rally in the fifth inning.  Jesse Jost had an RBI single, and Vessells was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to cut the lead to 6-4.  Jost had another RBI single in the bottom of the sixth to make it a 6-5 game.  Carter Evans brought home Schuldt to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh, but Cain Grocott was thrown out at home to keep the game tied and force extra innings.

Neither team scored in the eighth inning.  Dell Rapids got a one-out single in the top of the ninth, but was unable to advance the runner any further.  Landen Holewa was hit by a pitch to start the bottom of the ninth.  He advanced to second on a wild pitch, and then moved to third on a single by Alex Siemonsma.  Vessells delivered the game-winning, walk-off single to center field.

Evans had three hits and an RBI.  Vessells had two hits, one a double, and three RBIs.  Jost also had two hits and two RBIs.  Schuldt added a single and an RBI.  Will Nester, Siemonsma, and Grocott all had a hit.

Cade Vanderwoude pitched three innings and allowed five runs, four earned, on seven hits with one strikeout.  Cyrus Maras pitched four innings and allowed an earned run on four hits with two strikeouts.  Jack Sebert pitched two innings and allowed one hit and one walk with two strikeouts.

West Central had a four-run sixth inning rally to earn a 7-3 win over Tri-Valley at the Region 3A tournament in Humboldt on Monday, July 25th.  The four-run rally broke a 3-3 tie.

After three innings of scoreless baseball, West Central scored three times in the bottom of the fourth.  Landen Holewa scored the first run on a wild pitch.  Will Nester then scored on an error by the catcher.  Bubba Kono scored the third run on an error for a 3-0 lead.  Tri-Valley would get a run in the top of the fifth inning and then tied the game with two runs in the top of the sixth.

West Central’s first four batters reached in the inning to spark their rally.  Cain Grocott had an RBI single.  Jonathan Murry was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.  Jesse Jost was walked with the bases loaded, and Holewa was also hit by a pitch with the bases loaded for the fourth run.

Holewa had two hits and an RBi.  Grocott had a single and an RBi.  Keaton Vessells added a double.  Maison Schuldt pitched 5 2/3 innings and allowed two runs, one earned, on five hits and two walks with six strikeouts.  Jack Sebert pitched 1 1/3 innings and allowed an unearned run on a hit and walk with two strikeouts.