The West Central 14U baseball team is one win away from earning a trip to the 2023 South Dakota VFW State A Tournament. They opened Region 4A play with a 5-4 win over Wagner on Monday, July 10th. They followed that with an 8-2 victory over Tri-Valley Maroon in the semifinals on Tuesday, July 11th.
Tri-Valley scored the first two runs of the game in the top of the first inning, but their offense was held in check the rest of the game. West Central went ahead, 4-2, with a four-run bottom of the third. They increased the lead with two runs in the bottom of the fourth. Their final two runs came in the bottom of the sixth.
Karson Vessells had three hits, including a double, and three RBIs. JT Steckley had two hits and three RBIs. Dylan Bettcher and Karson Olson each tallied a single. Langdon Klinkhammer added an RBI. Alex Siemonsma pitched two innings and allowed two runs, one earned, on four hits with three strikeouts. Steckley pitched 4 1/3 innings and allowed three hits and four walks with 10 strikeouts. Bettcher threw 2/3 of an inning and walked two batters while striking out one.
