West Central 16U and Dell Rapids 16U got locked into a pitcher’s duel in Dell Rapids on Friday, July 14th. The two offenses only combined for five hits in the game. The pitching staffs also combined for only three walks and 18 total strikeouts. Dell Rapids was able to take advantage of two errors in the bottom of the seventh to get a 1-0 win.
Each team had one big threat in the game prior to the seventh inning. Dell Rapids had a runner get to third base with two outs in the top of the first, but Keaton Vessells got a fly ball out to end the threat. West Central nearly broke the 0-0 tie in the top of the sixth, but they a had a runner tagged out at the plate to end the inning.
Jesse Jost, CJ DenBoer, and Vessells all had one hit each in the game for West Central. Vessells pitched five innings and allowed two hits and three walks with eight strikeouts. DenBoer pitched 1 1/3 innings and was pitching when the two errors occurred to allow the winning run. DenBoer struck out one batter.
