The West Central Royal 17U team traveled to Northville for the 2025 South Dakota VFW Alpha Division State Tournament and came home as champions. The tournament was held Friday, July 25th through Sunday, July 27th. They went undefeated in pool play and earned two wins in bracket play for the title by playing the same two teams.
West Central 5, Belle Fourche 0
West Central opened the day on Friday with a pool-play game against Belle Fourche. They scored three times right away in the top of the first. West Central scored two more times in the top of the fourth for the 5-0 score. Jericho Klein and CJ DenBoer combined for a no-hitter. Klein pitched three innings and allowed one walk with three strikeouts. DenBoer pitched two innings and allowed one walk with three strikeouts.
Carter Evans had two hits with an RBI. Ashton Gebhard had a hit with two RBIs. Karson Vessells finished with a single and an RBI. DenBoer and Nick Lorang both had one hit each.
West Central 10, Tri-Valley 0
In the second game of pool-play on Friday, West Central scored in every inning and held Tri-Valley to just one hit. West Central scored two in the first, three in the second, two in the third, and then added three more in the fourth to end the game on the 10-run rule.
Hayes Cain had two hits, one a double, and an RBI. Taylan Sichmeller had two hits as well with an RBI. Zach Lorang finished with a hit and five RBIs. Keaton Vessells had a double and three RBIs. Evans also had an RBI. Gebhard pitched four innings and allowed one hit and two walks with seven strikeouts.
West Central 3, Belle Fourche 1
After getting a top seed and a bye in the opening round of bracket play, West Central faced off with Belle Fourche again in the semifinals on Saturday. The two teams battled hard all game long. The first three innings went scoreless. Belle Fourche broke through first with a run in the top of the fourth. West Central responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning for a 2-1 lead. They were able to add an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth and hold for the 3-1 win.
Keaton Vessells had two hits and two RBIs. DenBoer also had two hits. Cain added a single with an RBI. Z. Lorang and N. Lorang each had one hit. Klein pitched five innings and allowed an unearned run on three hits and three walks with six strikeouts. DenBoer pitched two innings and allowed three walks with two strikeouts.
West Central 10, Tri-Valley 4
Tri-Valley won two games in bracket play on Saturday to earn a rematch with West Central in the championship game on Sunday. Tri-Valley grabbed an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. West Central rallied for five runs in the bottom of the second for a 5-2 lead. They added three more in the bottom of the fourth. Tri-Valley got two more runs in the top of the sixth to cut the lead in half, 8-4. West Central, however, got those two runs back in the bottom of the fifth.
Keaton Vessells had two doubles and three RBIs. Evans finisehd with two hits and an RBI. Cain also had two singles. N. Lorang added a hit with two RBIs. DenBoer had a hit with one RBI. Karson Vessells also had a hit. Keaton Vessells pitched five innings and allowed four earned runs on two hits and six walks with five strikeouts. Karson Vessells pitched two innings and allowed three hits and two walks with three strikeouts.
