The West Central Varsity VFW baseball tournament played in the 2026 Varsity VFW Alpha State Tournament held in Belle Fourche Friday, July 17th through Sunday, July 19th. West Central finished sixth going 1-3 in four games.
WIN Gators 9, West Central 8
In the opening pool-play game on Friday for West Central, WIN scored four runs late to steal a 9-8 victory. West Central scored three runs in the top of the first. WIN responded with four in the bottom of the inning for a 4-3 lead. West Central responded with five in the top of the second to go back in front 8-4. WIN picked up a run in the bottom of the third to make the score 8-5. They would then have a four-run bottom of the fourth to go ahead 9-8. West Central put two runners on in the top of the fifth but couldn’t get the game-tying run.
Maddax Jackson had two hits, one a double, and two RBIs. Andrew Holtzman had two singles. Taylon Sichmeller had a single with two RBIs. Eli Koehn added a double and an RBI. Kane Grace had a single and an RBI. Cooper Ball had a single.
West Central 7, Mobridge 2
In the second game of pool play, West Central had back-to-back strong offensive inning to take the win over Mobridge. Mobridge score two runs in the top of the first for ran early 2-0 lead. West Central got a run back in the bottom of the first. After a scoreless second inning, West Central scored three runs in the bottom of the third for a 4-2 lead. They added three more runs in the bottom of the fourth to secure the win.
Hayden Whiting had two hits and an RBI. Aiden Lueth also had two singles. Ball ended with a double and two RBIs. Hayes Cain had a single with an RBI. Jackson ended with a double. Holtzman had a single, and Koehn had an RBI. Lueth pitched five innings and allowed two earned runs on seven hits and three walks with four strikeouts.
MVP Titans 8, West Central 2
In the opening round of bracket play on Sunday, Mt Vernon-Plankinton scored five runs over the first two innings for a 5-0 lead. They picked up another run in the top of the fourth to make the score 6-0. West Central picked up two runs in the bottom of the sixth to cut the lead to 6-2, but MVP got those two runs back in the top of the seventh.
Koehn ended with a double. Whiting and Grace both had a single. Ball finished with an RBI. Carson Johnson pitched 1 2/3 innings and allowed five earned runs on two hits and three walks. Cain pitched 5 1/3 innings and allowed three earned runs on seven hits and two walks with six strikeouts.
Belle Fourche 12, West Central 2
On Sunday Belle Fourche and West Central played in the fifth-sixth place game. Belle Fourche scored two times in both the first and second innings for an early 4-0 lead. West Central cut the lead in half with two runs in the bottom of the third. Belle Fourche, however, got a run in the top of the fourth, four more in the fifth, and three in the seventh for a 12-2 score.
Sichmeller had a double and an RBI. Ball added a single with an RBI. Whiting and Johnson each had one hit.
