Area Class B American Legion Baseball teams open or continue play in region tourneys
WATERTOWN — Two of the biggest days of the 2023 season await the Watertown Post 17 and Aberdeen Smittys' American Legion Baseball teams on Thursday and Friday.
Eighth-seeded Post 17 (32-30) will host ninth-seeded Aberdeen (25-16) in a best-of-three super regional playoff series on Thursday and Friday at Watertown Stadium. Game 1 is set for 7 p.m. on Thursday. Game 2 is scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday, with Game 3 (if necessary) to follow 30 minutes after the completion of Game 2.
The winner advances to the state Class A tournament July 25-29 at Yankton.
"Going into the season, getting to host a super regional was step No. 1 of our goal," said Watertown Post 17 head coach Ryan Neale. "It's a lot nicer to play in front of your own friends and family on your own field. It gives the boys a little more energy instead of going on the road. Hopefully, it'll give us a boost in trying to reach our goal of making it to the state tournament."
Watertown did go 3-1 during the regular season, but all four games came in May. Also Drew Salfrank, one of Abredeen's best players, did not play in any of the four games.
Post 17 won 10-0 and 2-0 at home and the two teams split at Aberdeen. The Smittys won the opener 10-7 and Watertown took the second game 9-5 in 13 innings.
"Aberdeen's a different team than who we played in May and we're a different team than what they saw in May," said Neale, who could tie Mitch Johnson as the all-time winningest coach in Post 17 history (205 wins) with two victories.
Neale would certainly tell you his record isn't as important as making sure Post 17 returns to state after a one-year hiatus. Watertown's win-loss record is deceiving. First baseman-pitcher Kaden Rylance was injured for part of the season and 35 of the team's first 50 games were decided by three runs or less.
"Even after we took three of four from them in May, I told others that Aberdeen was going to be a quality team. They have really turned it around, with a lot of Quad 1 wins over good teams," said Neale. "They're a program that has gained a lot of respect the past two years compared to where they have been."
Watertown's offensive leaders include shortstop Jack Heesch (.345 average and 41 runs batted in), left fielder Drew Denzer (.342), catcher Carson Mutschler (.316 average) and first baseman Kaden Rylance (.286). Rylance and Denzer each lead the team with three homers. Nathan Briggs took over as the team's third baseman down the stretch and is hitting .423.
On the mound, Will Engstrom is 5-1 with a 2.75 earned-run average, Rylance 4-1 with a 1.86 ERA and Talan Jurgens 4-1 with a 1.86 ERA.
The Smittys, coached by Brandon Kusler, featured a lineup that has been led by Salfrank, Phillip Zens, Cooper Eisenbeisz, Casey Vining, Jaiden Smith, Zane Backous and Brendan Livermont. Smith and Backous are two of the team's top pitchers.
"We have to be ready to go," said Neale. "If we think we have a nice draw because we beat this time three times early in the year, we're going to struggle."
Other Class A Super Regionals
Other Class A super regionals will also run Thursday and Friday. No. 3 Yankton (23-12) receives an automatic bid as the host team for state.
In other matchups, No. 15 Sturgis (10-17) at No. 1 Sioux Falls East (35-8); No. 14 Sioux Falls West (9-30) at No. 2 Harrisburg Gold (19-12), No. 13 Huron (11-23) at No. 4 Brookings (23-15), No. 12 Pierre (9-26) at No. 5 Rapid City Post 22 (44-21), No. 11 Harrisburg Maroon (10-22) at No. 6 Rapid City Post 320 (25-31) and No. 10 Brandon Valley (20-21) at No. 7 Renner (26-17).
Post 22 is the defending championship. The Hardhats defeated Sioux Falls East for their 44th state championship last summer.
Class A Junior Legion Super Regionals
Junior Legion super regional best-of-three series are also scheduled for Friday and Saturday for Class A team. The winners advance to state July 27-30 at Harrisburg.
Harrisburg Gold (14-17-1) is the host team for state and No. 1 seed Watertown Post 17 (32-14) also has a bye into state and won't play in the regionals this weekend. Watertown is coached by Braxton Lacher and Jayden Cordell.
Other super region matchups include No. 14 Mitchell (8-28) at No. 2 Rapid City Post 22 Expos (55-10), No. 13 Sturgis (4-24) at No. 3 Sioux Falls East (26-12), No. 12 Sioux Falls West (17-25) at No. 4 Renner (16-17), No. 11 Pierre (15-23) at No. 5 Brandon Valley (25-15-1), No. 10 Yankton (15-19) at No. 6 Aberdeen (26-13) and No. 8 Rapid City Post 320 Risers (25-22) at No. 7 Brookings (18-16).
Class B Legion Regionals
Region 2B
In games Tuesday at Volga, Dell Rapids (24-2) notched a 4-1 win over Volga (5-10) in the semifinals and Madison stayed alive with a 12-7 win over Flandreau.
Drake Eastman and Brayden Pankonen combined for nine strikeouts to lead Dell Rapids past Volga. Aiden Boechler had two hits, including a double.
Boden Schiller and Connor Gross had two hits apiece for Volga. Schiller and Jack Opitz each doubled.
Parker Johnson drove in three runs with a double and a single for Madison, which also got two hits from Jovi Wolf. Ethan Hoffman, Kolby Peters and Carson Clark each collected two hits for Flandreau.
Region 5B
At Lake Norden, host Lake-Norden Badger opened with a 9-3 win over Humboldt-Hartford. Ryker Warrington tossed a seven-hitter with nine strikeouts. George Jensen drove in four runs with three hits, Dawson Noem homered and had three RBIs and Cristhian Rodriguez added two hits. Deuce Sherard and Keaton Vessells had two hits apiece for Humboldt-Hartford.
Humboldt-Hartford (4-11) opened the day with a 14-4 win over Hamlin U16. Andrew Zimmer drove in five runs with a homer and a single and also fanned eight batters in 4 2/3 innings on the mound. Derek Renken doubled and tripled as part of a three-hit performance and Vessells also homered. Gavin Maag and Parker Boerger each doubled for Hamlin.
Salem-Montrose-Canova improved to 15-4 with two wins (15-3 over Elkton and 2-1 over Colton). Owen Alley struck out 13 batters in five innings, Luke Koepsell plated three runs with three hits and Jack Neises hit two doubles for SMC in the win over Elkton. Logan Kuehl had two hits for Elkton.
Braeden Kerkhove fanned seven batters in the complete-game win and also delivered the walk-off single with two outs in the bottom of the seventh in SMC's win over Colton (4-14). Tyler Groenewold, Braden Oyen and Kaden Egger had two hits each for Colton. Groenewold fanned 10 batters in 6 1/3 innings on the mound.
Region 6B
The Clark-Willow Lake Senators won two games and Redfield one in opening-day games at Northville. The tourney bracket was altered after Mobridge forfeited out of the tourney.
Kellan Hurd's fielder's choice groundout capped a four-run bottom of the seventh that helped Redfield slip past Groton 11-10. Seth Siebrecht added a two-run single in the inning for Redfield. Groton had taken the lead by scoring four runs in the top of the seventh on two-run hits by Bradin Althoff and Colby Dunker.
Erik Salmen drove in four runs and joined Owen Osborn, Keaton Rohlfs and Nolan Gall with two hits for Redfield. Gall and Salmen each hit doubles and Siebrecht added three RBIs. Althoff had three hits and plated three runs along with Dunker. Brevin Fliehs and Dillon Abeln had two hits apiece. Fliehs and Althoff each doubled.
Clark-Willow Lake opened the day with a 5-2 win over the Faulkton-Highmore Hitmen and ended it with a 7-6 walk-off win over Warner-Ipswich-Northwestern.
Lucas Kanneigeter and Collin Gaikowski had two hits each for the Senators in the win over the Hitmen. Dawson Lantgen and Cooper Pommer combined for the win on the mound. Cade Schick doubled for Faulkton-Highmore.
Jakob Steen's two-out single in the bottom of the seventh lifted Clark-Willow Lake (8-8) past W-I-N. Kannegieter hit three doubles, Steen three singles and Jack Helkenn two singles. Devon and Quinton Fischbach each had two hits for W-I-N.
Follow Watertown Public Opinion sports reporter Roger Merriam on Twitter @PO_Sports
This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: Watertown Post 17 to host Aberdeen Smittys in Class A Legion regional
