First State B softball champs Castlewood lead the final top performers of 2022-23

By capturing the first state Class B championship in South Dakota history, Castlewood High School's softball team takes center stage in our final top performers list for the 2022-23 high school season.

We've stretched the weekly honor roll out a couple of days (May 29 through June 7) to include the state high school golf tournaments that were held Monday and Tuesday.

Sitting on top this week are the Warriors, who entered the first-ever South Dakota High School Activities Association sanctioned state softball tournament as the third seed and left as an answer to a trivia question that will be asked for years.

Castlewood downed Deuel 6-3 in the first round, avenged a regular-season loss with a 6-5 comeback win over No. 2 seed Arlington in the semifinals and edged No. 1 seed Alcester-Hudson 3-2 in the championship.

"We've been close a couple of times to winning a state championship so to finally get one was really exciting," said Mackenzie Everson, one of four seniors on the Warriors' team coached by Craig Horn. "It was just so fun to do it with the younger girls and seeing them step up so much and combining it with the senior leadership. It was just a super fun experience."

The Warriors were in trouble in Friday's semifinals, trailing Arlington 5-2 with only three outs remaining. After leading the bases, Everson connected on a two-run single and fellow senior Maddie Horn followed by driving in the tying run and eventual winning run on a double.

"We lost to Arlington the regular season in basketball and volleyball too and came back to beat them in the postseason," said Everson. "We were confident going in and we knew we were a better team. We knew we could beat them if we played well."

Lyndsey Archer, another senior along with Olivia Akin, provided the biggest hit on Saturday with a two-out single in the bottom of the sixth that proved to be the difference in the team's 3-2 championship win over Alcester-Hudson.

"I think we probably had six or seven girls who had played some fastpitch before," said Everson. "We had a decent amount of experience, but we still had a lot of girls who hadn't ever played before."

The title capped a solid school year and a solid five-or-six year stretch for the Warrior girls under the leadership of Everson and Maddie Horn. They were seventh-graders on Castlewood's state B girls basketball champions in 2018, but didn't play much.

The Warriors also qualified for state B basketball in 2020 (wiped out by COVID-19), 2021 (second place) and 2023 (fifth). Castlewood also took sixth last fall in the state B volleyball tourney, the Warriors' first appearance since 1997. Castlewood wrapped up a big year with the state softball title. Archer joined M. Horn and Everson on all three state-tourney teams this school year and Akin also played basketball to go with sofball.

"We had a couple of big moments with our hitting (at the state tourney) but we relied on our defense and of course, pitching to pull us through," said Everson.

Everson and Maddie Horn each were named to the all-tourney team. Eerson homered and drove in four runs and Horn tripled in the win over Deuel. Horn went 4-for-4 with two doubles and four RBIs and Everson added three hits against Arlington. Everson had two triples and Horn two doubles in the championship.

Seventh-grader Claire Horn, one of two of Maddie's younger sisters on the team (sophomore Bridgette), earned victories on the mound in all three wins. The Horns are the daughters of the head coach..

Other top performers on the final week of the state's high school season, along with a few American Legion Baseball players in the area, include:

Softball

Taya Clausen and Brenley Goebel, Arlington: Clausen and Goebel also earned Class B all-tournament honors after leading Arlington to a third-place finish. Clausen drove in five runs with a double and a triple and struck out 12 batters in a 7-6 win over Viborg-Hurley, fanned 13 batters in the semifinal loss to Castlewood and tossed a two-hitter with 15 strikeouts in a 4-0 win over Bon Homme in the third-place game. Goebel had a double and triple against Viborg-Hurley, three hits in the loss to Castlewood and two more hits in the third-place game.

Katrina Hagberg, Deuel: Hagberg also made the Class B all-tournament team for the Cardinals, who finished seventh. She had eight strikeouts in a first-round loss to Castlewood, 14 batters in a consolation semifinal loss to Viborg-Hurley and 14 more in a win over Gayville-Volin in the seventh-place game.

Girls Golf

Riley Zebroski, Shelby and Natalie Pearson and Gabi Olson, Watertown: Zebroski and Olson combined to the tourney and lead the Arrows to the team title in a meet at Brandon. The Arrows also placed fourth in the state Class AA tourney, matching their highest finish since 2009, with Zebroski (tied for 15th), Shelby Pearson (tied for 18th) and Natalie Pearson (tied for 22nd plus a hole-in one) each earning medals.

Olivia Braun, Emma Dohrer, Morgan Jones and Leah Gough, Aberdeen Central: The Golden Eagles finished second in the state Class AA tournament with these four medalists. Braun finished third, Dohrer tied for ninth, Jones 12th and Gough tied for 18th.

Claire Crawford, Aberdeen Roncalli and Carly Guthmiller, Groton Area: After grabbing the opening-day lead in the state Class A girls tournament at Rapid City. She still led area golfers by placing sixth. Guthmiller also medaled by tying for 12th.

Brynn Roehrich, Clark-Willow Lake: The eighth-grader had a strong spring that culminated with a runner-up finish in the Sate B tournament at Cattail Crossing Golf Course.

Bailey Landmark and Allison Andrews, Deubrook Area: Landmark and Andrews each tied for 12th and led the Dolphins to a fourth-place finish in the State B tourney at CCGC.

Olivia and Neva Mikkelsen, Potter County: The sisters medaled by tying for 17th in the state Class B tourney.

Eva Koisti, Hamlin: Koisti also medaled in the state B at Watertown by tying for 19th.

Boys Golf

Lane and Larz Tvedt, Castlewood: The Warriors placed sixth in the State B at the Prairie Winds Golf Club in Watertown. The two brothers medaled in the tourney Lane tied for fifth and Larz took 25th.

Jace Konsor and Chet Peterson, Ipswich: Ipswich placed fifth in the State B with Konsor (tying for ninth) and Peterson (tying for 22nd) leading the way.

Tray Hettick, Selby Area: Hettick tied for fifth in the State B at PWGC.

Blaize Amdahl, Webster Area: Amdahl also medaled by tying for 15th in the State B.

Logan Vavruska, Florence-Henry: Vavruska tied for 18th in the State B at Watertown.

Legion Baseball

Treyton Himmerich , Carson Mutschler and Will Engstrom, Watertown Post 17: Post 17 swept Groton with the help of Himmerich's wal-off single in the bottom of the eighth inning in the opener. He finished with three hits and three RBIs. Mutschler drilled a three-run homer and Engstrom tossed a one-hitter in the second game.

Elliot Komraus, Nolan Gall, Seth Siebrecht, Owen Osborn Keaton Rohlfs, Peyton Osborn and Erik Salmen, Redfield: In a sweep of the F-H Hitmen, Komraus hit three doubles, Gall had a double and a single in one game and two RBIs in another and Siebrecht fired a one-hitter in one game. Osborn tossed a two-hitter in a win over Hamlin that including three singles and two RBIs by Gall and a double and a single by Rohlfs, who also had two hits in the second game. In another win over Castlewood, P. Osborn went 3-for-3 with three RBIS and struck out eight in three innings and Salmen hit a triple and two singles, plating three runs.

Ashton Remily and Andrew Bishop, Warner-Ipswich-Northwestern: Remily scattered four hits with six strikeouts in six innings and Bishop collected three hits in a 7-0 win over Groton.

Logan Ringgenberg, Cole Simon, Bradin Althoff, Brevin Fliehs and Cole Dunker, Groton: Ringgenberg had three hits in the loss to Warner-Ipswich-Northwestern. Simon had three hits in a 5-4 win over Redfield. Althoff fanned nine batters in a win over Claremont. Fliehs went 4-for-7 with two triples and a double and Dunker 4-for-4 with two doubles in a win over Milbank.

Drew Salfrank, Casey Vining and Zane Backous, Aberdeen Smittys: The Smittys swept Pierre in a doubleheader with Salfrank producing three hits and three RBIs, including the game-winning single, and also earned the win in relief (all in the second game). Vining drove in four runs in the opener and Backous five combined in the two games. In another sweep over Sioux Falls West, Salfrank went 4-for-4 with a double in the first game.

Connor Gross, Volga: Gross plate four runs with two hits and also earned the victory on the mound in a 14-0 win over Milbank.

Cristhian Rodriguez, Lake Norden: Rodriguez drove in four runs with a double and a single in a win over Groton.

Merik Junker and Justus Osborn, Milbank: Junker produced four hits, including a triple and a double, and Osborn notched a triple and two singles in a loss to Groton. Junker and Osborn also combined on a one-hitter in a win over Webster

Follow Watertown Public Opinion sports reporter Roger Merriam on Twitter @PO_Sports

This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: State champion Castlewood leads top performers for May 29-June 7