State baseball titles won by Watertown Black and Grey Sox, R.C. Post 22
For the second time ever, two Watertown baseball teams have captured state championships in the same year at the 13-18 year-old levels.
The Watertown Black Sox closed out a 5-0 weekend and a 31-10 season by winning the state Class A Baseball 14-and-under state tournament on Sunday in Pierre.
The Watertown Grey Sox also finished a 5-0 weekend and a 35-7 season by winning the state Class A Baseball 13-and-under state tournament on Sunday in Brookings.
It's the 14th and 15th state titles in Teener level (ages 13-16), Junior Legion or American Legion baseball that Watertown teams have won in the history of the programs. The Watertown Red Sox and White Sox also won state titles in 2009.
"It's huge for the (Watertown Baseball Association) program with the Junior Legion team doing so well and the Black and Grey Sox having a combined 17 losses," said Grey Sox head coach Dawson Schmidt. "We had at least three levels with state-championship caliber teams."
Class A Baseball 14-and-Under
The Black Sox were the likely No. 1 seed in the tourney and prove it by beating Brookings 7-3 on Thursday, Rapid City Post 320 14-7 on Friday and Renner 5-0 on Saturday to win the Red Pool.
On Sunday, Watertown blasted Harrisburg 12-2 in the semifinals before blanking Yankton 4-0 in the championship game.
"I knew this group was super talented and the baseball talent would hold. The only worry I had was them not having confidence in themselves and giving other teams too much credit," said Black Sox coach Peyton Johnston. "The leaders stepped up, everybody knew their role and they put it all together."
More: Make It 12: Watertown Black Sox roll to 2021 state Class A U14 Baseball title
Logan Leraas smacked three hits and Ashton Rabine added two to back strong pitching from Markus Pitkin in Sunday's semifinal win over Harrisburg. Watertown scored three runs in the first inning, two more in the second and five in the third.
In the championship, a sacrifice fly by Leraas put Watertown ahead in the third and the Black Sox added three more in the fourth on a single by Cole Hansen and a two-run double by Rabine. Rabine went 3-for-3 with two doubles to back the strong pitching of Carter Buisker and Cain Everson.
Pitching was big all weekend.
"I think we used like six pitchers in five games. They just didn't walk people and let them put the ball in play," said Johnston. "They threw strikes and we played good defense."
Class A Baseball 13-and-Under
While the Black Sox were outscoring their five state-tourney foes 42-12, the Grey Sox had a similar run at Brookings. Watertown won five games by combined margin of 71-11.
The list included wins of Yankton 27-0 on Thursday, Huron 9-3 on Friday, Mitchell 13-3 on Saturday, Renner 11-4 in Sunday's semifinals and Pierre 11-0 in Sunday's championship.
"We had a lot of confidence going in," said Schmidt. "We beat every team in the tournament all year long."
The Grey Sox snapped a 4-4 tie in the semifinals with three runs in the bottom of the second and turned back Renner and didn't waste any time in the championship, plating three runs in the first and five more in the second.
More: State Champions: Grey Sox complete 28-6 season with 2020Class A U13 title
Lincoln Schutt smacked two-run triples in both the first and second innings for Watertown, which also got RBI singles during the early flurry from Kooper Heiser, Jonathan Lake and Jaxon Falak. Falak and Kasen Jensen combined for the win on the mound.
Kasen Jensen, Lake and Falak each had complete-game wins in pool play. Kooper Heiser and Kohl Nygaard pitched the semifinal game.
"Our pitching was huge all weekend. We used only three pitchers in our pool-play games," said Schmidt. "We were able to bring all our pitchers back, including Falak our ace. That was big for us."
Past Watertown State Baseball Champions (Ages 13-18)
LEGION BASEBALL
• 1931, one class. Coach Hank Sarkis.
JUNIOR LEGION BASEBALL
• 2016— Class A. Post 17. Coaches Mitch Reed and Kolton Michalski.
• 2018 — Class A. Post 17. Coaches Asa Stiles and Travis Schmidt.
CLASS A BASEBALL
• 2022 — Black Sox, U14. Coaches Peyton Johnston and Kale Stevenson (Colton McClemans assisted at state).
• 2022 — Grey Sox, U13. Coaches Dawson Schmidt and Easton Thury.
• 2021 — Black Sox, U14. Coaches Evan Falconer and Jayden Cordell.
• 2020 — Grey Sox, U13. Coaches Tucker Wookey and Nick Geffre.
• 2017 — White Sox, Combined 13-14. Coaches Tom Brewster and Justin Harte.
VFW BASEBALL
• 2011 — Red Sox, Class AA 15-16 Majors. Coaches Matt Paulson and Brandon Hooth.
• 2009 — Red Sox, Class AA 15-16 Majors. Coaches Ryan Neale and Tom Mattingly.
• 2009 — White Sox, Class AA 15-16 Minors. Coaches Matt Paulson and Alex Kjellsen.
• 2003 — Red Sox, Class AA 15-16. Coach Jason Mack.
• 2001 — Black Sox, Class AA 13-14. Coach Lonnie Struckman.
• 1971 — Watertown, Class A, 13-16. Coach Ralph Meyer.
• Note — The 1931 state Legion title came on Aug. 6 at Lake Kampeska Ballpark.
JUNIOR JUNIOR BASEBALL
• 1951 — Watertown.
• Note — The 1931 state Legion title came on Aug. 6 at Lake Kampeska Ballpark.
Other State Class A Baseball
Two other state Class A Baseball tournaments concluded on Sunday, the 16-and-under tourney at Watertown and the 13/14-and-under tournament at Pierre.
Renner (37-12) claimed the 16U tournament, beating Harrisburg Gold 7-6 in the semifinals and Huron 6-4 in the title game. Huron advanced to the championship with an 8-6 semifinal win over Yankton.
Harrisburg won the 13/14 tourney title by beating Renner 8-5 on Sunday. The Watertown White Sox closed out a 9-20 season with a 14-6 win over Brandon Valley for sixth place.
Aberdeen played twice on Sunday, losing 12-9 to Sioux Falls Post 15 and 14-4 to Yankton.
State Class A Junior Legion
The Watertown Post 17 Junior Legion's bid for a state championship fell short Sunday with a 9-8 semifinal loss to Brookings in the state Class A Junior Legion tournament at Sioux Falls.
Watertown (36-14) and Brookings were tied 6-6 before Brookings took the lead with a run in the bottom of the fifth and two more in the bottom of the sixth. Post 17 pulled within 9-8 on a two-run single by Nash Berg and had the bases loaded with nobody out but couldn't score the tying run.
Sioux Falls East (38-11) defeated the Rapid City Bullets 10-4 in the other semifinal and then rolled to a 12-2 win over Brookings in the championship.
State A Legion Baseball
Perennial power Rapid City Post 22 won its final four games, including two on Sunday, to win its 44th state Class A American Legion baseball championship.
Host Post 22 (41-24) defeated Harrisburg 8-6 before downing Sioux Falls East 5-1 in the championship. Harrisburg ended its season with a 20-17 record.
Post 22 and East (35-15) begin play Wednesday in the Central Plains Regional tournament at Rapid City. The winner advances to the American Legion Baseball World Series Aug. 11-16 at Shelby, N.C.
State B Legion Baseball
Winner-Colome clinched a berth in the championship game of the state Class B American Legion baseball tournament with a 10-5 win over Redfield Post 92 on Sunday night at Gregory.
Winner-Colome (16-6) led only 4-2 before platting six runs in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Aiden Barfuss homered and joined Ashton Klein and Ethan Bartels with two hits apiece for Winner-Colome.
Keaton Rohlfs had two hits and also took the loss on the mound for Redfield (22-9).
Redfield, Vermilllion and Gregory also remained alive in the tourney, which runs through Tuesday.
This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: Two Watertown teams capture state titles in same year.
