‘GO FASTER’ ULMER’S THOUGHTS ON RUNNING TO WALK-OFF WIN
A heck of a season continues — in a heck of a way.
Facing Tabor in the Region 4B championship and with a trip to state on the line, the Post 152 Junior Legion bagged an improbable 13-12 walk-off win in extra innings Tuesday evening, July 29 in Tabor.
The 79ers, who went into the game with a 21-2 record, were trailing 11-6 and down to their last two outs in the bottom of the seventh when they scored five runs to tie the game. Then, in the bottom of the ninth, they came back from a 12-11 deficit when Tayden Kerrigan connected for a game-winning two-run double to the leftfield corner that scored Jarret Andretta from third and Izayah Ulmer from first — a head-first slide that came just ahead of the tag.
Earlier on Tuesday, Post 152 defeated Winner-Colome 14-2, and on Monday the 79ers defeated Wagner 16-1, making them the only team in Region 4B to finish 3-0 — giving them the title.
As for that dramatic rally against Tabor to tie the game in the seventh inning, it came thanks to timely hitting from multiple players. Oliver Waltner and Tannen Auch both singled to begin the frame and then, following an out, Riley Gall walked to load the bases.
That’s when Tabor was forced to pull its starting pitcher, Madden Merkwan, because of the 105-max pitch count and brought it Major Aarstad in relief. Aarstad then gave up a walk to Logun Pankratz that scored Waltner from third to make it 11-7, but a strikeout had Tabor one out away from the region title.
That’s when the real drama unfolded.
With the 79ers back to the top of the lineup, an Easton Tschetter single made it 11-8, an Izayah Ulmer single made it 11-9 and a Tayden Kerrigan single scored two to tie the game at 11. Waltner followed with his second infield single of the inning — beating out the throw to first with a head-first slide — to load the bases and put the winning run just 90 feet away, but Tabor got the third out of the inning to extend the game.
Neither team scored in the eighth, but Tabor regained the lead at 12-11 in the top of the ninth, forcing the 79ers to rally again — and that they did thanks to some help from their counterparts.
Jarret Andretta drew a leadoff walk and, after an Tschetter flyout, Ulmer reached on an error to put runners on the corners, and Kerrigan made them pay with his walk-off double that sent Post 152 into a frenzy.
“I have good hitters in front of me and behind me, so I wasn’t trying to do too much — just drive one in,” Kerrigan said after the game. “Two works, too, I guess.”
“Being down five runs in the seventh inning wasn’t ideal, but we battled,” said Ulmer. “We showed we’re the better team.”
This screenshot of a video shows Izayah Ulmer sliding in ahead of the tag to score Post 152’s winning run.
As for his thought process as he rounded the bases en route to scoring the winning run, it was simple: “Go faster.”
The state qualification for the Post 152 Junior Legion comes one week after the Senior Legion qualified for state with a 19-0 Region 4B win, also over Tabor.
The Senior Legion state tournament is in Milbank Aug. 1-5 while the Junior Legion state tournament is in Milbank Aug. 8-10.
Milbank is the birthplace of American Legion baseball in South Dakota, which is celebrating its 100th year.
79ers take down Wagner
Oliver Waltner threw a 98-pitch gem, the defense behind him played errorless ball, and the offense plated nine runs in the top of the seventh inning as the Post 152 Junior Legion scored a 16-1 win over Wagner in its first game of Region 4B play Monday afternoon in Tabor.
The 79ers — now 20-2 — are just two wins away from advancing to the American Legion 17U State Tournament in Milbank Aug. 8-10. They will face Winner/Colome Tuesday at 2 p.m., followed by a game against Tabor that will likely determine which team comes out of Region 4B.
Against Wagner on Monday, Waltner was in control in his complete game, five-hit effort. Of his 98 pitches, 70 went for strikes, and he struck out nine batters against just one walk — the first batter of the game who would account for Wagner’s only run.
The 79ers took a 5-1 lead in the second inning thanks in part to a two-out triple by Riley Gall that got the rally started. The offense went quiet after that until the sixth inning, when Easton Tschetter connected for a two-RBI double, and Post 152 broke things open with those nine runs in the final frame.
Gall, Tschetter and Tayden Kerrigan each had two hits, with Tschetter leading the way with three RBI.
In addition to his outstanding pitching performance, Waltner had a double and two RBI; Rylen Tommeraus and Jarret Andretta each knocked in a pair of runs; and Gall, Kerrigan, Izayah Ulmer, Tannen Auch and Hunter Nankivel each had an RBI.
Wagner committed three errors and its pitchers walked 10 players.
About the Post 152 Junior Legion
Post 152 features a deep lineup with balanced hitting and strong pitching. Going into postseason play, five players had batting averages better than .350: Logun Pankratz (.477), Tannen Auch (.433), Easton Tschetter (.407), Tayden Kerrigan (.400) and Oliver Waltner (.378). Tschetter and Waltner both had six extra base hits, Kerrigan led the team with 23 runs scored and Waltner led with way in RBI with 23.
Waltner was also among the leading pitchers with a 5-0 record and 1.01 ERA in 20.2 innings pitched. Kerrigan had 22.2 innings under his belt and leads the team with 34 strikeouts, while Tschetter had 32 Ks against just six walks in 20.2 innings pitched.
Waltner and Auch both had 24 strikeouts — tied for third on the team.
