POST 152 SENIORS LOSE TO PARKSTON; BLACKSOX ADVANCE TO STATE
Parkston had the edge against Menno/Scotland/Freeman/Canistota in the second round winner’s bracket Saturday night, Aug. 2, beating Post 152 5-2 to advance to the quarterfinals.
The 79ers will now play in an elimination game against Groton on Sunday at approximately 2:30 p.m. If they win they will play again on Monday with a chance to get to Tuesday’s championship round.
Post 152 had just one hit against Parkston — an Easton Tschetter single in the seventh inning — while committing three errors in the field. The 79ers’ two runs came, in part, on an error in the third inning and a walk in the sixth.
Trent Guthmiller took the loss, giving up three hits and four runs — one of them earned — in 3 2/3 innings pitched. He struck out three and walked five.
Evan Scharberg pitched the final 2 1/3 innings, giving up one hit and one run while striking out one.
Blacksox advance to state
The Blacksox are moving on.
Freeman’s amateur squad punched its ticket to the South Dakota Amateur Baseball Association Class B State Tournament with a 9-6 win over Irene Friday night, Aug. 1 in Wynot, Neb.
The single-elimination state tournament will be held at First National Bank Field in Brandon Aug. 6-17.
The Blacksox will be Rep. 2 out of District 6 after competing in the South Central League Tournament the last week of July. Freeman, the third seed, lost to Irene, the sixth seed, 10-8 on July 25 before coming back to beat the Cardinals Friday night.
Jackson Fiegen was a workhorse for Freeman, throwing 164 pitches and striking out 16 in a complete-game effort that saw four defensive errors from the Blacksox. But the offense was dialed in, stringing together 12 hits and putting together a four-run eighth inning that turned the game.
It started with a Clint Dangle solo home run that tied the game at 6-6, continued with an Austin Smidt single and then a pair of walks, and an Avery Mellum single that scored two runs to make it 8-6. Bailey Sage was intentionally walked after that, and Trey Ortman made Irene pay with a base hit that scored Jake Weier and made it 9-6.
Mellum finished 3-for-3 with three RBI, and Ortman collected a pair of hits and three RBI. In addition to his home run, Dangle singled, and Fiegen pitched in on the offensive side, as well, with a two-RBI single.
Crofton, Neb., will also represent District 6 at state as Rep. 3.
The district championship between No. 1 Tabor and No. 2 Wynot will be played Saturday night beginning at 7 p.m.
