BROOKINGS – Watertown advanced in the championship bracket while Rapid City and Sioux Falls East staved off elimination as the 2024 South Dakota Senior American Legion State Class A Tournament continued at Bob Shelden Field on Wednesday.

The tournament will resume Thursday at noon when Brookings and Renner complete a suspended game that was delayed Wednesday night due to lightning and rain. The two teams were scoreless heading to the top of the third. 

Watertown 3, Harrisburg Gold 2 (11 Inn.)

Nathan Briggs delivered a go-ahead single in the top of the 11th inning as Watertown shocked Harrisburg with a 3-2 extra-inning victory at Bob Shelden Field on Wednesday afternoon.

The loss was the first of the year for Harrisburg, who entered Wednesday with a 17-0 record in legion play.

Watertown came out of the gates strong as Hayden Ries and Mitch Olson drew walks and Kaden Rylance reached on an error to load the bases. Briggs cashed in, driving in his first run of the game with a walk to give Watertown an early lead.

Dylon Rawdon started another rally after getting hit by a pitch with one out in the top of the second inning. After advancing to second base on a Ries groundout, Rawdon scored on an Olson single to put Watertown ahead 2-0.

The lead held up until Harrisburg rallied in the bottom of the fourth inning, using Maddux Scherer and Teigan Munce’s singles to set up a Noah Boschee RBI single to cut the lead in half. Munce singled again with one out in the bottom of the sixth and scored on Eli Kokenge’s RBI double to tie the game at 2-2.

The game eventually went into extra innings where both teams put up zeroes until the 11th inning. Olson reached on an error with one out but advanced to second base on a wild pitch. Briggs hit a line drive single to right field and Briggs sprinted home to beat the throw and give Watertown the lead.

Will Engstrom capped off three scoreless innings in the bottom of the 11th, striking out Munce, getting Kokenge to pop out and working around a Boschee single before getting Palmer Boyd to ground out to end the game.

It was a fitting end for Watertown, which got a strong performance from Talan Jurgens. Jurgens threw eight innings, allowing two runs on six hits with a pair of strikeouts before Engstrom pitched the final three innings, allowing one hit and four strikeouts.

Briggs finished the game 3-for-4 with two walks, a double and two RBI. Rawdon went 2-for-4 with a run scored and a stolen base. Olson went 2-for-5 with a double, a walk, a run scored and an RBI. Nash Berg walked twice and went 1-for-3.

Maddox Plack made the start for Harrisburg, allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits and four walks with seven strikeouts over 5.2 innings. Kason Syverson took the loss, allowing an unearned run on four hits and two walks with five strikeouts over 5.1 innings.

Munce went 2-for-5 with a run scored. Boschee went 2-for-5 with an RBI. Jack Riley went 1-for-5. Scherer went 1-for-5 with a run scored. Kokenge went 1-for-5 with a double and an RBI.

Watertown advanced to play the winner of the Brookings and Renner game – which was suspended in the bottom of the second inning due to weather – at 7 p.m. on Thursday.

Harrisburg Gold will face Rapid City Post 22 in an elimination game at 1 p.m. on Thursday.

Brandon Valley 4, Sioux Falls East 1 (9 Inn.)

Brandon Valley eliminated Sioux Falls East from the State Legion Baseball Tournament on Wednesday morning as Post 131 beat Post 15 4-1 in nine innings.

After SF East tied the game in the sixth inning, Brandon Valley was able to score three runs in the top of the ninth and hold Post 15 in the bottom of the inning.

It didn’t take long for Brandon Valley to get on the board first as they scored in the top of the first. Brayden Knutson walked and then made it to second on a walk from Aiden Zerr. He then scored on a single from Ryland Carroll and Post 131 led 1-0 heading into the second.

Neither team got their offense going over the next four innings, but SF East was able to tie the game in the sixth. Sawyer Tolk walked with one out and then stole second and third. He then came home on a passed ball and that made it 1-1 heading into what was supposed to be the final inning.

Brycen Mitchell hit a one-out single in the bottom of the seventh for SF East. Ethan Olson pinch ran for him and made it to second on a ground out to third baseman from Carroll. Dietrich Haan then hit a ground ball to the first baseman and it got by him because of an error. Olson made his way to the plate Brandon Valley catcher Jackson Adams caught the ball up the first baseline but turned around and dove towards the plate and tagged Olson out to force the game into extra innings.

Neither team got a runner into scoring position in the eighth. Adams then walked for Brandon Valley to begin the ninth. Bryton Stroh followed and hit a ground ball to the pitcher and he tried to throw it to second but the throw went over the second baseman’s head and Adams advanced to third. Max Peters then came to the plate and hit a fly ball to right field and that allowed Adams to come home after tagging up and score the game-winning run.

Grady Gindorff then hit a single to left field and an error from the left fielder allowed two more runs to come in for Brandon Valley. Chase Leary hit another RBI single to push the Brandon Valley lead to 4-1 heading into the bottom of the ninth. Carroll sent down SF East one-two-three with three-straight fly outs to end the game.

Aiden Zerr pitched the first eight innings for Brandon Valley. He gave up one unearned run on two hits with five strikeouts and three walks. Post 131 had five hits as a team. Carroll and Leary were each 1-for-4 with an RBI. Gindorff and Nolan Pudwill each went 1-for-3 and Zerr was 1-for-1.

Sawyer Mindt pitched seven innings for SF East. He gave up one earned run on three hits with five strikeouts and five walks. Tolk pitched an inning and a third and gave up three earned runs on one hit with two strikeouts and three walks. Tate Schafer got the final two outs and gave up one hit. SF East had two hits as Mitchell and Ryan Hirsch were each 1-for-3.

Brandon Valley will take on in an elimination game tomorrow at 4 p.m.

Rapid City 9, Yankton 2

After falling to Brookings in their opening game of the State Legion Baseball Tournament, the Rapid City Post 22 Hardhats took out their frustration on Wednesday with a 9-2 victory over Yankton in an elimination game.

Yankton scored a run in the top of the first but the Hardhats responded with seven runs in the bottom of the inning. Yankton loaded the bases with three walks and then a single from Easton Feser sent the run home in the top of the first.

Aaron Roberts and Jace Morgan led off the bottom of the first with back-to-back singles. Roberts came home on an Alex Dietrich single and Hayden Holec followed that with a single to load the bases again. Harrison Good scored on a fielder’s choice and Tate Crosswait hit an RBI double to make it 3-1.

Philip Bentz followed Crosswait’s double with a two-run single to give Rapid City a 5-1 lead. Dawson Inhofher and Morgan hit RBI singles as well and the Hardhats led 7-1 heading into the second.

The two teams combined for just one hit over the next two innings. Yankton then cut the lead to 7-2 in the top of the fourth, but Rapid City got that run back in the bottom of the inning. Yankton’s run came on an RBI single from Austin Gobel. Morgan was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the inning and advanced to third on a double from Good. He then came home on a ground out from Holec to make it 8-2.

The Hardhats added another run in the sixth. Bentz and Inhofer each hit one-out singles. Bentz advanced to third on the Inhofer single and then scored on a sacrifice bunt from Roberts to make the final 9-2.

Rapid City had 13 hits in the win. Bentz was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and Inhofer was 3-for-3 with an RBI. Dietrich was 2-for-4 with an RBI and Morgan was 2-for-3 with an RBI. Roberts was 1-for-2 with an RBI and Crosswait was 1-for-3 with an RBI. Holec was 1-for-4 with an RBI and Good was 1-for-3. Aaron Roach had an RBI without a hit.

Hayden Leighty pitched a complete game for the Hardhats. He gave up two earned runs on four hits with four strikeouts and four walks.

Yankton had four hits as a team. Gobel was 1-for-2 with an RBI and Feser was 2-for-3 with an RBI. M Kathol was 1-for-1.

Owen Wishon got the start for Yankton and pitched two thirds of an inning. He gave up seven earned runs on eight hits. Samuel Gokie pitched the next four and a third and gave up two earned runs on four hits with one strikeout. Kael Garry pitched the final inning and gave up no runs on one hit.

Rapid City will play in an elimination game tomorrow at 7 p.m.