RAPID CITY — Strong pitching by Jackson McClemans and Hunter Halajian carried the Watertown Arrows Post 17 team back to the state Class A American Legion Baseball Tournament.
Tenth-seeded Post 17 (36-23) topped No. 7 Pierre 5-4 on July 22 and 2-0 on July 23 to win a best-of-three super regional at Pierre.
Watertown advanced to the state tourney that opens on Tuesday, July 28 at Fitzgerald Stadium. First-round pairings include Sioux Falls West (33-12-1) vs. Harrisburg Gold (16-23) at 11 a.m. Central, Brandon Valley (22-14) vs. Brookings (18-18) at 2 p.m., Yankton (23-11) vs. Rapid City Post 320 (34-13-3) at 5 p.m. and Post 17 vs. host Rapid City Post 320 (44-12) at 8 p.m.
“Anytime you earn a trip to the state tournament is something to be proud of because it’s never easy to get there,” Watertown coach Ryan Neale said. “Our guys have shown all season that when the lights are the brightest and the state is the biggest, they’re ready to compete.”
Pierre plated three runs in the bottom of the first inning to take a 3-1 lead in Game 1 of the super regional. Watertown pulled even on Sam Olson’s two-run single in the third before Pierre regained the lead with a run in the fourth. Johnathan Lake tied the game with a run-scoring double in the fifth and scored the eventual winning run on a wild pitch later in the inning. Olson drove in three runs with three hits, Carter Buisker added two hits and McClemans went the distance for the win on the mound.
Markus Pitkin smacked a two-out, run-scoring single in the bottom of the first and also plated Post 17’s second run with a triple in the bottom of the sixth of Game 2. Halajian did the rest, scattering five hits with six strikeouts.
“Clem and Hunter were oustanding over the two days. Both threw complete games, limited the free passes, attacked the strike zone and trusted our defense to make plays behind them,” Neale said.
Watertown finished second in the South Dakota High School Baseball Class A state tournament in May and will look to make a similar run this week.
Offensive leaders include Pitkin (.373 batting average with 17 doubles, eight triple, three homers, 46 runs, 56 RBIs over the high school and Legion season), Buisker (.382 with 11 dobules, 45 runs, 36 RBIs), Olson (.364 with 44 runs, 34 RBIs), Cain Everson (.333 with 39 runs), Cole Hansen (.291 with 56 walks, seven doubles, 59 runs), Jaxon Falak (.280 with six doubles, 46 runs, 32 RBIs) and Lake (.277 with nine doubles, 39 RBIs).
McClemans is 10-4 with two saves, 76 strikeouts and a 1.03 earned-run average in 88 1/3 innings and Halajian 8-3 with 89 strikeouts and a 3.04 ERA in 78 1/3 innings. Other pitching leaders include Tripp Jorgenson (2-5 with 4.63 ERA) and Kooper Heiser (5-5 with 5.52 ERA).
Neale said his main goal for Post 17 every year is to qualify for the State Class A Legion tournament, something he never did as a Post 17 player.
“It’s something I never had to the opportunity to do as a player so it’s especially rewarding to help this group earn that experience,” Neale said. “We’ll head to Rapid City with confidence, build off the momentum from our high school state tournametn run and see what we can accomplish together.”
The Aberdeen Smittys Post 24, the No. 14 seed, dropped their super regional playoff series 2-0 at No. 3 Yankton. Yankton won 10-0 on July 22 and 8-1 on July 23.
Class A Junior Legion
Fourth-seeded Watertown Post 17 (33-21) clinched a berth in the state tourney Thursday, July 30, through Sunday, Aug. 2 at Harmodon Park in Sioux Falls by beating 12th-seeded Palace City (Mitchell) in a best-of-three super regional July 22-23 at Watertown Stadium.
Post 17 won Game 1 5-4 on July 22 with a walk-off single by Caleb Kannas. Palace City won Game 2 on a walk-off error on July 23 before Watertown rolled to a 16-3 win in Game 3 behind three-RBI performances from Wilkes Flatten, Levi Lund and Boston Butler.
Watertown will face the Renner Post 307 Kings at 2 p.m. on July 30, Harrisburg Gold Post 45 at 2:30 p.m. on July 31 and Sioux Falls East Post 15 at 6 p.m. on Aug. 1 in pool-play game at state. The top two teams in each pool advance to the semifinals (and eventual championship) on Aug. 2.
Top hitters for Watertown include Dawson Hlavacek (.365, 33 runs), Taren Veflin (.353, 30 runs, 27 RBIs), Kannas (.337 with four doubles, five triples, one homer, 32 runs, 28 RBIs), Flatten (.310 with nine doubles, 32 runs, 29 RBIs), Caden Corey (.305, 39 runs), Kaeden Himmerich (.291 with five doubles, four triples, two homers, 37 runs), Lund (.277 with five doubles, two triples, 31 runs, 33 RBIs), Max Stroup (.275, 39 runs), Kannon Van Gilder (33 runs) and Butler (.274 with six doubles, one triple, three homers and 31 runs).
Himmerich (8-2 with 1.98 ERA in 53 innings), Corey (5-4 with 1.78 ERA in 59 innings) and Stroup (6-1 with one save and a 2.91 ERA in 43 1/3 innings) lead a pitching staff that also includes Evan Ries (2-0 with two saves and a 4.16 ERA in 35 1/3 innings), Flatten (3-3 with a 5.14 ERA) and Butler (3-4 with a 4.63 ERA).
The ninth-seeded Aberdeen Smittys (20-16) had their season end with a 9-8 eight-inning loss to sixth-seeded Harrisburg Gold in their best-of-three super regional on July 22 and 23. Harrisburg won Game 1 3-1 and Aberdeen took the second game 6-1 behind some strong pitching by Jackson Berry.
Class B Legion
Area teams Groton Post 39 (19-12) and VolgaPost 114 (15-11) each qualified for the state Class B tournament July 31-Aug. 4 at Madison by winning region tournaments July 21-23. Volga faces Dell Rapids (10-11) at 10 a.m. and Groton mets Garretson (9-14) at 5 p.m. in first-round games on July 31. Parkston (21-9) and Belle Fourche (11-17) will meet at about 12:30 p.m. and host Madison (19-8) takes on Dakota Valley (17-14) at 7:30 p.m.
Groton’s hitting leaders include Carter Simon (.410 with four doubles, two triples, four homers, 25 runs, 28 RBIs), Alex Abeln (.402 with 26 runs), Gavin Englund (.390 with eight doubles, two homers, 24 runs, 24 RBIs) and TC Schuster (.333 with seven doubles, one triple, 19 RBIs). Jarrett Erdmann is 6-3 on the mound with a 2.16 ERA, Englund 4-0 with a 2.86 ERA and Schuster 3-1 with a 2.21 ERA.
Volga’s leaders include Bret Milton (.412 average), Braden Danzeisen (.394 with nine doubles, two triples, three homers, 35 RBIs), Tate Steffensen (.367 with four doubles), Broden Teske (.364 with 24 RBIs) and Isaac Skovlund (.342 with 38 runs). Wyatt Hardt (3-2 with 3.06 ERA), Teske (5-3 with 3.75 ERA), Kellon Tucker (1-1 with 3.91 ERA) and Danzeisen (2-0 with 2.33 ERA) lead the pitchintg staff.
Here’s some highlights from the area regions.
- Region 1 — Groton Post 39 (19-12) capped a 3-0 tournament by beating Sisseton 2-1 in the championship game. Englund went 5 1/3 innings for the win. Groton also beat Sisseton 4-1 and Milbank 6-2 in the tourney. Sisseton earned a berth in the finals by beating Claremont 6-4 and Milbank 10-3. Big Stone City also played in the tourney.
- Region 2 — Castlewwood Post 250 (2-15) lost to Colton 6-5 and Sioux Falls Post 911 15-5 in the tourney at Sioux Falls. Dell Rapids went 3-0 to win the tourney.
- Region 6 — Volga outlasted Clark-Willow Lake Post 60 to win the tourney that was played in Webster. Volga beat Lake Norden-Badger 19-10, CWL 7-1 and Britton 3-1 to reach the championship. CWL beat LNB 13-2 and Britton 10-0 before downing Volga 6-4 in the first championship. Volga rebounded to win the second championship 9-7 with three hits and three RBIs from Milton. Host Webster also played in the tourney.
- Region 7 — Redfield Post 180 (12-8) lost to Martin 12-0 and Winner-Colome 8-4 in the tourney. Belle Fourche capped a 3-0 tourney by beating Martin 6-3 in the championship.
Other S.D. Class A Baseball
- 16-and-Under — The Watertown Arrows (12-23) and Aberdeen Smittys (16-18-1) each played in the tourney July 24-26 at Renner, Tea and Harrisburg. Watertown went 0-3, losing to Dakota Valley 15-5, Rapid City Post 22 14-3 and Harrisburg 14-11. Aberdeen also went 0-3, losing to Renner 6-1, Spearfish 12-6 and Brandon Valley 5-4. Dakota Valley deged Rapid City Post 22 10-9 in the championship.
- 14-and-Under — Watertown (18-18) and Aberdeen (12-13) played in the tourney July 24-26 at Pierre. Watertown lost to Rapid City Post 320 3-1, Palace City (Mitchell) 7-1 and Harrisburg 13-3. Aberdeen beat Brandon Valley 19-11 and lost to Rapid City Post 22 10-5 and Renner 16-2. Harrisburg topped Pierre 20-8 in the championship.
- 13-and-Under — The Aberdeen Smittys capped a 30-2 season by going 5-0 to win the tourney July 24-26 at Brookings. Aberdeen beat Dakota Valley 16-0, Tea 12-2 and Brandon Valley 10-2 in pool play before topping the Watertown Arrows (27-11) 14-8 in the semifinals and Yankton 11-1 in the championship. Watertown beat Palace City 16-4, Renner 15-0 and Harrisburg Black 9-2 in pool play before opening the playoffs with a 6-3 win over Brookings.
- 13/14-and-Under — Watertown (7-27) went 0-3 and Aberdeen (10-19-1) 1-2 in the tourney July 24-26 at Mitchell. Watertown lost to Brookings White 8-5, Huron 12-10 and Pierre 11-1. Aberdeen topped Harrisburg Black 11-10 and lost to Brandon Valley 14-2 and Sioux Falls 10-0. Pierre defeated Sioux Falls 11-0 in the championship.
District 1B Amateur Baseball
CASTLEWOOD — The top seeds (No. 1 Volga Cormorants and No. 2 Castlewood Ravens) each clinched state-tourney berths by reaching the championship game on the District 1 tournament that opened July 25-26. Castlewood beat the No. 7 Ramona Express 12-0 on July 25 and the No. 5 Clark Traders 12-2 on July 26. Volga had an opening bye before blasting the No. 4 Lake Norden Lakers 15-0 on July 25.
In other openers on July 25, Clark edged the No. 4 Milbank Firechiefs 3-2 and Lake Norden topped the No. 5 Elkon Snappers 5-1. Milbank downed Ramona 8-1 in an elimination game on July 26.
Jordan Sagedahl went 3-for-3 and drove in eight runs with two homers (a grand slam and a three-run shot) and also tossed a five-inning one-hitter for Volga against Lake Norden. Alex Gauer scattered three hits over seven innings and Blayne Schliesman homered and Lucas Ching and Tucker Wookey each drove in three runs for the Ravens against Clark. Brady Krause fired five innings of two-hit relief and Dom Boerger drove in three runs with two hits for Milbank against Ramona.
On July 25, Wookey allowed one hit over six innings and Gus Steiger went 4-for-5 for Castlewood against Ramona; Jack Heesch went 7 2/3 innings on the mound and Grayson Florey drove in the go-ahead run with single in the seventh for Clark against Milbank; and Hunter Janzen clubbed a three-run homer and Jordon Johnson fanned eight batters in eight innings for Lake Norden against Elkton.
The tourney continues with one game each on July 27, 28, 29 and 30. Volga and Castlewood play for the championship at 7:30 p.m. on July 30.
Four teams from the tourney will advance to the state Class B tourney Aug. 5-16 at Mitchell.
S.D. Amateur Baseball Poll
WATERTOWN — The Alexandria Angels (Class B) and Brookings Cubs (Class A) are the state’s top-ranked teams in the final 2026 South Dakota Amateur Baseball Poll released on Tuesday, July 21.
Here are this week’s complete rankings with posted records through July 21.
- Class A — 1. Brookings Cubs (16-1); 2. Harrisburg Woodies (21-2); 2. Renner Monarchs (8-7); 3. 4. Yankton Lakers (18-3); 5. Aberdeen Circus (10-3).
- Class B — 1. Alexandria Angels (12-3); 2. Dell Rapids PBR (14-4); 3. Dell Rapids Mudcats (13-5); 4. Canova Gang (14-6); 5. Humboldt-Hartford Wood Ducks (14-5); 6. Castlewood Ravens (9-4); 7. Tabor Bluebirds (10-4); 8. Parkston Mudcats (13-6); 9. Redfield Dairy Queen (11-1); 10. (Tie) Elk Point .Colt 45s (14-3) and Kimball-White Lake Nationals (13-1). Receiving votes: Winner-Colome Pheasants (9-5), Volga Cormorants (12-7), Garretson Blue Jays (10-3), Larchwood IA Diamonds (10-4), Parkston Rays (12-8) and Wynot NE Expos (9-8).
VFW Baseball
BELLE FOURCHE — The Clark Area Dinos won the South Dakota VFW Baseball Varsity Alpha Division state tournament July 17-19.
After tying Mount Vernon-Plankinton 6-6 and beating Belle Fourche 4-0 in pool play, the Dinos topped MVP 5-1 in the semifinals and the Mobridge Crusaders 7-5 in the championship.
Cade Gaikowski had two hits in the tie agains MVP. Jakob Steen tossed 4 2/3 shutout innings and drove in two runs against Belle Fourche. Watson Grantham fired three shutout innings and Cooper Pommer went the final four innings in the semifinal win over MVP. Caleb Drenth got the win and Damian Severson and Bennett Pommer each drove in two runs in the championship.
Follow Watertown Public Opinion sports reporter Roger Merriam on X (formerly known as Twitter) @PO_Sports or email: rmerriam@thepublicopinion.com
This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: Postseason tournaments held for Legion, Junior Legion, amatuer & other levels
