Monthly Archives: July 2019

By Colton Hall
Staff Writer

Building a baseball team out of scratch isn’t something that many people do.

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By Colton Hall
Staff Writer

The odds might have been against them, but that didn’t matter. The Winner/Colome Royals are going to state.

Winner/Colome Royals Legion baseball team overcame constant adversity including fighting through the “losers bracket”, injuries, and a shortage of pitching to ultimately take home a 17-3 win over Gregory in the Region 7B Championship at Leahy Bowl Saturday.

“It wasn’t easy,” Foss said after his team’s win. “Having to come back all the way around to win was tough. We played a good Spearfish team the last couple days as well as having to beat Gregory twice. It was a tough battle all three days, but I’m proud of our boys.”

WINNER/COLOME 6 SPEARFISH 3

The Royals started it’s road to state off with a 6-3 victory over Spearfish on Thursday. Spearfish would jump out to a 2-1 lead after two innings, but the Royals scored two more runs to take the lead in the third inning.

Spearfish would tie the game at three in the fourth inning, but that’s when Winner/Colome took control of the game and wouldn’t let it go. The Royals scored three runs in the fifth inning, counted on Jackson Kinzer to last his allotted 105 pitches to close out the game.

Kinzer also showed up at the plate, and 2-for-3 in game one with two RBI. Oscar Pravecek led Winner/Colome with three RBI.

Kinzer went seven innings, and allowed only three runs while striking out six batters.

GREGORY 9 WINNER/COLOME 7

In an 11 inning heartbreak ending, the Winner/Colome Royals suffered a 9-7 loss to Gregory in it’s first game on Friday at Leahy Bowl.

The loss would make the road to state difficult for the Royals as they would have to win through the losers bracket to be able to take on Gregory once again to advance to state.

Although Winner/Colome jumped out to a 1-0 lead through two innings, Gregory answered with a run in the third and fifth innings to take a 2-1 lead. Needing a run in the seventh, the Royals got it and pushed the game to extra innings.

After surrendering two more runs in the ninth, the Winner/Colome Royals once again found itself answering the bell. This time, Carter Brickman singled which sent in two runs.

In the 11th inning, Winner/Colome scored three runs but it wasn’t enough.

Brickman finished with three RBIs while Kinzer added a couple RBI of his own. Brickman pitched six innings, and allowed five hits, two runs, with three strikeouts. Layton Thieman went four and 2/3 innings while aligns six hits, seven runs and striking out four batters.

Nolan Sachtjen closed out the game for Winner/Colome.

Winner/Colome 6 Spearfish 3

With the only option to win out to get to state, Winner/Colome started by beating Spearfish once again, 6-3.

The Royals jumped out to a 4-1 lead through four innings, but Spearfish wasn’t done yet.

Spearfish answered with two runs in the fifth, but Winner/Colome put the game out of reach by scoring two runs in the sixth inning.

Joren Bruun and Kinzer registered three hits for the Royals with both finishing with an RBI.

Jacob Beckers and Bruun pitched for Winner/Colome. Beckers lasted 4 1/3 innings while allowing eight hits, three runs, and struck out two batters. Bruun pitched 2 2/3 innings, and allowed two hits while striking out four more batters.

WINNER/COLOME 17 GREGORY 8

Winner/Colome wanted a rematch against Gregory after a heart-breaking loss in day two. They got it.

The Royals pulled out the first of two victories over Gregory with a 17-8 win at Leahy Bowl on Saturday.

Gregory found itself ahead 4-2 going into the third when Winner/Colome had seen enough.

The Royals went on to score 11 unanswered runs before Gregory scored four runs in the fifth. Still, the Royals went on to score five more runs that Greogry couldn’t match to close out the game.

At the plate, Pravecek proved to be vital to Winner/Colome’s success by hitting in four runners. Bruun also finished his day with two RBI.

Although Winner/Colome was running short on pitchers, they didn’t pannick. Calvin Ringing Shield, Aaron Gilchrist, and Nolan Sachtjen showed up for the Royals. Ringing Shield went 1 2/3 innings while allowing three hits and four runs while striking out one batter.

Gilchrist then came in and worked his magic for 4 1/3 innings while allowing five hits, four runs while striking out three batters. Sachtjen closed out the game once again, and didn’t allow a hit or run and struck out one more Gregory batter.

WINNER/COLOME 17 GREGORY 3

Redemption wasn’t good enough in game one for the Royals. They wanted to go to state.

The Winner/Colome Legion closed out it’s weekend with a 17-3 win over Gregory to advance to state on Saturday.

The game looked as though it would be a dogfight once again when Gregory took a 2-1 lead early in the game. Winner/Colome wasn’t going to let this game get away, and summoned it’s offense for the rest of the game.

Winner/Colome exploded for sixteen runs while Gregory could only muster one. At the plate Pravevek, Thieman, and Dalton Baker each finished with three RBI for Winner/Colome. The Royals also enjoyed timely hitting from Phillip Jorgensen, who sustained an injury in day two, but who went 2-for-three from the plate.

“Phillip’s a gamer,” Foss said. “He came back after being a little banged up, and he looked great. We didn’t know if he was going to play, and we played the situation by ear. I made him hit, and tried to get him loosened up before the game. It meant a lot to our team for him to play like he did, and he showed up when we needed him.”

Shea Connot also finished with two timely hits for the Royals.

Pitchers were thin, but players like Baker stepped up throughout the game to help Winner/Colome hold on. Baker went five innings, and allowed five hits, three runs, and struck out four batters.

Throughout the tournament, players like Ringing Shield and Baker proved to be vital to Winner/Colome’s success.

“Those two played great,” Foss said of Ringing Shield and Baker. “Calvin really showed up for us as well as Baker did. Both stepped up on the offensive and defensive ends when we need them the most.”

As far as state is concerned, the Royals will need to bring that same fire and resilience that took them through the losers bracket to go to state.

“There’s a total of eight teams that are the best in the state,” Foss said. “We’re going to face the best teams in South Dakota. Our thing is that we have to swing the bats, we have to throw strikes, and we have to play solid defense. If we’re healthy, and all of us swing the bat, we can be competitive.”

Staff Reports

It’s tough when you’re opponent jumps on top right away, but it’s just part of the game.

The Winner/Colome Pheasants weren’t able to overcome an early 5-0 gap that would ultimately result in a 7-2 road loss to the Alexandria Angels in a recent game.

At the start, Alexandria got hot.

Alexandria hit a home run in the first inning that sent in two batters. In the second, the Angels scored three runs to give them a 5-0 lead early. But the Pheasants weren’t done yet.

In the fourth inning, JJ Farner helped to score the only two runs for the Pheasants which would give him his two RBI on the night. No other Pheasant players would finish with an RBI.

The Angels put the game away by hitting their second homerun of the even which helped score two runs.

Kelly O’Bryan and Connor Hopkins pitched for the Pheasants. The duo would combine to go eight innings, allow seven hits, seven runs and strike out eight batters.

A win is a win.

The Winner/Colome amateur baseball snuck out a 5-4 win over the Platte Killer Tomatoes last Thursday night at Leahy Bowl.

The Pheasants grabbed a 4-0 lead after five innings, but the Killer Tomatoes weren’t done yet.

Platte scored three runs in the eighth inning, and added one more run in the ninth to tie the game at four. The Pheasants needed someone to step up at the bottom of the ninth.

Dillon Lambley stepped up.

Lambley hadn’t had a single hit at four trips up to the plate, but the only hit that he would garner on the evening couldn’t have come at a better time.

Lambley hit a walk-off fielder’s choice that may have gotten himself out, but got the win for the Pheasants in crunch time.

Reed Harter also had himself a big night. Harter hit got three hits on four at-bats on the night. Harter finished with an RBI, a triple and a double.

Derek Graesser had a solid overall game as the Pheasants lone pitcher. Graesser pithed all nine innings for Winner/Colome and allowed only four runs. Graesser would also silence 11 Platte batters.

The Winner/Colome Pheasants continue to real in the wins.

After a 7-1 win over the Wagner Rockets in Wagner, the Pheasants are now 13-3 on the season.

The Pheasants scored seven runs in the first nine innings before Wagner put up a run in the ninth.

Derek Graesser lead the way for Winner/Colome by going 2-for-4 from the plate. Graesser would lead the Pheasants with two RBI. Reed Harter, Zach Harter, Austin Calhoon, and Connor Hopkins all finished the game with an RBI.

While the hitting was fantastic, the pitching for the Pheasants mighty have been on a whole other level.

JJ Farner pitched a no-hitter, and went all nine innings. Farner would pitch a total of 145 pitches while striking out 17 batters.

Winner/Colome 4-Mt. Vernon 2
Winner/Colome Pheasants defeated Mt. Vernon 4-2 on Thursday at Leahy Bowl.

The game was tied at 2 with the Pheasants battling in the bottom of the sixth inning when Dillon Lambley singled on a 1-1 count scoring two runs.
Winner/Colome got on the board in the first inning when Zach Harter grounded out scoring one run.

The Pheasants took the lead for good scoring three runs in the sixth inning.
Connor Hopkins pitched Winner/Colome to victory. He surrendered two runs on four hits over seven innings striking out five. Kelly O’Bryan threw two innings in relief.

Reed Harter had a triple and Austin Calhoon belted a double. Calhoon led the local team at the plate as he was 3-4.

The next action for the Pheasants will be in the Sunshine League tournament in Parkston on July 25 at 8 p.m. The Pheasants cinched the No. 2 spot.