Category Archives: Sports

Winner/Colome Legion baseball team has made it to the final four of the State B Legion tournament at Leahy Bowl in Winner.  The Royals played Vermillion Monday night for the right to advance to the state championship.  On their way to the final four, Winner/Colome defeated McCook/Miner and Platte-Geddes and lost to Spearfish.

In the Royal’s first game on Friday night, they defeated McCook/Miner 5-3.  A three run first inning set the Royals up for the victory.

The team had seven hits with Riley Calhoon having two singles and Carter Brickman had two RBIs.   Pitching for Winner/Colome were Carter Brickman who threw 4 1/3 innings to earn the win, giving up 3 runs on 5 hits, 2 walks and no strikeouts. Kelly O’Bryan earned the save in relief pitching 2 2/3 innings giving up no run, o hits 1 walk and 1 strikeout.

Saturday Spearfish shut out Winner/Colome 10-0.

Winner/Colome had 5 hits and O’Bryan had 2 singles.

Ty Bolton threw 2 1/3 innings and gave up five runs on 7 hits, 8 walks and 1strikeout. Drew DeMers threw 1 1/3 inning and gave up 3 runs on 3 hits, 1 walk and 1 strikeout. Levi McClanahan threw a third of an inning. Cale Meiners threw two innings giving up 2 uns on 3 hits.

The Royals bounced back on Sunday as they defeated Platte-Geddes 10-5. The Royals got a nice cushion as they scored several runs in the opening inning.

Winner/Colome had 10 hits. Calhoon, McClanahan and DeMers all had 2 hits and nick Lantz had 2 RBIs.  In pitching, O’Bryan threw one inning, Calhoon threw 6 innings in relief to get the win and give up five runs on 5 hits, 2 walks and 2 strikeouts.

“It’s been a great three days so far for our guys and feels special to still be alive in the final four with so many great teams here,” said coach Drew Weber.  “We beat McCook/Miner in a thrilling game on Friday night with some great pitching by Carter and Kelly and we got some timely hits from our entire order,” said the coach.

“The Spearfish game didn’t go as planned but we bounded back with a hard-fought victory over Platte on Sunday. So far, I’ve been very impressed with our pitching and defense but our offense has come through with some clutch hits too. We’re not sure how it’s going to end up but we have already proven we are one of the best teams in the state and I’m very proud of our kids,” said Weber.

On Monday, Spearfish played McCook/Miner in the 5 p.m. game and at 7:30 p.m. Winner/Colome took on Vermillion.

The championship was played at Leahy Bowl on Tuesday, July 25. Be sure to follow the Winner Advocate for all the pictures and the latest scores from the Winner/Colome Royals.

Winner/Colome amateur baseball team won two games in the Sunshine League tournament in Parkston.

The Pheasants defeated Dimock/Emery 16-1 in 6 innings on Sunday.  The Pheasants advanced to the District 5B championship.

Derek Graesser didn’t allow a hit in the game.  Zach Harter had a three run home run to highlight the scoring. Graesser and Dillon Lambley each had two doubles while Lakin Neugebauer had three hits and Reed Harter added a two hits.

The Pheasants had eight runs in the sixth inning to end the game early.

Winner/Colome will face Alexandria at 7:30 p.m. Friday for the district title.

Winner/Colome picked up an 11-1 victory over Platte in the first round of the district tournament on Thursday in Parkston.

The Pheasants Jared Donahue was the winning pitcher. He pitched all eight innings, struck out 15 batters and gave up three hits.

Offensively, Austin Richey had a three run home run, drove in four runs and added a single. Austin Calhoon, Derek Graesser and Geno Katz all had two singles. Calhoon had an RBI and Katz dove in two runs. Winner/Colome collected 11 hits.

The Winner Junior Legion baseball team lost to Tabor 9-8 and beat Gregory 5-1.

Leading hitters in the Tabor game were Dalton Baker with 2 hits, Phillip Jorgensn with 2 hits, Kameron Meiners with 3 hits.

Against Gregory, leading the hitters were Oscar Praveck with 2 hits, Meiners with 2 hits, Brady Fritz with 2 hits and Nathan Monk with 2 hits.
Pitching a complete game was Meiners with six strikeouts.

Winner will play in the region tournament on Saturday in Winner and will play Mission at 10 a.m. Lennox plays Wessington Springs after the first game. Then the two losers will play followed by the two winners.

The Winner 12U Baseball team finished in fourth place at the State VFW 12U Class A Tournament in Humboldt on July 14, 15, and 16.

In the first game of pool play, the boys defeated Baltic 9-5. Silas Chasing Hawk and Ethan Bartels combined for the pitching in this game. Aiden Barfuss hit two home runs in this game.

In the second game of pool play, the Winner team defeated Dell Rapids by a score of 19-7. Blake Volmer, Aiden Barfuss, and Karson Keiser combined to do the pitching in this game. The Winner boys had 15 hits including two more home runs by Aiden Barfuss.

In the final game of pool play, the Winner team defeated Milbank by a score of 13-2. Silas Chasing Hawk and Ethan Bartels combined to do the pitching in this game. Silas Chasing Hawk had 4 hits with 4 runs scored and Karson Keiser had 4 walks with 4 runs scored as well.

As the Winner team won their pool, they played 2 games in Sunday’s medal round.

The semifinal game was with West Central 12’s team. The Winner youth lost by a score of 6-1, while stranding 9 runners on base over 6 innings.

“We just couldn’t seem to come up with a hit at several key times in this game,” said coach Mike Calhoon.  The West Central team had defeated every pool play opponent by the 10 run rule and only gave up 6 runs over all 5 of their games on the way to the State Championship.

In the third place game, the Winner boys were defeated by the West Central 11’s by a score of 6-2.

“We led this game going into the bottom of the fourth inning but West Central erupted for 5 runs in the home half of the fourth and we were unable to mount much of a scoring threat in our final two innings,” said Calhoon.

Throughout the tournament, Winner utilized five different pitchers. All players performed very well with every player getting at least one hit. The Winner defense also played error free ball for the 3 pool play games and had numerous outfield assists for put outs in this tournament.

This team was a combination of Winner Gold, Winner Purple, and Clearfield Majors. The coaches from each of those teams selected the players for this squad. This team was coached by Mike Calhoon, Kevin Keiser, and Keven Morehart. “The coaches appreciate the players and their parents for committing to this tournament at late notice as we weren’t accepted until about a week prior to this tournament,” explained Calhoon. He said the Winner Youth Baseball program was a big help in purchasing jerseys for the players to use during the tournament. Also, to T-Bones Treehouse sponsored Winner’s page in the program.

“ Hopefully, the players had fun and learned that they are able to compete at a high level within the state,” said Calhoon.

The Winner 12U Girls Softball team competed in the South Dakota State Girls Fastpitch Tournament in Sioux Falls at Harmodon Park on July 14-15.

The first round Winner Lightning played Madison Thunderstruck and came out on top 10-8.

The next game featured Winner Lightning against the Rapid City Punishers. This was an exciting game where Winner came out on top 15-12 after 2 sudden death extra innings!

Immediately after this emotional win, Winner Lightning played Dakota Valley and lost 12-0. (Dakota Valley ended up winning the Championship game in the 12U-C division.) Winner Lightning then faced Elk Point-Jefferson and came up short 11-3 to end the season.

Winner Lightning 12U team finished their season with a 14-11 record. Girls participating in the state tournament were Mali Beehler, Karlee Brozik, Melanie Brozik, Shayne Day, Miranda Fisher, Ainsley Henderson, Joselin Kludt, Tessa Mann, Aleya Miller, Rylee Root, Emily Sachtjen, Cassidy Seeking Land, and Cici Watson.

The 12U team was coached at the state tournament by Karla Brozik and Kristen Hausmann.

By Dan Bechtold, Editor

There is a lot of excitement among members of the Winner/Colome Legion baseball team as the state B tournament comes to Winner.  Winner will be the host for five days as iconic Leahy Bowl will be site for the state meet.  The state tournament starts Friday, July 21 and runs through Tuesday, July 25.

The grounds crew plus parent volunteers have been working hard to get the field ready. It has been hard since it has been so dry.

“Hosting the state tournament is a cool experience,” said coach Drew Weber.  “It is a good opportunity to showcase our baseball community which is one of the top ones in South Dakota,” he said.

The last time Winner hosted the state tournament was in 2011 and 2006. It was in 2006 when Tresh Swedlund was the coach of the Legion team that Winner won the state meet. Jared Donahue was Winner’s leading pitcher in that game. Donahue, who now lives in Hartford, plays for the Winner/Colome amateur baseball team.

As the host team, Winner/Colome has an automatic berth in the state meet. It does not have to go through the region play to earn a spot.  Winner/Colome has drawn a team from Region 5B to play in the last game of the day on July 21 at around 7:30 p.m.  Region 5 is made up teams from Humboldt, Colton, McCook/Montrose, Tea, Baltic and Aurora.

Last year Winner/Colome played in the state tournament in Webster and Weber says that state experience should help the team.
Milbank is the defending state champion.  There are 12 players on the current Winner/Colome roster with 11 Legion members and Dalton Baker was called up from the Junior Legion team.

Weber says the state meet will be a tough tournament. “There are some really good teams in it this year,” he said.  Milbank returns their best pitcher and Dell Rapids, who won the high school club ball tournament, is loaded with good players.  Even though teams were still playing regional games and the final eight teams were not known at the time of this interview, Weber talked about some of the top teams who could punch their ticket to Winner. Humboldt and McCook are both in the same region and the coach says they both are really good.  Weber noted if Vermillion comes out of their region they will be good.  Tabor, Parkston and Platte are all in one region.

Weber thinks the three teams making it to state will be whoever comes out of the McCook/Humboldt region, Dell Rapids and Milbank.  The coach noted the Royals will have their work cut out for them.

The coach noted pitching will be very important. “You need to have five to six pitches and that is something we feel we have. We feel we have the pitchers to make a run at it.” Weber is quick to point out that Winner/Colome also has to hit the ball and play good defense to win games.  Weber says Winner/Colome has played so many tough teams and a lot of Class A teams. “We are hitting the ball better. I feel comfortable with all nine guys batting.”

The coach explained pitching has been up and down. “I trust we will make good pitches and will not walk a lot of players.”

To keep fresh, the Winner/Colome team played in Miller on Friday and Sunday played a double header in Ainsworth, Neb.

The week of the state meet there will be several days of practice. Weber says the team will be ready to go.
“The team is excited. I can’t wait to get going,” added Weber.

Winner/Colome amateur baseball team scored the first six runs of the game and defeated Platte 11-1 Thursday night in Winner.

Austin Richey had four hits to lead the Pheasants.

Winner/Colome amateur baseball team defeated Pierre 8-3 on July 11.

Drew Weber earned the complete game victory on the mound.  The game with Pierre was a non-league game.

In the Sunshine League standings, Winner/Colome is rated 3rd with an 8-5 record.

Winner/Colome is getting ready for the Sunshine League tournament which starts July 20 in Parkston.

Winner/Colome Legion baseball team was defeated by Aberdeen Smittys 13-10 Thursday in Miller.

The Royals had a 4-5 game from Kelly O’Bryan and Levi McClanahan had two hits including a triple and drove in two runs.  Riley Calhoon scored three runs and Drew DeMers added two hits.

Carter Brickman took the loss allowing four earned runs in three innings, striking out two.  Ty Bolton and Jeremiah Yeaman pitched in relief.

Winner/Colome Legion baseball team picked up two against Ainsworth, Neb. Sunday.  This was a good day for the offense as they sharpen their skills in preparation for the Class B Legion baseball tournament which starts Friday in Winner.

In the first game in Nebraska, Winner/Colome won 28-0 in two innings.

Nick Lantz threw two innings and gave up no runs on 2 hits, 1 walk and 2 strikeouts.  At the plate, Levi McClanahan had a double, 3 singles, 4 runs scored and 5 RBIs.  Drew DeMers had a double, single, and 3 RBIs, Kelly O’Bryan had 2 singles and 2 RBIs.  Nine Royals had hits in the game.

In the second game, Winner/Colome won 11-2.

Riley Calhoon earned the win pitching three innings and giving up no runs on no hits, 1 walk and 5 strikeouts. Drew DeMers pitched the final two innings and gave up 2 runs on 2 this, no walks and 1 strikeout.  Batting, Calhoon had 3 singles and 3 runs scored and two RBIs. DeMers and Lantz each had singles and 2 runs scored.

Winner/Colome will play McCook/Miner on Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the state tournament.

The Winner Junior Legion baseball team won one game and lost two in the Sioux Falls Mid Summer Classic this weekend.

Winner lost the first game to Pierre 8-7.

Phillip Jorgensen was the pitcher.  Leading hitters were Jorgensen with 2 doubles and a single with 4 RBIs, Oscar Pravecek with 2 hits and Kameron Meiners with 2 hits and Joren Bruun with 2 hits.

Winner was defeated by Sioux Falls MB Silver 15-10.

Leading hitters were Jorgensen with 2 doubles, a home run and single with five RBIs. Preston Norrid had 2 hits and Kameron Meiners had 2 hits with Joren Bruun adding 2 hits.

In the third game, Winner shut out Brookings 10-0.

Meiners was the pitcher for Winner. Coach Justin Vietor said Meiners threw the ball well in this game.  Leading hitters were Bruun with 2 hits, Jorgensen with 3 hits, Pravecek with 2 hits and Dalton Baker with 3 hits.

Winner Junior Teeners were eliminated by Tea 16-6 in the Regional tournament.

Zach Bohnet and Jesse Colson pitched.  Bohnet had 2 RBI’s and Adam Bohnet had an RBI triple. Michael Olson, Owen Monk, Evan Farner, Charley Pravecek and Ashton Klein also had hits.

In the opening game, Winner lost to Wagner 13-3.

Zach Bohnet and Brady Fritz shared pitching duties.  Fritz had a home run and a single, Farner and Kolbie Osborn each had 2 hits and Owen Duffy reached base four times.

In the second game, Winner was victorious over Tri Valley 12-0.

“Farner pitched a gem of a game with 4 shutout innings and had 5 strikeouts,” said coach Jon Hanson.  On the offensive side, Fritz had 4 hits, Farner, 2 hits, Klein and Osborn each had a hit.