The boys playing for Wessington Springs VFW 16U Teener team at this year’s State Tournament are pictured with their Consolation Championship trophy and medals. Pictured are back row, left to right: Coach Cory Mohling, Cooper Hainy, Clay Olinger, Quinten Christensen, Camden Jost, Mason Schelske, Landon Cleveland, Draven Thompson, Brady Larson, Coach Perry Jost and a State Tournament VFW Representative; front row: Austin Schimke, Cale Mohling, Cade Mohling, Dylan Schimke, Carson Hainy, Coen Harvey, Blake Larson, Brock Krueger, Tyler Fastnacht and Tyler Kole.

On Friday, July 31, the Wessington Springs VFW Teener 16U team traveled to Canova to take part in the State Tournament. They suffered a tough, ten-inning loss against Canova for their first round of play, but then they came back strong and won their next two games over the weekend to earn the Consolation Championship.

During their game against Canova on Friday night, Wessington Springs stayed in it until the end, but Canova pulled away late in an 8-5 victory. The game was tied at three with Canova batting in the top of the tenth inning (remember this age group normally plays seven innings), and Canova drew a walk, scoring one run and starting a scoring streak of five runs.

Wessington Springs lost despite out hitting the Canova team eight to seven. Canova got things started in the third inning when an error scored a run for their team. Wessington Springs evened things up at three in the bottom of the ninth inning, when Quinten Christensen hit a solo home run, which was the only home run hit among all the teams for the entire tournament.

For their second round of play on Saturday, Aug. 1, Wessington Springs found themselves up against the boys from Elkton. Wessington Springs trailed 3-2 in the top of the sixth inning when they scored two runs on a stolen base and sealed the win with a final score of 4-3.

For their final game of the tournament, they played in the Consolation Championship game on Sunday afternoon against the 16U team from Garretson. Despite a valiant effort to come back from a 7-0 deficit, Garretson just couldn’t catch up to Wessington Springs, thus Springs won the game and fifth place with a final score of 7-5.

…Read more details in this week’s issue of the Sanborn Weekly Journal!