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Baseball: Region 3A anyone's ballgame
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FarkRAPID CITY — The American Legion South Dakota 3A Regional Tournament could prove to be one of the most well-matched fields in recent memory according to several 3A teams head coaches.
The 3A regional kicks off today in Pierre with five teams competing for two spots at state. The bracket tournament is double-elimination with the winner of the tourney and the runner-up advancing to the
state tournament in Aberdeen on Aug. 6-10.
The first round, games 1 through 4, will be played today. Pierre Post 8 (21-15 overall) and Sturgis (9-23) play in Game 1 at 11 a.m. with the winner advancing to play Rapid City Post 22 (28-29), which drew a first-round bye, at 5 p.m. tonight.
In the other first-round game, Spearfish Post 164 (36-16) battles Rapid City Post 320 (41-12). The two teams split their season series 2-2, with Spearfish winning a doubleheader in Spearfish on
June 17, and Post 320 sweeping a doubleheader in Rapid City on June 24.
“The two teams are well matched,” Rapid City Post 320 head coach Jim Brandt said. “It is going to be quite a ballgame. It could come down a few small things to make the difference. We just want to go down there and play the kind of baseball we’ve played for 90 percent of the season instead of the 10 percent where we haven’t played well. You can’t count anybody out. I really think the field is wide open.”
Spearfish head coach Matt Kemp echoed Brandt’s sentiments about the tournament’s parity.
“There are a lot of evenly matched teams in this year’s tournament,” Kemp said.
“Any team that is in it can win it, realistically. It is going to be the team that goes down to Pierre
and puts together two or three games in a row, and if a team doesn’t play well they can go home in two games. It’s going to be fun, and it’s going to be a battle.”
Perennial 3A regional and state champions Rapid City Post 22 comes into the tournament under .500 for the first time in the history of the program, posing the question: Are they still the tournament favorites?
The second round, Games 5 through 7, will be played on Thursday. The winner of the Spearfish- Rapid City Post 320 game will advance to the undefeated game which will determine which team goes into the championship game, against the winner of Rapid City Post 22 and the Pierre-Sturgis winner.
The winner of the undefeated game automatically receives a berth into the South Dakota state tournament and the regional championship game.
The other entry into the state tourney and the championship game will come from the winner of the consolation bracket.
The championship game will be played on Friday at 1 p.m. and a second game will be played, if necessary, at 5 p.m.
Rapid City Post 22's Parker Sullivan dives back into first to beat the pick off attempt by a Spearfish Post 164 player during action at the Marshall Tubbs Classic on Friday. Both teams, along with Pierre Post 8, Sturgis Post 33 and Rapid City Post 320, begin play at the American Legion South Dakota Region 3A tournament today. (Seth A. McConnell/Journal staff)
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