Jul. 29—PARKSTON, S.D. — Entering the season with high expectations, the Parkston Post 194 baseball team battled through adversity at different points of the season.
Now, the team’s ready to showcase a complete effort on the diamond.
Parkston is one of eight teams vying for the centennial Class B state Legion baseball championship in Milbank, coming off a Region 5B championship over Alexandria Post 41 that marked the team’s fifth win in the last six games. The team’s also making consecutive appearances at the state Legion tournament for the first time since going back-to-back in 2007 and 2008.
With the opportunity at hand, the goal for Parkston is to strike first in the run column.
“We want to come out and set the tone right away,” head coach Landon Sudbeck said. “It’s just about flipping that switch. We got guys stealing bases, we’re aggressive, we want to put the opponent down right away and play defense from there.”
Entering the tournament with a 14-11 overall record, inconsistency has plagued the Parkston lineup during the season, having endured stretches of playing .500 baseball and losing five of six to begin the month of July, with two of those losses coming against tournament-bound teams in Scotland/Menno/Freeman/Canistota and Winner/Colome.
There were injuries to work around, as the time missed by team leaders Kolter Kramer and Kaden Holzbauer opened spots in the lineup to be filled by others. However, everyone inside the dugout went into each game believing in each other while playing a vital role across all seven innings.
“Everyone is needed,” outfielder and first baseman James Deckert said. “Every guy is needed, whether it’s hitting, pitching, catching, fielding, everybody has a purpose to the team. Anything can happen and every guy’s needed at every moment.”
Collectively, the team sports a .282 batting average offensively with 152 runs scored. Deckert leads Parkston at the plate batting .519 with 19 runs scored. Taite Klumb’s supplied power with the bat, hitting two home runs and co-leading Parkston with 16 RBIs alongside Kramer.
On the mound, Carter Sommer is 6-1 with a 1.63 earned-run average, striking out 67 batters in only 47 1/3 innings. Kash Neugebauer is second in innings pitched (36) and strikeouts (58), collecting the pitching win with an eight-strikeout performance in the Region 5B title game.
Not measured in the pitching numbers is the determination shared by the staff to put the team in the best position to win, fighting through tough innings to work deep into games, owing to the trust the coaches have in them to get all 21 outs in the game.
“They battle their tails off for us,” Sudbeck said. “They’re guys we trust to go out on the mound and keep us in games, and the defense has to make plays behind them. They’re our leaders and they stay with it, showing what it takes to succeed.”
With the focus now shifted to the state Legion tournament, the hope from everyone involved is to show better consistency and fewer mistakes on the field, looking to capitalize on the momentum of Parkston’s latest run to state and off of last year’s runner up finish to Elk Point/Jefferson.
“We need to limit the strikeouts, limit the walks when we’re out in the field and limit the errors,” Sommer said. “Put balls in play and be a hard out. Make them make a play and just have consistency throughout the entire game.”
Parkston opens the Class B state Legion tournament against Dakota Valley at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, July 28, in Milbank.