Good Tuesday baseball

Pierre looked good against a fairly good Valley Springs team. Only 5 hits but when scoring chances presented themselves, Post 8 took advantage. Ryan Yackley did another nice job on the mound, just needs to cut down on the walks. Those things usually come back to haunt you.
And Sturgis was just not into it on Tuesday. Got outscored a combined 26-1 in the two games. Pierre didn't really smoke the ball when they got hits, but they got alot of help. Sturgis did not pitch their best pitcher either. He was at a wrestling camp and the Sturgis coach says he might be injured with a finger injury from wrestling. Not good when you are a pitcher. Sturgis is young. Eli Bueno is 19 and played with them for 4 years but after that they are dealing with 16 and 17 years old. No seniors on the team. They are now 8 and 19 and have lost 11 straight according to their coach.

I think things are looking good for Pierre when region tournament comes around. If you can win your first two games, your in the state tournament. We will get a first hand look at Spearfish on Monday. The only time Pierre plays them during the regular season. And they are hosting the region tournament. By the way, all games are geared towards later afternoon and night time, obviously for ticket selling purposes. 2 games the first, 3 the second and then 1 maybe 2 the final day. So Pierre will play 1 on July 22, 1 or 2 the second day and if they are in the third day, 1 or 2.

We have Coaches in Pierre

Joe Kramer, longtime coach is the head football coach. 15 years at Dakota Wesleyan. A couple as head coach at Spearfish and assistant coaching stops at Mitchell and most recently Avon. He has done his research on Pierre and says he is ready. He is not concerned about getting a late start and will be in Pierre on Wednesday. He tells me that he will have a "Greet the Coach" for lack of a better term Wednesday night at 7:30 at Riggs High Gym.

Kylie Mundt is the head volleyball coach. No coaching experience but plenty of enthusiasm. I have known Kylie since she was in diapers. Played for Riggs and Dakota Wesleyan and she says she is excited to pass along some of the things she learned in college to her high school girls. She is kinda of a second generation coach in the Pierre system. Her mom, Nancy, was a former assistant gymnastics and for a short time was interim head coach back in the early 80's. She also knows she will have to rely alot on her assistant coaching staff that stays in place from the Kacy Kienholz era. Big shoes that Kylie is stepping into. Coach Kienholz took the program in 3 years from an outhouse to the penthouse.

Monday Ramblings from Rod

Okay, I did not know that the Pierre Rattlers played slow pitch softball! They don't. Not sure what was going on yesterday in Redfield. 20-18 in the first game and Redfield hits a walk off grand slam to win the game. My son who plays on the team said the wind was blowing out. Ya Think!!!!! First game, Tony Rislov, Tyson Lindekugel and Mike Fisher each had 3 hits. Tony had one and Mike had one. Dalton Decker had one and little brother Harry hit two out!! So did Tyson, 2 dingers! And we lost! In the second game, Fisher had 4 hits, Michael Gardner had 3 and Tyson had another home run. Harry also hit a home run. Hey that is 3 on the day for Harry. Allen Goodman only gave up 6 hits. You know what they say, pitching and defense wins.

And Pierre Post 8 wasn't short of a power supply either on Saturday. Jordan Heckenliable goes yard twice and Nolan Merrill hit one out for Pierre in their 8-7 win that ended Dickinson's 15 game winning streak. Some folks up there said it was the first loss Dickinson had, had in some 25 games which goes back to their high school season. Remember, Post 8 host a triangular tomorrow. They play Valley Springs at 1 p.m. and Sturgis at 5:30. Valley Springs and Sturgis play at 3:15 p.m.

And they had the drawing for the region tournament yesterday. July 22-23-24 at Spearfish. Pierre plays Post 320 at 5 p.m. mountain time onthe 22nd. Sturgis and Spearfish play the other game. Top two teams at tournament's end go to the state tournament which starts on the 29th in Rapid City. By the way, there are still motel rooms available in Rapid City, but you will pay.......big time....and be careful, several of the motels have a no cancel policy......the scoundrals. And one final thing on Post 8, the scheduled doubleheader they had scheduled for this Sunday against the Post 22 Expos has been cancelled. Coach Sullivan said that Post 22 head coach Dave Ploof said the Expos would not have enough players! Right Dave.

We find out a little after 4 p.m. today who the new head football and head volleyball coach will be. I will be at the meeting.

Saturday from Dickinson with Rod

As I blog this, not sure if the doubleheader with Pierre and Dickinson will start on time, but there will be baseball. The sun is shining and the wind is blowing, out of the North at about 20mph.

The Pierre school board will meet Monday and there will be a new head football coach and new girls volleyball coach named at the meeting. I know who it will be, but am not going to tell you here because number 1, it is not official. I can tell you the football coach will have a good resume and list of accomplishment. He was one of at least 4 former or current high school coaches out of the Pierre system that applied for the job. The volleyball coach that will be named will probably surprise a lot of folks and I would dare guess is a name that most have not even thought of but knows the Lady Gov volleyball program well. And she is not a current coach in the system.

Ah yes, the suspense thickens.

Friday night ramblings from Dickinson

It has rained real hard here and the Post 8 game with Dickinson for Friday night has officially been rained out. They hope to be on schedule tomorrow, but we will see. Bismarck is a very good team but we hung in there with them for 7 innings. By the way, Dickinson is still unbeaten at 15-0 on their Legion season. We will throw Kyle Cichos so we will get a better feel I think of where we are as a team. Could go to the rodeo. Korkow's are the stock provider. But the rodeo grounds should be a muddier mess than the baseball field here is.

Way to go Post 8

I did not travel to Rapid City but I listened and Post 8 did themselves proud by beating Rapid City Post 22's varsity last night. I am quite sure coach Sullivan can not figure out how they won two games last night when they committed a combined 9 errors except that Rapid City decided to try to match Pierre error for error. If you look at box scores, you will see that Post 22 commits alot of errors and they are not the same fundamentally sound team they have been in the past. Now, don't take anything away from Pierre and what they accomplished. In 3 games with Post 22's varsity, Pierre is 2 and 1. Not many Pierre teams over the last 40 years can brag about that fact. Maybe it is good for Post 22 they host the state tournament and don't have to qualify through the region. I also have it by a good source that there are parental grumblings as well as fan grumblings at ole Fitzgerald this summer. They must not be used to seeing their beloved boys of summer lose, let alone lose to fellow South Dakota teams!!!!!! By the way, Region tournament pairing drawings are scheduled for Sunday afternoon at Post 22 post home in Rapid City. Region tournament is in Spearfish this year, July 22 through the 24th.

Tuesday with Rod

Kuddos to the Aberdeen school board to back their girls basketball coach, Dawn Seiler, after a group of parents went after her. It would have been easy to succumb to parental pressure but instead, the elected school board said, we hired her, we stand by her. She is a successful coach, and after her 26 years of being in education (she is a high school assistant principal also) and coaching, she must be doing something right!!!!! According to news reports it sounds like she was not given a blank check by the school board to continue on as she has, so a little compromise is understandibly in order. I hope things work out in Aberdeen. What is that sportsmanship thing, Let the players play, the coaches coach and the fans cheer!!! Coaches have lines they cannot cross, parents and fans should also understand where their line is. Other school boards should take a note on what Aberdeen did last night, and made it public.

Also if you have watched the College World Series, you are getting to watch some of the best baseball on TV. There have been numerous home runs, alot of baseball drama, and once again, TV commentators that don't know when to shut up!!!!!!! LSU won last night's first game of the best of 3 series coming from behind twice to get the game into extra innings. Should make tonight's game better watching than the Twins, Cubs and yes, even the Yankees and Red Sox.

And Orin Burke of the Pierre A Teeners, an inside the park home run last night. The older you get, the less that has a chance to happen. Enjoy it.

It's Monday

Sioux Falls West looks pretty good when they hit and pitch the way they did against Pierre on Sunday. Their problem according to their coach Josh Merriagan is putting two good games together in doubleheaders. Pierre's pitchers did ok. Kyle Cichos had one of those games. Made some good pitches that the West hitters hit. When he made a mistake, West hitters made him pay. A tough week ahead with games at Rapid City Post 22, Bismarck and Dickinson. Here are the questions. Can Royce Pease and Brian Drapeaux put back to back performances together now. They did not allowed an earned run between them on Saturday. And how will Kyle rebound after getting shelled. Not sure of the rotation set up for this week, but I would think Kyle would pitch against Dickinson on Friday. Good test.

Not a good weekend for the A Teeners, lost all 3 at Sioux Falls tournament. But they are adjusting to having Adam Deneke, Ryan Yackley and Scott Cichos getting called up to the Post 8 varsity. And 13-14 Teeners took2 of 3 at Watertown in the tournament this weekend. Guess the early morning (9 a.m. start) on Sunday might have been early for the umpires as well. They lost track of the ball-strike count 7 times in a 6 inning game!!!!! Might want to buy new clickers, or else have an instruction class on how to use them. Once is understood, twice happens. After that......ooooops.

Saturday thoughts from Rod

Pierre Rattlers looked pretty good Friday night winning 16-7 over Martin. Harry Decker crushed a 3 run homer and Mike Fisher had a 2 run homer and finished a double shy from hitting for the cycle. Nice crowd at the game. It must have been dogs night out. Several fans brought their puppies with them to the game. There are alot of cute puppies residing in the homes of the players.

And then, Sioux Falls West made a stop over to play Chamberlain Friday night on way to the Koester tournament. West won 27-4 and I don't think Chamberlain is all that bad. The Pierre guys had better be ready Sunday when they play them at 12:30 p.m. Pierre plays at 5 and 7:30 tomorrow night against Huron and R.C. Post 22 Expos. Pete Melendez is not coaching that group this year. Lee Shepard is listed as the lone coach. The Expos are not the Split Squad any more. This team will play in the NBC National tournament in Wichita for their post season.

Friday sports stuff

A bit of a surprise that several parents are out to get Dawn Seiler, the girls basketball coach at Aberdeen Central. 400 plus wins isn't good enough these days. She apparently made some parents mad at how she treated their daughters. My question is this. Basketball ended 3 months ago. Why is this coming out now? Coach Seiler isn't the first coach to usher a naughty word in practice or the huddle, and she won't be the last. After all, this isn't a perfect world! And if the Aberdeen school district has a backbone, coach Seiler will be there again next year coaching and her girls will be winning more basketball games. And perhaps coach Seiler can also work on being a kinder gentler coach without giving up the things she beleives in. Or maybe a 2 game suspension might be in order. It's happened to head coaches in the past in other schools. At least once anyway as I recall.

Koester Memorial tournament baseball this weekend. Pierre native Dan Thelan coaches Huron, one of the 3 other teams in the tournament. Dan told me last week when we played in Huron that high school baseball isn't hurting Legion Baseball, but it is not helping it either. He told me to tell people in Pierre that Pierre does it right! No high school baseball in the spring and numbers do not seem to be a problem. Huron only has 11 players. That 3 or 4 less than they had for high school ball this spring. Aberdeen, Brookings, Mitchell, Yankton, Watertown. They all have high school baseball, and they all have less numbers out for Legion ball than they did in the spring. Coaches Gulseth, Hirschoff, Noden, Bernatow and Beste didn't give me an answer any different that Dan did about the subject either. Heck, Dickinson has won the last two North Dakota high school championships and are last year's state Legion champions in N.D. They have less numbers playing for the Legion than they did for the high school team according to their coach.And what about that 2 hour game the Twins played yesterday. Glad I didn't have a ticket to the game. I might have thought I didn't get my money's worth. Unlike the College World Series. Most of those games are going well beyond 3 hours.

And keep an eye out on the golf course for 11 year old Cody Kuehl. Cody has won the first 4 tournaments on the SDGA junior tour this summer. He won in Pierre yesterday again. So did Miles Schock and Hallie Getz.

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