Take Me Out to the Ball Game : Plenty of Eastern Dakota League amateur, area Legion squads to follow
Watertown isn't the only place in the area to take in a baseball game this summer.
Yes it's true the Watertown Baseball Association is again fielding six teams, including the Post 17 American Legion squad.
Still, there are a number of area ballparks to take in a game this summer, including Eastern Dakota League and its eight amateur baseball teams. Another area towns are fielding American Legion baseball teams this summer.
What about the 'old' guys?
The season is in full gear for the amateur baseball teams in the Eastern Dakota League, which play Sundays and Wednesdays as well as a few other nights.
League play runs through mid-July before seven of the league's teams compete in the Class B district tournament at Lake Norden. Teams that advance through the district will compete in the state tournament Aug. 3-14 at Mitchell.
The Castlewood Ravens are the only Class A team in the league and will compete in a different postseason format. Other league members include the Aurora Aces, Bryant Wild Hogs, Castlewood Monarchs, Clark Traders, Lake Norden Lakers, Milbank Firechiefs and Volga Cormorants.
Based on early-season results, the league could be very evenly-balanced this summer.
"Yeah, there's a lot of parity," said longtime Castlewood Ravens manager Dan Haug.
Some Early-Season Amateur Highlights
There's been some impressive performances so far this season, including a handful from Milbank pitcher Dominique Boerger. The former Dakota Wesleyan University left-hander fanned 22 batters in a recent complete-game win over the Ravens, a team made up mostly of former Watertown Post 17 players. He's also had two relief stints in which he's recorded 12 strikeouts in five innings or less.
Boeger has produced a lot of strikeouts before, fanning 24 in a game against the Monarchs in 2018 and 25 in another game against the Cormorants in 2020. At the time, he became only the fourth pitcher in state amateur baseball history to fan 25 or more batters in game.
Other highlights so far this season have included Josh Cleveland's 13-strikeout performance in the Monarchs' 7-3 win over the Firechiefs and Alex Gauer's 3-for-3 performance with two homers and seven RBIs in a 14-6 win over Lake Norden.
Clark has enjoyed a handful of top efforts. Tyler Brinka went 6-for-6 and Andrew Magedanz drove in six runs in a 12-11 loss to Volga, Gunnar Kvistad had four hits and drove in three runs in a win over Aurora and Wesley Jones allowed one hit and fanned nine in six innings during a win over Bryant.
Don't forget about Legion baseball
Watertown Post 17 competes in Class A, but there are eight area Class B Legion baseball teams this summer.
Castlewood, Milbank, Big Stone City, Webster and Sisseton have competed the past couple of summer in Region 1B.
"I think it could come down to Castlewood, Milbank and Big Stone in that region," said Haug, who also manages Castlewood's Legion team. "I know we've got four good arms. Milbank has two or three and Big Stone City also has a couple."
Other area teams include Lake Norden-Badger, Volga and the Clark-Willow Lake Senators.
Region alignments haven't been finalized, but those tournaments will be held in July. Region champions advance to the State B tourney July 29-Aug. 2 at Gregory.
Big Stone City and Lake Norden-Badger each advance to state last summer.
More teams to follow
A number of these same area towns also are fielding Junior Legion and/or VFW teams this summer.
Clark will host the State B Junior Legion tournament Aug. 5-7.
This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: Take Me Out to the Ball Game : Plenty of Eastern Dakota League amateur, area Legion squads to follow
