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Jun. 30—As the calendar turns to July, the race is on for postseason positioning in the South Dakota American Legion baseball standings.
The Class A state tournament is set for July 28-Aug. 1, with 15 teams making their case for inclusion in the eight-team bracket in Rapid City. Of the 15 Class A programs, 11 have records at or above .500 against other South Dakota opponents.
A reminder: Only games against South Dakota Class A competition count toward the seed-point standings, and contests played in a regular-season tournament setting using modified rules do not count.
The postseason features a best-of-three games playoff series, which begins July 22. Teams are paired against one another based on the final seed-point standings, and the series is hosted by the top seeds to determine seven state tournament qualifiers. Rapid City Post 22 is the tournament host and, therefore, is an automatic qualifier to the state bracket.
Rapid City Post 22 (29-7 overall, 7-2 toward SD Legion standings) stands atop the standings as the lone team with a seed-point average above 43 points. All records and positions referenced were current through games on June 29.
The Hardhats have a gap approaching four-tenths of a point on Yankton (16-6, 11-4) at No. 2. Yankton managed a doubleheader split at Post 22 on June 25, as the teams traded one-run wins. The only other South Dakota program to beat Post 22 this summer was Rapid City rival Post 320 in the season opener back on May 20.
Yankton holds a cushion of nearly a half-point on Sioux Falls West (23-8, 12-4) at No. 3, which is closely followed by Rapid City Post 320 (25-11, 9-5) and Brandon Valley (11-11, 6-5) for places No. 4 and No. 5, respectively. Sioux Falls West won its lone meeting with Yankton 9-5 on June 16, while Yankton owns a 7-1 win against Post 320 from June 24. Brandon Valley has split doubleheaders with Yankton and Sioux Falls West.
Defending Class A champion Harrisburg (12-17, 8-6) and Brookings (8-10, 5-5) are in a close battle for the No. 6 spot; however, the two programs are not on each other's schedules. Notably, both are also within a half-point of Brandon Valley and cracking the top-5. Brookings has eight of 10 remaining contests against programs currently lower than them in the standings.
As it stands, the race for the No. 8 spot — crucially the last position for a program to host in the postseason — is heated, with four teams separated by just over a quarter-point from top to bottom. Renner (12-18, 10-9), the 2024 state champion, paces the group, barely ahead of Pierre (11-13, 10-9), Palace City (15-11, 8-7) and Watertown (14-10, 7-7). Among that grouping, all 10 of Watertown's remaining games are against teams between No. 7 and No. 13, giving Post 17 ample opportunity to climb the rankings. Also, Palace City has eight of 12 remaining games against opponents No. 7 or below.
Sioux Falls East (12-16, 7-9) is floating by itself at No. 12 with a gap of more than one point on either side. Rounding out the standings are Spearfish (11-12, 1-9), Aberdeen (7-15, 3-10) and Huron (2-17, 1-14).
On June 23, the South Dakota American Legion Athletic Commission removed Sturgis from the Class A standings and also erased all game results against Sturgis for the remaining teams. Here is an excerpt from a statement issued by the South Dakota American Legion Athletic Commission on the situation:
"This decision was made largely due to Sturgis' inability to fulfill its commitments to other Legion programs across the state, including multiple forfeits to date. In consultation with our power point system coordinator, Sturgis will also be removed from power point calculations. Given the inconsistencies in games played, we believe this is the most equitable approach and helps avoid creating advantages for certain teams over others."
Continue reading...
The Class A state tournament is set for July 28-Aug. 1, with 15 teams making their case for inclusion in the eight-team bracket in Rapid City. Of the 15 Class A programs, 11 have records at or above .500 against other South Dakota opponents.
A reminder: Only games against South Dakota Class A competition count toward the seed-point standings, and contests played in a regular-season tournament setting using modified rules do not count.
The postseason features a best-of-three games playoff series, which begins July 22. Teams are paired against one another based on the final seed-point standings, and the series is hosted by the top seeds to determine seven state tournament qualifiers. Rapid City Post 22 is the tournament host and, therefore, is an automatic qualifier to the state bracket.
Rapid City Post 22 (29-7 overall, 7-2 toward SD Legion standings) stands atop the standings as the lone team with a seed-point average above 43 points. All records and positions referenced were current through games on June 29.
The Hardhats have a gap approaching four-tenths of a point on Yankton (16-6, 11-4) at No. 2. Yankton managed a doubleheader split at Post 22 on June 25, as the teams traded one-run wins. The only other South Dakota program to beat Post 22 this summer was Rapid City rival Post 320 in the season opener back on May 20.
Yankton holds a cushion of nearly a half-point on Sioux Falls West (23-8, 12-4) at No. 3, which is closely followed by Rapid City Post 320 (25-11, 9-5) and Brandon Valley (11-11, 6-5) for places No. 4 and No. 5, respectively. Sioux Falls West won its lone meeting with Yankton 9-5 on June 16, while Yankton owns a 7-1 win against Post 320 from June 24. Brandon Valley has split doubleheaders with Yankton and Sioux Falls West.
Defending Class A champion Harrisburg (12-17, 8-6) and Brookings (8-10, 5-5) are in a close battle for the No. 6 spot; however, the two programs are not on each other's schedules. Notably, both are also within a half-point of Brandon Valley and cracking the top-5. Brookings has eight of 10 remaining contests against programs currently lower than them in the standings.
As it stands, the race for the No. 8 spot — crucially the last position for a program to host in the postseason — is heated, with four teams separated by just over a quarter-point from top to bottom. Renner (12-18, 10-9), the 2024 state champion, paces the group, barely ahead of Pierre (11-13, 10-9), Palace City (15-11, 8-7) and Watertown (14-10, 7-7). Among that grouping, all 10 of Watertown's remaining games are against teams between No. 7 and No. 13, giving Post 17 ample opportunity to climb the rankings. Also, Palace City has eight of 12 remaining games against opponents No. 7 or below.
Sioux Falls East (12-16, 7-9) is floating by itself at No. 12 with a gap of more than one point on either side. Rounding out the standings are Spearfish (11-12, 1-9), Aberdeen (7-15, 3-10) and Huron (2-17, 1-14).
On June 23, the South Dakota American Legion Athletic Commission removed Sturgis from the Class A standings and also erased all game results against Sturgis for the remaining teams. Here is an excerpt from a statement issued by the South Dakota American Legion Athletic Commission on the situation:
"This decision was made largely due to Sturgis' inability to fulfill its commitments to other Legion programs across the state, including multiple forfeits to date. In consultation with our power point system coordinator, Sturgis will also be removed from power point calculations. Given the inconsistencies in games played, we believe this is the most equitable approach and helps avoid creating advantages for certain teams over others."
Continue reading...
