The Lennox 15-16 Teeners traveled to Irene on July 25th and 26th to play in the region 4A tournament. The first game was against the Tri-Valley 15s. Tyson Stoebner started on the mound and had a perfect game through three innings. The bats started to warm up in the second inning as Lennox plated three runs to extend their lead to 4 to 0. A little let down in the fourth inning allowed Tri-Valley to score three and get back into the game, but Lennox responded with five runs in the next three innings to take control 9 to 3. Quincy Ihnen came in to relieve Stoebner in the fifth inning and each team scored a run apiece to make the final score 10 to 4. Along with a great pitching performance Stoebner led the team at the plate going 4 for 5 with two doubles, Ihnen also had a triple and a single and JD Kirchner had two singles in the winning effort.
In the championship game on Tuesday, the boys would face Irene. They came to the game with a little chip on their shoulder having lost to the Cardinals twice earlier in the season. The Irene pitcher had some trouble with his control to start the game and walked three of the first four Lennox batters and they all made their way around the bases to put the locals up 3 to 0 going into the bottom of the first inning. Brock Anderson took the mound and started a dominating performance that would hold Irene scoreless on the night, with three up and three down for Irene. Lennox would add a run in the fourth and two in the fifth with some aggressive base running and timely hits to take a 6 to 0 lead. In the sixth inning the flood gates opened and Lennox scored 7 runs and all the momentum was in their favor as 13 batters came to the plate in the top of the sixth. Now it was just a matter of getting three outs to seal the deal. Irene managed to load the bases, but the last batter went down swinging and the celebration began. Leading the team in hits was Ray Williams with a double and single, Josh Van Houten, Camden Wulf and Jayden Gayle had two singles each. The team also benefitted from 9 walks. But the story of the night was the pitching performance by Brock Anderson as he kept Irene’s potent lineup off balance all night, only allowing two hits while striking out 11 in the 13 to 0 victory.
The boys now head into the state tournament that is being held in Lennox August 5-7. Come out to the park and show your support as they will play at 8:00 Friday night, Aug. 5 against Madison.
Action begins Friday at noon with Dell Rapids taking on Milbank, Irene will face off against Winner at 2:30 p.m.; and Canova-Salem will face off against Beresford at 5:30 p.m. followed by the Madison/Lennox game.
To see a complete bracket for the tournament, see page 10 of this week’s paper.