Lennox 14U finishes fourth at State

The Lennox 14U Legion baseball team battled through a challenging weekend at the South Dakota State Tournament, opening with an extra-inning victory before ultimately finishing fourth in the state.

Lennox defeated Elk Point-Jefferson 7-5 in eight innings on Friday, July 24, before falling to Madison, 11-0, on Saturday and Dell Rapids, 8-1, on Sunday.

Lennox 7, Elk Point-Jefferson 5 

Lennox jumped out to an early lead but needed extra innings to secure its opening-round victory.

Post 174 scored three runs in the first inning without recording an extra-base hit. Landon Kontoff and Ace Reilly singled before Griffin Eich and Kooper Plimpton drew walks. Carson Eden was hit by a pitch to force in the game’s first run, Plimpton followed with an RBI walk, and Ben Hanson added another bases-loaded walk to give Lennox a 3-0 advantage.

Elk Point-Jefferson answered with four runs in the third inning and took a 5-3 lead after Brock Rozell delivered a two-run double.

Lennox chipped away in the seventh. Carson Eden and Kooper Plimpton opened the inning with singles before walks to Maverick Mellegard and Kontoff forced home two runs to tie the game at 5-5.

The visitors completed the comeback in the eighth. Griffin Eich and Eden drew walks before Plimpton lined an RBI double to right field, scoring Eich. Griffin Hale followed with an RBI single to bring home Eden for the final 7-5 margin.

Grant Veurink took over on the mound in the fifth inning and was dominant in relief, striking out eight over four scoreless innings while allowing just two hits to earn the victory. Eden began pitching, striking out eight batters as well. 

Plimpton led the offense with three hits, while Veruink and Eden each had two and Kontoff, Reilly, Eich, and Hale each contributed a hit. 

Madison 11, Lennox 0

Lennox ran into a strong Madison club in the winner’s bracket semifinals Saturday.

Reid Larson kept Madison off the scoreboard through two innings, striking out early batters, but the Bulldogs broke through with four runs in the third inning, highlighted by Kodi Lawrence’s bases-clearing triple.

Madison added five more runs in the fourth and two in the fifth to end the game by the mercy rule.

Lennox was limited to just one hit, a fourth-inning single by Grant Veurink, as Madison pitcher Jackson Molstad struck out ten batters in five innings.

Dell Rapids 8, Lennox 1

Lennox’s tournament run came to an end Sunday with an 8-1 loss to Dell Rapids in the third-place game.

Dell Rapids scored first in the second inning before Lennox answered in the third. Kontoff singled, stole second and scored on Griffin Eich’s RBI single to tie the game at 1-1.

Dell Rapids regained the lead with two runs in the bottom of the third before breaking the game open with a five-run fourth inning. The rally featured RBI hits by Dawson Bunkers, Will Price, Chace Stroschein and Brody Konz.

Lennox threatened throughout the game, collecting 10 hits, but stranded multiple runners on base. The team left the bases loaded in the fifth inning after Kooper Plimpton worked a two-out walk, and another scoring opportunity ended in the sixth with two runners aboard.

Kontoff paced Lennox with three hits and scored the team’s lone run. Eich added two hits and an RBI, while Ben Hanson, Carson Eden, Maverick Mellegard and Evan Crichton each contributed a hit.

Eich and Reilly handled pitching duties for Lennox. 

Despite the final two losses, Lennox capped a successful season by earning a fourth-place finish at the Class B 14U State Tournament.