By Matt Gade

605 Sports

RAPID CITY — For the first time in three years, Post 22’s Wyatt Reeder is healthy and has stayed healthy the entire season.

Four games into last season, Reeder suffered a broken leg and couldn’t compete. The year before that, Reeder suffered hip flexor issues and couldn’t compete.

Now in the final stretch of the 2025 season, the junior is having a standout performance at the plate.

The second baseman is hitting .545 for the Hardhats, with 115 hits, 5 home runs and 82 RBIs.

“When he was 15, he was a dude. So I knew as he gets older, he’s only gonna get better,” Post 22 head coach Kelvin Torve said of Reeder. “So I knew he was going to be great. 

“He's got tremendous hand-eye coordination, a tremendous work ethic. He just has great command. I mean, he's a complete hitter.”

Following Thursday’s Class A playoff game, seeing the Hardhats defeat Spearfish Post 164, 5-2, and advance to the Class A state tournament next week in Watertown, Reeder said he’s just excited to be able to contribute to this year’s team.

“To be healthy and contribute to the team this year, it means everything,” Reeder said. “And it means so much more coming back from those injuries.”

Reeder attributes his success at the plate to the time he put in the cages and time with his dad throwing at him for batting practice.

That consistent hard work in the off-season has carried over through the regular season, with Reeder having not hit under .500 since a June 10 game against the Williston (N.D.) Keybirds Post 37. 

Since then, Reeder has run 40 straight games with a better than .500 game as the Hardhats have compiled a 58-8-1 record heading into the state tournament and the No. 1 seed.

Rapid City Post 22's Wyatt Reeder connects with a pitch against Spearfish Post 164 during a game in the Class A post-season playoffs on Thursday at Fitzgerald Stadium. (Matt Gade/605 Sports)

Reeder, who hits in the No. 3 position, said coach Torve put him in a great position to score runs with teammates Aiden Roberts and Lars Kieffer batting 1-2.

Roberts, who holds the Hardhats single-season stolen bases record, and Kieffer each bat over .300 for Post 22.

“They're always in scoring position for me, and they've done a great job at the plate,” Reeder said. “We've done a great job up and down the lineup, all year just supplying runs, and that's been a big part of our game this year.”

Torve echoed that sentiment, that the entire Hardhats lineup is capable of hitting with a team averaging .344 with the bats.

The Hardhats’ current single-season batting average lies just under .500 with Reeder in position to take that title. 

While Reeder said he likes the idea of owning the record, he really just wants to win the state tournament and see the Hardhats keep going deep into the postseason. 

“It'll be awesome,” Reeder said of competing in the upcoming state tournament. “I've had to watch it the last couple years. So this year will be awesome to be able to help contribute to the team and hopefully bring it back home.” 

Torve said the Hardhats will need to play their best ball to date to win the state championship,

stating that any of the eight teams that qualified are capable of winning.

“There's eight teams, and all eight can win it,” Torve said. “We just have to play like we played all year, competitive, you know, good defense, throw strikes and run the bases. Then we'll be fine. But there are eight teams there and they’re always on.”

As a junior, Torve is excited to know Reeder will be back in 2026.

“He's got another year. But my concern for next year is that whatever he gets this year, he's going to have to think he can beat it, and I don't know if that's possible,” Torve said. “That's going to be an issue for him next year is to understand what a good year is. And a good year might very well be a lower batting average than this year. But we'll worry about that next year.”