By Jon Akre

605 Sports

“It’s a lot more than a baseball game,” said Mudcats player and manager Jeff Harris. “Whether it’s the Mudcats or the Devil Rays, that doesn’t really matter, we’re more just coming together as a community and trying to do anything we can to help.”

The idea for the raffle was brought up by Devil Rays catcher Logan Heidinger, shortly after hearing the news of her passing.

“I talked with Landon Sudbeck, our coach, and asked him if he also thought it’d be a good idea to have a fundraiser and he was all for it,” said Heidinger. “We had some other ideas for fundraising opportunities but we thought this would be the best one for the family.”

Heidinger says the Hohn’s support for Parkston baseball was a big reason for the raffle, and rallying around the family.

“The main reason we really wanted to do this is that the Hohn family has given not only Parkston baseball so much support, but also the community of Parkston,” said Heidinger.

The Hohn family’s baseball connection stems within both teams, Shelby’s older brother Sutton grew up playing with many members of the Devil Rays, and most recently was on the Mudcats last season.

“We played baseball with Sutton for years on years on years, since we were little kids, so that family has always meant the most to our team,” Heidinger said. “It’s absolutely tragic what happened with Shelby, and all of the guys on the team I know had been praying for her to pull through. And with the 50/50 raffle we’re hoping that all proceeds that we make from it would help support the family in any way in this hard time.”

“I just asked Chris, saying ‘You know this is season No. 28 for the Ravens,’ and I would really like to keep the Ravens’ name,” said Haug.

After deciding to keep the Ravens brand, the unfortunate part of merging had to take place, and with the Ravens’ roster made-up of primarily non-Castlewood players, Haug was only able to keep four players for the new team.

“It was bumpy for me cause I had to make some hard phone calls over the winter and just let people know what the plans were,” said Haug. “Cause most of my guys came from Watertown and Brookings to be Class A, and when you go back to Class B you can only have four.”

This “new” Castlewood team will play in the Eastern Dakota League with the Ramona Express, Milbank Firechiefs, Volga Cormorants, Lake Norden Lakers, Elkton Snappers and the Clark Traders.

So far the revamped Ravens are 4-2, picking up wins over Ramona, Volga, Minneota (Minn.), and most recently Clark on June 12.

Games to Watch

June 13: Dimock/Emery Raptors (8-5) at Mount Vernon Mustangs (2-6-1)

Mount Vernon has found themselves in an unfamiliar spot to start league play this season. The ‘Stangs are 0-6 against Sunshine League opponents and currently sit at the bottom of the league standings. They head to Emery Thursday night hoping to find a spark against a team who’s lost two straight Sunshine League games themselves against Platte and Winner/Colome. The Raptors have already gotten the best of Mount Vernon this season, a 4-2 win on May 19, and look to sweep the Mustangs Thursday.

June 13: Lesterville Broncs (5-3-1) at Tabor Bluebirds (5-3)

The Broncs face-off against Tabor for the first time since that fateful Saturday in August when the Broncs stunned Tabor in the late-innings, 3-2, advancing to the State B championship before falling to Canova. A huge difference between last year’s state semifinal and this season's matchup is Tabor’s Riley Rothschadl, who no longer has to worry about the 105-pitch limit rule set for Legion players like he did last year. Combine the hectic Czech Days crowd with the emotions from last season's heartbreak, the atmosphere in Tabor will be as close to a state tournament as you could get.

June 14: Flandreau Blue Teal (3-6) at Flandreau Cardinals (5-3)

It’s the inaugural “Battle for Flandreau” game as the up-and-coming Blue Teal take on the veteran Cardinals. The Blue Teal had a rough stretch as of late, losing six of their last seven, but when they play well they’ve shown they can compete with the best of the best, losing most recently to the No. 2 Dell Rapids Mudcats 1-0 on June 9. On the other side, the Cardinals have played in quite a few nail biters already this season, including four one-run games, and most recently defeating Dell Rapids PBR 3-2 on June 9.