By Rodney Haas 

605 Sports 

REDFIELD — If there was any let down after watching its 28-game win streak snapped Monday, Dell Rapids didn’t show it Tuesday afternoon. 

The Phils scored three runs in the bottom of the third and added a run in the fourth and sixth innings for a 5-2 win over Elk-Point Jefferson to capture the Class B state legion title.  

“I’d be lying if I said we didn’t want to make it 30,” Dell Rapids coach Danny Miller said. “Twenty-eight, it was pretty awesome, but the loss, it re-focused us. We hadn’t been making a lot of errors and we’ve been making a lot of errors the two previous games. But they buckled down and they were really solid at the end.”

Dell Rapids entered Monday already in the driver’s seat after defeating Redfield 8-5 in a matchup of the two remaining undefeated teams on Sunday, but fell to Elk Point-Jefferson 6-5 in nine innings Monday night. 

“We still knew we were in the championship,” said tournament MVP Dylan Kindt of the loss on Monday. “The streak would’ve been cool, but that wasn’t our main priority. Holding that plaque was.”

Kindt picked up the win on Tuesday, pitching 6 1/3 innings, giving up two runs on four hits. He struck out six and walked four before handing the ball off to Brayden Pankonen. Pankonen got the final two outs on six pitches. 

“We knew we were going to get a great pitching performance,” Miller said. “I’m really proud of these kids. They are just great kids and they compete hard. I know how hard they work and I know how much they want it. They give us everything we have. They are so coachable.”

Mason Stubbe led Dell Rapids at the plate with two hits while Jack Henry added a double in the first. 

Kayden Moore took the loss for Elk Point, pitching six innings, giving up five runs on seven hits. He struck out two while throwing 68 pitches. 

Ben Swatek led the Huskies at the plate with two hits and an RBI. Keaton Gale got EPJ on the board with an RBI single in the first to make it 1-0 as the Huskies took a 2-0 lead after the first inning. 

Elk Point advanced to Tuesday’s championship game after defeating Tabor 8-5 earlier in the day. The title is the fourth for Dell Rapids and the first since 2018. It also comes on the same field as its first title 55 years ago. It also continues a long rich baseball tradition for the community that have included multiple state high school champions and amateur baseball championships with the Dell Rapids Mudcats and PBR. 

“It’s a big baseball town. Hopefully it results in a better baseball field at some point,” Miller said. “Our town, they’re a lot of guys who play baseball that have come up through the system that try to keep track on what our legion guys are doing and it’s awesome to see. 

I’ve heard from people I haven’t heard in a long time that is wishing us luck. The whole town is behind us.”