By Jon Akre

605 Sports

Pankonen didn’t allow a Blue Jay baserunner in the final five frames of the game, including fanning five batters himself.

“Ultimately, come out and just trust my stuff,” said Pankonen on the key to his outing. “You know I haven’t thrown a whole crap ton all year, I think I’m at like 19 innings total, including these five. It’s mainly just doing what I can do, trusting my stuff.”

Pankonen wasn’t just efficient on the mound, but also at the plate in the No. 9 spot in the PBR batting order, tallying two hits, including a key line drive in the top of the 12 inning, getting past the Garretson right fielder Jesse Brockhouse to score the go-ahead run.

“Definitely get to third base cause I saw him slip. He’s on his butt, the center fielder was probably 20-feet away from the ball, and I was thinking three for sure,” said Pankonen about his go-ahead hit.

Pankonen reached third base on the error, and would score just two pitches later on a chopping grounder back to the pitcher Dustin Steckler, and snuck into home plate after Steckler threw to first base.

“It’s all because of his competitiveness, he’s an intense competitor,” said Dell Rapids PBR manager Dale Solberg of Pankonen. “You can see it in the at-bats, in the pitching, you see it all the time. He’s going after foul balls that are no way going to be caught but he won’t give up. It’s just the persistence, he’s a great athlete and it’s fun to watch.”

But to start out the final game of semifinal Saturday, things weren’t looking good for PBR. After two scoreless innings, Garretson broke the scoreless tie on a Robin Chute RBI double scoring a run, and another run the very next pitch on a passed ball.

Despite the early deficit Dell Rapids PBR continued to battle, matching Garretson’s two-run third inning with a two-run fifth inning, scoring a run on a Zach Puetz single and again on an error by Blue Jay second baseman Nick Bonte.

“We knew coming in here that we were going to go through some tough times, and we just have to look at the next pitch,” said Solberg on the team’s ability to battle. “That’s what we’ve been preaching from districts on. Cause you know you’re going to be under stress, and tonight was under stress and we had some big time plays come from big players.”

Garretson once again broke the tie by plating a third run on a bases loaded hit-by-pitch on Austin Vanhove in the sixth, but PBR responded once again in the eighth getting another run on a Riley Calhoon fielder’s choice.

From the eighth inning on, Pankonen, catcher Heith Williams (Madison pick-up player), and the rest of the PBR defense helped shutout Garretson to take the victory and advance to the state championship.

“We just have fun, all these dudes connect,” said Pankonen on the team’s success. “We’re not even all from Dell Rapids which even makes it cooler, and we got Legion boys coming every night. It feels like a Dell Rapids led team, with dudes coming from surrounding areas that just fit the Dell Rapids role. We just all mesh so well.”

Offensively, Drew Sweeter, Weston Hansen, and Pankonen each had two hits, Puetz tallied two hits and an RBI, Williams and Calhoon each had RBIs on one hit, while Conner Spindler, Riley Hoffman, and CJ Smith each tallied hits in the win.

Garretson’s Chute drove in a run on a double and a walk, Vanhove had an RBI, while Steckler and Brady Bonte each had hits.

Dell Rapids PBR will have a quick turnaround after a late night at Cadwell Park, but Pankonen says they’ll be ready for their date with the Killer Tomatoes at 2 p.m. for the state title.

“We play Platte who probably wasn’t a team that was supposed to be here,” Pankonen said. “But they didn’t have us being here either. So it’s a competition of two teams who probably weren’t supposed to be here. That’s the cool part about it, it’s amateur baseball, you never know what can happen.”