By Jon Akre

605 Sports

BRANDON — As a lifelong sports fan, there haven't been many times where I’ve been at a loss for words when it comes to big moments. 

I watched Tom Brady and the New England Patriots comeback from a 28-3 deficit in Super Bowl LI, the Cleveland Cavaliers come back from a 3-1 deficit in the 2016 NBA Finals, but I don’t think either of those moments were as eye-opening as what transpired with the Parkston Devil Rays at the 93rd annual South Dakota state amateur baseball tournament.

The Rays defeated three district champions, the defending Class B state champion Dell Rapids PBR, and came back from a 6-1 deficit against the Hartford-Humboldt Gamecocks to win, 10-8, in the state championship.

Parkston Devil Rays ‘never give up’ en route to first-ever Class B state championshiphttps://t.co/krv9CjWYlg

; 605 Sports (@605_sports) August 18, 2025

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Miracles happen, that’s the beauty of sports and why we play the game, but as someone who has personal connections with the Parkston Devil Rays, I’ve never been more speechless than this past state tournament.

For those who don’t know, I played on the Parkston Devil Rays in their inaugural season in 2023. Was I good? No, which is why you probably didn’t know I was on the team. But nobody can take away my one career hit as an amateur baseball player.

But if you were to tell me in 2023 that this Rays team would be hoisting the trophy in just two calendar years, I’m not sure what I would’ve said, but I certainly wouldn’t have believed you.

Now I say this not to bash the Devil Rays because they weren’t a horrible team, they just didn’t know who they were yet.

The Rays were a young (and I mean really young) team managed by a player they grew up playing baseball with in Landon Sudbeck, so it was not only tough to figure out how to work together, it’s tough to take criticism or coaching from someone who’s the same age as you.

But all that to say, this team had as good of a first five games as you could have. They ran up the score on Crofton, Neb., in their opening game, 21-9, struck out 18 guys in a 3-1 loss against a solid Salem Cubs team, rattled off two wins against perennial Sunshine League powers Winner/Colome and Platte, and took Dimock/Emery to the absolute brink in a 15-inning marathon.

Needless to say, the talent was there. But as soon as that spark flared, it died. The Rays lost 17 of their last 19 games that season. That was my last season of amateur baseball, but I wasn’t done keeping tabs on the Rays.

The next summer I helped broadcast most of the Devil Ray games to the Parkston school channel, and I could still see a lot of the frustrations and egos most young adults playing a sport tend to have.

“We knew we had to fix something after those first two seasons,” Landon Sudbeck said. “We had talent, just couldn’t figure it out.”

Rumblings of guys not wanting to come back or were going to play elsewhere began, and even Landon Sudbeck said the Rays' existence this time last year was looking bleak.

“There was a couple weeks there where I was like ‘Shoot, maybe we don’t do this,’ ” Sudbeck said. “Maybe we’re going to end up folding.”

The Rays won just six league games in two seasons and had an overall record of 14-36 through two seasons of amateur baseball. To put it lightly, it wasn’t a good brand of baseball.

But this offseason held the most pivotal changes that ultimately saved this team from folding. Landon’s father, Doug, came over from Dimock/Emery after over 30 years as a Raptor to help manage the young Rays. To help add a veteran presence, Dave Soulek and Cody Larson were added which helped keep the Stingers focusing on baseball.

“The veteran aspect,” said third-year player Jake Helleoid on the key to the Rays turnaround. “Adding Doug Sudbeck, Dave Soulek and Cody Larson were huge for us.”

The Rays also dipped into the market for some incredibly talented players, including the likes of Nolan Dvorak, Tanner Dyk and Caden Donahue who all played huge roles this season, with Legion players James Deckert and Carter Sommer coming up in big spots as well.

But it’s something both the players and vets of the team took notice of right when they got into this season. The Rays were finally playing as a team and not individually.

“I think we’re playing together more,” Doug Sudbeck said after the Rays’ quarterfinal win over Kimball/White Lake. “Everyone’s having fun, they’re enjoying each other. They’re coming together as a team. I told them that for a couple of years. Stay together and you guys will be a good team, and they are.”

I was gone during their opening round game against Cornbelt League district champion Madison, but I was extremely proud of them for taking down a tough Madison team for their first-ever win at the state tournament. 

But I was not prepared for what followed over the next 10 days.

The Rays, along with pick-up player and Dimock-Emery veteran pitcher Phil Johnson, went on to beat the defending state champions in Dell Rapids PBR, back-to-back wins over district champions in Kimball/White Lake and Alexandria, and Sunday, stunned the Hartford/Humboldt Gamecocks after going down 6-1 through seven innings of the championship.

Even talking with people from Parkston following the title game, it was a shocking end to the season after going just 9-17 a year ago. 

Needless to say, it was a fun state tournament watching the guys I grew up playing ball with every summer finally get the payoff they stuck around for, even if it came so unexpectedly.

From five wins two seasons ago to five state tournament wins in 2025, the invasive species didn’t go away and are now champions of Class B amateur baseball.

"I'm going to remember looking at a lot of these guys' faces,” Johnson said after the championship. “I don’t think that any of them really thought that they could do it so now they’ve got a little chip on their shoulder and they’ve got a little experience so they’re going to be dangerous moving forward.”