PIERRE — The South Dakota High School Activities Association will formally begin the process of possibly sanctioning baseball.

At Wednesday’s SDHSAA Board of Directors meeting, the board acknowledged letters submitted by two member schools to explore sanctioning baseball. The requests were from Mount Vernon Superintendent Eric Denning and McCook Central Superintendent Matt Alley.

The board approved acknowledging the letters and will conduct a study into sanctioning baseball, but SDHSAA executive director Dan Swartos said they were “not making any sort of decisions today.”

Swartos said the SDHSAA will put together a committee to start the process of possibly sanctioning baseball. It will receive input from the American Legion and the South Dakota High School Baseball Association in regards to sanctioning baseball. 

“I would envision we get input from the American Legion, from VFW, from the high school baseball association to look at the history of the sport or activity to date,” Swartos said. “To try to gauge the interest from the member schools, look at issues such as Title IX and how it would impact Title IX at the schools, make recommendations on season timeframes. The high school baseball season right now, it’s in the spring time frame and concludes prior to the Legion season kicking off.”

Swartos said the association would have to consider season length, number of games, postseason model and financial projections when taking baseball into consideration. 

Swartos anticipates within a year the SDHSAA would take a yes or no decision. 

“We are probably looking at least two years minimum before this would start up as a sport,” Swartos said. “We are probably looking at a year before all of this study would come before the Board of Directors.” 

Currently, South Dakota and Wyoming are the only two states that don’t sanction baseball. Iowa is the only state that has a summer season, and Swartos isn’t sure if a summer season would work in South Dakota. 

“I don’t know how feasible a summer season would be,” Swartos said. 

During an open forum, Madison’s Dan Wyatt expressed concerns about sanctioning baseball and how it would impact Legion baseball in South Dakota. The birthplace of American Legion baseball is Milbank, South Dakota, and it began in 1925. 

“We are coming up on our 100th anniversary in 2025,” Wyatt said. “It's one of our core programs in our state and we don't want to hinder that.”

Wyatt would be worried about the future of Legion baseball in South Dakota, if baseball is sanctioned by the SDHSAA. 

“I could see Legion baseball done in South Dakota in three or four years, if this was to go through,” Wyatt said. “We take pride in Legion baseball and we promote the program. So that’s our angle on it. I don’t want to see it personally, professionally go away. It’s been around 99 years.”

Swartos didn’t feel it was the intent of the member schools that wrote the letters to try to dissolve Legion baseball. As it currently stands, the South Dakota High School Baseball season takes place before Legion baseball in the spring. 

Swartos said ideally the SDHSAA season would be played prior to Legion. 

“I think the initial view would be to look at where the high school season is now, which it shouldn't impact,” Swartos said. “They work in tandem at the moment.”

Denning, who submitted one of the letters, said the intent of the letter was to help baseball continue to grow in South Dakota.

“My intent behind this is I want baseball to thrive,” Denning said. “I want kids to have those opportunities. My personal belief is that sanctioning high school baseball is the best way to do that.”