The Britton U12 Junior Jacks baseball team wrapped up its season with a win at the state tournament last weekend and was selected as the Benton Hough Sportsmanship Award winner from among the state tournament teams.
Britton rolled past Dell Rapids 15-2 in pool play at the state tourney to get a win in five state outings and also wrapped up its regular season with an 8-7 win and a 7-7 tie with Webster while dropping a twin bill to Groton.
Groton 13-4
Britton 3-3
Groton used some big first innings to earn the sweep, pushing across five tallies in the opening frame of the first game and four in the nightcap.
Crue Jone doubled in the first contest and Colton Biel, Mark Folkman, and Wynn Mattson singled. Weston Hastings and Biel handled the mound duties.
In game two Mattson and Gage Beck both doubled and Jones singled. Archer Easthouse went the distance on the mound and struck out nine.
Britton 7-8
Webster 7-7
Webster scored a run in the final inning of the opener to force a tie and Britton earned a walk-off win in game two with a pair of runs in the bottom of the last frame.
Biel and Mattson each hit a pair of singles in game one and Jones, Easthouse, and Hastings singled. Hastings and Easthouse were on the mound and both struck out five.
Biel singled twice in the second contest, Reeve Knecht doubled, and Beck, Easthouse, and Mattson laced safeties. Knecht pitched the first two innings, striking out four, and Corwyn Eye hurled the final three frames, fanning five.
State Tournament
Flandreau 13
Britton 0
Flandreau jumped out to a 13-0 lead after two innings and limited Britton to just one hit in the first round of pool play.
Biel came up with a single and Eye was on the mound.
Britton 15
Dell Rapids 2
Britton scored in every inning to roll past Dell Rapids in the second round of pool play.
Knecht laced three singles, Reeve Mattson rapped two singles and knocked in a pair of runs, Easthouse singled and had three RBI’s, Folkman singled with two RBI’s, and Biel and Hastings had base hits. Easthouse, Hastings, and Biel shared mound duties and combined for five strikeouts with Easthouse getting the pitching win.
Bruce 20
Britton 2
Britton was out-hit 18-3 in the third round of pool play, falling victim to an 11-run second inning.
Jones, Easthouse, and Hezekiah O’Brien each singled. Knecht, Folkman, and Mattson were on the mound.
Volga 18
Britton 7
Volga broke open a 4-2 game with 10 runs in the third inning in the first bracket game.
Biel singled twice and had two RBI’s, Mattson doubled, Eye singled and knocked in a pair of runs, and Jones, Easthouse, and Knecht each singled. Easthouse struck out five in two and a third innings and was relieved by Hastings.
Baltic 15
Britton 4
Baltic jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the first inning and put the game away with a seven-run fourth in second round bracket play.
Britton had five extra-base hits, led by Jones with a triple and double and Easthouse with a double and single. Hastings singled twice, Mattson and Folkman both added doubles, and Biel, O’Brien, and Folkman singled. Biel hurled the first three innings, fanning four, and O’Brien came on in relief.
