REDFIELD – It took a little extra effort, but Elk Point-Jefferson finally solved the Dell Rapids puzzle Monday night. The Huskies kept their season going by virtue of a 5-4 walk-off victory in nine innings during the State B Legion Baseball Tournament.

The decision snapped a 28-game winning streak of Dell Rapids, which went all the way back to the opening games of the season.

“We’ve got a good group of kids. They never quit,” said Elk Point-Jefferson’s Ty Trometer. “We knew it would be a tough one. These guys haven’t lost since the second game of the year. It’s probably been a few months, so it feels good.”

Trometer came home with the winning run, scoring on a wild pitch with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Trometer started the frame with walk and moved over to second base on another walk. After the first out was recorded, things got interesting.

A fly ball to centerfield was dropped and Trometer ended up getting to third base.

“I was thinking I can’t tag up here, because that kid’s got an arm and I’m not the fastest kid,” Trometer said. “Then I had to go, because he dropped it and it worked out, bad throw I guess.”

After another fly ball to center produced the second out, Trometer said he gave a very brief notion about testing that arm.

“For a second,” he said, “but the thought left my mind pretty quick though.”

Soon, Trometer didn’t have to worry about finding a way home after a wild pitch opened the door to the victory.

The win was the third straight for EPJ, which lost in the opening round of the state tourney last Friday. Playing with a sense of urgency is nothing new for the Huskies.

“We played most of our region tournament with our backs against the wall,” said Elk Point-Jefferson coach John Gale. “We lost round two, and we came back and we won four straight to get to the state tournament. We played six games in four days to get here.”

It was a back and forth battle the whole night as Dell Rapids owned leads of 2-0, and 4-1 only to have the Huskies respond each time, including a three-run fifth inning highlighted by a two-run double by Tayson Swatek.

Dell Rapids had four more hits than EPJ in the contest, but also committed three errors.

“They battled us the whole way. We had just too many mental lapses today. We didn’t execute very well,” said Dell Rapids coach Danny Miller. “We tried to run some plays. We just didn’t execute very well. We just weren’t very sharp tonight. It showed in the error column and it showed in the end, I think.”

Both teams had chances in the extra frames. EPJ had a runner thrown out at a third base in the bottom of the eight, while the Phils had a runner gunned down at the plate in the top of the ninth.

“They made the plays when it mattered and we didn’t,” Miller said, “and that was the difference in the end.”

As a result, EPJ moves on to face Tabor at 1 p.m. today while Dell Rapids will face the winner around 4 p.m. in a winner-take-all title contest.

“We talk every year about playing the last day of the season,” Gale said, “and we’re playing the last day of the season.”

While the Phils no longer has the luxury of having to force someone beat them twice today, Miller said his team is still in good shape.

“We know we’re going into it with two of our better arms,” Miller said. “We’ve got Dylan Kindt back and we have Brayden Pankonen ready to go, and we feel pretty good about that.”

Dell Rapids 010 120 000 – 4 9 4

Elk Point-Jefferson 000 130 001 – 5 5 1

Treyse Eastman, Will Jaton (6) and Sutton Williams, Treyse Eastman (6); Ben Swatek, Hunter Geary (8) and Jacob Gale. 2B – Dell Rapids, Jack Henry, CJ Smith; Elk Point-Jefferson, Tayson Swatek. 3B – Dell Rapids, Aiden Boechler.