This year’s State B American Legion Baseball tournament in Redfield will feature squads who are no strangers to the event, plus some who haven’t been there in a long time.

Redfield has been a regular at the double-elimination event in recent years, while others like Clark-Willow Lake have not been there since the late 1980s.

Friday’s opening round matchups have Dell Rapids vs. Platte at 10 a.m., Castlewood vs. Clark-Willow Lake at 12:30 p.m., Tabor vs. Salem-Canova at 5 p.m., and Elk Point-Jefferson vs. Redfield at 7:30 p.m.

Here is a look at each of the area teams that will be competing in the state tournament which runs through Tuesday:

REDFIELD CLAY KAISER POST

While Redfield is no stranger to the big stage, each time is still meaningful said coach Tommy Gregg.

“Every year it’s special. It’s something you don’t want to go away, so you definitely cherish them,” Gregg said. “There’s a lot of hard work that our kids have done. We feel like we’re a pretty talented club, too, so putting those two together has definitely made it something memorable.”

Redfield has qualified for the state tournament every year since 2018, with the exception of the 2020 season, which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The team has a plethora of experience that returned this season, including leadoff hitter Camden Osborn. Osborn is a two- time Big Stick Award winner (2019, 2022), the only Class B player to receive the award twice.

“I think he’s as good as it gets for anybody at the top of the lineup,” Gregg said. “We kind of go when he goes. He can get on (base), he steals a lot of bases, he can poke it through the outfield, and he’s got a handful of infield singles. The kid can just fly.”

Redfield has several other players to keep an eye on, including Owen Osborn, Peyton Osborn, Keaton Rohlfs, Nolan Gall, and Erik Salmen. Gregg said depth and experience are some of the team’s strengths.

“We feel like we’ve got five or six guys that can really help us contribute. We feel like our lineup is pretty deep,” Gregg said. “We’re really driven by our seniors. This group’s been playing together for a long time.”

Gregg said other team strengths include baserunning, team speed, and pitching.

“When we’re playing well, we’re above average in all three categories: hitting, fielding, and pitching,” Gregg said. “We try to keep it simple. Nothing overly special.”

Redfield will take on an Elk Point-Jefferson squad that plays a lot like the Pheasants, according to Gregg.

“They’re similar to us. They’ve got guys that can get on base, and then they like to run. They’ll spray it around the field,” Gregg said. “We know they’re going to be athletic, put the ball in play, their pitchers are going to throw strikes, and they’re going to be good defensively.”

Gregg said the team has prepared by relaxing and enjoying the experience, while also knowing what is at stake.

“We just try to go enjoy ourselves and play good baseball,” Gregg said. “We talked about just enjoying it, but understand what your task at hand is and what the goal is.”

So, what is the goal for Redfield?

“The goal is to see how far we can get,” Gregg said. “This group knows they can make a run if we have our heads on straight and we play good baseball.”

CASTLEWOOD

For first-year Castlewood coach Chris Lather, the opportunity to play in the state tournament is the result of the hard work the team has put in this season. The last Castlewood appearance in the Class B baseball tournament was in 2014, which makes this year’s appearance even more special.

“This is a huge opportunity for our guys. We’ve had a very successful baseball program the last couple of years, and I know that a lot of these guys have put in a lot of hard work,” Lather said.

Castlewood is focused on opening-round foe Clark-Willow Lake.

While the two teams did not play each other this season, Lather said his team does not want to overlook its first-round opponent.

“They’re probably going to play some small ball. I know they’ve got athletes,” Lather said. “I know they’ve got some younger guys that have definitely stepped up on that team. I know they like to get on base and kind of push the issue. If you make mistakes, they’re going to make you pay for it.”

Castlewood has a team with several players that can make plays as well. Lather said the team’s pitching is a strength.

“We’ve got some really good pitching. I think that’s one of our strong suits,” Lather said. “Jeremiah Wiersma will be one our top pitchers, but we also have Kegan Tvedt, Booker Schooley, and Xander Sheehan, as well. Lane Tvedt has also come on as of late, which is nice for us.”

Lather says a key will be making sure his team is mentally prepared for the state tournament.

“There’s not a lot of magical things you do at this point in the season. It’s just making sure that you mentally come in prepared in those situations,” Lather said. “The biggest thing is just talking about mindset. We’re going to make mistakes. It happens. It’s part of baseball. You’re going to fail at some point, but being able to get through that adversity and move on I think is going to be key for us.”

Lather said the goal is to compete as hard as possible during the tournament and see where the team ends up.

“I think we definitely want to come out strong. We want to prove to the rest of the teams that we belong there,” Lather said. “If we can hit the ball well and limit those errors, I think we put ourselves in a really good chance to win some ball games over the weekend.”

CLARK-WILLOW LAKE SENATORS

Clark-Willow Lake is making its first state tournament appearance in more than 30 years, and head coach Chris Bokinskie said the opportunity means a lot to the community and the team.

“It means a ton. We were a .500 team all year with no belief in advancing to anything, but little belief that we would even win a game in the region tournament, let alone win three games and advance to a state tournament,” Bokinskie said. “It’s really a huge moment for our town. ’88 or ’89 was the last time Clark had been in the Legion tournament.”

While the excitement has been brewing in the communities of Clark and Willow Lake, the team is looking to make the most of its state tournament appearance. Clark-Willow Lake has been preparing on the field, as well as off the field.

“As hot as it’s been, we’ve been just getting together in the morning doing some cage work with hitting, and then just some light field work and trying to stay rested,” Bokinskie said.

Despite the lack of tournament experience, Bokinskie said the team will look to rely on its strengths, which include defense and pitching.

“Right now, I would say our best strength is defensively. We’re playing very strong, pretty well error-free ball throughout the region tournament,” Bokinskie said. “Our pitching has really come onto the scenes too. I would say our defense and our pitching have been our strengths in the past three weeks.”

Leading Clark-Willow Lake both on the mound and at the plate is Trey Huber, who played a major role in helping the team make it through the region tournament.

“Trey Huber has kind of come on the scene as a speedster for us. He can hit the ball well and can hit a gap for a double or a triple pretty easily,” Bokinskie said. “Trey has also become our ace on the mound. (He) threw a very (good) game against (Warner-Ipswich-Northwestern) to get us into the state tournament.”

Offensively, Clark-Willow Lake has also relied on Lucas Kannegieter on offense.

“At the plate, Lucas Kannegieter has had a really nice year batting right around .400, I think, with a lot of power, hitting a lot of doubles,” Bokinskie said.

Clark-Willow Lake’s first round opponent will be Castlewood, a team that is less than an hour away, yet a team that Bokinskie’s squad did not face this season. Bokinskie said he knows very little about Castlewood, but understands that they will be a challenge.

“I know they’ve got a couple of pretty decent pitchers, so I would expect to see probably their ace,” Bokinskie said. “From what I’ve seen, they can put up quite a few runs on the board, so I’m expecting them to hit the ball.”

When all is said and done, Bokinskie said the team is just looking to enjoy one game at a time, while he also hopes to reignite the sport of baseball in the community.

“Being a team that no one ever imagined would even be there, I think our goals are really just take it one game at a time, try to knock off Castlewood the first game and then go after the second game,” Bokinskie said. “Live in the moment and hope we can win a few and make a little noise and put baseball back on the map in Clark.”