REDFIELD – Clark-Willow Lake made five early runs stand tall Friday afternoon during a 5-4 opening-round win over Castlewood in the South Dakota Class B American Legion State Tournament.

The win marked a special moment in Senator baseball history.

“We were a team that was not even expected to make it out of the region tournament,” said Clark-Willow Lake coach Chris Bokinskie. “And we made it to a state tournament after 36 years. So to get a first round win was huge.”

The Senators scored all five of their runs in the first two innings, using a lead-off error and a single to plate their first run and a 2-out double by Mitchell Larson in the first inning to jump in front.

“My speech to the team before the game started was to win every inning,” Bokinskie said. “If we win every inning, we’ll win the ball game.”

The Senators stuck to that plan the rest of the way, plating three runs in the second (thanks in part to RBI singles from Lucas Kannegieter and Jack Helkenn) to go up 5-0, then holding Castlewood to just two second-inning runs and single runs in the sixth and seventh. Castlewood had the tying run on third base after a two-out Lane Tvedt RBI triple, but couldn’t scratch another run across.

Bokinskie said he wasn’t overly nervous in that final inning.

“In our region tournament, we won all our games close,” he noted, adding that his team’s defensive skills played a part in the win. The Senators were not charged win a single error in the contest.

Larson, Jakob Steen and Kannegieter had two hits apiece for Clark-Willow Lake. Larson and Steen each recorded a double for the Senators. Six different players had hits for Castlewood.

Clark-Willow Lake will face host Redfield squad this evening around 7:30 in the second round of the double-elimination tournament. Castlewood will take on Elk-Point-Jefferson in an elimination contest around 12:30 this afternoon.

Clark-Willow Lake 230 000 0 – 5 7 0

Castlewood 020 001 1 – 4 6 4

Trey Huber, Lucas Kannegieter (7) and Jakob Steen; Kagan Tvedt, Lane Tvedt (6) and Jyler Theraldsen. 2B – Clark-Willow Lake, Mitchell Larson, Steen. 3B – Castlewood, L. Tvedt.