FULL REPORT: STICKS DO IT AGAIN

Two weeks after Freeman/Marion wins state at the 14u level, Canistota/Freeman takes the 16u crown

Eight years ago, Dustin Tschetter and Brad Miller had grown tired of the absence of teener baseball in their respective communities of Freeman and Canistota. Both had sons who had just finished the first grade, and with others around them who they felt could contribute to long-term growth, the two baseball enthusiasts decided to put together a team.

They played under the Canistota colors that first year and, in 2016, debuted red and black uniforms and a brand-new team name, the “Sticks.”

Who could have imagined all that would come of it.

Playing over three days in Platte last Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the Sticks won the VFW 16U State Tournament with decisive victories over Alexandria, Selby and Parkston. Canistota/Freeman won its trio of games by a combined score of 25-6, and the state championship came exactly two weeks after the 14u Sticks — playing as Freeman/Marion — claimed a title of their own.

The 16u state championship, which came on Aug. 11, was the sixth for the Sticks since the program was established. There have also been two runner-up finishes and two third-place finishes over the years.

“It’s like a movie,” said Brad, who remembers talking to Dustin at a wrestling tournament in a gym in Harrisburg when the idea for a joint team was born. “We were talking about the need to start getting some kids together because we were tired of not having teener teams. And here we are.”

The 16u Sticks were also honored on Sunday with the Lou Thury Sportsmanship Award presented by the South Dakota Umpire’s Association based on consensus from the umpires who worked the tournament and tournament organizers.

Jason Brown, the director of operations for South Dakota VFW Baseball, said it’s rare for a championship team to also win the sportsmanship award — that they prefer to acknowledge a different team with the plaque — but tournament officials said Canistota/Freeman was too deserving.

“On and off the field,” he said, “a class act.”

Miller said the sportsmanship award means a great deal.

“I told the boys that, actually, the sportsmanship award is more meaningful and more important than the championship trophy because the sportsmanship award shows character,” he said. “And that’s what we talked about to our kids before every game. In the entire time that Dustin and I have coached these kids, they have never been chippy once. And that’s what I’m most proud of with these kids. They go out, they play the game the right way, and they have fun.”

Road to state

Canistota/Freeman, which last year at the 16u level suffered an elimination loss to Scotland/Menno in the region tournament and missed out on the state tournament, enjoyed a successful 2024 regular season. As was the case at the 14u level this season, strong and deep arms on the mound gave the Sticks an advantage over most other teams, although two of their top pitchers — Tannen Auch and Easton Miller — didn’t see much action because of arm/shoulder issues.

But the mid-season addition of Brady Scott, who will be a senior at Canistota, bolstered considerably an artillery of arms led by Riley Tschetter, and Canistota/Freeman ended up playing to a 9-4 regular season record; incidentally, three of those four losses came during a rough stretch from June 10 to 13 and included a 10-6 defeat at the hands of Parkston and a 4-3 loss to Platte-Geddes, which would go on to finish third at state on Sunday.

But the Sticks looked strong when it mattered most.

They took care of Garretson 13-6 and Letcher 12-0 in pool play of the Region 4B Tournament to advance to the championship round, where they shrugged off a 10-3 loss in a rematch with Garretson and came back to win the deciding game 14-1 and advance to state.

“It’s all about the word team,” Miller said. “We talked about it at regions — that this wasn’t going to be about one or two individuals, but about the team. We knew we were going to need different kids to step up at different times and made sure that our bench players were always ready to go if needed.”

Miller noted, especially in the postseason, it was all about position and finding the right combinations to put the best product on the field.

“We had kids that we could put at different spots, so when it came to the tournaments, we were trying to put our best defense possible out on the field at all times, and asked our pitchers to throw strikes, and that’s what they did.”

Three days in Platte

The state tournament field included familiar foes in Alexandria, Mt. Vernon/Plankinton, Parkston, Platte-Geddes and Scotland/Menno, but also unknowns in Gregory and Selby, and the Sticks drew one of their biggest rivals in the opening game Friday morning, Aug. 9 — Alexandria.

And Canistota/Freeman looked to their strongest arm to shut down Alex — Riley Tschetter.

Tschetter, who will begin his junior year when school starts at Freeman Public next week, went into the game with a 3-1 record and a sparkling ERA of just 1.80, the best on the team among pitchers who have thrown at least 20 innings. And he delivered, giving up one run on two hits while striking out 10 in 6 1/3 innings pitched. The defense played errorless ball behind him and the offense came through, too, scratching out nine runs on six hits to come away with a breezy 9-1 win.

Given that Tschetter and Miller — sons of Dustin and Brad — were on the ground floor when the Sticks program was launched, its poetic that Miller joined Tschetter in leading Canistota/Freeman to Friday’s opening-round win.

Miller hit a solo home run in the top of the second inning to give the Sticks a 3-1 lead and finished 2-for-4 from the plate with a pair of RBI. In addition to his good work on the mound, Tschetter finished 2-for-3 from the plate and batted in a run while Tannen Auch drilled an RBI triple to leftfield that made it 4-1 in the sixth. Tayden Kerrigan, Luke Peters and Al Knittel each recorded an RBI, as well, and the Sticks blew the game open with a five-run seventh en route to the win.

Oliver Waltner came on in relief for Tschetter in the bottom of the seventh inning to pick up the final two outs.

Canistota/Freeman’s win over Alexandria set up a semifinal clash on Saturday with a solid team from Selby, which had held off Gregory 4-3 the day before, and this time the Sticks looked to Scott to take care of business on the mound.

And, like Tschetter, he came through.

Scott gave the Sticks 5 1/3 innings of solid pitching, allowing four hits and one earned run, with Kerrigan coming in and allowing just one hit in the final 1 2/3 innings of the game.

Canistota/Freeman’s offense, meanwhile, pounded out eight runs on 11 hits, with Tschetter, Peters and Auch going a combined 8-for-11 from the plate. Auch and Peters each had two RBI while Riley Gall, Jackson Donlan and Knittel each batted in a run.

Players and coaches will tell you that, at the onset of the tournament, they fully expected to find themselves in the championship game, and their likely opponent would be the team that plays by Post 3298 — Parkston. And it was.

The defending 16-and-under state champions had cruised through the regular season with a 20-4 record that included a 10-6 win over Canistota/Freeman on June 12 and advanced through the state tournament bracket with a 7-0 win over Mt. Vernon/Plankinton on Friday and a 3-2 victory over Platte-Geddes the following day. And Parkston had perhaps its best pitcher left — Mason Jervik.

But an Easton Tschetter walk and Riley Tschetter single gave the Sticks a 1-0 lead and Parkston pulled Jervik, who had walked four, after the third inning.

The Sticks, meanwhile, had plenty of pitching left and rolled the dice with two of their best hurlers — Miller and Auch, who had seen only limited time on the mound because of nagging arm issues.

Miller drew the start and was strong, giving up two hits and one earned run while striking out seven in 4 2/3 innings pitched. Miller maxed out on pitches (97) in the fifth inning and Auch came on to clean it up, allowing just one hit and striking out five in 2 1/3 innings pitched.

And the offense gave its pitchers plenty of support, turning a 1-0 lead into a 6-0 lead in the fourth inning. Parkston got one back in the bottom of the fourth but left the bases loaded, and then took advantage of a Canistota/Freeman error in the bottom of the fifth to make it 6-3 and steal back a bit of momentum. But Auch’s strong pitching and two insurance runs in the top of the seventh put the game out of reach and sealed the deal, giving the Sticks their first 16u state championship in program history and sixth VFW title overall.

“I’m proud of the way you played this weekend,” Miller told the team in the huddle after the Sticks recorded the final out against Parkston. “We knew we had a good enough team to come here and win it. All we had to do was play our game and that’s exactly what we did.”

“Great team effort all weekend,” said Dustin Tschetter. “Everybody contributed to these wins the last three days. You guys showed up, you competed, you played with a lot of energy all three games. This has been all about the team since regions, when we were facing elimination. There were no more second chances and you guys responded. I’m proud of you.”

Riley Tschetter, Peters and Auch each had two hits in the win against Parkston, with Peters, Auch and Kerrigan each batting in two runs. Riley Tschetter and Donlan also added an RBI.

For the tournament, Tschetter went 7-for-10 from the plate with a pair of RBI, Auch finished 5-for-11 with six RBI and Peters went 5-for-8 with four RBI.

Miller and Peters were both selected to take part on the SD VFW 16U All-Star Showcase this Sunday, Aug. 18 in Humboldt.

“I’m just so proud of these kids; they worked their tails off,” Miller said after it was all over. “Let’s be honest, this has been a long season. We started in March and we’re in August, and the kids worked hard the entire time and never complained.

“Just proud of the effort.”

Final thoughts

Sunday’s state championship in Platte came at the same athletic complex where the Sticks competed at the 10u level in 2018, when the program bagged its first state title, so for those aging out of the VFW Teener program, it’s a sweet bookend.

In addition to Easton Miller and Riley Tschetter, Jackson Donlan, Brady Scott and Prayden Acheson will leave teener baseball.

But the Sticks will return everybody else, including the players who led the 14-and-under Freeman/Marion team to a dominant 2024 season and state championship of its own.

And then there’s baseball through both the American Legion and South Dakota High School Baseball Association, which plays at the 19-and-under level. The Sticks fielded a high school and JV team this past spring and also played on a first-year American Legion team with Scotland and Menno, the Post 152 79ers.

And the coaches are already thinking about the future.

“Keep working,” said Mike Kerrigan, who is part of the coaching staff. “You get a few months off and we’ll get right back at it.”

“The only thing left is a high school championship,” said Tschetter. “I know (spring) is busy, but just come out. That’s our practice for the summer anyway; we have enough bodies here that if we get everybody out, we can go win that, too. We are the deepest pitching team in the state; we just need guys to keep coming out and contributing.”