Ryan Smith  Diamond in the Rough

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PLATTE — In a tournament full of offense, Chamberlain’s Ryan Smith delivered a rare pitching game Friday in an elimination game at the Class B state Legion tournament in Platte. Smith struck out 13 in a complete-game effort, helping Chamberlain beat Alexandria 11-3 and advance to play another day. After losing its opening game 18-17 to Groton, Chamberlain has won elimination games two days in a row and will play Vermillion today at about 5:30 p.m. “We just told our kids let’s give ourselves a chance to play another day,” Chamberlain coach Brock Sundall said. “Let’s go out, have fun, enjoy the experience and play with confidence.” Chamberlain certainly did that Friday, jumping out to a 5-0 lead in the top of the first. Smith, however, didn’t even need that many runs, scattering 10 hits over his nine innings, and rarely even getting into trouble. He gave up only three earned runs, and most importantly, let the rest of the Chamberlain pitching staff rest. “I can’t say enough about how Ryan Smith pitched today,” Sundall said. “He threw a gem. He was around the zone and he kept them off balance all night.” Alexandria had scored 20 runs in its first 15 innings of the tournament, but Smith had them off balance with his curve ball all afternoon. Alexandria sent more than four men to the plate only three times in the game, and at one point, Smith struck out five in a row. “I just got in a groove,” Smith said. “The outside pitch was working really good and they just couldn’t handle it.” After Alexandria’s heartbreaking extra-innings loss on Thursday, a five-run deficit after one inning wasn’t the way the Angels wanted to start Friday’s game. Evan Fleury connected for a two-run single off Alexandria starter Pierce Smith, and Josh Denke later cleared the bases with a three-run double. “Your kids come out and you think they’re ready to play, but you know they’re still thinking about what happened last night,” Alexandria coach Jerry Smith said. “You come out and you get down 5-0 and that hurts.” Alexandria got a run back in the bottom of the second on Pierce Smith’s RBI single, but Chamberlain broke the game open with two runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth. Fleury and Joe Hieb had back-to-back RBI singles in the fourth and Mike Johnson had an RBI single in the sixth. Cody Schreiber also had an RBI on a fielder’s choice groundout, giving Chamberlain a 9-1 lead. “Anytime you can play ahead, it’s much easier,” Sundall said. “It’s tough to play from behind in a loser’s bracket game. We wanted to just continue to keep the pressure on them and just play our game.”

Smith’s clutch pitching performance helps Chamberlain advance
Matt Bunke - 07/25/2009.  Daily Republic.

 

With Smith cruising on the mound, Alexandria managed to score only two more runs. One came in the sixth on a wild pitch, and the other came on Matt McManus’s fielder’s choice groundout in the seventh. Alexandria wasn’t able to string together more than two hits in any inning. “We’re usually a better-hitting team than that,” Jerry Smith said. “I think after we got down by five runs, we were up there pressing a little bit.” Johnson went 4-for-5 with two doubles and an RBI for Chamberlain and Fleury was 4-for-6 with four RBIs. Denke was 3-for-5 with a double, triple and three RBIs. Tyson Gau led Alexandria by going 4-for-4 and Pierce Smith was 3-for-4 with an RBI. Peyton Smith also had two hits. Groton 13, Southern Hills 3 PLATTE — Groton beat Southern Hills 13-3 in five innings Friday afternoon in an elimination game at the Class B state Legion tournament in Platte. Southern Hills held a 2-1 lead after the top of the second inning, but Groton scored two runs in the bottom of the inning to up 3-2. Southern Hills tied the score with a single run in the third, but Groton scored four times in the fourth inning and six times in the fifth to end the game early. Colin Herron was 3-for-3 with two RBIs to lead Groton. Heath Giedt was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and Jeff Tobin was 2-for-2. Sam Thorson struck out seven and threw all five innings to earn the win. Joseph Baker was 1-for-3 with two RBIs to lead Southern Hills. Chris Housley threw the first four innings and took the loss. He gave up nine hits and struck out seven. Groton plays Platte-Geddes at 3 p.m. today for a chance to play in the title game Sunday.

  Ryan Smith is the son of Steve and Stana Smith of Chamberlain, SD.