First Annual Cornbelt v Sunshine Tournament

This past weekend was the first annual Cornbelt v Sunshine Tournament, with the weekend-long tournament being held in Humboldt, SD. The tournament featured two of the best amateur baseball leagues in South Dakota taking each other on head-to-head. 

First game of the weekend ended in exciting fashion on Friday night, with a walk-off run, giving the Salem Cubs the 6-5 victory over the Corsica/Stickney Horned Frogs. The night ended with Canova Gang from the Cornbelt league losing to the Winner/Colome Pheasants 14-4. 

Saturday’s games started at noon and lasted all throughout the day. First game of the afternoon was one of the hosts for the weekend, Humboldt-Hartford Wood Ducks, suffering a 5-3 loss to Larchwood Diamonds. The other host team for the weekend, Humboldt-Hartford Gamecocks, lost as well, losing 8-5 in extra innings to the Platte Killer Tomatoes. 

Cornbelt league was able to get back in the win column to finish off Saturday, with Madison Broncos defeating Wynot 4-3, followed by Dell Rapids PBR beating Crofton 3-1.

The two leagues went into Sunday’s slate of games tied at 3-3. 

Sunday started with a victory for the Sunshine League, with the Dimock/Emery Raptors shutting out the Colman A’s 7-0. Lennox Alpacas evened up the count again with a 4-3 win against the Parkston Mudcats. 

The Cornbelt Leagues Mudcats, Dell Rapid Mudcats, played the Alexandria Angels in a matchup against the winners of the two leagues from last year. Game was 0-0 heading into the final-inning before the Mudcats walked it off in the bottom of the ninth to earn the 1-0 victory, putting Cornbelt league up 5-4 against the Sunshine league heading into the final game of the weekend. 

Last game of the weekend tournament featured Flandreau Cardinals and Mt. Vernon Mustangs, with an opportunity for the Cardinals to seal the deal for the Cornbelt league. That was exactly what the Cardinals did, closing out the game in the final inning with a walk-off run in the bottom of the seventh, beating the Mustangs 4-3.

There is a traveling trophy that was awarded to the Cornbelt league after finishing the weekend 6-4 against the Sunshine league. Tournament for next year will more than likely be held by a team from the Sunshine league.