The Capital City Little Leaguers, after a loss on Thursday, have dominated two straight games to reach the state championship beating Harney Little League 11-2 Friday and then Rapid City Little League 10-0 on Saturday.
Seven different players would pick up an RBI on Friday in the 11-2 win as Lucius McCullough would lead the way with three RBIs. Bennett Heiss would have another two RBIs and Tace Palecek would hit a triple in the win. Pierre was down 2-0 after the first and didn’t score until the third, but would hang a four spot in the third and fourth and score another three runs in the fifth. Ben Martinec would have a complete game win allowing just two unearned runs on four hits and seven strikeouts.
Then on Saturday, Pierre wasted no time scoring four runs in the first which included a two run triple by Kaden Goodlander. While that was all that Tripp Lindekugel would need on the mound, Goodlander wasn’t done there. He would hit a two run double to stamp the dominant win in the top of the sixth inning to extend the lead to 9-0. He finished with four RBIs, Lindekugel went 3-3 doubling all three times and driving in two, along with McCullough having two RBIs and Luke Deal driving home a run. Lindekugel only threw 59 pitches in a complete game allowing just three hits, one walk and six strikeouts.
The dominant effort puts Pierre in the state championship game against Sioux Falls Sunday. Pierre will have to win the 12:00 game to force a winner-take-all game at 2:20. If Pierre can win both, they will claim the South Dakota State Championship.
