It will be an all-Mudcat matchup on Thursday.
The Parkston Mudcats advanced to the quarterfinals of the State B amateur tournament with a 7-1 victory over the Redfield Pheasants on Sunday at Cadwell Park. Parkston will now play the Dell Rapids Mudcats at 6 p.m. Thursday.
"They are no stranger to the state tournament," Parkston pitcher Brady Nolz said about Dell Rapids. "They have got good pitchers, good hitters. It is going to be a battle and we will see what Mudcats come out on top, I guess."
Nolz once again helped Parkston come out on top against Redfield. Nolz fanned eight batters and allowed one earned run in the 109-pitch, complete-game performance.
The Pheasants, however, did manage to record eight hits off of last year's state tournament MVP.
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"If I left it over the plate, they hit it," Nolz said. "You have to tip your caps to them. They hit a lot of balls hard. We had guys in the right spot and our defense just made plays behind me all night."
The Mudcats broke open the low-scoring affair with four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning.
"It was frustrating because we played a good game," Redfield manager Jim Millar said. "We knew if we were going to be in this game against these guys, we had to play a good game and we did."
Redfield then committed three of its four errors in the bottom of the eighth.
"It got ugly," Millar added, "which is bad, because we had a good year and we have that awful taste in our mouth."
Parkston was clinging to a 3-1 lead entering the eighth inning. The Mudcats then scored on a single by Tyler Nolz, a two-run single by Jeff Harris and an error.
"It is easy to start pressing, but our guys stay positive the whole time and we know at anytime we can string hits together and get runs," Brady Nolz said. "That is what we did tonight. Even in the eighth when we were up two. It is never enough for our offense. They are always fighting to have more. That is great support to have behind me."
Nolz definitely had that support all night. In addition to the eight hits, the Pheasants put the ball in play throughout the night. However, Parkston's defense was sharp and it committed just one error.
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"We had two or three line shots that they had some phenomenal defensive plays," Millar said. "Them balls get through, it is a little bit different ball game."
Harris made one of the best defensive performances of the night. Redfield scored the first run in the top of the fourth and it could have added more.
With one out, Sutton Masat was on third base and Levi Logan hit a fly ball to deep right field. Harris caught it and threw a bullet to catcher Tyler Nolz, who tagged out Masat at home for the double play.
"We were the one that scored the run (earlier in the inning), but they had the momentum when that half inning was over," Millar said.
Parkston scored its first run in the bottom of the fourth. The Mudcats added two more in the fifth when Harris and Neil Nagle had RBI singles. Harris finished with three RBIs on two hits.
Christian Christianson took the loss for Redfield. He gave up five hits, three earned runs and issued three walks. He struck out one batter. Mitch Babcock and Drew Dickhaut both had two hits for the Pheasants, who finish their season 16-13.
Parkston improves to 21-9 on the season.
Redfield 000 100 000-1 8 4
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Parkston 000 120 04x-7 10 1
WP: Brady Nolz. LP: Christian Christianson. Pitchers: Christian Christianson, Justin Link (6) and Mitch Babcock; Brady Nolz and Tyler Nolz. 2B: Redfield, Evin Millar; Parkston, Ty Kinneberg.
