It took the Brandon Valley baseball team 21 innings in just about 25 hours and lots of stress, but the Lynx became the first team since Brookings in 2015 and 2016 to repeat as Class A state champions.
The state championship run started late on Friday, May 22, with play delayed until 2 p.m. due to rain. With three games before, Brandon Valley didn’t throw the first pitch against O’Gorman until 9:46 p.m. The final out of that 10-7 win was recorded at 12:10 a.m. on Saturday, May 23.
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The game was initially scheduled for 8 p.m. after the delay, but the games before kept running long.
The Lynx then had to bounce back for the semifinals at 3:30 p.m. against Sioux Falls Jefferson in a rematch of the 2025 state championship game. Senior Taylor Melby, the tournament MVP, tossed a complete game with one run allowed to send his team to the title game.
No. 8 Watertown awaited Brandon Valley in the championship game, with first pitch coming just before 8:30 p.m. on Saturday. The Lynx scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth to come back and earn the state title.
Brandon Valley was down 3-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh in the championship game, but the team went into the dugout all fired up and the pro-Brandon Valley crowd decided to join that effort. The crowd on both sides was hanging on every pitch, with one half groaning and one half cheering every time.
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“We got a huge crowd, huge community coming to support us,” Stroh said. “The dugout was amazing. Amazing people, amazing family. I just love my community and I love Brandon Valley.”
The dramatic comeback felt like it happened in slow motion, with eight players getting to the plate. Head coach Jeremy VanHeel never doubted his guys’ ability to come back, and felt it was because of their togetherness.
“Everybody loves everybody,” VanHeel said. “It’s a tight-knit group. There’s just something special about this group from when we started in Kansas. We were undefeated at home and it just carried over.”
It was a long two days with three difficult matchups and lots of players had to step up for the Lynx to defend their crown.
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“It’s been pretty tiring, I have to admit,” senior Bryton Stroh said. “Playing until 12:30 at night, then waking up the next morning and getting back to the field at 1 o’clock, then right back at it. It gets pretty tiring, but I love the energy, love the guys I’m with and love the overall feeling of it.”
Brandon Valley had lots of veteran leadership on this 2026 team and those players came up big in the state championship game against Watertown. Senior Luke Felderman threw 5.2 scoreless innings in relief, Stroh had the game-tying single, Bryce Plucker and Max Peters each drove in a run and Grady Gindorff and Brayden Knutson both reached base twice.
Those efforts, combined with Melby’s gem, showed just how special this senior class is. VanHeel was thrilled they got their moment in the sun on Saturday.
“They are the culture of the program,” VanHeel said. “They believe in everything that we do. They show it. They live it, and I’m very proud of that.”
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The head coach is hoping some of the underclassmen can learn how to win from this senior group. Knuston, Plucker, Peters, Stroh, Mason Veld and Gindorff were all in the starting lineup consistently and got the job done.
This 2026 team was slightly different from the 2025 team, even with just a few departures. The players and coaches all felt a different dynamic and sense of family this season.
“This group was amazing,” Felderman said. “We’ve got big hitters. We’ve got great pitchers. We knew coming into this thing we could easily do it.”
These seniors get to end their careers winning the last game of the season twice in a row. They weren’t focused on defending a state championship as much as winning the 2026 title, but once they got it done it stamped their place in South Dakota baseball history.
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“Once you go back-to-back, there’s no better feeling than that,” Stroh said. “We’ve got the team to do it and we’ve got amazing, amazing guys. It’s just an amazing feeling. No words can come to it.”
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Brandon Valley baseball finishes off back-to-back state championships
