It seems like a different season that Post 320 started with a 4-8 record. A few of those early losses came to regional opponents and it seemed very much up in the air whether the Stars would go back to the state tournament.
But that has all changed. Post 320 has gone 25-5 since, and this week swept all three of their regional opponents. I still believe the regional tournament is wide open, only I think it is wide open for the second spot. I believe Post 320 is the best of the four teams, and I feel very confident that they’ll make their fourth state tournament appearance in five years. I would even go as far as to say this year’s team is a better all-around team than last year’s team which went 46-16.
As good as last year’s team was with players like Kyle Starkey, Chris Lindemann, and Nate Jacobson, they were mainly an offensive power. This year’s team can still hit, has way more pitching, and plays better defense.
The Stars are so good defensively because they’re solid up the middle. Zach Cimburek in centerfield can run down fly balls with the best of them, and their trio of catchers all play solid defense. But the main reason Post 320 is so solid defensively is the play of Brandon Kiewel at shortstop. Kiewel is without a doubt the best defensive middle infielder in the region, and we’ll see how he measures up against the rest of the state come tournament time.
As far as the other teams in the region go, having seen all of them play a number of times, it is going to be an absolute dogfight between Pierre, Sturgis, and Spearfish for the final spot.
-Jake-

This entry was posted on Monday, July 13th, 2009 at 7:57 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.