MITCHELL — In preparation for the 92nd edition of the South Dakota summer baseball festival, the final spots are being determined for the Class B state amateur baseball tournament.

In the tournament, which will take place from Wednesday, August 7 to Sunday, August 18, 32 teams will compete in a single championship over 31 matches.

Coming into Friday’s games, 25 of the 32 slots in the state tournament field have been determined, with only a few more to be determined over the final two days of the district tournament. (Check back at mitchellrepublic.com for the latest on those games.)

Milbank, Kimball/White Lake and Redfield Dairy Queen won regional championships, while four more championships will be determined between Friday and Saturday night.

The Class B state tournament schedule will be announced Sunday afternoon, with the first games set to begin at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in Mitchell.

District 1B (East Dakota League): Four spots were at stake in the EDL this season, with the Milbank Firechiefs and Lake Norden Lakers set to meet in the championship game on Thursday night. The Castlewood Ravens — the former Castlewood Monarchs’ Class B replacement — earned a spot by beating Elkton 3-2, while Clark and Elkton’s Snappers would decide the final bid on Friday night.

District 2B (Northern Plains League): There are only two spots in Class B’s smallest district, Cadwell Park. Redfield Dairy Queen and Groton Locke Electric faced off in the championship game on Thursday night, with Redfield winning 12-2 on its home field. That sent Groton into a true second-round matchup with the Northville Merchants for the final district spot on Friday night in Redfield. Groton won the first matchup of the tournament 7-0 on July 28. The Faulkton Hitmen, the fourth team in the group, went 0-2 in their district efforts.

District 3B (Pony Hills League): Five of Pony Hills’ eight teams head to Cadwell Park, led by Kimball/White Lake’s first district championship win in a 3-1 win over Burke on July 31. The Bombers, ranked sixth after the regular season, are also heading to the state tournament for the first time in their first season as a club. No. 2 seed Wessington Springs and No. 4 seed Four Corners also made their way, while No. 8 seed Chamberlain held off No. 3 seed Plankinton, winning 11-6. The Winner Demons and Colome Chaos were the other two teams in the district, both going 0-2.

Zone 4B (Corn Belt League): The largest share of state tournament bids went to the 10-team Cornbelt League, with seven teams going to Mitchell. The top-seeded Dell Rapids Mudcats and the No. 2 Canova Gang, both of whom won two games each, will meet in the district championship at Canova on Saturday at 5:30 p.m., with the Gang seeking its first district title since 2016. The Flandreau Cardinals and Hartford/Humboldt Wood Ducks are also in the field. Colman, Dell Rapids PBR, Hartford/Humboldt Gamecocks and Salem, who joined Friday, continue their hunt for the three remaining state berths. The last-chance game for the final spot will be held on Saturday at 3 p.m.

District 5B (Sunshine League): There are six trips available for the Sunshine teams, a group led by the Platte Killer Tomatoes and Winner/Colome Pheasants, both teams facing off in the district championship game in Parkston on Friday. Alexandria, Corsica and Mount Vernon also qualified, while the last-chance regional game was Friday night between Dimock/Emery and the Parkston Mudcats, who eliminated The Pond’s rival Parkston Rays on Thursday.

Adam Thury / Mitchell Republic

District 6B (South Central League): Tabor and Lesterville, two of the final four teams in the Class B state tournament starting in 2023, have advanced to the District 6B championship game, which will be played Saturday at 7 p.m. in Lesterville. There are four total bids to the state tournament, with Crofton (Neb.) and Menno earning the final two spots from the losers’ bracket. Freeman, Irene and Wynot (Neb.) were left out of the seven-team bracket.

District 7B (State Border League): Six teams, including teams from both Iowa and South Dakota, were playing for four bids from across the state border. No. 1 seed Larchwood (Iowa) and No. 2 seed Garretson clinched the state tournament by winning their semifinal games and will play for the regional championship at Larchwood on Saturday at 5 p.m. There will be a last-chance match before that, with Akron (Iowa) and Lennox/Chancellor/Worthing playing at 2 p.m. The Elk Point Colt 45s already have a spot in the state field thanks to a win over LCW on July 31. The freshman Parker Ringnecks were the other team in the regional and were eliminated after two losses.

Marcus Traxler is the associate editor and sports editor of the Mitchell Republic. A winner of the state’s Outstanding Young Journalist award and the 2023 South Dakota Sportswriter of the Year, Traxler has been with the newspaper since 2014 and covers a wide range of topics. A native of Minnesota, Traxler can be reached at [email protected].