NORTHVILLE – The Redfield Muskrats gained a measure of revenge against one opponent, but were unable to do it to another Thursday night during the Region 2B high school baseball tournament.

Redfield upset Warner-Ipswich-Northwestern 4-3 before falling to Sioux Valley 12-2 in the championship game. Sioux Valley blanked Clark Area 1-0 to start the day’s action.

Redfield and W-I-N had faced each other twice earlier in the year, with W-I-N collecting victories by the margins of 13-2 and 11-4. This time, Redfield secured the triumph when it mattered the most.

“It feels great. We lost to them twice this season,” said Redfield freshman Chace Odland. “It was just amazing to win this game.”

It was W-I-N who struck first putting up two runs in the first, and a third in the second. Devon Fischbach scored on a first-and-third play, and Alec Mikkelson brought in Chays Mansfield on an RBI single in the first. Jacob Schmidt brought in Beckett Hanson on an RBI single in the second.

“We started out taking really great approaches at the plate, and I think it showed in the first couple of innings when we put those first two, three runs over,” said W-I-N head coach Jeremiah Maxfield. “So that was great. We just got to take that through to the rest of the game and bring that same approach.”

Odland came on in relief in the top of the second inning with one out and one on. He held the W-I-N squad scoreless the rest of the way.

“It was a great experience. I knew I had a lot of pressure on me. I knew I had to get the job done,” said Odland. “I knew I had to throw strikes. These guys could hit the ball. I just knew I had to throw strikes.”

Bringing the freshman on in relief was all part of the plan once Jacksan Rude made it once through the W-I-N lineup.

“The idea was to get ‘Rudy’ one time through. He’s kind of a pitch to contact guy,” said Redfield coach Tommy Gregg said. “The plan was one to two innings and then Chace. Chace, I don’t know, he just doesn’t like starting. That’s what he told me once.”

With the Muskrats trailing by three, they knew they needed to chip away to get back into the game.

They ended up getting all they needed in the fourth frame, which was started by base hits from Hunter Binger and Micah Zastrow. Binger, Zastrow, Rude, and Noah Johnson crossed home for the Muskrats on self-inflicted wounds from W-I-N.

“Typically, we’re a very sound defensive team, and we just let errors compound and you can’t do that. When they compound, that’s what happens,” Maxfield said. “When you make a mistake, you gotta get over it and just go on to the next play, and we didn’t and that’s what hurt us.”

Even though W-I-N ended up falling short, Brayden Kroll and Logan Fischbach did their jobs on the mound. Kroll threw six innings, striking out nine and giving up only five hits, with Fischbach coming on in the seventh throwing only 12 pitches, retiring the side in order.

“The pitchers both threw great. Brayden threw an awesome game, Logan came in and slammed the door. That’s all you can ask,” Maxfield said. “Those guys absolutely pitched great and it’s unfortunate the result of the game, but that’s baseball.”

Redfield, which lost to Sioux Valley by 10 runs earlier in the season, battled in the title game and the score was tied at 1-1 after the first three frames. The Cossacks then took over thanks to an eight-run fourth inning on the way to the six-inning mercy rule win.

“We talked afterwards about how close we are, just right now of getting to the state tournament. For four innings, we were right there,” said Gregg, who visited with assistant coach Brent Osborn with the score tied. “Before we went out and it kind of blew up on us, I was like, ‘Brent, I think this might happen.’”

Sioux Valley struck first with a sac-fly to right field in the bottom of the second from Broden Teske, but Redfield answered right back with a two-out RBI single from Micah Zastrow.

“He’s one of our leaders at the plate. He’s maybe not your prototypical lead-off hitter, but he’s our best hitter, so we need him at the top to try to get another at bat or two out of him,” Gregg said. “He’s been big for us all year and a guy we look to. He cashed it in a few times tonight, and I can’t say enough about the kid. Good kid.”

The big fourth inning for Sioux Valley came with eight runs on one hit, two errors, six walks, and 12 stolen bases. The Cossacks ended with 17 stolen bases on the night.

“It comes down to winning in different ways. Sometimes you can hit home runs, you can hit doubles, triples, whatever. But it is nice to be able to manufacture runs,” said Sioux Valley coach Travous Milton. “It’s refreshing to know that there still is other ways to score besides hitting home runs.”

Sioux Valley starting pitcher Luke Gunderson gave up just two hits and struck out eight in five innings.

“That’s what we expect out of him. He’s a junior, upperclassman. He did good,” Milton said.

With the victory over Redfield, Sioux Valley booked its first bid to the state tournament in program history.

“It’s awesome. We’ve come close many, many times, been in the spot and just haven’t finished the game off,” Milton said. “They, as a team, they won. They did it. I don’t know if there’s a better of a feeling than winning as a team.”

The state tournament takes place Monday and Tuesday in Brookings.

Although Redfield fell short, there’s a bright future in years to come, and not only for the Muskrats.

“We do. So does W-I-N, so does Groton, and we’re all in the same region. Sometimes we all get along, sometimes we don’t,” Gregg said. “So, there’s good baseball in Spink and Brown County right now for Class B and that should be exciting.”

Redfield 001 001 – 2 6 3

Sioux Valley 010 812 – 12 9 1

Neal Salmen, Hunter Binger (4), Noah Johnson (4) and Tate Neuharth; Andrew Gunderson, Cooper Teske (6) and Broden Teske. 2B – Sioux Valley, Kameron Tucker. 3B – Sioux Valley, Braden Danzeisen.

Redfield 004 000 0 – 4 5 4

Warner-Ipswich-Northwestern 210 000 0 – 3 5 3

Jacksan Rude, Chace Odland (2) and Tate Neuharth; Brayden Kroll, Logan Fischbach (7) and Chays Mansfield. 2B – Redfield, Odland, Micah Zastrow, Zach Bonin.

Sioux Valley 000 000 1 – 1 2 0

Clark Area 000 000 0 – 0 1 0

Kameron Hauck and Broden Teske; Josh Kannegieter, Cooper Pommer (7) and K. Vandersnick. 2B – Clark Area, Jakob Steen.