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Fast start lifts Redfield DQ past Aberdeen Circus

Redfield Dairy Queen’s Bennett Osborn, right, crosses the plate and high fives with teammates Peyton Osborn, center and Camden Osborn, left, after hitting a home run in Monday night’s game against the Aberdeen Circus at Fossum Field. Photo by John Davis taken 6/15/2026

Whenever Redfield Dairy Queen and Aberdeen Circus Sports Bar hook up in Amateur baseball, there is usually no shortage of runs.

With the wind blowing out Monday night at Fossum Field as a backdrop, it was almost a given that it would be another high-scoring affair, and the two powerhouse clubs provided plenty of offense.

Redfield raced out to a 19-run lead and collected a 24-9 victory in a game that featured six home runs, including a pair of grand slams.

Bennett Osborn started the offensive fireworks with a blast off the right centerfield light pole to account for the first two runs of the game.

“I was just trying to get something out over the plate. I was just thinking to myself that I’ve got to stay closed,” Osborn said. “I hit a home run in Groton and that’s the same thing. I was up there just trying to stay closed, stay to right center. I got a curveball that I put a good swing on.”

DQ then put up eight more runs in the second inning as Osborn added a two-run double that hit high up the fence in straightaway center. Redfield tacked on nine additional runs in the third frame when Nolan Gall hit a lead-off homer to start the scoring and Obsorn belted a grand slam home run to cap the uprising.

Redfield sent 11 batters to the plate in the second, and had 14 guys bat in the third.

“We just get great energy going. We’ve got a lot of great guys that really enjoy playing the game,” Osborn said. “It’s contagious. One guy hits, it makes everybody excited and then the next guy’s going up chomping at the bit to get a hit.”

Circus got on the board in the bottom of the third inning when WolfDon Thorson cracked a two-run home run. The hosts inched closer in the third when Easton Millar his the first of his two home runs.

Easton Millar, of the Aberdeen Circus, turns on a pitch during Monday night’s game against Redfield Dairy Queen at Fossum Field. Photo by John Davis taken 6/15/2026

“We’ve both got two really good teams here, so it’s always a good game when we play,” Millar said of the matchup against Redfield. “They’ve got good arms, we’ve got good arms, and it’s always competitive.”

The visitors scored four more times in the top of the sixth when Osborn nailed a grand slam home run to leftfield. He also added a bases-loaded walk in the seventh and finished with a career-best nine runs batted in.

Trailing 23-5 in the bottom of the sixth, Aberdeen was down to its last strike of a 15-run rule, when Millar took a 1-2 pitch and deposited it over the leftfield fence for a grand slam home run to extend the game. He then made a diving catch in the top of the seventh to save a run.

“Just good opportunities. We just didn’t give up,” Millar said. “It wouldn’t have happened if guys didn’t get on base for me.”

Millar drove in six runs on just two hits. He talked about the team’s resolve following the contest.

“We just never backed up. We got knocked down, but we just kept coming,” Millar said. “We just got knocked a little bit too hard right away, but we did our best to keep in the game.”

The fact that Circus kept battling did not come as a surprise to Osborn.

“These guys are competitors, that’s for sure,” Osborn said. “These guys never quit and they’re really tough at the plate. They don’t strike out much. They put good swings on the ball. They’re a good team.”

The last time the two played at Fossum Field last season the final score was 18-17. Earlier this season in Redfield, Circus grabbed a 16-10 victory. The two are scheduled to face each other again at Fossum in early July.

“It will probably be a minimum of 20 runs between the two of us,” Osborn said. “It will probably be at least three hours, and it will be fun.”

Redfield Dairy Queen’s Bennett Osborn, left, looks to tag WolfDon Thorson, of Aberdeen Circus, right, slides in with an attempt to steal third base during Monday night’s game at Fossum Field. Photo by John Davis taken 6/15/2026

Thorson, Kris Kwak, and Joran Foss each had two hits for Circus, which has been rated among the top five Class A teams in the state this season.

“When it gets to postseason we’re definitely going to be playing our A game,” Millar said. “We didn’t have our full lineup today, so when we have everybody here, we’re a good team, on offense and defense.”

Aberdeen has already gone toe-to-toe against some of the best Class A teams in the state this year.

“I’ve got high hopes for the rest of the year. I know we can play good,” Millar said. “We’ve played really good teams already. We’ve gone down to Sioux Falls and played those guys, and we played them tough, so I’m not too worried right now. This is just one game.”

Gall had five 5 hits, drove in four and scored five times for DQ. Bennett Osborn had four hits and also crossed the plate five times. Peyton Osborn finished with four hits and Cooper Hainy had three, and each knocked in three runs. Camden Osborn, Brent Osborn, and Keith Gall each contributed two hits to Redfield’s 22-hit attack.

DQ has its sights set on the ultimate prize in August.

“Our goal is always to win a state championship. We feel like we’ve got the guys,” Bennett Osborn said. “At the Legion level we came close a couple times. That’s always our goal going into the year.”

In recent years, Osborn said the opening rounds have been a challenge for the squad.

“We’ve gotten bounced out of the first round since I’ve been playing, so that’s a monkey we’ve got to get off our back,” he said. “That’s something that the old-timers have been telling us, that when they first started as a group together, it took them a while. So, we’re keeping the faith and showing up each day playing hard.”

Redfield Dairy Queen 289 004 1 – 24 23 0

Aberdeen Circus Sports Bar 002 034 0 – 9 11 3

Peyton Osborn, Bennett Osborn (7) and Jett Kleinsasser; Chad Ellingson, Evan Brandt (3), J. Alcoverde (4), Brock Anderson (6) and Kelly Coates. 2B – Redfield Dairy Queen, B. Osborn, Camden Osborn, Nolan Gall; Aberdeen Circus, Kris Kwak, WolfDon Thorson. HR – Redfield Dairy Queen, B. Osborn 2, Gall; Aberdeen Circus, Easton Millar 2, Thorson.

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