Post 131 battles heat, goes 2-4 at Creighton Prep CWS Classic

As temps in the Brandon area crept close to 100 degrees on Friday and Saturday, they were even more oppressive in Omaha for the Post 131 Legion baseball team.

Brandon Valley played six games in four days at the Creighton Prep CWS Classic in Omaha last week, where they faced teams from North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and Nebraska. 

Unlike sanctioned high school sports where trainers from Sanford Health travel with Brandon Valley teams, the health of the Post 131 players fell to the responsibility of the coaching staff and area trainers provided by some of the host teams. 

“It was really, really hot,” Post 131 head coach Jeremy VanHeel said. “It was playing on turf, and that makes it so much hotter. We were watching guys’ health and how we were going about things. That was kind of the battle and making sure we weren’t overworking people, because somebody could get hurt.”

Luckily, no one did get hurt, and VanHeel and his staff used a plethora of pitchers throughout the four days. In all, 13 different Lynx pitchers saw action where Post 131 went 2-4.

Ironically, in Brandon Valley’s two wins, its starting pitcher went the distance in both games. In a 3-0 win over Westside Omaha on Wednesday, Christopher Joseph pitched all seven innings while giving up just one hit while striking out five. Ryder Mueller led the way for the Lynx offensively with a 2-for-3 effort. Bryton Stroh’s double in the third scored two for Post 131.

Two days later, Caleb Severin pitched all seven innings in a 10-5 win over Cheyenne, Wyo. Severin gave up eight hits, but struck out seven with zero walks in the win. Will VanLeur was 2-for-4 from the plate with a game-high 3 RBI. 

Outside of those two wins, the Lynx went deep into the pitching roster. Eleven other pitchers combined to chew up innings in the other four games.

“We used a lot of guys, and it was good,” VanHeel said. “It’s a good experience for everybody to have those opportunities to pitch. To be able to win at a Legion state tournament, you need to have pitching depth, so going to places like this, going against really good teams, giving those guys good opportunities to pitch against those good teams, it’s just going to continue to build, especially at the end.”

“At the end” is in reference to the Class A State Legion baseball tournament scheduled for July 29-Aug. 2 in Watertown. The Legion tournament is a double-elimination grind.

Unlike the single-elimination high school state tournament each spring, which Brandon Valley won on May 24 with three straight wins, a successful run in the Legion tournament is going to need a lot of pitching to get to the end.

“You need deep pitching, which is why getting a lot of kids opportunities is huge,” VanHeel said of last weekend’s experience gained on the mound. “Unlike high school where you can have three pitchers and win it, in Legion you’re going to need more than three.”

The Lynx are 11-10 and now get into the teeth of their South Dakota Class A schedule. Their next eight games, beginning Thursday with a double header at home against Sioux Falls Post 15 East, are all against Class A competition. 

The Lynx currently sit No. 4 in Class A powerpoint seedings. The next two weeks will help determine their seeding heading into the post-season. The Top 16 teams in Class A are ranked by powerpoints with the Top 7 playing host to a super regional. As the host site, Watertown gets an automatic bid.

The winners of those super regional games advance to the state tournament.

“Now we’re going to get into it,” VanHeel said of the upcoming schedule. “This could push us towards the top, or move us down. It’s still kind of early. Hopefully, we can take a step from what we did well from this weekend in what we learned.”