PIERRE — The first-ever girls’ softball tournament sanctioned by the South Dakota High School Activities Association will take place June 1-3 next year in Aberdeen. At the SDHSAA board meeting last Thursday, assistant executive director Jo Auch said the
PIERRE — The first-ever girls’ softball tournament sanctioned by the South Dakota High School Activities Association will take place June 1-3 next year in Aberdeen.
At the SDHSAA board meeting last Thursday, assistant executive director Jo Auch said the tournament would be held at Northern State University. She told the board that the first tournament would include all three classes at the same site.
“They’ve got a beautiful facility,” Auch said of the softball fields at Northern. She noted that the only drawback is a lack of lights, which may limit the number of championship games that can be played at the main field. There are 55 schools signed up to offer the newly sanctioned sport with teams to be split into AA, A and B classifications.
SDHSAA Executive Director Dan Swartos said that the staff will analyze how the tournament plays out using just one site. Subsequent tournaments could be held at three sites in three communities, he said.
Each classification will offer an eight-team field for the tournament.
“Having everybody in the same city is going to be pretty special,” Auch said.
Choosing a site for a state tournament is usually the responsibility of the association’s site selection committee. Because girls’ softball is a new sport, Auch vetted facilities in Vermillion, Brookings and Rapid City before settling on Aberdeen.
At Thursday’s meeting SDHSAA Board Chairman Mark Murphy of Aberdeen appointed new members to the site selection committee for the 2022-23 school year. The committee will be chaired by board member Kelly Messmer of Harding County. Other board members on the committee are Jeff Danielsen of Watertown and Barry Mann of Wakpala.
The committee also includes five activities directors: Casey Meile of Sioux Falls Public Schools, Jared Vasquez of Rapid City Area Schools, Dawn Seiler of Aberdeen Central, Terry Rotert of Huron and Mike Jewett of Brookings.
