Rapid City travel teams win championships throughout region

Rapid City, S.D. — Last weekend several Rapid City teams traveled throughout the region and returned to Rapid City with championship hardware.

Sliders 12U Grey team won again, this time in Denver winning the USSSA Under Armour Championship Series. During the same tournament, all seven Sliders baseball teams got the opportunity to go out on the field at a Colorado Rockies game and ger announced.

The BH Rapids U17 Boys NPL won the Mountain West Division Championship and qualified for the NPL National Finals in July in Denver, CO.

Photo courtesy of BH Rapids

Three E3 teams won championships in the Box Out 5v5 tournament recently held at the Box in Rapid City. The 13U Black Team coached by coach Frandson won the 13u division and Couch Bennett’s 15U team won the 15U division.

Photos courtesy of The Box

Rapid City Stevens softball player makes all-state tournament team.  

Sioux Falls, S.D. — The Rapid City Stevens Raiders team finished in 6^th place during the SDHSAA State Tournament last weekend in Sioux Falls losing Brandon Valley 4-2 in the consolation championship game. This was the first season under head coach Jeremy Colhoff, but this was the third consecutive trip to the state tournament for the Raiders. Stevens entered the tournament as the #6 seed and lost their first game to state runner up, Sioux Falls Washington 10-3. The Raiders bounced back in their second game beating O’Gorman 9-3 before falling to the Lynx on the third day of the tournament. The Raiders ended the season with a 15-7 record.

Stevens only had two seniors on the roster, and their senior 3^rd baseman Kara Cox was selected to the 2026 South Dakota State Softball All-Tournament Team. During her senior season Cox had a .386 batting average, batted in 22 runs while scoring 14 runs herself. Kara’s defense and leadership shined in the state tournament allowing her to receive the all-state honor.

Photo Courtesy of Stevens Raiders Softball

Rapid City Tennis Player wins state championship two months after taking up the sport  

Rapid City, S.D. — Ferris Pendegraft is the definition of an ATHLETE, he plays football and basketball and grew up playing baseball as well. In recent years Ferris became an avid Pickleball player and this spring Feris decided to give tennis a try, and did it ever work out. In last months SDHSAA AA Boys Tennis tournament Ferris capped off a junior season for the Stevens Raiders where he went 23-3 and he avenged all three of his regular seasons loses at the state tournament to win the Flight 6 singles title.

Pendegraft’s first day of playing tennis was the second day of practice for the Raiders in March. Ferris’ athleticism helped him grow as a tennis player moving from #34 in his first week to fighting for a varsity spot by the end of his second week as a tennis player. By the end of the season Ferris won the Rapid City Invite and eventually a state championship. “In my entire coaching career, I have never seen anything like this,” said Stevens Tennis Coach Jason Olson. “By the last day of the state tournament, Ferris was playing on court 1, which never happens, and he was the buzz of the tournament because people couldn’t believe that this kid just started playing the game and was so good,” added Olson.

Photo Courtesy of SDHSAA

Rapid City Parks & Recreation Master Plan is available for review     

Rapid City, S.D. — For the past 12 months the Parks & Recreation department has been working on the development of a parks master plan and this week they released their final draft for review by the public. The website https://engagerdg.com/rapidcityparks is live and the department is seeking comments. The plan has eight chapters that you can comment on and share your feedback, they include, Executive Summary, Public Engagement, Operations & Maintenance, Precreation & Programming, Park System Analysis, Park Master Plan, Aquatics and Prioritization, Capital Costs & Implementation Strategy.

The website also outlines the process to get to their findings which include several public forums and open houses as well as the 519 survey responses that were collected over the past year.

The data is amazing and shows how much the P&R department does and how grossly underfunded the department is but also shows how many park amenities Rapid City has and should be proud of.

The following chart illustrates the number of amenities the City could support based on NRPA data collection. It is important to note that this information is a guide and may point to where the department may have overbuilt in some areas and may be underdeveloped in others.  

Some key takeaways.

• Rapid City has 45 Diamond fields, almost three times what we could support based on our population.
  • We love baseball and softball
  • Just imagine the baseball/softball event we could have if we could get access to all those fields.
• Rectangular Fields, almost three times what we could support based on our population.
  • Imagine what we could host if we had access to all the fields.
• Swimming pools, we have a lot for the size of our community.
• Walking/Running tracks, we are underdeveloped in this area,
  • Year-round walking track inside the sports complex?

This information is for public consumption, please take the time to review it and share your comments.

Upcoming Events

• Pete Lien 16U Baseball Tournament – June 9^th – 12^th – Pete Lien Stadium  
• Long Range Match by Black Hills Tack Drivers – June 11^th – 14^th – Pete Lien Shooting Sports Complex
• Jim Scull Baseball Tournament – June 11^th – 14^th – Pete Lien Stadium
• PCSL 2 Gun Match hosted by Prairie Thunder – June 12^th – 14^th – Pete Lien Shooting Complex
• Scheels Rushmore Cup – June 12^th – 14^th – MFC Sports Complex
• Rushmore Swim Team Summer Classic Swim Meet – June 12^th – 14^th – Roosevelt Outdoor 50 meter pool
• Big Stick Baseball Tournament – June 18 – 21 – Fitzgerald Stadium
• USPSA Match hosted by Prairie Thunder – June 19 – 20 – Pete Lien Shooting Complex
• Rushmore Shootout Baseball Tournament hosted by Sliders Baseball – June 19 – 21 – Star of the West, McKeague Fields
• Summer Spike 6v6 Volleyball Tournament – June 20 – 21 – The Box