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Contenders to watch in 2026 South Dakota high school softball season

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Contenders to watch in 2026 South Dakota high school softball season


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The 2026 South Dakota High School Activities Association (SDHSAA) softball season is underway, and teams all across the state will be vying for the state championship title over the next two-plus months.

Here’s a rundown of each of the three classes and which teams can win the state championship, broken down into three tiers — defending champion, contenders and dark horses.

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Class AA

Defending Champion: Sioux Falls Jefferson

Jefferson broke through in 2025 as the No. 4 seed, beating two-time state champion Sioux Falls Lincoln in the semis before shutting out Sioux Falls Washington in the championship game.

The Cavaliers’ pitching led the way last season, but Whitney Portner graduated, leaving Tya Devericks projected to hold down the circle the most. The now-junior pitcher recorded a 2.96 ERA with 28 strikeouts in 26 innings a season ago.

Devericks, Macy Bryant and Brooklyn Herrera form a three-headed monster at the top of Jefferson’s lineup that can compete with nearly any in the state.

Portner is a massive loss for a breakthrough Jefferson team, but the Cavaliers appear to have the pieces in place to repeat if things fall right.

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Contenders: Sioux Falls Lincoln, Harrisburg, Sioux Falls Washington, Brandon Valley

Sure, this list includes the rest of the top five seeds from last year’s state tournament, but there’s a reason for all of them to be included.

Lincoln and Harrisburg are both off to 0-1 starts, but they have the track record to give some level of confidence they’ll be near the top of the state come postseason time. Lincoln lost a bunch of seniors from last year’s team, but won the first two SDHSAA state championships and has been the top seed all three years. Harrisburg has dealt with a little less roster turnover this year and was the No. 2 seed all three years, even if it only ended in one second-place finish.

Washington finished second last season with a relatively young roster, and it feels like the program has been ascending, even if the seeds have been relatively the same.

Brandon Valley has to replace nearly 100% of its innings pitched from last year, but most of the offense returns and the Lynx could very well slug their way to contention and their first state title since softball was officially sponsored by the SDHSAA in 2023.

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Dark Horses: Tea Area, Sioux Falls Roosevelt, Rapid City Stevens, Brookings

There’s very few dark horses in Class AA, given there are only 17 teams, but all three have a case to break out this season.

Tea Area already has a win over Lincoln this season after finishing with a 6-11 record a season ago. The Titans’ early win can be great for confidence and propel them back to the top of the state after making back-to-back Class A state title games in 2023 and 2024.

Sioux Falls Roosevelt is returning lots of production from a young team in 2025. The Rough Riders didn’t get off to the best 2026 start with a big loss to Brandon Valley, but they have the potential to improve a ton throughout the season and make a leap into the upper tier of Class AA.

Rapid City Stevens went 16-4 a season ago and didn’t lose a ton of production, but the No. 6 seed in 2025 will seemingly always face an uphill battle with the travel required to get in games against Class AA competition.

Brookings had a dominant team in 2023 that fell just short and has lost in the SoDak 16 each of the last two years. The Bobcats had a stable of freshmen last year who can make a leap and bring Brookings softball back to the precipice of state title contention.

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Class A

Defending Champion: West Central

West Central has been in each of the first three Class A state championship games, and the Trojans should be extremely strong again with a large senior class.

West Central has already dropped a 17-15 game to Madison to open the season, but a few losses crept into the regular season last year. The Trojans went 22-0 and won a state championship in 2023, and went 22-1 and dropped the state title game to Tea Area in 2024 before a 21-3 run to the state title a year ago.

This year’s crop of Class A softball appears to be even better than the past, and the Trojans will need to dig deep and pull out some tough games to repeat and win their third Class A state championship.

Contenders: Tri-Valley, Madison, Elk Point-Jefferson, Dell Rapids, Dakota Valley

This list essentially comprises the rest of the year in, year out contenders in Class A. All five teams consistently show up in the state tournament and beat each other as West Central mows down its opposition en route to the state championship game.

Tri-Valley was last year’s No. 2 seed and runner-up, and is already off to a 3-0 start in 2026. The Mustangs have most of the same roster as last year and will be able to plug in most of their holes with 2025 backups.

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Madison has the aforementioned win over West Central already, but has taken a loss to Tri-Valley. The Bulldogs have consistently had an offense in the top third of Class A, but things can change quickly if the big-game run prevention shows up.

Elk Point-Jefferson, like Tri-Valley, is off to a 3-0 start. The difference is the Huskies haven’t quite faced the level of competition as the Mustangs. Elk Point-Jefferson has dispatched of that opposition accordingly, and early-season momentum is never a bad thing.

Dell Rapids has finished third each of the last three seasons, and lots of young talent returning can help the Lady Quarriers break through the barrier. Dell Rapids’ seed has gotten worse over the last three years, so there’s also the chance there’s another dip.

Dakota Valley has been the most up-and-down of the teams in this tier, bouncing from the third seed to seven seed year to year. The Panthers have a difficult early-season schedule, where a lot will be learned about this group.

Dark Horses: Beresford, Sioux Valley

This is a short list with the top contenders in Class A being so stable, but each team has a reason for being listed.

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Beresford is off to a 2-0 start and has clubbed Class B’s Freeman/Marion/Freeman Academy and Castlewood. The Watchdogs’ next two games are against Madison and Dakota Valley, so their long-term viability in this race will be determined soon.

Sioux Valley is looking to build off a 16-8 2025 season with only two seniors to replace. The Cossacks have already lost a 6-2 game to Tri-Valley, but they need just a couple big wins to break through into the upper tier of the class.

Class B

Defending Champion: Deuel

This is the first defending champ who doesn’t have a clear path to a repeat due to the graduation of pitcher Katrina Hagberg. A strong pitcher can be overwhelming, especially at smaller schools, and losing that weapon can pose serious problems for a team that surrendered 43 runs in 24 games.

Also, Deuel only scored five runs in the last two state tournament games, fully relying on pitching and defense to beat elite competition.

Counting out the defending champs is never a good idea, especially with so much of the team coming back, but this feels like a year for the Cardinals to reset and find a new way to win games.

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Contenders: Castlewood, Flandreau, Gayville-Volin, Florence/Henry, Bon Homme

The theme here is teams that didn’t lose their star pitcher or lots of seniors from last year, as pitching is at a premium in Class B.

Castlewood has lots of roster continuity, while also coming off a 16-6 season and a sixth-place finish in the state tournament. The Warriors won the 2023 championship and were second in 2024, and have a few tough tests against Class A teams lined up to determine how strong they really are.

Flandreau could technically be considered a dark horse given they weren’t in the state tournament a season ago, but the Fliers are off to a dominant 2-0 start with 32 runs scored. Flandreau could make a leap from a SoDak 16 appearance to a run in the Class B state tournament.

Gayville-Volin is also 2-0 this season, and the Raiders have won in a low-scoring game and had the offense go for 16 runs. The Raiders made a run to the state championship game as the No. 6 seed, and this could be the year they bump up a step and win it all.

Florence/Henry is another example of a team that went to the state tournament and has a lot of roster continuity. The Watchdog Classic on May 9, will determine a lot about how the Falcons will fare this season, with Beresford, Dell Rapids, Tri-Valley and West Central all set to test Florence/Henry.

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Bon Homme was the No. 2 seed in 2025 and had a dynamic offense, scoring 27 runs in three games at the state tournament. The Cavaliers’ offense remains mostly intact and hasn’t gotten on the field yet, but appears to be the best in Class B.

Dark Horses: Scotland/Menno, Chester, Clark/Willow Lake

There’s a few teams that can break into the Class B state championship picture, but they all have different ways of doing it.

Scotland/Menno is already 2-1 on this young season, and the Trappers have dominated their two inferior opponents this year. Scotland/Menno made the state tournament in 2024 and could be returning in 2026.

Chester already has a huge win after being upset in the SoDak 16 a season ago. The Flyers have five seniors and five players who are freshmen or younger, so they could have some ups and downs and get hot at the right time.

Clark/Willow Lake has started 1-2, but played a couple very close, low-scoring games against Avon and Elk Point-Jefferson. The Cyclones have a very young team and could also cause problems if things come together throughout the season.

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SD Lottery Mega Millions, Millionaire for Life winning numbers for July 17, 2026

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The South Dakota Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.

Here’s a look at July 17, 2026, results for each game:

Winning Mega Millions numbers from July 17 drawing

22-34-45-48-55, Mega Ball: 14

Check Mega Millions payouts and previous drawings here.

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Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from July 17 drawing

03-19-38-48-58, Bonus: 01

Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your prize

  • Prizes of $100 or less: Can be claimed at any South Dakota Lottery retailer.
  • Prizes of $101 or more: Must be claimed from the Lottery. By mail, send a claim form and a signed winning ticket to the Lottery at 711 E. Wells Avenue, Pierre, SD 57501.
  • Any jackpot-winning ticket for Dakota Cash or Lotto America, top prize-winning ticket for Lucky for Life, or for the second prizes for Powerball and Mega Millions must be presented in person at a Lottery office. A jackpot-winning Powerball or Mega Millions ticket must be presented in person at the Lottery office in Pierre.

When are the South Dakota Lottery drawings held?

  • Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
  • Mega Millions: 10 p.m. CT on Tuesday and Friday.
  • Lucky for Life: 9:38 p.m. CT daily.
  • Lotto America: 9:15 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
  • Dakota Cash: 9 p.m. CT on Wednesday and Saturday.
  • Millionaire for Life: 10:15 p.m. CT daily.

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a South Dakota editor. You can send feedback using this form.



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Meet Mayor Christine Erickson

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Meet Mayor Christine Erickson


Christine Erickson is the 33rd Mayor of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, serving since July 2026, and the first woman to hold the office. Born in Rapid City and raised in a working-class family, her values were shaped by hard work, service, and integrity – principles she continues to carry into every facet of her professional and public life.



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South Dakota opera ‘Giants in the Earth’ finds new audience

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South Dakota opera ‘Giants in the Earth’ finds new audience


The South Dakota Symphony Orchestra has captured the national imagination with innovative programming, original productions, and artistic tendrils of community engagement. Now, they’re planning for the future. They are challenging themselves to answer the question: What’s next?

Music director and conductor Delta David Gier stopped by the SDPB studios for an update. SDPB’s Lori Walsh asked the maestro about the recent release of a professional recording of the SDSO’s “Giants in the Earth.”

DELTA DAVID GIER

Well, it may seem like old news for a lot of people, your listeners perhaps, because we did this opera, you know, a year ago, April, and then SDPB made the video production of it and aired it last fall.

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But this is the commercial recording, which is being released internationally. It actually was released in Europe before it was released here because the record label is in the Netherlands.

So, yeah, it’s really exciting. It’s very high quality. You know, it’s just top-standard recording and it sounds great.

LORI WALSH

Tell us about what goes into releasing a recording like that. How intensive is that for you? Is that something that you pass on to other people and then it comes back to your hand, or are you intricately involved in it?

DELTA DAVID GIER

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Well, I spent, you know, a year ago, actually. I was in New York with a recording engineer in the Dolby studio there, and, you know, we were making a lot of decisions. So I haven’t had much to do with it in the last year. And the release of it, the timing of the release, that’s all up to the recording company. When they feel like it’s the best time, when they can get the most traction in terms of press and all of that.

LORI WALSH

So what happens next to a recording like that? What are your hopes for it in the world? Because the performance and the community aspect of it is largely what you focus on as the music director and conductor of the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra.

Now it has a life beyond you. How important is a recording to you as a conductor?

DELTA DAVID GIER

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Well, it’s important for posterity, first of all. I mean, there was no recording of this piece of music, a Pulitzer Prize-winning piece. And so part of it was due diligence. This story takes place right here where we live in South Dakota. It tells the story of the first Norwegian immigrants coming here, and nobody could ever hear this piece before, so that’s part of it, is just sort of an altruistic thing.

The other is to make it available for people here, and again, the video that’s available on your website to watch free of charge from anybody at any time, that’s great. This is something that people can, it’s a piece of history they can either own or like you say, you can stream it.

The other thing is, I hope that, well, I mean, there’s also the recognition beyond South Dakota. Like the last recording we released had a lot of really good press, I mean, BBC, Music Magazine said, you know …

LORI WALSH

The last recording, which would have been …

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DELTA DAVID GIER

Atlas of Deep Time by John Luther Adams.

That was the piece that we commissioned for our 100th anniversary season. But you know, BBC Music Magazine referenced the excellent South Dakota Symphony Orchestra players. I mean, that’s really great validation coming from press like that. So we would hope for that.

And then lastly, I would say that I would hope that other, that opera companies, orchestras, now that they have a chance to hear it, that they would pick it up and do it. That it would begin to take on a life of its own.

LORI WALSH

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It’s a starting line. It’s a finish line for you, and it’s a starting line for the piece in some way.

DELTA DAVID GIER

It’s like we’ve midwifed this piece. It’s out there in the world now.

LORI WALSH

Yeah, with an imprint on it that is undeniable for future performances and programming of Giants in the Earth.

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DELTA DAVID GIER

The story is out there of what the South Dakota Symphony did. I mean, it’s in the liner notes of the CD, but it’s online, so yeah.

LORI WALSH

All right, so speaking of press, I was reading Joseph Horowitz, who is a scholar in residence for the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra.

DELTA DAVID GIER

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Still is, actually.

LORI WALSH

Still is. And in the New York Times and in the American Scholar and both times, he’s really referencing heavily what is happening as he looks at 250 years of classical music in America and how often, in our reflections on America at 250, scholars left out any reference to the arts and what that means, what’s unique about American art, what’s unique about our canon.

Every time, he references the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra. I think he said, “The repertoire is brave and the vibe is exhilarating.”

DELTA DAVID GIER

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There you go. What more could you ask for? Yeah, I mean, our personnel manager will often reference that, that the reason that players come to play in this orchestra as she’s trying to fill out the orchestra — It’s not the money, because we don’t pay that well, but it’s the repertoire that we play and what she calls the vibe.

It’s the hang. It’s the fact that we have a happy orchestra, which is actually rare in our industry, like a lot of union orchestras and a lot of discontent and grousing about this and that and the other, you don’t find that in our orchestra.

It’s a very happy bunch. We’re happy to be making music together and people enjoy playing with us. So, it’s good.

LORI WALSH

You’re asking the big question, which is what’s next?

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DELTA DAVID GIER

Yeah, right.

LORI WALSH

You’ve done 100 years. You’ve done Lakota Music Project, which is ongoing, of course. You’ve done Giants in the Earth.

How do you envision the future?

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DELTA DAVID GIER

Well, we just spent three days last week tackling that question. I have a new friend, his name is Tom Morris, and he’s about 80, I think, or so. He was 50 years at the top of the industry. CEO of the Boston Symphony, CEO of the Cleveland Orchestra, CEO of the Ohio Music Festival.

And he, through various channels, learned about the SDSO became intrigued with it, actually came to the production of Giants in the Earth last year, and that was the question he asked.

After the dress rehearsal, we went out for a drink, and he says, So what’s next? We got the whole nation’s attention now. Don’t squander this moment.

And so he actually put together a group of four people that came and spent three days with us last week, just exploring the question of what’s next for the SDSO.

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And, you know, it was a huge validation because all four of these people who, like Tom, had been in the industry for decades and are retired now and giving back. They came free of charge, just, you know, they do this with other orchestras occasionally too, but they just said, you know, It’s extraordinary what’s happening here.

What they were enamored with — yeah, the programming and so on — but the tendrils that we send out into the community for every program that we do, like the impact.

So if you look, if you read that article in the New York Times that Joe Horowitz wrote a couple of weeks ago about classical music in America at 250, he talks about the troubles that some American orchestras are having.

The epicenter of it right now is the Boston Symphony. Yeah, financial troubles, but audience troubles and relevance issues. Just the whole classical music relevance issue. And basically, we don’t have that issue because we’re going deep into the community. And whether it’s education, and our education is K through higher ed, like universities to kindergarten, and everything in between. And we worked really hard to make sure that each one of our programs has those elements in it.

It’s different, different ethnic communities, Lakota Music Project, of course, but also our Bridging Cultures program with South Asian, Chinese, Hispanic, communities within our community and how we connect with them.

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For example, our opening concert in the fall, it’s all rhapsodies, famous rhapsodies from our repertoire, but we have a new rhapsody, a Guatemalan rhapsody that’s being composed for us will premiere it by a Guatemalan composer, and right now we’re working on making connections with the Guatemalan community here in Sioux Falls, which I understand is the largest Hispanic population we have here.

So really looking forward to that, but we’ve done quite a bit of it, and it’s a matter of sitting down with the people of that community and asking the question, what’s most meaningful for you?

What’s most impactful for your community? How can we serve you? How can we partner together? We’re not trying to get anything out of that community. We’re trying to figure out ways that we can enrich the life of Sioux Falls by making music together.

LORI WALSH

How do you open the door for really innovative answers?

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DELTA DAVID GIER

Right. It’s mostly listening, honestly. You go into the initial meeting like that, whether it’s with an ethnic community or principals of the high schools. Like Brian Maher put together this meeting. I walk in there and he’s talking about, you know, the orchestra engaging with the high schools and the principals are like, what? What are we talking? Math teachers, you know, whatever. What are you talking about? You know, so we’re going through this. And Tim Haslett from Roosevelt, the principal at Roosevelt said, at one point, Hey wait, you could build a program around the Holocaust for me, couldn’t you?

I said, you’re absolutely right, I could. Every 10th grader in Sioux Falls reads Romeo and Juliet. I can build a program around Romeo and Juliet to deepen their engagement with that.

These are the conversations. You gotta get through the bridge, or break the ice of What’s a symphony orchestra? What does this cultural institution do for the community? It’s not just an entertainment option for people who happen to kind of like that stuff. This is like history and all of that.

LORI WALSH

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So how do you measure outcomes of different programs?

DELTA DAVID GIER

Well, that’s more difficult in terms of: sometimes it’s ticket sales, sometimes it’s number of students engaged. I think about one of the Joseph Horowitz programs we did, Copeland in Mexico, which we worked really hard to engage the Hispanic population here. And through the National Endowment for the Humanities, we had tickets available. And we had 1,000 vouchers out to the Hispanic community for free tickets to this concert. And over two concerts, we had 650 of them redeemed. So that’s pretty good. I think the metric changes depending upon who we’re engaging.

SDSU loading up a couple of buses to bring students to a concert after Joe and I have been in the classrooms up there for the last couple of weeks talking about Shostakovich or whatever. How many people stay for a post-concert discussion?

We did that for Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony, and we had about 50 chairs set up on the third floor for this, and there were like 180 people that showed up because everybody wanted to talk about what they just experienced, you know. It’s a small kind of metric, but it’s like, yeah, okay, we struck a chord, so to speak.

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LORI WALSH

So how you measure outcome is continuously measuring it and measuring in different ways. Different ways, different formats — from participation and raw numbers of ticket sales to the “vibe,” as we were saying. The people in the room who want to talk about something, the press coverage that you’re getting, the excitement that the orchestra is building, the way that you can sit in a room and hear innovative ideas from a community that you haven’t engaged with yet, whether that’s in a high school or whether it’s with a Spanish-speaking group. All of that and more.

DELTA DAVID GIER

And the desire to re-engage.

Like if we did Lakota Music Project once and never did it again, then that would not be a good metric. But the fact that we’ve been at it for over 15 years now and people invite us back and want to continue the engagement, that’s a good metric.

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LORI WALSH

What’s next for you personally? What are you excited about? When somebody asks that question, What’s next, it’s easy to focus on the community, it’s easy to focus on the musicians, the quote-unquote happiness of the orchestra. How about you personally and professionally?

DELTA DAVID GIER

I’ve basically devoted the second half of my life to this, this orchestra in this community. So I’m pretty excited about where we are and where we can go.

I think that the outcome of these three days with these industry professionals last week was we’re doing really great stuff. You need to be, we, we need to figure out ways to, to basically, honestly, fund it so that you can do more and deeper. You know, it’s not doing more for the sake of doing more. It’s how can we do this deeper and better.

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