Mitch Messer Talks to Jake Nordbye About New Beginnings

Posted 5:03 p.m.

Jake Nordbye: What is the state of the Post 22 baseball program as you begin as the new head coach?

Mitch Messer: The tradition and foundation is here, but there is a lot of work to be done in terms of moving the program forward. It is still one of the top Legion baseball programs in the country. But we need to evaluate the program in an honest way. The vision for this program is always going to remain the same and that is to be one of the premier programs in the country. That doesn’t change, but the way we going about reaching our goals will need some tweaking.

Sami Dietrich sits quietly on the Sioux Park grass waiting for our interview to begin. She is the senior co-captain for the Stevens Raiders soccer team, which will be seeking its third consecutive state title next week in Mitchell. As Dietrich and the Raiders other co-captain, Katie Klapprodt, answer the first few interview questions they say all the right things. Dietrich smiles and she’s polite. Nothing about her appearance through the viewfinder of my camera suggests she is anything but a soft-spoken teenage girl.

Then, like a world-class club D.J. she switches tracks in a split second. Her smile fades and her eyebrows narrow. Dietrich looks right at me and speaks directly.

“Girls sports aren’t just some joke,” she says. “We’re here to prove that. We’re here to win. We play just as hard as the guys.”

Dietrich’s smile returns. “In most sports, we’ve done better than the guys.”

The disparity between east and west obviously continues to grow, but the gap between west and west is also widening. No. 1-ranked Roosevelt improved to 5-0 after topping Stevens 38-7 Friday night. Central beat Douglas 61-14. (Photo Kevin Cox/IDS)

The only comparable story I could think of after the football I witnessed on Friday night was Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

For Rapid City Stevens the porridge was too hot. The Raiders were down 20-0 to No. 1-ranked Sioux Falls Roosevelt after only five minutes and ended up losing 38-7. In three games against Sioux Falls teams this season they have been outscored 144-14.

Ravens running back Alec Faiman turns up-field before gaining a first down on the opening night of Midget football Thursday. (Photo Jake Nordbye/IDS)

Familiar faces roamed the Star of the West Complex for the start of the Midget Football season on Thursday night.

The last time we saw some of them they were playing in front of ESPN cameras at the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.. Thursday night marked the beginning of a new sport, but they looked like the same dominating young athletes…along with plenty of other talented players who spent August enjoying the lake. And none of it would have been possible if it weren’t for a group of individuals who started Midget Football in Rapid City 30 years ago.

Central's Taylor Houchin has scored 44 of the Cobblers 62 points this season. Against Sturgis Friday night he scored Central's first 24 points of the game. (Photo Kevin Cox/IDS)

Rapid City’s ‘AA’ football teams have a plus-.500 record… at the same time.

This has only happened once—in 2009—over the last six seasons. Give the Stevens Raiders and the Central Cobblers some credit. They are playing hard, and both have won the games against teams they should beat. This hasn’t always been the case over the last several years.

Granted, the victories were over Sturgis and Spearfish, but the Rapid City teams did a lot of positive things on the football field Friday night. Both also know they will need to be a lot better if they have any chance of competing with the powerhouses from the east of the Missouri.

Published at 6:56 p.m. (Updated 7:34 p.m.)

Ploof won 2,483 games, 33 state titles, and one national championship

Dave Ploof will retire after 47 years as the winningest coach in the history of American Legion baseball with a career record of 2,483-818. (Photo Kevin Cox/IDS)

RAPID CITY, S.D. — After 47 years, Dave Ploof has coached his last game for the Rapid City Post 22 baseball program.

The most successful coach in the history of American Legion baseball will officially retire on October 31, 2011.

In the weeks following the 2011 season, the Board of Directors of the Post 22 baseball program, the assistant coaches, and Ploof engaged in a flurry of meetings, arm-twisting and, at times, acrimonious internal debates concerning Ploof’s leadership of the program. On Monday night, after weeks of negotiations, a final compromise was reached— Ploof will retire as the head coach of Post 22 and will serve as an ambassador and an advisor for the program for the 2012 season.

“As a coach you look at it and you say, ‘when are you going to retire?’ I looked at it after the first year,” Ploof told IDS Monday night. “You prepare for that day. I’ve had 47 great years of coaching Post 22 baseball and it has been a blast. We have outstanding athletes here and fans and it has been amazing.”

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Tanner Chleborad has a 6-3 record this season and an ERA of 0.92. (Photo Kevin Cox/IDS)

RAPID CITY, S.D. — Rapid City Post 22’s ace pitcher Tanner Chleborad threw 339 pitches in 11 days between June 29 and July 9. He hasn’t thrown a single pitch since. On Tuesday, Chleborad met with his orthopedic physician, reviewed the results of an MRI on his injured ulnar nerve, and learned that he will need another two to three weeks of rehabilitation before he can begin to throw again.

The physician’s timetable means that Chleborad won’t be available to pitch for Post 22 in the South Dakota State Tournament or the Central Plains National Regional Tournament, which begins on August 5. Under the best-case scenario, Chleborad would be available to pitch in the American Legion World Series.

DENVER, CO - JULY 1: Second baseman Mark Ellis #14 of the Colorado Rockies throws out Melky Cabrera #53 of the Kansas City Royals at Coors Field on July 1, 2011 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)

It has been a roller coaster couple of weeks for Rapid City native Mark Ellis. After nine years in Oakland, he was traded to the Colorado Rockies on Thursday, arrived in Denver on Friday, and played in his first game for the Rockies on Friday night. What a debut it was. Ellis went 3-for-5 with three RBI, including a two-run home run.

Ellis took a few minutes Saturday morning to answer questions from IDS about the move from Oakland to Colorado.

Jake Nordbye: What have the last few days been like for you?

Ellis: The last couple of days have been crazy. Very emotional. Excited and sad all at the same time. I was very excited to come to Colorado, and I was sad to leave Oakland. It hit me when I was leaving the clubhouse how much everyone there meant to me and my family. Obviously, when I got to Colorado my emotions turned the other way and I was extremely excited.

Rapid City baseball fans are going to be only a quick drive to Denver away from seeing one of their hometown boys play in the flesh on a regular basis.

The Oakland A’s have traded Mark Ellis to the Colorado Rockies.

The Rapid City native spent nine seasons in Oakland and was dealt to Colorado for Bruce Billings, a player to be named later and cash. The Rockies will take on $1 million of the roughly $3 million owed to Ellis. He will be uniform Friday and is expected start at second base.