BELLE FOURCHE—Belle Fourche Post 32 baseball team captured the 2026 South Dakota Class B Senior American Legion Region Championship on July 23 at the Legion region tournament in Chamberlain. The region title sends Belle Fourche to the state tournament for the first time since 2010. They did it in a clean sweep, beating Martin 14-4 in round one, steamrolling Chamberlain 14-3 in the semifinals and besting Martin 6-3 in the championship game.
The team is coached by Randy Doran, and the assistant coach is Dominic Santiago. Doran has been with the team for the past six years. “I took over in the winter of 2020. You know, COVID kind of interrupted some things—kind of delayed some stuff, but I’ve been coaching the top level here since then,” he explained.
The baseball team came off hosting the VFW Varsity State Tournament July 17-19, and just a few days later traveled to Chamberlain for the Class B Senior American Legion Region Tournament. The team stays busy by design. “My model has always been—I want to have these guys play as much baseball as we think that we can be competitive with and having the opportunity to do a couple different postseasons just kind of gives them those different tournament feels and just chances to win,” shared Doran. “But it makes for a busy summer—but I think the guys enjoy the summer. They’re here with their buddies playing baseball five days a week, doing something whether it’s practice or games.”
Coach Doran moved to the Black Hills area in 2015. He coaches the BHSU Women’s Golf team during the school year, which leaves his summers open for baseball. “It works really well for me, because I coach the Women’s Golf team at Black Hills, so during the summer I’m not allowed to have contact with them under NCAA rules—so it makes it easy to spend all my time down here and work with these guys,” said Doran.
Doran and his team head to the 2026 South Dakota Class B Senior American Legion State Baseball Tournament, scheduled for July 31 through August 4 in Madison.
Belle Fourche Post 32 takes on the Region 4B champions, Parkston Post 194, in the first-round game set for Friday, July 31, 2026, at 1 p.m. The tournament follows a double-elimination format. Belle Fourche’s round two game time on Saturday, August 1, will not be determined until after they win or lose against Parkston on Friday. Other teams competing at state include Volga, Dell Rapids, Groton, Garretson, Dakota Valley and Madison.
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