Softball and
baseball’s favorite newspaper since 1987
Firemen’s, Frolics put on impressive shows
By
Don Bowman
Once again two of
Long Haul Trucking/Miken, led by hall of fame manager Gary Jost,
fresh off a heart attack at the Smokies tournament in
In women’s play,
Larry Bigleow’s Mud Cats, out of the Little Canada
women’s open league, played with a lot grit in winning
the 2009 Firemen’s Womens Open division. In the
championship win, the ‘Cats’ defeated the highly rated MN Ice, also out of
Little Canada, in an exciting championship final! The tourney championship was
costly as the Mud Cats lost at least two players with season ending injuries.
The Crystal Frolics,
not to be outdone, had some fireworks of their own on July 23-26. This event
features the best fireworks show in the state, a HUGE cash payout to the teams
and some of the best softball played this side of the Ho Chi Minh River. Jim Wajda and his
staff should be commended for all their hard work in keeping this awesome event
going year to year!
Winning the 2009
men’s open division were Let’s Play Softball 2009 No. 1 rated,
Easton/Hooters/Rockets ball club, coached by Rob Hortenbach.
They had to overcome a very talented Outpost ball club in the finals, while a
very good Blue Line team finished third. With the $2,000 championship check, it
could mean a new paint job for team bus Shamu
O&S Cattle/Pov’s and Showcase/Worth, two of Minnesota’s very best,
both have chances of landing spots in two of the nation’s top slow pitch
postseason events. O&S has earned enough points to battle for the last spot
in the Men’s USSSA Major World Series in
Vierling benefit slated for Aug. 29
The benefit for
veteran umpire Kenny Vierling, who was seriously
injured in an automobile accident several weeks back, is slated for Saturday,
Aug. 29, at the Farmington American Legion. Music, food, drink and door prizes
will be part of the fun. We hope to see you there! This event will go a long
way to help pay for some of Kenny’s medical expenses, and also with give us all
a chance to do something special for one of the top umpires in the state and
country.
ASA
Men’s 35+ Tourney this weekend
The ASA men’s
over-35 state tournament is slated for this weekend in Sauk Rapids! The MSF
staff has worked hard in putting together a great turnout of teams for 2009
with 16 teams expected!
Fastpitch galore in the Twin Cities
The Twin Cities were
loaded with top youth fastpitch talent from around
country last weekend! Tournament host sites were
In girls 10U class ‘A’ play, the Mankato Peppers won going away
with Centennial and Ankeny Gold finishing second and third, respectively. In
12U ‘A’ play, first place went to Frozen Rope Fury, with the Omaha Quakes and
Ricker’s wins Senior
World Series
Congratulations to
the Ricker’s mens softball club out of Little Canada
who won the Senior Softball World Series in Michigan on the 4th of July weekend! Ricker’s defeated a team out
of
WSL
North American Championships
It’s not too late to
sign up and play in one of the very best softball showcase events in the
county, the World Softball League’s North American Championships in September
in
worldsoftballleague.com, come and join the fun!
Hundreds
raised for the troops
The MN Vets College
Showcase tournament again raised hundreds of dollars worth of money and
supplies to send to our troops in
Spots
still open in Little Canada
Fall doubleheader
league openings for men’s and women’s teams are still available in Little
Canada on Tuesday-Thursday evenings. For more information
call: 651-766-4041. They will fill fast!
MN
Masters take sixth
The MN Masters’
talented mens 60+ major ball club,
finished a respectable 6th place at the
U-S-A!
U-S-A!
The
Lewicki signs with Diamond Auto
Well traveled
pitcher Aaron Lewicki, aka
Lew10, as parted ways with Hoffman softball, and has been signed by Diamond
Auto.
12
state C teams set for USSSA Worlds
Speaking of men’s
class ‘C’ softball, it looks like up to 12 state teams will be traveling to the
USSSA ‘C’ Worlds at Disney