Sun shines brightly for tournament

Much of the summer ball season for youth in the area has been marred by scrambling for make-up dates due to the continuous cycle of rain. However, the sun shone brightly for four straight days in New Richland as the Quad Cities Baseball Association (QCBA) hosted the end-of-year tournament for 10U baseball in the South Central Youth Baseball League from July 11-14. 

 

17 teams descended upon Legion Fields to compete, the largest number ever hosted by the QCBA. As the temps rose close to 90 over the weekend, the level of competition ramped up throughout the 20 games played. 

 

Two QCBA teams competed, but neither made it out of the first round, with QCBA White losing to Maple River Green, the eventual champions, and QCBA Red falling to St. Peter 1. Each team had a friendly second game with another team that had lost. The Red team came up short against St. Peter 2, while the White team ended on a winning note against Alden-Conger.

 

The final four left for Sunday competition was largely unsurprising, with the top three seeds making it through. However, the #12 seed USC made a run and even found itself in the championship game thanks to great pitching and timely hitting, the best they'd shown all year according to their coaches. They knocked off #1 seed Maple River Blue, but they ran up against the #3 seed, Maple River Green, who had upended #2 seed LCWM Silver. The championship was a fierce battle, knotted at a run apiece through three innings, but Maple River Green found four more runs to win the title 5-1, the same score by which they had beaten USC earlier in the season.

 

Great sportsmanship was shown by all the teams. Players, coaches, and fans were positive the entire weekend and generous in their praise of the umpires who served: Ryan Gehrke, Logan Langeberg out of Owatonna, and local boys Wyatt Larson, Daxter Lee, and Tyrone Wilson, who all worked through the heat and copious mosquitos. As one walked around, you could even hear fans complimenting players from opposing teams on good hits and defensive plays. 

 

The QCBA is a non-profit organization that supports youth baseball in the NRHEG school district. If you would like to help with youth baseball or make a donation, please contact board members Mark Domeier, Aaron Gilliland, or Dan Schmidt.