Summer 2009 Archives

Articles (see below)

Final Statistical Leaders - 2009 American Legion Season

Summer Teams Database

Yutan Rides Left Arm of Young Ace to First Senior Legion State Title

August 7, 2009

2009 has been a year of firsts for Yutan baseball.  On March 19, the new Yutan High School baseball team played its first ever spring season game before a capacity crowd at home on a warm, early spring afternoon, and then on April 4, the Chieftains won their first spring season game, a 6-4 decision over Norfolk.  The team went on to collect five more wins in its inaugural season, including the school's first-ever post-season win, a 7-4  District B-3 Tournament victory over fellow newcomer Waverly on May 8.  In recognition of earning four of his team's six wins -- including a fifteen-strikeout no-hitter against Class A Benson -- and pitching very well in several games in which the team didn't accomplish a win, sophomore left-handed pitcher Tyler Peitzmeier (pronounced "pytz-meyer") became Yutan High School's first-ever baseball all-stater, earning First-Team Class B All-State honors from both the Omaha World Herald and the Lincoln Journal Star.   | Continue |

(Editor's Note:  we apologize for inadvertently posting a photo of another Yutan player in place of Tyler's earlier.) 

2009 STATE TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS

KB Buildings Services Wins Summer State Championship to Complete Spring - Summer Sweep

August 1, 2009

KB Building Services wins second state championship of 2009 for Westside with 4-3 win over NP Dodge in Class A Championship Game.   (more photos)

Flott Floats Flare; Williams Perfect in Relief as KB Building Services Wins Championship

August 1, 2009

This aggressive slide and leg kick by NP Dodge Wildcats baserunner Aaron Lorraine in the bottom of the third inning were ruled to have interfered with KB Building Services' second baseman Dan Dunn (left) as he was attempting to turn a double play.  The result of the call was that both Lorraine and the batter, Brett Bass, were out on the play, retiring the side.  Prior to the play, NP Dodge had bases loaded with one out.        Photo by Steven Branscombe

In a championship game in which five of the seven runs were scored via the long ball, it was an "oops, 'scuse me" swing that brought in the deciding run.  Dylan Flott's check-swing infield floater rolled into right center to score Ryan Tomlinson from second and break a three-all tie in the top of the eighth inning.  With the one-run lead KB Building Services relied on their ace, Chris Williams, to shut down the NP Dodge Wildcats the rest of the way to take a 4-3 win over the Wildcats in the 2009 Class A State Championship Game at Westside.  Williams, who was coming off a nine-inning outing on Tuesday, was perfect in two and two-thirds innings of relief, retiring all eight batters he faced and striking out six.   The win gave the Westside team its second state championship of 2009 after winning the spring state championship in May.  The double-championship is the first ever for the Westside program and the first in the state since Creighton Prep accomplished the feat in 2001.  Ironically, the last time that Westside had a chance to win both the spring and summer championships, in 1999,  they were stymied by a one-run Legion championship loss to the Wildcats.   

After a scoreless first inning, Jory Goldstrom got KB on the scoreboard in the third with a solo home run, and Kyle Hartman put the Warriors up 2-0 with a sacrifice fly that scored Dan Dunn from third.  The Wildcats threatened in the bottom of the inning when Thomas struggled to find the strike zone and walked three batters.  With bases loaded and one out, Brett Bass hit into what appeared to be a run-scoring fielder's choice when the infield ground ball was fielded and flipped to second for the force.  Second baseman Dan Dunn's relay to first arrived well after the speedy Bass, but the umpire ruled that the oncoming Aaron Lorraine had interfered at second base with Dunn's opportunity to turn the double play, and both runners were ruled out to end the inning with no runs scored.  The call was a pivotal play in the game. 

The Wildcats vented their frustration in the fourth when Alex Miller led off with the first hit of the day for NP Dodge -- a solo home run.  Two outs later Mike Smutney was hit by a pitch, and Chase Sexton gave the Wildcats a 3-2 lead with a two-run blast.  Senior-to-be James McCarthy came on in relief to finish the fourth with a strike out and held the Wildcats hitless in the fourth and fifth.

Goldstrom tied the game at three all in the top of the seventh with his second solo home run of the day.  In the bottom of the inning, Chris Klosterman reached on a throwing error, and Brandon Bass followed with a one-out double that put runners at second and third.   With the Wildcats threatening to retake the lead, KB head coach Bob Greco brought Williams to the mound from left field.  Williams snuffed the scoring threat  by striking out Aaron Lorraine and getting Brett Bass to fly out to left to end the inning. 

Wildcats' starter Nick Standish was pulled in the top of the eighth after Bear Optiz led off with a base hit.  With Tyler Hinkle throwing in relief, Ryan Tomlinson successfully bunted Opitz over to second, bringing Dylan Flott to the plate with one out.  Flott started to swing at a pitch then held up as though he were trying to check his swing.  The ball made contact with his stationary bat, blooped into the right side of infield and rolled into right center field, allowing Opitz to score the go ahead run.   

Williams then took over the game, retiring the next six Wildcats in succession, striking out two in the eighth and all three batters in the ninth to earn the win.  The Husker recruit struck out six of the eight batters he faced on the day.  The three KB pitchers, starter Peter Thomas, middle reliever James McCarthy and closer Williams combined to hold the powerful NP Dodge lineup to just  three hits on the day while KB rang up eleven hits.  Starter Nick Standish took the loss for the Wildcats. 

The Championship was played under breezy conditions and pleasant temperatures at Westside High School with a crowd of approximately 750 baseball fans on hand. 

The Champions advance to the Region 6 Central Plains Regional Touranament in Minnetonka, Minnesota where they will play the Iowa state champions, Dubuque Post 6, next Thursday at approximately 1:00.  The Wildcats, who were the 2008 Champions of the Region 6 Tournament, will travel south to Enid, Oklahoma to play in the Mid-South Regional Tournament where they will play in the opening game next Thursday morning at 9:30 against the Louisiana state champions, New Orleans Post 288.

Photos from Championship Game

Team Nebraska Splits on Opening Day in Chicago Showcase

August 1, 2009

Team Nebraska finished day one of the Midwest Classic Baseball Touranment with a split.  The team of elite-level upperclassmen coached by Scott Hodges and Mike Demilia fell short, 7-2, in an early morning game against Wisconsin but rebounded to finish the day with an 11-1 win over Minnesota. 

Burke slugger Mike Siwa and Bryan's Dylan Casey both had RBI doubles in the opener to supply the offense.  In the afternoon game, Jaydee Jurgensen and Kyle Kubat each allowed only one hit in two scoreless innings of work as Jurgensen earned the win.  Corey Stringer was 2-for-2 with a triple and a home run, and Paul Rosales hit a three-run homer to lead the offense for Team Nebraska. 

The team has a light day today with only one game on the schedule, a 6:15 contest against Ohio.  Team Nebraska will conclude play in the tournament with two games on Sunday.

More information:  | Tournament website | About Team Nebraska |

Ehlers On Short List for USA Baseball 18U Team; Returns from C.A.B.A. HS World Series

July 30, 2009

Nebraska City's Logan Ehlers has been a busy boy this summer.  The 2009 Gatorade Nebraska Baseball Player of the Year participated in USA Baseball's Tournament of Stars in Cary, North Carolina June 23 - 28 and then played on the elite Brooklyn Bergen Beach team in the Continental Amateur Baseball Association (C.A.B.A.) High School World Series in Euclid, Ohio July 17-25.  Upon his return from Ohio, the senior-to-be learned that he had been selected as Louisville Slugger State Player of the Year.  And, sandwiched between those all-star opportunities and honors, Ehlers has helped his Nebraska City Senior Legion win the Class B Area 1 Tournament and advance to the Class B Senior Legion State Tournament at Wayne which begins tomorrow.  Nebraska City will take on Area 6 Champion at 11:00am in the tournament opener.  | continue |

State Tournament Summary

July 29, 2009

Kearney Post 52 Achieves Historic Junior Legion Three-Peat

July 29, 2009

Back row (l-r):   Assistant Coach Aaron Broadfoot, Assistant Coach Keith Swift, Ryan Fester, Zach Yocum, Derek Schriner, Andrew Butler, Trey Anderson, Grady Kowalski, Head Coach Brad Archer.  Front row (l-r):  Michael Hlavinka, Anthony Pacheco, Lindsay Spencer, Blake Johnson, Martin Hobelman, Taylor Fish, Dillon Schroeder, Blake Koster, Zach Debban.

Photo by Helen White 

With its 10-2 win over the PrimeTime Patriots in the second championship game Tuesday night, the Kearney Post 52 team entered the Nebraska American Legion history books as the only Junior Legion team to win three consecutive state championships.  That the accomplishment came on Post 52's home field, Memorial Field, made it only that much sweeter.

Tuesday's win gave Post 52 a season win-loss record of 45-5.  Over the past three years, Coach Brad Archer's squads have compiled an impressive 140-21 record (.869) while winning three state championships and finishing as runner-up in the 2008 Junior Legion Midwest Regional Tournament at Blair, Nebraska.  In 2006, Post 52 posted a 41-14 record while finishing in third place in the state tournament at Omaha Gross Catholic behind the champions, Grubb & Ellis, and runner-up, Junior Bluejays.  That Westside team included several members of this years' senior class that won both the 2009 spring state championship and the National Division Senior Legion state championship this week.  The PI Midwest team included a number of players from the Prep varsity team that dominated competition during the spring of 2008.

This year's title is the fifth for Post 52 since Archer took on the head coaching job in 1982.  In addition to the 2007-2009 championships, his teams also won the state title in 1985 and 1988 and were state runners-up in 1997 and 1999.  Coach Archer has amassed more than 900 wins during his coaching career with this year's finish bringing his totals to 913 wins and 298 losses (.754). 

Post 52 and the Kearney Runza Senior Legion team coached by Steve Spongberg are the only Class A Legion teams in Nebraska that do not have players who also participate in NSAA-sanctioned spring baseball.  However, the lack of spring baseball has not prevented Kearney's summer Legion programs from competing successfully against teams that already have thirty games under their belts by the time Legion ball begins.  Coach Spongberg has previously commented that, although the Kearney teams may lag behind their competition at the beginning of the season, they may also have a little more energy left in the tank by the time the summer post-season rolls around.  The Kearney program also benefits from the long term coaching leadership of Spongberg, who has just completed his 31st season with the program, and Archer. 

The Kearney Legion program is operated by the Kearney Area Baseball Association under the leadership of President Terry Broadfoot.  Congratulations to everyone involved with Kearney baseball for this impressive accomplishment.

| Kearney Hub article about Coach Archer | Kearney Hub article about 2009 championship |

NP Dodge Wildcats and KB Building Services Seniors Win; Kearney Post 52 Achieves Three-Peat

July 28, 2009

In what has become a familiar scene over the past two seasons, the NP Dodge Wildcats celebrate a state championship with a dogpile on the pitcher's mound.  The Wildcats defeated Associated Fire Protection 9-6 at Roddy Field Tuesday evening to win the American Division State Tournament championship. 

With the champions of the two Class A Senior State Tournaments crowned tonight, there remains only one more in-state game to be played in the 2009 baseball season.   KB Building Services, National Division State Tournament Champion, will host the American Division State Tournament Champion, NP Dodge Wildcats, at Westside on Saturday, August 1 to decide the Class A Senior Legion State Championship.  Saturday's championship game will be played at 1:00pm.

KB Building Services withstood a ninth-inning rally by PI Midwest to claim a 9-6 victory in the National Division State Championship at Sherman Field.  PI Midwest scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth to close the gap but KB brought starter Chris Williams back to the mound from the outfield to put out the fire.  Williams ended the threat with a double-play ball and a strike out.

Meanwhile at Roddy Field in Bellevue, NP Dodge got off to a quick start by scoring four runs in the bottom of the first inning.  The Wildcats extended their lead to 6-2 before the Titans rallied back by scoring two runs in the fifth to cut the deficit to three.  The teams traded runs over the remaining innings, but the Titans were never able to get closer than two runs.  Tyler Niederklein earned the win, and Zach Kallman came on in the eighth to snuff an AFP rally with two strike outs and then finished out the ninth by retiring the Titans in order.

The NP Dodge Juniors did their best to make it a Wildcat sweep by defeating Kearney Post 52 10-7 in the Class A Junior Legion State Tournament at Kearney.  But getting the necessary second win to claim the championship eluded the Junior Wildcats.  Kearney came back strong in Game 2, jumping out to a 9-1 lead after three innings.   Post 52 cruised to its third consecutive state championship with a 10-2 victory to finish the season at 45-5. 

Congratulations to the three Class A State Tournament champions!

Top Legion Teams To Battle for Championships Tonight

July 28, 2009

NP Dodge Wildcats infielder Brett Bass delivers an RBI base hit in the Wildcats'  6-2 win over Associated Fire Protection Saturday afternoon.  The Wildcats and AFP meet up again in tonight's 5:00 American Division championship game at Roddy Field in Bellevue.  (Had incorrectly identified hitter as Mike Smutny previously.)

Three state tournament championships will be decided tonight in Kearney, Lincoln and Bellevue.  At Kearney's Memorial Field, site of the Class A Junior Legion State Championship, Kearney Post 52 (44-4)will be going for a state championship three-peat tonight at 5:00 against the NP Dodge Wildcats (39-7).  After winning back-to-back championships on the road in 2007 (against the Junior Bluejays at Sherman) and 2008 (against PrimeTime Patriots at Skutt), Brad Archer's Post 52 squad will be playing at home before a packed house  for this year's crown.   Sunday's winners' bracket game between Post 52 and the Wildcats drew a crowd of approximately 800 fans.  Tonight's game is likely to fill the stands at the home field of Division II University of Nebraska Kearney.

In compiling a 4-0 record in the tournament, Post 52 has defeated all four Metro Area Tournament champions on successive days:  Millard West Cats (4-3 on Friday), Associated Fire Protection (3-2 on Saturday), the Wildcats (7-5 on Sunday) and the PrimeTime Patriots last night in a wild and woolly 20-18 slugfest.   The one-loss Wildcats will have to defeat Kearney in back-to-back games tonight to prevent a Post 52 three-peat.  According to the Nebraska Legion baseball website which displays records going back to 1960, no Class A Junior Legion team has won back-to-back-to-back state championships. 

At Sherman Field, the National Division Senior Legion title bout will feature the same bill as the spring state tournament -- Prep vs. Westside.  And, like the state championship, the Prep team, PI Midwest (29-17), is coming out of the losers' bracket and will need to defeat KB Building Services (Westside) twice to take the title.  KB Building Services (30-14) is expected to start Nebraska signee Chris Williams who already has picked up two wins in three relief outings in KB's four games.  Williams also has two five-RBI nights at the plate.  PI Midwest lost both offensive output and pitching when Charlie Kruger was ejected from PI's opening game against Ralston for malicious contact in a collision at second base and was required under Legion rules to sit out the remainder of the tournament.  Action at Sherman begins at 4:00 this afternoon.

Defending state and Region 6 - Central Plains champion NP Dodge Wildcats will have two chances to win the American Division championship tonight against Associated Fire Protection.  The Wildcats scored two runs in the top of the tenth to defeat a stubborn Deeb Mustangs team last night, 8-6, and advance to the championship.  The Wildcats defeated AFP 6-2 in their previous meeting in the tournament on Saturday.   Action at Roddy gets underway at 5:00 this evening with a second game to follow if AFP wins the first.

The two Class A Senior Legion championships will go head-to-head on Saturday, August 1 at the home field of the National Division champion to determine the overall Class A Senior Legion Champion.  The winners of both division state championships will advance to separate American Legion Regional Tournaments which will be played at August 6 - 10.  The state champion will go to the Central Plains - Region 6 Tournament to be played at Excelsior, Minnesota, and the runner-up will go to the Mid-South - Region 4 Tournament at Enid, Oklahoma.  Winners from those regional tournaments will advance to the eight-team American Legion World Series, August 14-18, at Fargo, North Dakota.

NRBL Teams Battle at Four Sites; Bluejays and Associated Fire Prepare for Friday Showdown

July 23, 2009

Parker Korbitz (left center) congratulates Deeb Mustangs teammate Brennan Stevenson as McLaine Jonas (left) and an unidentified Gladiators teammate experience the harsh reality of a season-ending loss to the Mustangs in the Nebraska Reserve Baseball League Class A State Tournament at Millard North.  Stevenson's infield ground ball scored Stephen Christiansen from third base to break a 6-6 tie in the bottom of the seventh in Thursday's elimination game.  The Mustangs scored twice in the inning to win.   

Hard fought contests and close scores have been been in abundance during the first two days of the Nebraska Reserve League Baseball State Tournaments taking place this week at four sites in the Metro Area.  Even the first day's games, which paired top and bottom seeds, did not result in many lopsided outcomes.  Wednesday's opening round games in the Class A tournament at Millard North were decided by an average of two runs with one game requiring an extra inning.  Thursday's four games in the tournament were decided by an average of 3.5 runs each with one extra inning game and the greatest margin of victory being six runs. 

After two days, regular season champion Prep Bluejays and runner-up Associated Fire Protection are on a collision course in the winners' bracket of the Class A tournament.  Both teams finished the regular season with 12-1 records but did not play one another in league competition.  They finally meet tomorrow night at 8:00pm in a game that will put one team in the catbird's seat at 3-0 and will send the other team to the losers' bracket. 

Today's opening game in the Class B tournament at Skutt went eight innings before the #4 Rattlers claimed a 6-5 win over the #5 Tigers.  In the nightcap, the #6 seeded SkyHawks sent KB Building Services, the #3 seed, to the losers' bracket with a 13-5 win. 

The victory margins in Class C-1 at Elkhorn haven't been as close in the four games played over the past two days with the Sun Devils thumping Bellevue West 14-3 yesterday only to be thumped today by #1 seed DiGiorgio's, 9-4.  Millard Sox won by four runs over Elkhorn Red Sox yesterday and lost to #2 seed Idea Images Bulldogs by five runs today. DiGiorgio's and the Bulldogs meet in the winners' bracket Saturday at 3:30. 

In the Class C-2 tournament at Brown Park, #3 seed Gretna took care of #7 Fremont 7-4 on Wednesday, and Holmes Murphy Eagles sent Grunwald Vikings to the losers' bracket with a 7-1 victory.  In yesterday's action, the winners of Wednesday's games upset the top two seeds who enjoyed a first round bye.  Holmes Murphy Eagles defeated the #1 seed, Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #1 Packers, 7-2, and Gretna dominated the #2 seed, Bellevue East, by a score of 15-5.  The four one-loss teams will play this evening. 

As these three NP Dodge Wildcats hombres demonstrate, the NRBL tournaments, despite intense competition, are not without their lighter moments. 

Millard West Advances Third Team to State as NP Dodge Prevails over Junior Bluejays

July 22, 2009

Andrew Nelson (left) of NP Dodge Wildcats receives the Area 1 Junior Legion Tournament Championship plaque on behalf of his team following an 8-3 win over the Junior Bluejays at Westside on Tuesday.  Nelson hit a two-run home run at a critical juncture in the game to help the Wildcats advance to the Junior Legion State Tournament.

The NP Dodge Wildcats Junior Legion team completed a Millard West hat trick yesterday by becoming the third team from the Wildcats' baseball program to advance to an American Legion state tournament this season.  The NP Dodge Juniors (36-6) defeated the Prep Junior Bluejays yesterday 8-3 in the second half of a championship doubleheader to earn a trip to the Junior Legion State Tournament at Kearney which begins on Friday.  The other Millard West Juniors team, the Cats (30-12), punched its ticket to Kearney the previous day with a 4-3 win over the Elkhorn Elks in the Area Four championship , and the NP Dodge Wildcat Seniors dominated the field of the Area 2 Senior Legion Tournament at Ralston to advance to the American Division State Tournament at Bellevue.   The Senior Wildcats (35-3) are the defending Class A Senior Legion State Champions and the defending Central Plains - Region 6 Tournament Champions. 

Getting both Junior Legion teams to the eight-team state tournament is a vast improvement for the Millard West program over last year's predicament in which both teams were assigned to the same area tournament.  The Cats upset the Wildcats early in the tournament and then defeated them again in the championship to eliminate the 40-4 team that had been dominant all season. 

In Tuesday's championship the Prep team (32-10) forced a second game with a 10-5 win in the 1:00 game in which the Junior Bluejays forged a 10-1 lead before allowing four runs in the top of the seventh.  Derek Petrich hit a bases-clearing, three-run triple in Prep's pivotal five-run bottom of the fourth as the Junior Bluejays surged to a 7-1 lead.  The Wildcats and Bluejays split six games on the season, but it was the Wildcats' third win that ended the Bluejays' season and sent the Wildcats on to state.  The Wildcats are coached by Tom Giles and Eric Fischer.

Prep's Bobby Mancuso lays down a perfectly executed drag bunt in the first game of the Area 1 Championship.  The speedy Mancuso also made a stellar running catch in centerfield.

Legion Senior State Tournament Fields Set; Juniors Await Today's Final Area Game

July 21, 2009

Pinnacle Bank (Lincoln Southwest) was crowned Area 5 Champion last night at Sherman Field, knocking off defending A-5 champ Union Bank in back-to-back championship games, 6-3 and 17-0.  With the wins, the Silver Hawks earned the right to stay at home to play in the Class A National Division State Tournament which begins at Sherman Friday morning at ten.  As the only #1 Area Tournament seed in the field, Pinnacle Bank (28-8) looks to be the team to beat in a group that includes three sub-.500 teams.  The other top contender in the field is KB Building Services (26-14), a #2 seed that won Area 1.  Holmes Murphy Eagles (16-22), a #3 seed, was the surprise champion in Area 3, a tournament that included the powerful PrimeTime Patriots, #1 seed Tom Hansen Construction, and #2 seed Deeb Mustangs.    The Eagles and Mustangs were scheduled to play the A-3 championship yesterday at 5:00 but were rained out.  As the 3-0 team in the field, the Eagles were awarded the championship.  Norfolk Nebraska Central Railroad, PI Midwest and Ralston First State Bank all come into the tournament as #4 seeds, and host team JC Brager was the #6 seed in Area 5.

Meanwhile, the American Division State Tournament at Roddy Field in Bellevue, which also begins Friday at 10:00, features four Area Tournament #1 seeds:  defending State Champs NP Dodge Wildcats (35-3), 2008 state runner-up Associated Fire Protection (33-4), Kearney Runza (31-9) and host team Tom Hansen Construction (27-8).   The tournament also includes three #2 seeds GI Home Federal (35-8), Deeb Mustangs and Union Bank plus the 2009 Class B spring champions from Omaha Gross Catholic, DiGiorgio's, a #3 seed. 

The champions from each tournament will meet in a one-game playoff on August 1 at the home field of the National Division champion to determine the overall state champion.  Both division tournament winners will then advance to American Legion Regional Tournaments.

Seven of the teams in the eight-team Junior Legion Tournament at Kearney have earned their spots in the bracket with the final participant to be decided in the Area 2 Championship being played this afternoon at 1:00 at Westside.  NP Dodge is undefeated in the tournament, and contender Junior Bluejays will need to defeat the Wildcats in back-to-back games today in order to advance.  The other Millard West team, the Cats, punched its ticket to Kearney yesterday with an exciting 4-3 win over the Elkhorn Elks.  The impressive tournament field also includes Kearney Post 52 (40-4 and the two-time defending champs), 2008 state runner-up PrimeTime Patriots, Metro League Champion Associated Fire Protection, which defeated Skutt SkyHawks twice last night to advance, JC Brager, Grand Island Wells Fargo and the host team, Hastings Johnson Imperial Homes, the runner-up to Kearney in Area 7.  The tournament gets underway at 11:00 Friday morning at Memorial Field.

| National Division (Sherman) Bracket | American Division (Roddy) Bracket |  Class A Juniors Bracket |

NRBL State Tournament Action Begins Wednesday

July 21, 2009

Action gets underway tomorrow (Wednesday, July 22) at three of the four Nebraska Reserve Baseball League State Tournament sites.  The fourth site, Omaha Skutt Catholic, will kick off its tournament the following day.  The thirty teams in the 15-and-under league each played a thirteen-game league schedule which concluded on July 16.  At the end of league play, teams were ranked based on their league records, and the twenty-six teams that elected to participate in the post-season were assigned to one of the four tournaments.  The top eight league finishers will play in the Class A State Tournament at Millard North beginning at noon tomorrow.   The next six teams were assigned to the Class B State Tournament to be played at Skutt Thursday through Monday, and the next six will play in the Class C-1 State Tournament at Frerichs Legion Field in Elkhorn beginning tomorrow.   The fourth group of finishers will play the six-team Class C-2 State Tournament at John Stella Field at Brown Park starting tomorrow.  The tournaments are double-elimination affairs. 

The Bluejays (Creighton Prep) and Associated Fire Protection (Papillion LaVista South) both finished the season with 12-1 records with the Bluejays earning the league's regular season championship by virtue of the tie-breaker which compared the win-loss percentage of each team's opponents.  The two teams did not play head-to-head in league action.  AFP's only loss was a 3-2 setback to the third-place PrimeTime Patriots (Millard South), and the Bluejays lost a one-run game to the Cardinals. 

This is the fourth season for the NRBL under the direction of Commissioner Mike Castagnoli.  The League includes both high school "reserve" teams as well as 14-and-under "select" teams from Omaha and Lincoln.  The League has grown steadily since its inception in 2006.  Programs that are interested in becoming new members of the NRBL for the 2010 season are encouraged to contact Commissioner Castagnoli as soon as possible. 

| NRBL Post-Season Page | NRBL Final League Standings |

A Legion Baseball Love Affair

July 12, 2009

The newlyweds were barely making ends meet.  "It was 1948.  We were so poor that we would take our laundry over to my mother's house at 36th and Ames every Sunday," recalls eighty-three year old Marilyn Dupley as her husband of sixty-two years, Don, sat next to her nodding in agreement.  "It wasn't very far to Fontenelle Park, so after we hung the wet laundry out on the clothesline we would go over to the ballpark to watch the boys play Legion baseball.  We would watch three games back-to-back, and then by the time we got back to my mother's, the clothes would all be dry.  We did that every Sunday.  That was our entertainment," she chuckled.  | Continue |

Retiring Elkhorn Coach Frerichs Honored; Elkhorn Wins

July 12, 2009

Elkhorn Legion Head Coach Jerry Frerichs (center) poses with the past, present and future of Elkhorn baseball -- former players, his current Legion ballclub and youth players of the Elkhorn Baseball Association.  The longtime coach, who will retire at the end of the season, was recognized Saturday evening at the newly renamed Frerichs Legion Field. 

It's hard to imagine a more fitting tribute to one's career accomplishments than that bestowed upon Elkhorn's retiring head coach Jerry Frerichs Saturday evening.  Surrounded by his family, friends, colleagues, current team and former players on the infield of the newly renamed Frerichs Legion Field in Elkhorn, Coach Frerichs was the recipient of ovations, orations, congratulations, proclamations, dedications . . . and lots of hugs.   | Continue |

Prep Program Honors Fallen Alumnus, Tradition

July 12, 2009

Sometimes the game is bigger than the scoreboard totals.  Sometimes, the handshakes mean more than the home runs.  One of those times occurred Saturday at Gross High when Coach Mike Filipowicz of DiGiorgio’s (Omaha Gross)  allowed Coach Pat Mooney’s PI Midwest (Creighton Prep) to hold the team's annual Jayson Jewell Senior Day on Gross’s home field.  | Continue |

Kearney Sweeps Cornhusker League Championships

July 10, 2009

Kearney's Class A Senior and Junior Legion teams have both claimed top honors in the venerable Cornhusker League for 2009.  The Senior Legion team, Kearney Runza, defeated Pinnacle Bank (Lincoln Southwest) by a score of 10-5 Monday evening, July 6th, at Sherman Field in Lincoln in the League's championship game.  Kearney (29-6 overall) earned the right to advance to the championship by posting the best league record in the Western Division of the league which also includes North Platte First National, Hastings Five Points Bank, Grand Island Home Federal, Columbus Bank and Norfolk Nebraska Central Railroad.  Pinnacle Bank was just coming off Sunday's Mike Peterson Tournament Championship and represented the Eastern Division which also includes Union Bank (Pius), U-Stop (East), Judds Bros. Constr. (Northeast), Sampson Constr. (LHS), Anderson Ford (North Star), JC Brager (Southeast) and Fremont First State Bank.

The two-time defending Class A Junior Legion State Champions, Kearney Post 52 (33-4), defeatead JC Brager (Southeast) at Kearney Monday night, 10-2, to claim the Cornhusker League Championship in the Junior Legion division.  Post 52 is assured of being back at state this year as host of the Class A Junior Legion Tournament to be played at Kearney's Memorial Field, July 24-28.

The Kearney teams will play in the Area 7 Tournaments next week along with teams from Hastings, Scottsbluff and North Platte.  The Area 7 Junior Legion Tournament will be held at Duncan Field in Hastings, and the Seniors Area 7 Tournament will be at Cleveland Field in Scottsbluff July 15-20. 

Other Senior and Junior Legion Area Tournaments to be played next week include Areas 1-4 in the Metro Area (see article below), Area 5 (consisting of the eight teams from the seven Lincoln schools -- Southeast has two teams, JC Brager and Dinsdale Auto -- with Seniors playing at Sherman and Juniors at Den Hartog and Sherman) and Area 6 (Columbus, Fremont, Grand Island, Norfolk  and South Sioux City with Seniors at Norfolk's Memorial Park and the Juniors at Ryder Park in Grand Island). 

We will provide seedings and brackets for all Area Tournaments as soon as that information is made available.

The seven Junior Legion Area Tournament Champions, along with Kearney Post 52, will play in the Class A Junior Legion Tournament.  If Post 52 wins Area 7, the Area 7 runner-up will take Post 52's host team slot.  At the Seniors level, there are two state tournaments, the American Division State Tournament (Roddy Field - Bellevue)and the National Division State Tournament (Sherman Field - Lincoln).  The top two finishers from each Area Tournament will advance to state tournament play as follows:

Metro League Final Standings and Areas 1-4 Tournament Seedings Determined

July 9, 2009

The Metro League Senior Legion and Junior Legion coaches met at the conclusion of the regular season on Wednesday, July 8 to finalize the League's standings and determine the seeding of the Areas 1-4 Tournaments.  The defending state champion NP Dodge Wildcats (Millard West), 10-and-0 in league play, were named champions of the Metro League Senior Legion division with last year's state runner-up Associated Fire Protection (Papillion LaVista South) finishing second at 9-1.  The order of the top two finishers in the Junior Legion division was just the reverse, with Associated Fire Protection taking the league crown with a perfect 10-0 record, and the Millard West Cats earning runner-up honors with a 9-1 finish.

The determination of the final league standings took an unexpected twist at Wednesday's meeting as a motion from the floor to change the tie-breaking method from that which had been used in past years and which had been used to forecast standings and seedings on this site was approved by an 8-7 vote.  Following that decision, the teams were ranked in order according to their win-loss records and head-to-head results.  Where teams or groups of teams with the same records had not all played each other, Run Differential was used to break ties.   

After being ranked in this manner, the twenty-one Class A Senior Legion teams in the Metro League were placed into four double-elimination area tournaments that will begin next Wednesday, July 15 and will run through Monday, July 20.  The champion and runner-up in each of the four Seniors Area Tournament will advance to one of the two Class A State Tournaments, either the National Division State Tournament at Roddy Field in Bellevue or the American Division State Tournament at Sherman Field in Lincoln.  Both state tournaments will be played July 24 -  28 with the tournament champions meeting in a single Class A overall state championship game to be played at the home field of the National Division champion on August 1.  Both state tournament champions will advance to American Legion Regional Tournament play, with one going to the Central Plains - Region 6 Tournament in Excelsior, Minnesota and the other going to the Mid-South Tournament in Enid, Oklahoma.   Regional Tournament champions advance to the eight-team 2009 American Legion World Series to be played in Fargo, North Dakota August 14-18. 

The Area Tournament line-up for the Metro Area Seniors is as follows:

 

Area 1:  Westside HS	Area 2:  Orval Smith Field (Ralston)	Area 3: Millard South HS	Area 4: Fricke Field (Papillion)
#1 - Oakview Construction	#1 - NP Dodge Wildcats	#1 - Tom Hansen Constr.	#1 - Assoc. Fire Protection
#2 - KB Building Services	#2 - Ideal Images Bulldogs	#2 - Deeb Mustangs	#2 - Papillion Pinnacle Bank
#3 - DiGiorgio's Sportswear	#3 - Northwest Merchants	#3 - Holmes Murphy Eagles	#3 - Nebr. Med Center Bears
#4 - Millard Sox	#4 - Ralston First State Bank	#4 - PrimeTime Patriots	#4 - PI Midwest
#5 - Elkhorn Post 221	#5 - Heartland Ltg / DC Elec.	#5 - Kinman Lawn Care	#5 - Grunwald Vikings
		#6 - South Omaha Post 331

The twenty-two Junior Legion teams playing in the Metro League were also seeded into four Area Tournaments in the same manner.  Those double-elimination Area Tournaments also will be played from July 15 - 20 but only the tournament champion will advance to the eight-team Junior Legion State Tournament to be played at Kearney's Memorial Field July 24-28.  The state tournament will conclude the Junior Legion season in Nebraska.

The Area Tournament line-up for the Metro Area Juniors is as follows:

 

Area 1:  Omaha Burke	Area 2:  Omaha Skutt Catholic	Area 3: Omaha Gross Catholic	Area 4: Millard West HS
#1 - Junior Bluejays	#1 - Assoc. Fire Protection	#1 - KB Building Services	#1 - Millard West Cats
#2 - NP Dodge Wildcats	#2 - Papillion Post 32	#2 - Prime Time Patriots	#2 - Deeb Mustangs
#3 - Ideal Images Bulldogs	#3 - Skutt SkyHawks	#3 - Stacey Dental	#3 - Elkhorn Elks
#4 - Prep Bones	#4 - Amato's	#4 - DiGiorgio's	#4 - Holmes Murphy Eagles
#5 - Nebr.Med Center Bears	#5 - Elkhorn Bucks	#5 - Olde Towne DQ	#5 - Papillion Monarchs
#6 - South Omaha Post 331	#6 - Millard Sox Gold		#6 - Millard Sox Black

We will post tournament brackets as soon as we receive information from all of the tournament directors.  Readers who are unfamiliar with team names above can find more information on the "Who's Who" link on the "Summer Teams" home page.  (See Summer Teams link on Main Menu above.)

|  Metro Seniors Final Standings / Seeding  |  Metro Juniors Final Standings / Seeding  |
 

Pinnacle Bank (LSW) Wins Peterson Tournament

July 9, 2009

2009 Mike Peterson Tournament Champions:  Pinnacle Bank (Lincoln Southwest)

(Front row, l-r: Mark Korsakas, Dain Sudik, Adam Lavelle, Ryan Haas, Tanner Lubach.  Back Row, l-r:  Asst. Coach Kyle Beacom, Asst Coach Brandt Vlieger, Dustin Bloch, Taylor Anderson, Vince Flynn, Adam Peters, Ty Kuper, Rylan Cotton, John Mulgrue, and Head Coach Doug Kaltenberger.   Not pictured:  Not pictured: Elliott Engel, Zane Mapes.

Photo by DeEtte Turgeon

The Elkhorn Elks season ended on this play Monday afternoon at Westside which sent the Millard West Cats to the Junior Legion State Tournament for the second year in a row.  The Area 4 championship game started at Millard West but moved to Westside in the top of the 7th inning when steady showers made the field unplayable.  When play was halted, the Cats led 4-3 with the Elks batting with bases loaded and two outs.  After the teams convoyed to Westside play resumed with Troy Pilkington at the plate.  After taking two pitches, Pilkington hit the third pitch on the ground  to the right of pitcher  Jared Hindmarsh  who made a diving stop, got back to his feet and threw to first baseman Zach Hoffman (shown here in black) just ahead of the baserunner's feet-first slide. 

Major Leaguer, Olympian, former Husker and 2001 Millard South graduate Brian Duensing (left) helped kick off the 2009 American Legion post season by throwing the ceremonial first pitch at the Area 3 Senior Legion Tournament at Millard South Wednesday evening.  The lefty hurler received a Bronze Medal in Beijing with the US team, earning a win in relief against Canada.  A third round draft pick of the Twins in 2005, Duensing worked his way through the Twins minor league system to make his first MLB appearance on April 10 of this year and has appeared in four games this season for the Twins.   Shown with Duensing is current PrimeTime Patriots pitching coach Mike Sillman, a 2000 Millard South graduate and former Husker who was drafted by St. Louis in 2004 and made it to the AAA Memphis Redbirds.  The right-handed reliever served as Duensing's battery mate for the ceremonial first pitch.

Frerich's Career to be Honored at July 11 Event

July 5, 2009

The long and storied career of Elkhorn head coach Jerry Frerichs will be honored during a special ceremony Saturday, July 11 that will precede Post 211's 6:00 home game against KB Building Services (Westside) at Elkhorn Legion Field.   Coach Frerichs will retire at the end of this season from his positions as  head coach of Elkhorn Post 211 Senior Legion and Elkhorn High School varsity head coach, according to Elkhorn Legion President Kevin Giesselmann.  The 2009 season marks Frerich's thirty-fifth season coaching baseball. 

 

Jerry Frerichs Elkhorn Head Coach

Frerichs, a former Wayne State ballplayer, arrived in Elkhorn in 1977 and restarted the Elkhorn Legion baseball program that year.  Prior to that, Elkhorn players participated in a joint program with Arlington.  The fledgling Elkhorn program played at what is now known as Antler Field.  Seeing the need for a better facility for the program, Coach Frerichs began grooming some pasture land adjacent to the City Park into what is now Legion Field -- one of the nicest baseball facilities in the state.  To honor Frerich's long and successful career and dedication to the Elkhorn program, representatives of the Omaha City Council will be present at the ceremony to read an official proclamation renaming Legion Field as "Frerichs Legion Field."

Under Coach Frerichs' leadership, the Elkhorn High School team has appeared in the State Tournament four of the past six years, winning back-to-back state championships in 2007 and 2008.  The Post 211 Senior Legion team won Class B state championships in 2000, 1995 and 1988 and finished state runner-up four times -- 1992, 1990, 1989 and 1987.  Frerichs was honored as the 2008 Spring Season Varsity Coach of the Year by the Nebraska Baseball Coaches Association and was selected Head Coach of the 2009 Scotty Orcutt All-Star Team.

The ceremony will start at 5:30, and all Elkhorn baseball alumni are encouraged to attend and arrive at 5:15 to be recognized.  Elkhorn youth baseball players are also asked to arrive by 5:15. 

| 17th Annual Legion Field Classic |

Top:  A scene from the Fifty-somethingth Annual J.E. George 4th of July Parade near Memorial Park in Omaha.  Bottom:  Pinnacle Bank (LSW) catcher John Mulgrue prepares to tag Ideal Images Bulldogs  (Burke) shortstop Taylor Anderson at the plate in the Mike Peterson Tournament in Lincoln on Friday.  Anderson broke for home on a 1st & 3rd play when  the baserunner from first attempted to steal second.  Anderson was out on the play, but the Bulldogs went on to claim a 4-3 win over the Silver Hawks. Nate Quadhamer put the Dawgs ahead for good with a two-run single in the top of the sixth.  Action continues in the "Pete" today and tomorrow.  Photo by Terry Anderson.

Top Seeds For Metro Area Tournaments Set

July 3, 2009

Although the official Metro League seeding meeting won't take place until next Wednesday, July 8th, it appears that the teams that will be the number one seeds in the four Metro Junior Legion Area Tournaments and the four Senior Legion Area Tournaments have now been determined.  Based on our unofficial compilation of Metro League win-loss records, NP Dodge Wildcats (Millard West) has earned the #1 overall seed in the Seniors division with a perfect 10-0 record.  In the Juniors Division Associated Fire Protection (Papio South) has also finished league play with a spotless league record of ten wins and no losses.  The Junior Bluejays (Prep) are 9-0 with one game remaining to be played tonight against the Skutt SkyHawks (4-5).  If the Bluejays win tonight to finish 10-0, a tie-breaker based on Run Differential (runs scored - runs allowed over the ten game league schedule) will be used to determine which of the two 10-0 Junior Legion teams will be the overall number one seed in the Metro Areas.

Millard West Cats (8-1) and KB Building Services (8-2) are the other two top seeds among the juniors, but the order of their finish, along with that of the Junior Bluejays, will be determined by the outcome of the Prep game tonight and the Cats' one remaining game against Stacey Dental (4-4) on Tuesday, July 7.  If the Cats defeat Stacey Dental to go to 9-1, they will could earn either the 2nd or 3rd seed depending on the outcome of the Prep game.  A Cats' win coupled with a Prep loss would leave both teams at 9-1 without having played head-to-head.  The Run Differential tie-breaker would be employed to resolve the tie.  If the Cats lose and finish 8-2, the Run Differential tie-breaker will be used to break the tie between the Cats and Westside for the #3 overall seed.

In the Senior Division, Oakview Construction (Skutt) pulled off a big 3-1 win over KB Building Services Wednesday night to claim a #1 seed.  Recent UNO signee Ryan Bolt threw a two-hitter for Oakview with eight strikeouts.  Spencer Masching had the big hit for Oakview, a two-run base hit in the fourth.  Jory Goldstrom accounted for the only Westside run with a solo homer.  The win left the two teams tied at 7-3 with Oakview earning priority with the head-to-head win. 

Associated Fire Protection (Papio South) and Tom Hansen Construction (Bellevue East) both finished league play with nine wins and one loss.  AFP earns the #2 overall seed by virtue of a 1-0 win over the Bellevue East team on June 3rd.  The four  top seeds in the Senior Division finished as follows:  #1 NP Dodge (10-0),  #2 Associated Fire Protection (9-1),  #3 Tom Hansen Construction (9-1) and #4 Oakview Construction (7-3). 

American Legion Athletic Committee Chairman Don Kiviniemi, Jr. announced yesterday to coaches in the League that Run Differential will be used as the second tie-breaker where head-to-head results are unavailable.  For the past three years the Metro League has used aggregate opponent win-percentage as the second tie-breaker.   During that period, the Seniors and Juniors each played a twelve-game schedule consisting of ten games against opponents within their division plus two games against opponents from the other division.  Each team had a unique mix of twelve opponents, resulting in a unique opponent win-percentage for each that could be used as a tie-breaker.

This year, due to the shortening of the Legion season by one week, the twelve-game schedule has been  reduced to ten games with all of those games being played against opponents in the same division.  As a result, the aggregate opponent win-loss percentage for every team at the end of the season will now be .500, which means that OWP is no longer an effective tie-breaker.  The lack of a second-tie breaker was not anticipated prior to the beginning of the season and was not recognized as an issue until league play was underway.  After considering various alternatives, Mr. Kiviniemi determined yesterday that using Run Differential as a substitute tie-breaker provides a reasonable solution to the issue.

At the seeding meeting next Wednesday, the official league results will be announced, and the twenty-one Senior teams and twenty-two Junior teams in the Metro Areas will be ranked in order based on their league records and using the two tie-breakers.  After the ranking is accomplished, the teams will then be assigned to Area Tournaments using a serpentine method.  Site host teams for each tournament have already been assigned, and under the league procedures, a site host always plays in the tournament that it is hosting.  So if the serpentine method causes two or more site hosts to be placed in the same tournament, a method known as "horizontal swapping" is used to re-assign the lower-ranked site host to another tournament. 

Area Tournaments will take place at the following locations July 15-20: 

| Current Metro League Senior Legion Standings | Current Metro League Junior Legion Standings |

Team Nebraska Finishes Second in Oklahoma Tourney

June 30, 2009

Team Nebraska:  (back row, l - r) Head Coach Bill Olson, Taylor Anderson, Aiden Hook, Scott Bates, David Sutton, Ryan Herdman, Kyle Honeycutt, Assistant Coach Roland Kenny;  (front row, l-r) Tanner Lubach, Matt Sich, Kyle Kubat, Taylor Doggett, Grant Kay, Austin Groth.  (Not pictured:  Adam Morey)  Photo by Bev Kubat.

Hall of Fame Coach Bill Olson and his Team Nebraska, composed of underclassmen from Eastern Nebraska, recently returned from the prestigious Sun Belt Class Tournament in Edmond, Oklahoma with the runner up trophy.  The team lost  in the championship game to a Texas team that they had defeated earlier in pool play.  The tournament was held from June 4 - 8. 

It was fourth time in the past five years that the former Omaha Northwest coach has taken a team from Nebraska to the tournament.  The players are all juniors-to-be, except for Austin Groth of South Sioux City who is a rising sophomore.  Groth was also the only player from outside of Omaha or LIncoln.  Players were nominated for participation by area high school coaches.

Members of the team were:  Kyle Kubat, Aiden Hook and Scott Bates from Creighton Prep, Tanner Lubach, Taylor Anderson and Taylor Doggett from Lincoln Southwest, Matt Sich and Kyle Honeycutt from Millard South, Ryan Herdman and David Kay from Ralston, Adam Morey from Millard West, David Sutton from Lincoln Southeast and Groth.  Coach Olson was assisted by Roland Kenny. 

Junior Bluejays Clinch Share of Metro League American Division Championship

June 25, 2009, updated June 26

The Junior Bluejays (Creighton Prep) Junior Legion team clinched at least a share of the American Division Championship in the Metro League with an 11-0 win over Nebraska Medical Center Bears Tuesday night.  The win improved the Junior Bluejays' league record to a perfect 8-0 with two games remaining in league action.  The Prep team is 22-3 overall for the summer.

According to information reported to BaseballNebraska.com to date, there are four two-loss teams in the American Division with a chance of finishing at 8-2:  KB Building Services (6-2), Dodge Wildcats (5-2), PrimeTime Patriots (3-2) and Skutt SkyHawks (2-2).  All but the SkyHawks have already lost to the Bluejays and will be competing for a second-place division finish.  The SkyHawks and Bluejays will make up a May 26 rainout on July 3rd. 

Associated Fire Protection (Papio South) leads the Metro League Juniors National Division with a 7-0 record and is 19-3 overall.  Papio Post 32 (4-1), Millard West Cats (2-1) and Deeb Mustangs (2-1) all have one loss based on results reported to date. 

Like the Senior Legion Metro League, the Juniors are playing a league schedule of ten games against division opponents.  Following the completion of league play, the each team will be ranked within its eleven-team division and seeded into one of four Area tournaments at a seeding meeting to be held July 8. 

Coaches are encouraged to review the recently published Metro League Juniors standings and to report any missing scores to admin@metropreps.com. 

In Metro League Senior Legion standings, the NP Dodge Wildcats have clinched the American Division with a perfect 9-0 record (19-2 overall) with one game remaining.  KB Building Services (Westside) is alone in second place with a 7-2 record, and Oakview Construction (Skutt) is 6-3 following a loss to PrimeTime Patriots Wednesday evening.  The Warriors and SkyHawks face off on July 1. 

Meanwhile in the National Division, Associated Fire Protection (Papio South) is atop the standings at 7-1 with Tom Hansen Construction also reporting only one loss at 4-1.

In the Nebraska Reserve Baseball League, the Omaha Cardinals handed the Bluejays (Prep) their first league loss of the season last night by a score of 9-8.  The Bluejays remain atop the NRBL standings with a 7-1 record.  NRBL play concludes by July 16. 

Nebraska Teams Fall Short on Final Day of Decker CWS Tourney

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Two Nebraska teams -- Pinnacle Bank (Lincoln Southwest) and NP Dodge Wildcats (Millard West) -- were among the eight pool-winners in the 48-team field of the Decker Sports CWS Tournament that advanced to Sunday's tournament finale.  However, both teams suffered their first loss of the tournament on Sunday as the tournament concluded with four out-of-state teams sharing top honors in the five-day event.  Because of more overnight rain, two of the sites for Sunday's championship round were unplayable, resulting in the tournament culminating with two quarterfinal matchups among pool winners at Elkhorn and Westside.

In the 10:00am game at Westside, Pinnacle Bank (4-0) ran into a hot Dublin, OH team (5-1) that stormed back from being no-hit in a 10-0 mercy rule loss in the opener to earn the Westside pool championship with four straight wins, including a 6-5 nine-inning battle with KB Building Services (Westside) on Friday.  Against the Millard North Pool champion Silver Hawks on Sunday, the Shamrocks jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the top of the first and eventually built a 9-2 lead on Vic Migliore's three-run homer before the Silver Hawks rallied for three runs with two outs in the top of the 7th on back-to-back doubles by John Mulgrue and Ryan Haas.

It was a repeat pool win for the Shamrocks who were unable to play in the championship round last summer due to the scheduling of their return flights.  "We booked an extra day this year, and fortunately, we were able to use it," commented Dublin assistant coach Andy Guerriero.  "This is a great tournament.  We love it here.  People are great," he added.

In the other quarterfinal game involving a Nebraska team, NP Dodge (Millard West), the winners of the Millard West pool with a 4-0 record, played the Roncalli pool winners, Sioux Falls Cyclones (4-0) at Elkhorn Legion Field.  The Wildcats fell just short of a final four finish, falling to the Cyclones, 6-5.  Tyler Niederklein was three-for-four for the Wildcats with a triple, two RBI's and a run scored.  It was only the second loss in nineteen games for the Wildcats. 

The other two quarterfinals games were won by USA Red Select and Colorado Slammers Gray.  Congratulations to all pool winners and quarterfinal champions.  See Tournament Home Page for more photos. 

Local Teams Contend for Top Pool Finishes in Rain-Shortened Decker Tourney

Saturday, June 20, 2009

As a result of rain-soaked ballfields only eight of Friday's scheduled forty games were played in the Decker Sports CWS Tournament yesterday with five of those played on Westside's all-weather turf.  That leaves only today's games before pool winners are determined.  Most sites will play Friday's schedule of five games today with Saturday's games getting dropped from the schedule.  (See Tournament Home Page for revised Saturday schedules.)  To accommodate the extra games today, tonight's scheduled quarterfinals will be moved to Sunday morning, and the overall championship game has been dropped from Sunday's schedule.  The tournament will conclude with Co-Championship games to be played among the quarterfinals winners Sunday afternoon at 12:30 at Elkhorn and Westside.

With today's pool games remaining, nearly all of the ten Nebraska teams in the tournament are in contention to win their pools and advance to the championship round if things go their way today:

Associated Fire Protection (Papio South):  The Titans are currently 2-0 in the pool and trail only USA Red (3-0).  The two teams will square off  at 4:00 today at Papio South for the pool championship.

Pinnacle Bank (Lincoln Southwest) and PrimeTime Patriots (Millard South):  The Silver Hawks and Springfield (MO) Hillcrest are the two unbeaten teams at 2-0 and will play at noon today, immediately following Southwest's 9:30 game against Woodward, OK (0-3).  Grandview, CO and PrimeTime Patriots each have a loss to the Silver Hawks, but either could put themselves in contention for top pool honors with two wins today if Hillcrest hands Southwest a loss.  PrimeTime plays Hillcrest at 2:30. 

NP Dodge Wildcats (Millard West) :  The pool leaders, NP Dodge Wildcats and Team Manitoba, both 2-0, will play today at 2:30.  The Wildcats also play Fargo, ND (1-1) at 5:00, and the Canadians play Cherokee Trail, CO (0-2) at noon.  Fargo can remain alive with two wins today and a Wildcat victory over Manitoba.  The Oklahoma Outlaws are 2-1 with a loss to Manitoba and a game remaining against Cherokee Trail today.  A win today for the Outlaws coupled with a Manitoba loss could put the Outlaws in the quarterfinals.

KB Building Services (Westside):  The Warriors (3-1) were in control of their pool until a 7-6, nine-inning loss last night to Dublin, OH.  That outcome created a three-way tie among Westside, Dublin and Pittsburg, KS.  Dublin and Pittsburg will play at 9:30 this morning, and the Warriors have already handed Pittsburg a loss.  A win by Pittsburg this morning coupled with a Westside win over Ponderosa, CO (0-4)in today's 2:30 game would put the Warriors in the quarterfinals.  If Dublin and Westside both win, Dublin would advance by virture of the head-to-head win. 

PI Midwest  (Creighton Prep) and Deeb Mustangs (Millard North):  The Colorado Slammers Gray (2-0) are the only unbeaten team in the Millard North pool and can clinch a quarterfinals berth with wins over Lawton, OK  (2-1) and Effingham, IL (0-2) today.  If the Slammers stumble in either game, Prep (2-1) could move on to the quarterfinals with a win over Denver Mullen (0-2) at 7:30 tonight.  The Mustangs, with a loss to the Slammers, will need the Slammers to lose twice today and for Prep to lose to have a chance of advancing.  The Mustangs play Effingham at 2:30 and Mullen at 5:00.

DiGiorgio's (Omaha Gross Catholic):  Jonesboro, AR and Edmond, OK are 2-0 at Gross.  Edmond will play one game today (vs. 1-2 Alexandria, MN), and Jonesboro will play two (vs. Gross and Chatfield, CO, both 1-1).  Gross plays Jonesboro at 5:00 and Minico, ID at 7:30.  The Cougars could put themselves into the quarterfinals with two wins today.  Chatfield, Jonesboro and Edmond also remain in contention.  Jonesboro's 2008 team  ended the season last summer for the two Nebraska teams that advanced to Regional Tournament competition, Associated Fire Protection and NP Dodge Wildcats.

Elkhorn Post 211:  With two losses and one game remaining, Elkhorn (1-2) is out of contention.  Bartlesville, OK and Cheyenne, WY are both 3-0 with a win each over the Antlers.  The two leaders each have only one game today and will not play each other in the tournament.  If both lose or both win today, the pool championship will come down to the tie-breakers.  All of the other teams in the pool have two losses so it will be either or Bartlesville or Cheyenne that moves on.

Weatherguard Systems Pride (Omaha Roncalli Catholic):  Roncalli is still alive at 1-1 and has a chance of moving on with two wins.  The Pride will play the pool leader, Sioux Falls Cyclones (3-0), at 11:00 this morning.  If the Cyclones win, they earn the pool championship outright; if Roncalli wins that one, plus a 9:00am game against winless Springfield Kickapoo, the Pride's fate will hinge on how the Topeka Midwest Bruins fare today.  The Bruins are 1-1 with games remaining against Lickling, MO (2-1) and USA Select Blue (1-2).  If both the Bruins and the Pride finish at 3-1, the Bruins will move on by virtue of their 10-0 win over the Pride on Thursday.  Lickling could improve to 3-1 today but has a loss to the Pride.  There remain a number of scenarios at Roncalli, but the Crimson Pride do still have a shot at advancing if they win twice today.  

Battle of Omaha Washed Out on Friday; Resumes Today With 15 Nebraska Teams in Action

Saturday, June 20, 2009

No games were played in the 8th Annual Battle of Omaha on Friday as a result of heavy early morning rains and continuing rain and cloud cover on Friday.  Although the sun broke through in the late afternoon, it was too late to dry out soggy ballfields.   A revised schedule will be played today to allow teams to get in as many games as possible and to determine winners in each pool for the championship round which begins on Sunday and concludes Monday morning with a 10:00 championship game at Ralston's Orval Smith Field. 

Fifteen Nebraska teams  are competing in the 48-team tournament field with Heartland Lighting / DC Electric (Bellevue West), Millard Sox and Gretna leading their respective pools with 2-0 records.  Union Bank (Pius) and Ideal Images Bulldogs (Burke) are also undefeated at 1-0.  Anderson Ford (North Star), Oakview Construction (Skutt), Nebraska Med Center (Bryan), South Omaha Post 331, Holmes Murphy Eagles (Central) and Norfolk Nebraska Central Railroad are all 1-1.  Still looking for their first win are Ralston First State Bank (0-1), Grunwald Vikings (North, 0-2), Sampson Construction (Lincoln High , 0-2) and Tom Hansen Construction (Bellevue East, 0-1).  It does not appear that Northwest Merchants has played a game yet. 

Dublin (OH) centerfielder Jay Couger makes a diving catch on a line drive to rob a Ponderosa, CO hitter of a base hit in Decker Sports CWS Tournament pool play action Thursday morning at Westside.  Dublin improved to 1-1 with a 4-3 win after being no-hit by Boulder's Tim Kupfner on Wednesday.  The ten Nebraska teams in the tournament were a combined 8-2 on Wednesday. 

Jumbo CWS Tournaments Ready to Kick Off

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

The biggest tournament weekend of the year gets underway at noon today as the 48-team Decker Sports CWS Tournament kicks off at eight locations around the Omaha metro area.  Another flight of 48 teams takes off tomorrow in the annual Battle of Omaha played at eight other Metro ballparks. 

Teams from around the nation take the road to Omaha each year at this time to catch some of the action at Rosenblatt and to test themselves against a field of local, regional and national opponents.  2009 participating teams hail from as far away as Manitoba, Canada and Anchorage, Alaska. 

Local baseball programs not only benefit from the opportunity to compete against teams from across the country, but the sixteen host teams also derive important revenues for their programs from gate fees and concession sales. 

The Decker tournament features eight pools of six teams each that will play a full round-robin schedule of five pool games over three days.  The eight pool winners will advance to quarterfinals to be played at four locations Saturday evening at 7:00pm.  The four quarterfinals winners will advance to semifinals Sunday morning at 10:00am at Westside and Elkhorn Legion Field with the championship to be played at 2:00 at Westside.

The Battle of Omaha also features eight, six-team pools that are grouped into the two divisions, the National and American.  After the pool groups play a full round-robin schedule of five games Thursday through Saturday, the four pool winners from the National Division will be paired in Divisional semifinals Sunday morning at Ralston's Orval Smith Field at 8:00am and 10:00am.  The winners will advance to the Divisional Championship to be played at 1:00 at the same location.  Meanwhile, the four American Division pool winners will be paired in semifinals at Gretna High School at the same time with the American Division Champion to be determined in a 1:00 game at Gretna.  The two divisional champions will play for the overall tournament championship on Monday at 10:00am at Orval Smith Field. 

Decker Tournament Director Jim Simons, a varsity assistant at Omaha Westside and Battle of Omaha Tournament Director Scott Hodges, head coach of Ralston First State Bank, will be watching the skies and making contingency plans in the event of uncooperative weather.  Getting through a four or five day tournament in mid-June in Omaha is always a challenge, and the forecast for the next forty-eight hours includes hot and humid temperatures with a possibility of afternoon thunderstorms.  Conditions should become more stable by the weekend with highs predicted to be in the 80's.

On behalf of the coaches, players, parents and fans of Nebraska baseball, we welcome our out-of-town guests to Omaha and hope that you all have a great time while you're here!

|  Decker CWS Tournament Information  |  Battle of Omaha CWS Tournament Information  |

NP Dodge Surges to Metro League Lead

Wednesday, June 17, 2009, updated 9:15am

The NP Dodge Wildcats are perfect in Metro League Senior Legion competition so far this summer.  The Millard West ballclub, 13-1 overall and 7-0 in league play, currently sits atop the standings of the twenty-two team Metro-area conference with three league games remaining.   In the American Division rankings, Oakview Construction (5-1) is second behind NP Dodge, and spring season Class A state champs KB Building Services (Westside) is third at 5-2.  In the National Division, Associated Fire Protection (Papillion LaVista South) is in first place with a 5-1 league record.  Spring season Class B state champion DiGiorgio's (Gross) is 4-2, and Deeb Mustangs and Tom Hansen Construction are tied for third with 3-1 records and have not yet played each other.

At the conclusion of the ten-game regular season on July 1, the Metro League standings will be used to seed the four Class A Senior Legion Area Tournaments that will be played July 15-20 at four Metro locations.   The Metro League schedule has been shortened from twelve games to ten games this summer as the overall Legion season has been shortened a week to allow the national Regional Tournaments and American Legion World Series to be played earlier.  In recent past years the late scheduling of the national tournaments has interfered with students returning to classes and their fall sports activities.

Metro League play was introduced in 2006 as a means of providing the best Area Tournament competition possible.  In the first three years of the league, the twenty-two teams were assigned to two divisions, and teams played a twelve-game schedule consisting of ten intra-division games plus two games against teams from the other division.  Due to the shortening of the schedule, teams this year will play only teams in their division.  Teams will be seeded into the Area Tournaments based upon how they finish within their division.

Weatherguard Systems Pride (Omaha Roncalli) plays in the Metro League but competes at the Class B level in the Legion post-season.  Therefore, only 21 of the 22 league teams are seeded into Class A Area Tournaments based on their league standings.

The Metro League Junior Legion standings are currently being compiled and will be published soon.

| Metro League Senior Legion Standings | American Legion Post-Season Tournament Dates, Locations |

[Metro League standings can also be found on the "Summer Teams" page.  See link at left.]

PrimeTime Hands NP Dodge First Loss of Summer to Capture Milt Simons Championship

Monday, June 15, 2009

Evidently, Morningside College signee Storm Throne likes it up north.  The 6'7" righty cooled the bats of the NP Dodge Wildcats (Millard West), striking out nine in a complete game two-hitter to lead his PrimeTime Patriots (Millard South) to a 3-1 win Sunday over the previously undefeated Wildcats in the championship of the Milt Simons Memorial Tournament at Harmodan Park in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. 

The Patriots (12-2) and Wildcats (12-1) reached the finals with convincing semifinals wins over out-of-state opponents.  Earlier Sunday PrimeTime defeated Sioux Falls West 13-1, and NP Dodge blanked Jackson County (MN), 12-0 to set up the "all-Millard" championship game.  Due to the rainout of Friday's pool games, the four teams advancing to the Sunday's semifinals were determined on the basis of win-loss record and fewest runs allowed in Saturday's pool play.  Associated Fire Protection and Union Bank were also 2-0 on Saturday but allowed more runs than the #1 teams in their respective pools. 

A total of seven Nebraska teams competed in the sixteen-team field and compiled a 16-7 aggregate win-loss record.  PrimeTime went 4-0, NP Dodge was 3-1, Associated Fire finished 3-0, Union Bank and Pinnacle Bank (LSW) were 2-1, and Elkhorn Post 211 and Papio Pinnacle Bank finished 1-2. 

Kingswood, Bluejays Lead Reserve League

Saturday, June 13, 2009

After three weeks of play in the Nebraska Reserve Baseball League, Kingswood and the Bluejays (Creighton Prep) sit atop the league standings released by League Commissioner Mike Castagnoli yesterday.    Those two teams with identical 5-0 records are followed by a trio of 3-0 teams -- the Omaha Cardinals, defending NRBL champs Pacesetters and Associated Fire Protection (Papillion LaVista South). 

Kingswood and the Bluejays are scheduled to go head-to-head in league action on June 30 at Zorinsky Park.  Like the other Creighon Prep teams, the Bluejays are vagabonds this summer, playing all of their games on the road as their home ballpark undergoes significant renovations.  Kingswood is coached by Tim Huber, and the Bluejays are coached by Kevin Van Winkle.

To date, 50 of the scheduled 195 league games have been played in the 15-and-under league which combines teams from Eastern Nebraska high schools with teams from Lincoln and Omaha "select" programs who are 14 and under.   "We've had some rain and wet ballfields to contend with here in the early going," noted Commissioner Castagnoli.  "But teams have been doing a good job of getting those games rescheduled." 

The thirty-team league is in its fourth year with Castagnoli at the helm.  The veteran Gretna coach started the league in 2006 to provide post-season opportunities for Nebraska reserve players, and the league has grown steadily since that time. 

At the conclusion of league play on July 16, the teams will be seeded into four different state tournaments based on their win-loss records in league play.  Those state tournaments will be played July 22-26.

For standings and complete information about the NRBL, click on the NRBL 2009 link on the Main Menu at left.

Defending Champ Post 52 Escapes Papio South to Remain Unbeaten

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Two-time defending Class A Junior Legion state champion Kearney Post 52 (11-0) fought back from a 7-2 deficit to earn a thrilling 8-7 victory over Associated Fire Protection (13-3) in Saturday afternoon pool play of the rain-altered KB Building Services Junior Turf Classic. 

After each team scored a run in the first inning, Kearney took the lead with a run in the second.  The score remained 2-1 until the top of the fifth when the Papio South team erupted with six runs to take a 7-2 lead. 

Kearney fought back with a run in the bottom of the inning, held defensively and scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth to tie it up.  After Associated Fire failed to score in the top of the seventh, Kearney's Blake Johnson hit a one-out base hit into left center that he stretched into two bases with alert baserunning.  After Martin Hobelman was hit by a pitch, Taylor Fish advanced the runners without a groundout for the second out.  Drew Butler then hit the game winner -- a liner into right center -- to score Johnson. 

Mike Hlavinka earned the win in relief, and Albert Johnson took the loss for the Titans. 

Other top teams competing in the 21-team tournament include the Junior Bluejays (Prep) (12-3), NP Dodge Wildcats (MIllard West) (10-2), KB Building Services (Westside) (9-3) and JC Brager (Lincoln Southeast) (6-0).  Due to heavy rains overnight, Saturday's schedule had to be shortened, and Sunday's schedule will not feature match ups of the top pool finishers as planned.  See the "Tournaments" link on the "Summer Teams" page for the tournament results and the revised schedule. 

Photo by Terry Anderson

Union Bank shortstop Dylan Oberembt pirouettes out of the way of an oncoming Ideal Images Bulldogs baserunner to start a twin-killing.  Pius teammate Matt Steffensmeier (#12) awaits the throw.  Union Bank scored eight runs on eight first-inning hits en route to an 11-8 victory over the Omaha Burke squad in the NP Dodge Senior Legion Invitational. 

Sandhills Publishing (Lincoln Pius) catcher Derek Meyer (right) saves a run by applying a tag on a Brandon Valley (SD) baserunner in Friday afternoon pool action in the KB Building Services Junior Turf Classic at Westside High School.  The South Dakota team came back from a 4-1 deficit to win 6-5.  Action continues in the 21-team tournament through Sunday. 

Navigating Summer Baseball Coverage on BaseballNebraska.com

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Welcome to the Summer Edition of BaseballNebraska.com.  Here's a bit of a user's guide to help you find your way around:

 1.  If you had the spring edition of the website bookmarked, please change your bookmark to www.BaseballNebraska.com.

 2.  Senior Legion and Junior Legion Rosters, Schedules, Scores and Standings.  Click on Summer Teams link on the Main Menu at the left.  This will take you to a page called “Summer Teams Database”  where you can look up information about each team.

 3.  Summer Tournament Information.  Click on Tournaments link on Summer Teams Database Main Menu.

 4.  Ballfield Location Information.  Click on Ballfield Locations on Summer Teams Database Main Menu.

 5.  Daily Chatter, Comments, Photos and News Bits.  Click on Baseball Weekly on Main Menu.

 6.  Spring season archives.  Click on Archives link on the Main Menu at the left and then select “Spring 2009.”

This month we welcome our newest advertiser to BaseballNebraska.com, Travis Manners of Athletes' Training Center, a sports performance and physical therapy facility at 13809 Industrial Road in West Omaha. Travis has returned to Omaha from Arizona to pursue his dream of operating a facility dedicated to athletic training and rehabilitation.  Mark your calendar to attend ATC's Open House on Friday, June 12.