Anyway, Tiger baseball was quite focused for its shutout win over the Paynesville Bulldogs at home. The score was 5-0. The superb pitching was handled by Zach Bruns and Brandon Jergenson. They put up the zeroes over the seven innings at Chizek Field.
Riley Reimers as he has done in the past delivered the key hit: a single that cleared the bases. Prior to that, a Sam Kleinwolterink RBI single in the first frame got us the early lead. The score remained close until the fifth. The radio station informs us that the wind came into play to aid our hits! We'll take the breaks any way they come. We added four runs in the fifth.
Bruns started on the hill and worked for four innings. He gave up four hits. Then Jergenson came on with his pitching arm and handled the last three innings. His hits allowed: three. Ross Marty posted an RBI in the boxscore.
The game marked the end of regular season play. Our W/L numbers are most encouraging at 12-8. The Bulldogs too sit with a quite fine W/L of 14-6. Their Tuesday pitcher was Tori Olmscheid.
Softball sure went well for the Motown nine on Tuesday. Unfortunately I cannot find game details online on this Wednesday morning. I have plenty of energy thanks to the weekly biscuits and gravy morning special at DeToy's Restaurant. Unfortunately I can only report the softball score: 17-7 over Lac qui Parle Valley.
All good things must come to an end? Just now for the first time, I discovered that the "incognito" trick for getting past the West Central Tribune paywall no longer works. At least it didn't work just now. When I cannot access game info that way, I then turn to the radio station site. While our Morris radio station does a pretty fine job, often the material is capsulized, maybe a little too much, and stat details for opponents are not included. I like to include that if available.
I do not pay to read anything online. IMHO high school sports info should be free-flowing on the worldwide web with no paywall restrictions. These are publicly-supported programs. Also, they benefit from PR and reporting. Heaven knows the Morris softball program could use any and all promo now, what with the considerable fund-raising task that remains with the softball fields project.
Sub-varsity action was featured at the new field Tuesday. I happened by, as I often do because my daily walking route goes right past there. I had the good fortune of engaging a faculty/coach person for several minutes in conversation. I think highly of this person, who told me that my skeptical thoughts on the whole softball project are not out of bounds, certainly not prima facie. I was assured that other people have had thoughts similar to mine, like how the fan viewing opportunities are so greatly limited.
High fences and long dugouts are an impediment. The bleachers behind home plate do not do the job as well as you might think. In roughly 2/3 of that space, fans do not get a 100 percent view of the field.
I hate using the term "softball complex" because this is a gross oversell. It insulted our intelligence. For one thing, the long-established UMM field is obviously not new. It sits there like before, actually a superior place for affording fan viewing opportunities. It has been quite the suitable home for UMM softball.
What about the field to the south of that? It seems little more than playground quality now, and the fences seem a joke, located way too far out. Go take a look.
It's sad to see how vehicles get parked in such a haphazard way all around the facility, even to the north of the road leading to the bypass. The grass will get worn. Mud will develop much more readily.
Let's be real
You know what? If we really needed new softball facilities we should have worked to sell the state on this and just had the state with its considerable resources take over. Isn't that how Big Cat Stadium got built?
We don't see all those ticky-tack signs acknowledging "donors" all over Big Cat, do we? This sort of cheapens the new softball facility. Why? Because it was built to serve the whole community. The individual donors do not need so much attention. As for the large corporate donors, that is more understandable. But families and individuals? I suggest not. These people will pass from the scene someday, as we all do.
I joked with a project promoter yesterday that maybe I could sponsor second base at one of the fields. That was just a joke.
Yes, get the state in here with its deep pockets, get going with the parking lots and let's see the whole thing get done.
But what about the design problems that hinder the fans? Are we stuck with that drawback forever? I would suggest we ought to have a public hearing on this. We need the whole story about how and why the place was designed the way it was. I continue to have a bad taste in my mouth from the way this "complex" was announced in the beginning, in way too grandiose terms. It was a misleading "sell." A whole row of people for a "groundbreaking." Rather kitschy.
I expected the place to look rather spectacular by now, based on all the early talk. In reality it's a misfire. The city has announced it is contributing no more money. I wonder why the city contributed money in the first place ($150,000).
The Friday MACA success
The MACA softball Tigers defeated Melrose 15-1 at Melrose Friday. The baseball Tigers enjoyed success too, 3-1 over Lac qui Parle. My reporting on the games is on my companion blog, "Morris of Course." Here's the permalink and God bless:
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment