Anyway, one game wasn't enough for our MACA Tiger baseball squad on Thursday. The Tigers ended up playing both Litchfield and Benson. It was off to Benson after the 7-6 defeat the Tigers were dealt by the Dragons of Litchfield. In Benson the opponent was the Braves.
The outcome was mighty gratifying for the orange and black. A win by shutout, 10-0. And once again we had an eighth grader playing a key role. Should I stop treating this as a novelty? By the standards of my background, it is quite the novelty. But we have moved into a new era? A good thing? Well I guess it is.
Fans should feel nothing but satisfied with the 10-0 win over the Braves of Benson. Alex Asmus is getting his name established in the high school firmament. (I was known to occasionally use the word "firmament" in my writing for the Morris newspaper.) Asmus was pinpoint and poised as he came through with five shutout innings. The Braves got to him for only two hits. Brett Miller reports "the eighth grader has now tossed 12 shutout innings to start his varsity career."
When I was in eighth grade, I think I was just learning to remember my locker combination.
I can be prepared to type this young man's name quite a few times.
Asmus got plenty of backing from the offense in the first two innings, to the tune of nine runs.
This was win No. 11 for the Tigers against six losses. Jonah Huebner drove in two runs.
New London-Spicer 7, Tigers 3
The hectic nature of the late-spring schedule continued into Friday. The outcome wasn't so positive this time. The Tigers were stopped in the 7-3 final. They succumbed to New London-Spicer surging in the late innings. Once the Wildcats got warmed up they were productive. After getting blanked through the first four innings, NL-Spicer plated four runs in the fifth and three in the sixth.
The Tigers scored two in the third and were then blanked over the next three innings, before adding a run in the seventh. The hit totals were limited: five each for the two squads. The Tigers made one error, NL-Spicer two.
One Tiger had a multiple-hit game. This was Andrew Marty who went two-for-four with an RBI. Riley Asmus had a hit and a run scored. Ozzy Jerome had a hit and an RBI. Tyler Berlinger had a hit and a walk received, plus he crossed home plate twice. Kyle Fehr walked and drove in a run. Drew Huebner worked the pitcher for a walk.
The Wildcats' Aedan Andresen had a hit, drew two walks, stole a base and scored two runs. Carson McCain drove in three runs.
Our pitching duties were shared by Huebner and Landen Gibson with Huebner taking the loss. Huebner worked for 4.2 innings, Gibson for 1.1. Huebner fanned five batters but struggled with control with seven walks. All of the NL-Spicer runs were earned.
The winning pitcher was Gabe Rohman who logged five innings, striking out three, walking three and allowing four hits. Grant Paffrath pitched two innings and fanned one batter, walked none.
I'm finally going to say this: the Huebner name must reflect a really good bloodline for athletics. I went to high school with Mark Huebner. I covered Julie Huebner in the early 1980s. I feel that today, Julie could be a Division I college prospect as post player. Other Huebners of note have passed through.
Softball: anticipation builds
Are we really on the doorstep of the post-season now? The spring season has seemed a little short. Weather a factor obviously - a belated arrival of the nice weather. It's no surprise that the MACA softball Tigers are seeded No. 1 in Section 3AA-North. And it all begins this coming Tuesday.
No contest for Round 1? That would appear to be the case. The kingpin Tigers are matched against No. 8 seed Montevideo. Obviously the game will be here at the softball complex. I hope Monte fans get the heads-up that they should bring their own chairs. Even with chairs the fan viewing experience is not likely to be good. We'll probably see some fans seated out by the outfield fence again. This is for lack of alternatives, unfortunately. I will continue referring to this project as a boondoggle.
The MACA won-lost mark is 15-2. Monte's? Well it's 2-12. Game-time on Tuesday is 3 p.m. from Holmberg Field. Then at 4:30, fans will again strain to get a good view at Holmberg Field when ACGC plays Litchfield. ACGC has an 11-4 mark, Litch 4-14.
The winner in each of these two games will vie at 6 p.m. I hope the ground has dried out better at the "complex." It is located close to the river. Other post-season action is slated for Barrett.
Brett Miller tells us the first round of tourney play is single-elimination, then the double thing takes over. I think softball is unique for this. Double-elimination always makes things confusing, even for media people. Take my word!
Keep an eye on 3AA-South. Hoo boy, the teams from southern Minnesota are always a hurdle to get past. Seems like it has always been this way. Something in the drinking water down there? So keep an eye on Pipestone, Luverne, Jackson County Central and Windom. These are the top four seeds in the South. The two sub-sections will finally clash on May 27 in Marshall.
My God, it's terrible that so much climactic section action is in Marshall, n'est-ce pas? Remember the good old days when so many important post-season basketball games were played in Morris at the P.E. Center? Huge crowds in attendance so often. Loud! Boisterous! Maybe too much so sometimes.
A parent explained to me that we are not likely to see those days return - days of huge emotional fan turnout - because there are so many activities now to divide up the parents. Progress.
Addendum: Regarding the games I write about today (Sunday), how much of this reporting has been provided by the Stevens County Times? Does the Times utilize its website in a positive way for MACA sports parents? Timeliness? I don't think so. And the print version of the paper only comes out once a week. Full of happy news all the time: everything is coming up roses in Morris MN. "All our kids are above average." Well, I'm happy to write about a lot of these kids in an optimal timely way, a good share of the time. Happy to be on board. Doing the best I can. I've been doing this since 1972 right here for Motown.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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