MACA diamond play has ended for the 2018 spring. First the curtain came down for MACA softball, now it's over for the boys of baseball too. MACA bats went quiet in the Tuesday Section 3AA game that had Minnewaska Area as the foe. Matthew Gruber was in top form pitching for the Lakers. Indeed he kept the MACA bats quiet.
Gruber struck out four batters and walked none in his full seven-inning performance. He gave up five hits in this 4-0 Laker victory over the Tigers. The site was Montevideo. Brock Anderson was the pitcher for Motown and he fanned seven batters but had control difficulties, reflected in six walks. He allowed just three hits. The four runs he allowed were earned. Neither team committed an error.
Parker Dierks had two hits in three at-bats for the Tigers. These three Tigers each went one-for-three: Kevin Asfeld, Alex Daugherty and Anderson.
For the Lakers, Ryan Christenson had a double and a run scored. Gruber didn't have a hit but he scored a run. Colin Weidauer crossed home plate once for the Lakers. Sean Kelling added to the winning effort with a hit, an RBI and a run scored. Ryan Amundson was hitless but drove in a run. And Jake Hoffman doubled and drove in two runs.
This game was scoreless through five innings. Anderson was certainly hanging in there against Gruber. But in the sixth, the Lakers broke through to score all four of their runs. Gruber handled the Tigers in the top of the seventh. Anderson was reminded of the old saying "walks will haunt." Now let's turn our attention to Legion, VFW and Babe Ruth ball. Bring on summer!
The majors in early summer
MLB teams are still establishing their personalities at this early stage of the summer. It's a time when kids have greater opportunity to get down to the big city and see a Twins game or two. School is out. The high school sports teams are winding down. My today's post marks the end of my Tiger baseball/softball posting for 2018.
I might have expected softball to get a little further. Baseball would have surprised me to get further. So the end is reached. Kids can now do what they're entitled to do in summer: have a lot of fun with not a lot of boundaries.
High school marching band was a big deal in Morris when I was a kid. It definitely imposed boundaries. I once told director John Woell I wasn't going to make a particular evening practice because my family was going to visit my uncle and his wife in Glenwood. That date was not arbitrarily set by us. I wanted badly to watch the MLB All-Star Game on TV! So I got my wish, dodged the practice and watched the All-Star Game in which Reggie Jackson launched that very long home run. Harmon Killebrew homered too as did Frank Robinson. I'm not going to look it up but I think it was 1971.
Us kids took marching band so seriously, we could be disciplined, even harshly, and we'd want to continue participating. I never thought about dropping out. I remember once when our drum major Scott Groth, a bravura sort of guy, heard some chatting in the ranks and wanted to cut it out. "Timmons!" he hollered at the top of his voice. After a moment of silence, Peter Timmons muttered "what." Groth answered at full volume: "Shut up!"
I remember Woell kicking out of practice a young lady from a prominent family, I think because she gave him a little "lip." You didn't want to do that in those days. I think it's different today where I'm told "the kids walk all over the teachers." Anyway, that young lady came back for the next practice and life went on.
Looking back, I wish I had sung in choir over band. I'd just go and tell Ms. Hjembo "hey, I want to get a few credits for singing in choir - please, please don't treat me special because of my dad, and do me a favor and don't assign me any solos." I'd just go for a 'C' grade. George W. Bush is perhaps the most famous 'C' student of all time. I'd be happy to be in his company. It takes talent riding a 'C' grade. You have to be just good enough to keep from falling into the D-F disaster area. To be frank, I'd like to see the A-F grading system just be jettisoned. I'm still haunted by that.
Is the Irondale marching band coming back to Motown this summer to practice? That's the highlight of the whole year for Big Cat Stadium - to heck with football.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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