|
Fat-Pitch softball is alive, well and thriving in Winterset, Iowa.
The local men’s town team, the A’s, has won 45 of its 50 games this summer and will play next weekend in the Iowa ASA State Major Tournament in Cedar Rapids.
Most of the players on the Winterset team are under 23 years of age and playing this weekend in the International Softball Congress Young Men’sUnder-23 North American Championships at Diamonds of Champions.The youngsters played well enough to propel the team into the winners bracket final Saturday night against the Winnipeg, Manitoba, Mudhens.
And, despite losing to the Mudhens in a slugfest, 13-10, the A’s still have a shot at winning the title.Four teams out of the 14 entered remain in the running for the title. Defending champion Junkers Bar & Grill of Mankato, Minn., meets the Harriston, Ontario, Storm in a losers bracket game at 9 a.m., then that winner faces Winterset at 11 am. Winnipeg will await that winner, but the Canadians would have to lose twice to determine a champion.
The first title game is slated for 1 p.m. and if a second game is required, it would be at 2 o’clock.Winterset, entered in the nine-year-old ISC North American Championships for the first time, defeated Sioux Falls Ebert’s Construction, Harriston and Portage, Wis., 51 Classic to reach the winners bracket final.In a 10-1 win in sic innings over Portage earlier Saturday, Travis Stram registered his third tournament win with a five-hitter,
Stram is one of three players from Prairie Du Chien, Wis., on the Winterset roster. The only other outsider is Tony Royster, a Webster City resident and junior-to-be at Buena Vista University.
At the heart of the Winterset team, is a corps of former Winterset High athletes, many of whom later starred in college baseball.
First baseman Jason Darling was recently named an NCAA Division III academic All-American ate Central College and Matt Young was a three-year starter in baseball at Simpson College.
Centerfielder Matt Darling played baseball one year at Iowa State and Jason Wilson played collegiately at Northern Iowa.
"We’ve got a good, solid bunch of outstanding athletes on our team," said Gary Christensen, the Winterset coach. Another member of the team, Cory Christensen, Gary’s son, won the NCAA Division II national wrestling championship at 158 pounds for Simpson and was a three-time state champ at Winterset.Gary Christensen was the wrestling coach at Winterset for several years, resigning two years ago to become the school’s athletic director."These kids are doing very well with our men’s team and this is a great challenge for us in this tournament," said the elder Christensen. "We’ve only got one pitcher (Stram), though , and he’ll have to carry us."Royster, who plays the outfield, was the starting first baseman on the Webster City team that was ranked No. 1 in the state in Class 3A before being upset by Heelan team in the 1996 state tournament.
The Winterset A’s play in the Central Iowa Fast-Pitch League which includes teams form Marshalltown (Central Iowa Express), Des Moines (knights), Ames (Trade Winds), Reasoner and Elkhart.In the other winners bracket semifinal Saturday afternoon, the opened pre-tournament favorite, Munger, Mich., 1-0. Winning pitcher Chad Klassen spaced three hits and Judd Berthiaume, the hard-luck loser, also allowed just three hits.
Winnipeg scored the winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning.
The two Sioux City teams met in a losers bracket game to open Saturday action with Meylor Chiropractic eliminating Joanna Trucking, 10-3.
Meylor Chiropractic then lost to Junkers Bar & Grill of Mankato, Minn., the defending tournament champs, 3-2 , and was sidelined.
In the winners bracket final, Manitoba outhit Winterset, 15-9, with centerfielder Rob Giesbrecht going 5-for-5 for the winners with four RBIs. Jason Darling and Matt Darling each had three hits for Winterset.
Giesbrecht and teammate Rich Daneault slugged home runs and Jake Allert homered for Winterset.
Junkers Bar & Grill stayed in the running for a second straight title by sidelining Munger, 5-4. Munger scored twice in the bottom of the seventh to make it close, however.
North Mankato’s Kyle Gosslee and Jay Daugherty combined to pitch a six-hitter. Jason Lynch had three hits for Munger.Meylor Chiropractic’s Mike Jeschke, Andy Thiel and Andy Van Whye each had two hits.Along with Munger’s win over the Mudhens, Harriston tipped the Rockford, Ill., Hi-Five, 1-0, with Paul Steid’s hurling a three-hitter. North Mankato’s Gosslee allowed just one hit, a single by Scott Leonhardt, in a 1-0 win over the Wroxeter, Manitoba, Rippers. Leonhardt, the losing pitcher, allowed just two hits.
|
|
