ASA Boys Youth Nationals

August 5, 2009

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The ASA Boys and 23-Under National Championships were played at Caswell Park in North Mankato, MN last weekend.  Here is a summary of results from an interested observer trying to keep track of action on 4-6 fields at the same time.
     In the 10-U division, pool play was conducted on Friday with each team playing two games to be seeded into the Saturday-Sunday double elimination tournament.  The final standings after the double elim were the same as the order of seeding:

1.  Winston, MO Royals  3-0
2.  Garden City, MN Big Dog/Key City Juniors  2-2
3.  Watertown, SD Young's Sports  1-2
4.  Fairmont, MN Junior Fastpitch  0-2

     In their five games, the Royals outscored their opponents 59-2, including a 12-2 win over Big Dog in the finals.  Eric Lewis, coach of the Winston High School boys fastpitch team, used the pitching combo of sons Craig and Jacob in limiting their foes to just six hits for the tournament.
     Pool play games were also held on Friday in the 16-U age group for seeding in the double elim tourney on Saturday and Sunday.  Pool B #1 seed Stanberry, MO brought another championship home to the Show Me state:

1.  Stanberry, MO Northwest Implement  3-0
2.  Lake Crystal, MN Legion Post  3-2
3.  Sioux Falls, SD Embroidery Touch  2-2
4.  Amboy, MN Eagles  2-2
5.  Sioux Falls, SD Soukup Bulldozers  1-2
5.  Good Thunder, MN Legion Post  1-2
7.  Sioux Falls, SD Juniors  0-2

     NW Implement defeated Lake Crystal 7-3 in the final game.  Lake Crystal lost their first game to Good Thunder 17-10, then defeated Soukup 7-3, Amboy 14-1 and Embroidery Touch 9-8.  NW Implement beat Good Thunder 6-3 and Embroidery Touch 5-2 in the winner's bracket final.  Clayton Schrieber was the winning pitcher with Brent Meshke taking the loss in the championship game.
     The 18-U division was played with the three-game guarantee format and the title went out West to a Utah club with a long-time sponsor:

1.  Salt Lake City, UT Page Brake  3-0
2.  Lake Crystal, MN Hennager Plumbing  2-2
3.  Reece, MI Richville Fastpitch  3-2
4.  Amazonia, MO Rockhounds  1-3
5.  Ravenwood, MO Schmitz Dozing  1-3

     Page Brake stopped Richville 13-5 and Hennager 10-0 to reach the finals.  Hennager plowed over Schmitz Dozing 11-3 in the first round, then downed Richville 6-5 after their loss to Page Brake.  That set up the championship game with the Salt Lake City team winning again, 11-2.  Robbie Black and Tyson Lambourne handled the pitching duties for SLC.
     Nine teams from six states battled for supremacy in the 23-U category with a three-game guarantee.  Former USA Softball junior men's team pitchers BJ Hunhoff and Jim Hartman hurled their Sioux Falls team to a 4-0 record and the national title:

1.  Sioux Falls, SD Explosion  4-0
2.  Cushing, WI Farmington Fastpitch  4-2
3.  Ephrata, PA R.M. Kurtz Enterprize  2-2
4.  Rockford, IL BAC Pride  4-2
5.  Onalaska, WI LaCrosse Athletics  2-3
5.  Good Thunder, MN Protein Sources  1-2
7.  Stanberry, MO Northwest Implement  2-2
8.  Stewartville, MN Seth's Down Under Bar  0-3
9.  Gaylord, MN Sibley Electric  0-3

     Explosion had a tough, back-and-forth first round game, topping NW Implement 8-5 with two home runs coming from former junior national team player Nic Cole and the winning hit provided by former junior national team player Cedric Lang.  They defeated Farmington Fastpitch 3-1 and Kurtz Enterprize 7-4 to reach the finals, beating Farmington again 7-3..  Farmington, led by the pitching of Don Potting, opened with a 12-0 rout of Seth's Down Under Bar, before losing to Explosion in the second round.  A 4-3 decision over LaCrosse Athletics and a 5-2 win over BAC Pride set up the rematch.
     A big Thank You goes to the tournament organizing committee, the city of North Mankato, the staff at Caswell Park and especially tournament director Jack Norman for a great job of conducting these ASA national tournaments.   

Doug Lindaman
Ackley, Iowa