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Home  News Latest Conrad will be hub of district baseball, swim meet
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Conrad will be hub of district baseball, swim meet |
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Thursday, 24 July 2008 |
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Anyone who follows Legion ball at all will remember Burns Brown. Burns was big and burly with a rumpled jersey that would just not stay tucked in. He had a blazing fastball and when he connected with a bat, hit the ball a country mile.
It was a simple delight of how he loved baseball, studied, respected, and enjoyed the game, liked the camaraderie of his teammates and making good friends.
Today, he plays on a fraternity team at the University of Alabama, just for the fun of it.
Brown goes on to add, I also believe that the young men who have played American Legion baseball will someday grow up and coach baseball programs in the communities where they live.”
Brown will be back in Conrad for the tournament. Plans call for him to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.
American Legion became a national program in 1925, and the first National tournament was held in 1926. Only 16 states were represented in the first year of national operation.
However, by 1929. Every state entered teams into competition and by 1938, the finals were broadcast to more than 3,000 radio stations.
Cardinal’s coach, Tyler Bucklin, commented, “I am really pleased to have the Northern A District tournament in Conrad. It gives us a little more home field advantage and crowd support which is always a positive.”
Coach Bucklin went on to add, “I am really happy to be able to coach Legion Baseball. It is a very competitive level of baseball and is fun to watch and coach.” He is looking forward to seeing a lot of fans at the ballpark over the weekend.
Coach Brad Dersch of Fort Macleod is a three-year alumnus of the program and a first year coach of the Royals. Next year, Fort Macleod will host the tournament and celebrate 25 years of Legion ball.
“I take pride in a lot of years with the program,” he said. While with the team he won three district titles and one regional title. “There’s a lot of pride and memories in those years,” he mentioned.
Now a middle school teacher, Dersch says, “It’s nice to pass on what I can to players.” The Royals, presently are going through what every team does eventually, a rebuilding time.
Admittedly, “The Royals are a young team,” he says, “our pitcher today, Taylor Wolstenhome, is only 13 yeas old.”
Most of the Royals are not much older. “We’ll be a power house in a couple of years,” he says.
Gary Hart, coach of the Great Falls Sparkies, tells the I-O, “This has been a very challenging year. This conference is a great conference made up of very good teams, most of them older and more experienced than ours.”
He goes on to add, “Our goal would be to come into the tournament and just be able to play good consistent baseball. If we could just accomplish that, who knows what might happen.”
Tournament action starts at 8 a.m. on Thursday. The actual opening ceremonies will take place at about 5 p.m. Brown is slated to toss out the ceremonial first pitch for the Tri-County Cardinals.
The Cardinals come in as the number four seed and will play the number five seed Havre NorthStars.
Friday morning, the Conrad Lions Club will be cooking a breakfast near the concession stand to get the morning going right at 7 a.m.
Ladies and Gentlemen, let the games begin!
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