[Alsfastball] High School Boys What?

[Al Doran]

From: Doug Lindaman <douglindaman at unitedsuppliers.com>
Subject: High School Boys What?


      Nearly every state in the United States conducts a high school girls
fastpitch softball state tournament.  But there is believed to be only one
state where a boys team can call themselves high school fastpitch softball
state champs.  That's right--boys high school fastpitch!

      There are 21 high schools in the north central and north west portions
of the state of Missouri that play boys fastpitch.  All of the schools are
very small, rural schools that have chosen to play fastpitch in the fall
rather than football.  The teams play in three conferences and 16 of the
teams qualified for the 13th annual tourney, played on the weekend of
October 1-2, 2004.

      The tourney was played in Chillicothe at Danner Park, a beautiful new
three-diamond complex.  Eric Lewis, a pitcher on the Albany, Mo National
Investors men's team and head coach of the Winston Redbirds high school boys
team, served as the tournament director.  Park & Rec Director Ed Crawford
and groundskeeper Ron Krammes take a lot of pride in running the complex and
they did a great job of field preparation, especially after heavy rains hit
the area just prior to the tournaments' scheduled opening games at 4 pm
Friday.  Format for the tourney was single elimination with all 16 teams in
action Friday afternoon and night.  The eight winners continued play
Saturday morning and afternoon.

      The Jefferson Eagles of Conception Junction, two-time defending state
champs, won their third straight title in dominating fashion.  They defeated
the Newtown-Harris Tigers 13-0, the Ridgeway Owls 14-2, the Gilman City
Hawks 14-3 and routed the Pattonsburg Panthers 23-3 in the championship
game.  Coach Rob Dowis, who also serves as the school superintendent, put
together a fundamentally sound team and used pitchers Kody Schieber, Logan
Schieber and Jared Dowis in the four victories.

      Pattonsburg reached the finals with a 9-8 win over the Tina-Avalon
Dragons, an upset 8-5 decision over the Winston Redbirds and a 15-13
slugfest over the North Harrison Shamrocks.  Coach Kirk Sears called on
pitchers Jeremy Humphrey and Brandon Ray to pitch for the runnerup Panthers.

      Another National Investors pitcher, Brandon Craig, coached North
Harrison to a third place finish. The Shamrocks, with Clint Stobbe and
Nathan Lisle on the mound, defeated the Northeast Nodaway Bluejays 10-3 and
the Stet Cardinals 5-4 before losing to Pattonsburg in the semifinals.. In
the consolation game, they topped Gilman City 12-2.

      The Gilman City Hawks finished fourth.  They defeated the Hale
Cardinals 7-5 and the Grundy County Panthers 10-6, before losing to
Jefferson in the semifinals and to North Harrison in the consolation game.
Kaleb Wilson and Jarrett Webb shared pitching duties for coach Brent Burke's
club.

      USA Softball junior men's national team head coach Tim Lyon, assistant
coach Scott Standerfer and selection committee member Doug Lindaman attended
the tournament.  They came away impressed with the level of play and the
great enthusiasm displayed by the large contingent of fans in attendance to
support their local high school teams.

From: Doug Lindaman <douglindaman at unitedsuppliers.com>



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