2008 Legion Baseball season

mn man · Post by **mn man** » Fri Aug 08, 2008 4:12 pm

Govs93 wrote:
George Blanda wrote:Apple Valley takes the first game of the day over Willmar...

Apple Vall 15
Willmar 11
They just using JUGS machines down there, or what?

(I put the link in there to spare us from any of CNT's jokes due to the use of the word "Jugs".)

I saw a couple of games today, both umps I saw were "hitter's umps". One fellow even instructed a pitcher who had tried to trim a corner of the plate "Nope, bring it into the wheelhouse." !! Obviously never a pitcher in his past life!

goldy313 · Post by **goldy313** » Sat Aug 09, 2008 9:36 am

I've been there the last 2 days, it resembles a slow pitch softball tournament. Eden Prairie has a team BA of .436, 6 teams have a team BA over .364, 12 hitters have an average of .500 or better including a kid from Edina hitting .714.

9 inning games are taxing pitching, the umpiring is terrible. Good luck getting a called strike in a close game, later in lop sided games it's hard to throw a ball. The Eastview kid Jensen threw well last night and somehow walked 5, Kleinendorst from GR threw real well and walked 6 in 4+ innings.

Through 24 games the winning team has scored less than 12 runs only 7 times. Maybe it's time to go to wood bats, some of these games are taking 3 and a half hours to complete.

George Blanda · Post by **George Blanda** » Sat Aug 09, 2008 1:07 pm

Pretty low scoring (relatively speaking) in game one today...

Eden Prairie 10
SC 76ers 8

76ers eliminated.

Not a bad performance for a team that went into playoffs well below .500.

GopherWild · Post by **GopherWild** » Tue Aug 12, 2008 11:46 am

Nice run by the North St. Paul 39ers. Top 6 in State, lost to Rochester Patriots but still played well. If the rules stay the same which allow kids who already finished their freshman year of college to play then they should be good again next year. Rumor is Matt Puhl, Troy Larson & Nick Schneider want to come back. If they can, they should be even better.

NumberCruncher · Post by **NumberCruncher** » Wed Aug 13, 2008 11:00 am

GopherWild, I believe the rule deals with the year of birth. For this legion season, anyone born in 1989 or later were eligible. If the players you named were born in 1990 (or later), then they would be able to play next year. That way, only about half of college freshmen who want to play legion are eligible. Knowing other kids in the U of M program, I don't think the coach would wish to see two of his players facing pitchers who could be in 11th grade, however entertaining it may be.

George Blanda · Post by **George Blanda** » Wed Aug 13, 2008 5:07 pm

NumberCruncher wrote:GopherWild, I believe the rule deals with the year of birth. For this legion season, anyone born in 1989 or later were eligible. If the players you named were born in 1990 (or later), then they would be able to play next year. That way, only about half of college freshmen who want to play legion are eligible. Knowing other kids in the U of M program, I don't think the coach would wish to see two of his players facing pitchers who could be in 11th grade, however entertaining it may be.

When I was playing legion ball (now coach), the U of M had a couple kids on the Apple Valley legion team (after a redshirt or freshman season). One of them was Tom Buske, who has been one of the U's top pitchers the past two years.

Obviously the U of M coaches would rather see their kids play in a college summer league. However, not every player can do that. I know a lot of college coaches encourage their kids to play legion ball to get a lot more playing time.

If you were a college coach, wouldn't you rather have your kid play a 40-game legion season in addition to a 20-game amateur season, as opposed to just getting in 20 games in the summer?

Govs93 · Post by **Govs93** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 12:38 pm

Just an update on East Twins at the World Series:

They're 2-1 in the first 3 games of pool play beating New Jersey & Arkansas, but losing to California. If they win their game today, they will secure no worse than the 2nd spot in their pool and will advance onto the elimination bracket.

They are currently leading Tallahassee, FL 4-1 in the top of the 2nd inning.

Govs93 · Post by **Govs93** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 2:03 pm

Govs93 wrote:Just an update on East Twins at the World Series:

They're 2-1 in the first 3 games of pool play beating New Jersey & Arkansas, but losing to California. If they win their game today, they will secure no worse than the 2nd spot in their pool and will advance onto the elimination bracket.

They are currently leading Tallahassee, FL 4-1 in the top of the 2nd inning.

East Twins wins today, 8-4. They finish 3-1 in pool play.

Player of the game for East Twins (I guess they really do this): Colton Smit from WBL.

Elvis · Post by **Elvis** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 2:23 pm

GopherWild wrote:Nice run by the North St. Paul 39ers. Top 6 in State, lost to Rochester Patriots but still played well. If the rules stay the same which allow kids who already finished their freshman year of college to play then they should be good again next year. Rumor is Matt Puhl, Troy Larson & Nick Schneider want to come back. If they can, they should be even better.

If they're young enough and don't have the option of playing in Cape Cod or something like that, why not? Although I think Anderson would make sure that Puhl doesn't pitch, or is only the "closer". I'm sure he'll be stronger next year, but his pitching really affected his ability to play short.

GopherWild · Post by **GopherWild** » Sun Aug 24, 2008 1:33 pm

I think the players I mentioned are all young enough with 1990 birthdays that they all could come back. I just heard a rumor though that they may not allow college freshman to play anymore though. Hopefully that doesn't become the case.