Heartland Investors wins Class B National

Non-Profi t Org.U.S. Postage

PAIDPermit No. 44Garrison, ND

2013 State Tournament Highlights

Pages 5, 6, 12, 13

Bismarck-Mandan to Host Nationals

Page 2

Volume 31, Number 2 | NORTH DAKOTA STATE AMATEUR SOFTBALL ASSOCIATION | Fall 2013

A team sponsored by Heartland Investors of Bismarck won the Na-tional Class B slow pitch champoin-ship the weekend of August 17 and 18 following up on their triumph of last season when they won the Northern National Class C title and competed for the National crown in Oklahoma City. The team has the same sponsor and many of the same players who won last year’s Class C title. The following is a game by game detail provided by player/manager Scott Brahos of Mandan.

Game 1 – Heartland over All Above Landscaping (NJ) 25 to 21.

Heartland came out swinging in the top of fi rst scoring 8 runs which proved to be the difference as each team was putting up runs each inning throughout the game. Brad Jaeger was 4 for 4, Jason Salz, Blaine Horsager, Scott Brahos, and Brandon Wilkens were all 3 for 4 in the game. However, Joe Cornell came in with a big night going 3 for 4 with 3 HR’s.

Game 2 – Heartland over Elite Sports (IA) 20 to 5.

Heartland played a very solid game scoring right away and never letting Elite Sports build any mo-mentum. Heartland’s big 4th inning and scoring 9 runs proved to be enough by ending the game via the 15-run rule. Scott Huffman came in the 4th inning to hit a pinch hit HR to end the game. Joe Cornell, Tyler Merkel, Dana Roller and Chris Dahl all went 3 for 3 in the game as well.

Game 3 – Heartland over Tryon

Kneeling (left to right): Chris Dahl, Jason Salz, Scott Brahos, Blaine Horsager, Dana Roller, Brad Jaeger, Shane Piatz. Standing (left to right): Gene Grainer, Ryan Johnson, Brandon Wilkens, Joe Cornell, Scott Huffman, Mike Feldman, Tyler Merkel. Not pictured: Tyler Liffrig

Heartland Investors wins Class B National

Gym (SD) 25 to 15.Again, we got off to another good

start putting up runs in every inning including a big 6th inning where Mike Feldman hit a game ending walk-off HR to beat Tryon by the 10 run rule. He was 4 for 5 in the game. Jason Salz was 5 for 5, Joe Cornell was 4 for 4, Scott Huffman was 3 for 4, and Shane Piatz was 3 for 4 with a big HR in the 6th. As a side note, Shane’s HR in the 6th

was his fi rst HR of the year.Game 4 – Heartland over Ad-

vanced Sportwear/Longhorns (MN) 19 to 7.

Having a 12 run 3rd inning helped Heartland get past Advance Sportswear and advanced to the undefeated game Saturday night against Precision. Brad Jaeger was 3 for 3 with 2 HR’s in the game. Mike Feldman, Blain Horsager, Scott Brahos were also all 3 for 3

in the game.Game 5 – Heartland over Pre-

cision (IL) 22 to 18 (Undefeated game Saturday night)

Staying with the consistent theme of the weekend, Heartland jumped out in front with an 11 run fi rst inning. Jason Salz had a big game going 4 for 5, along with that; Brandon Wilkens, Shane Piatz and Scott Brahos all went 3 for 4 in the game. Ryan Johnson’s big HR in

the bottom of the 6th inning helped Heartland hang onto the lead and advanced them to the Champion-ship game Sunday.

Game 6 – Precision over Heart-land 29 to 22 (First Championship Game)

Precision battled back through

GAMEcontinued on page 9

IMPACT continued on page 11 14U continued on page 11

A team from Stevens Point, Wisconsin went undefeated to win the Northern National 14 and under tournament hosted by Bismarck from August 1 through 4. North Dakota champions the Bismarck Sparks played their way to a fourth

WEST FARGO IMPACT TEAM:Back row: Tim Rheault, Steph Dullum, Jess Larson, Megan Nelson, Katie Gilbertson, Bri Flynn, Lexi Lennon, Sydney Greenlund, Hannah Reimer, Terry Greenlund. Front Row: Tylynn McKeever, Brook Rheault, Ashley Sather, Jordyn Johnson and Brooke Breckheimer.

The West Fargo Impact team entered the Northern National tournament in Rochester, Minne-sota with high expectations after fi nishing another stellar season in North Dakota play. The Impact won six games before being eliminating

West Fargo Impact Claims3rd In Northern National

18 and Under Girls Place in Class B Tourneywith their second loss in the double elimination event. Twenty one teams from the Northern Region including teams from North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Wiscon-sin and Illinois were entered in the tournament which ran from August

1 through August 4.The Impact opened with a 6 to

1 win over Team Chaos from Min-nesota and followed that with an 11 to 6 win over the Patriots from

Wisconsin Team Wins14U National in Bismarck

North Dakota State Champs Claim 4thplace fi nish in the twenty team fi eld.

Plover 14’s won the title with four easy victories and a one run squeaker in the fi nal game. After playing two games in pool play,

2 – Softball News Fall 2013

President’s Report

Dick Gulmon

From Behind the Catcher

Walt Stack

Here we are deep into September and I am still wondering where the Summer went. This is the wrap up edition of Softball News for 2013 and should have all the informa-tion regarding state and national tournaments.

We had some pretty successful teams in National Tournaments again starting with the Heartland Investors team from Bismarck/Mandan which won the ASA Class B National tournament after win-ning the Northern National Class C tournament last year. This is basically the same team with a few additions and subtractions. Because they won the Class B title, they will be bumped up to Class A next year and they have their eye on winning that prize too. Game by game summary of their run to the

title can be found on page l of this issue. Congratulations to them and their sponsor.

––––––In addition to the Heartland In-

vestors men’s team, the West Fargo Impact girl’s 18 and Under Class B team took home a third place trophy in the Northern National tourna-ment held in Rochester, Minnesota this season.

West Fargo has been the most successful girl’s fast pitch team in the state for a number of years. They won every championship in high school competition before it became a sanctioned sport and continue that run of titles in the high school events after they were sanctioned and have also run off a number of championships in ASA summer fast pitch action.

Bismarck Sparks 14 and Under fast pitch team won fourth place in the Class B 14 and Under North-ern National held in Bismarck. Despite the fact that the program is relatively new, the Sparks found that they could compete with teams from well established programs from Minnesota and Wisconsin. They managed to play into the fi nal day of the tournament which kept much of the home crowd around for the championship day.

As an old fast pitch umpire, I am very happy to see the sport revived in the state and off to a fast start with almost 2,000 players in ASA softball around the state.

––––––Jack Jones, co-director of the

McQuade Charity Tournament has received word that the Wounded Warrior softball team will play in the 2014 McQuade event. The team is made up of veterans who have combat wounds and should be a terrifi c draw for fans of softball and for those who want to support our wounded troops. More information will be available in the Spring issue of Softball News.

––––––North Dakota softball lost a

couple of Hall of Fame members since the last issue of this paper both of whom were extremely good at what they did both on the softball fi eld and off. Luther Hea-ton of Minot passed away July 24 while staying with his daughter and family in Grand Forks. Luther was a long time softball and baseball umpire and was one of my deputies when I was state umpire in chief. One of the best fast pitch umpires in the state, he worked a number of state and regional tournaments and mentored many of the umpires who still work fast pitch softball. He was a good friend and a dependable umpire. I always felt comfortable going on the fi eld with him since he was a big man with an impos-ing presence. Despite that, Luther was one of the mildest of men who rarely had to raise his voice. I will miss him even though we didn’t get together often.

Also passing was one of the best fast pitch hurlers who ever played in North Dakota, Darwin Gorder whose 25 year career was spent in the Fargo Leagues. He was a stand-

out in an era of excellent pitchers and was also a gentleman on and off the fi eld. His obituary will be found elsewhere in this issue and will detail some of the highlights of his Hall of Fame career.

––––––I should also mention that the

brother of Mary Wadnizak passed away also this summer. While he was not involved in softball, his sisters Mary and Bonnie were both Hall of Fame members and Mary served for many years as ASA Women’s state commissioner. Our thoughts go out to Mary and any other surviving family.

––––––Before I end this I should men-

tion that both Bismarck and Man-dan will host ASA Northern Na-tional tournaments next season. Bismarck will host another Girl’s fast pitch event when the 16 and Under Class B girls come to town and Mandan will be the home of the Men’s E-Rec Northern National tournament. Both cities will be at-tempting to keep a string of awards from the National ASA offi ce as Bismarck will try for it’s 12th award of excellence and Mandan

for it’s third. These awards are made by the ASA national offi ce based on tournament evaluations done by the tournament umpire in chief, the ASA representative and paperwork sent to the ASA national offi ce.

I hope that each of you has a wonderful off season and we’ll look forward to seeing you around the diamonds next year. I’m hoping to umpire again after working 38 games this season.

Twin towns of Bismarck and Mandan will both host National ASA softball tournaments in 2014 with the Junior Olympic Northern National event for girls 16 and under Class B fast pitch coming to Bismarck and the Men’s E-Rec slow pitch heading for Mandan. Both these national events were awarded during the ASA National Coun-cil meeting in Dallas, Texas held in November, 2012.

Bismarck will follow it’s successful performance in host-ing the Girl’s 14 and under Class B fast pitch tournament in 2013 by landing the Girl’s 16 and under Class B fast pitch event next season. The tourna-ment is scheduled to run from July 31 through August 3, 2014. Bismarck Parks and Recreation will be seeking to earn another Award of Excellence from the national ASA to continue it’s string of eleven national tourna-

Bismarck and Mandan will Host Nationals

2014 Events Include Junior Fast Pitch and Recreational Slow Pitch

ments hosted by the Capital city which have all earned the award from the national ASA offi ce.

Mandan Parks and Recreation will also want to continue it’s tradition of hosting successful ASA nationals when it brings the Men’s E-Rec slow pitch national to town from August 28 through September l of 2014. Mandan has already hosted nationals in Men’s 35 and Over and Men’s 40 and Over tournaments, both of which also earned Awards of Excellence from ASA.

The Men’s E-Rec will be a Northern National tournament and can draw teams from the thirteen states in the Northern Region. The E-Rec tournament has proven to be popular with slow pitch teams which primar-ily play recreational softball but now have the opportunity to compete in a national competi-tion.

As we close out another softball season, I would like to thank all the people who make our program a success. We are very fortunate to have so many people willing to serve in such important roles as league reps, tournament coordina-tors, state and local board members, umpires, maintenance people and the endless volunteer’s in many different capacities. Many thanks to the Cities and Park & Recreation Departments who are our partners in providing a quality softball ex-perience for all. Thanks to each of you for all your time and commit-ment to this great game of softball in North Dakota.

I would also like to thank the sponsors who make it possible for people to play the game of softball in North Dakota. Please patronize these great friends of softball when-ever possible.

A very special thank you to Gary & Connie Tharaldson for sponsor-ing the trophies and banners for 29 adult and 8 JO State Tournaments, as well as the 14U-B GFP ASA Na-tional Tournament in North Dakota in 2013. As you all may know by the numbers in these events, this is a signifi cant donation to the NDASA program. The Tharaldson donation

allows us to keep our entry fees at an affordable level and maximize team participation. We extend our sincere appreciation to Gary & Connie for their continued commit-ment to softball in North Dakota. Be sure to thank them when you have a chance.

2013 was another very successful softball season in North Dakota that culminated with 505 adult teams participating in 29 state tourna-ments, and 50 JO teams participat-ing in 8 state tournaments. Thanks to all the teams, players and spon-sors for such a great turn out for the state tournaments and congratula-tions to all the champions of 2013.

One team certainly stood out in 2013, and my sincere congratula-tions to the players and sponsor of Mandan Heartland Investors for fantastic softball season. Heartland Investors not only won the MSP Div I State Tournament, but they went on to win the ASA MSP Class B National Championship. It was just one year ago that this same team won the ASA Northern C National Championship and went on to participate in the ASA Cham-pionship Series in Oklahoma City. Congratulations gentleman, we are so proud of you.

I would also like to thank Tim Kuntz, Naomi Erdahl and all their volunteers for running a fantastic ASA 14U GFP National Champion-ship in Bismarck this past season. Bismarck has a long history of suc-cessful events and they certainly did another terrifi c job with this Nation-al Championship and provided the players, fans and sponsors with an experience to remember. Bismarck will get another shot at it in 2014 as they will host the ASA 16U-B GFP Northern Championship. We will be busy with ASA Champion-ships in 2014 as Dave Frueh and his staff will be hosting the ASA E/Rec Northern Championship in Mandan. Dave is experienced in running ASA Championships and will do a terrifi c job with this event as well. We expect North Dakota and the Northern Region teams to come out in big numbers for these two 2014 ASA National Champi-onships. I would like to send out a special thanks to Lori Yantzer of the Bismarck/Mandan CVB for their continued support in bring-ing these ASA Championships to North Dakota. I for one know that these events would not be in North Dakota were it not for the fi nancial support of Lori and the Bismarck/

Mandan CVB. Thanks again Lori, we do appreciate it.

In early November I will be traveling to Oklahoma City for the annual ASA National Council meet-ing. We will be discussing many is-sues regarding rules and legislation for all aspects of the game as ASA is the National Governing Body of Softball in the United States. A delegation from Fargo will also be traveling to Oklahoma City to bid on adult ASA National Champion-ships.

I would also like to thank our friends in the ASA National Offi ce for all their assistance throughout this past season. ASA is fortunate to have a staff of very dedicated individuals who do a tremendous amount of work for softball. Thank you very much, each and every one of you. I would also like to extend my best wishes to Craig Cress who was recently named the next Executive Director of ASA upon the retirement of Ron Radigonda. I am confi dent that Craig will do a great job and we will be there to support him wherever and when-ever we can.

Lastly, I would like to person-ally thank retiring ASA Executive Director Ron Radigonda for his

over 30 years of dedicated service to ASA. Ron has spent a lifetime around the game of softball and has been the ASA Executive Director since 1998. Thanks for a great job Ron and we wish you the best in your retirement.

Have a safe and warm holiday season with family and friends and I look forward to seeing you all around the diamond next year.

Sincerely,

Dick GulmonPresident/NDASA

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Linda Huelsman,Manager

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Softball News Fall 2013 – 3

Ump Chat

Mike Wolf

Commissioner’s Column

Jim Hanley

NDASA had a very successful year. This is certainly attributed to all those who participated. I person-ally thank all of you playing ASA/NDASA softball this past year.

Our state tournaments plus one national tournament, GFP in Bis-marck, culminated our year. With this year now passed it is never too early to start planning for 2014. The next season registrations begin in early 2014.

For those adults MSP indi-viduals wishing to challenge your individual classifi cations, you may begin the process in January 2014. This can be done on-line by going to the NDASA website (ndasa.com).

ASA will hold its national con-ference in November. Many new items (code and playing rules) will be discussed. Changes will be made. At the winter meeting in Jamestown the changes adopted will be presented. Any changes that you would like can be discussed and voted on at the time.

I have appreciated the many years I have been involved in ASA/

NDASA softball (41 years). Thank you for your cooperation. I will be offi cially retired on January 1, 2104. I will continue to be involved in any position that the new com-missioner wishes.

Support your new commission-ers and staff. As I depart from an active role, I know NDASA will continue to serve you. It will con-tinue to be run by excellent offi cers and staff.

I know I need to be brief when I write my column, but there is always so much going on. I appre-ciate you reading on! Sorry Walt for being so lengthy! It is hard to believe the 2013 softball season is over. One week left here of coed and men’s Fall league here in Bis-marck and then we can close the chapter on this season. Where does the time fl y? We have to utilize the small window of opportunity to play softball in ND and it seemed as though for the most part, everyone enjoyed the season and we made it through without any major issues.

We recently finished hosting another successful national soft-ball tournament in North Dakota. Bismarck hosted the Girl’s 14U B Northern National Fastpitch Tournament. It was the fi rst girl’s national fastpitch tournament ever held in North Dakota. I believe there was a men’s national here in the 1980’s, so it has been a long time since North Dakota hosted a national fastpitch tournament. The good news is that Bismarck will host another girl’s fastpitch national next year when the 16U B tourna-ment will be here.

I felt Bismarck did a tremendous job taking care of all the arrange-ments to make sure the umpires had anything and everything they needed. The Bismarck Umpires Association and the Bismarck Parks and Recreation Department takes great pride in going the extra mile to make sure umpires are taken care of properly and we made sure that happened. Tim Kilber, Larry Erickson, and Bobby Erickson were also very instrumental in helping out in various aspects during the tournament—thanks guys! James Villareal from Waxahachie, TX made his fi rst trip to ND to serve as the ASA Representative and his knowledge and experience was a valuable asset in helping make the tournament run smoothly.

One another note, I (and a lot of other ND softball offi cials) was very disappointed by the lack of support from North Dakota teams in the 14U Fastpitch Tournament! Too much emphasis is put on winning in girl’s fastpitch rather than ap-preciating the opportunity to play in a national tournament. We should have had close to 20 North Da-kota teams and instead we only had four! It was a shame that cities and coaches around the state were more concerned about winning than af-fording the girl’s an opportunity of a lifetime. There are not many op-portunities for kids (or even adults) to compete at the national level and when they squander an opportunity when the tournament is right in their own back yard, it makes you wonder what people are thinking. I think the fastpitch group needs to take a lesson from the slowpitch teams in North Dakota who do an excellent job of supporting national tournaments held in our great state. So, the fastpitch group has a chance to redeem themselves this coming summer when Bismarck hosts the 16U B Girl’s Northern National!!

Mandan will also be a host to a Northern National Tournament in 2014 when they host to the Men’s E/Rec National Tournament. This tournament is designed to attract Rec teams from all recreational divisions. It is a great opportunity for all Rec 1 through Rec 4 teams to play in a national tournament and if I understand right, playing in this tournament won’t jeopardize your team classifi cation—of course un-less you do well in the tournament. So, let’s have another great show-ing of ND teams and help support Mandan in their efforts to host this national tournament! Dave Frueh, Tournament Manager, and his crew from Mandan Parks and Recreation and all of the other volunteers will

make this tournament a memorable one for all who enter!

We received several positive comments on the quality of umpir-ing at the national tournament in Bismarck and it is a compliment of everyone’s umpiring abilities and the great job the umpires did. The umpires should all be proud of the efforts they put forth on the fi eld! Elsewhere in this issue we have a list of all the North Dakota umpires who were chosen to work national tournaments this summer. If you see them congratulate them on their accomplishment of being selected to umpire a national tournament. It takes a lot of hard work and dedica-tion to the game to be selected to umpire a national tournament! We sent ND umpires to several differ-ent national tournaments around the country and I believe ND umpires worked the championship game in EVERY national tournaments we had umpires at except one! Great job ND umpires!!

Our state tournaments are fi n-ished and everything seemed to go very well. I base my assumption that things went well on the number of calls I get from around the state when we have our state tourna-ments going on. Once again, the calls were virtually non-existent. I have a great crew of Deputy Umpires in Chief around the state that do an excellent job of handling situations that arise during tourna-ments, not to mention the great job they do handling situations throughout the season. I would like to personally extend my thanks and gratitude to the great job my DU-IC’s do—thanks to Tom Harty—Jamestown, Rock Healey—Grand Forks, Al Ziemann—Bismarck, Mike Lein—Fargo, Elliott Ger-hardt—Bismarck/Dickinson, Nao-mi Erdahl—Western ND Fastpitch, Randy Olson—West Fargo, Mike Nider—Bismarck, Tom Lawson—Minot, and Lyle Rader—Eastern ND Fastpitch .

On a personal note, Tom Harty, a long, long, long, time DUIC from Jamestown has announced his retirement. Tom has done an excel-lent job for many years as a DUIC and he will be greatly missed! Tom has one of the best working knowl-edge of the game and rules and was always a great contact when we needed some sort of clarifi cation. Tom will be greatly missed, but I know how to get ahold of him and I know I can count on him if needed in the future. Tom is one of only four North Dakota umpires that have achieved Elite slowpitch umpire status—the highest recogni-tion of umpire accomplishments in ASA! Most importantly, Tom has become a great friend over the years and you cannot put a price tag on friendship! Thanks Tom for all the great years of service!! We cannot express the amount of appreciation necessary for all of your hard work and dedication to ND softball. It must be the year for retirements as our long time Commissioner Jim Hanley is also retiring. I have had a great working relationship with Jim over the years and we will defi nitely miss his knowledge and expertise. Jim will remain involved at the national level as he was granted Commissioner Emeritus status and will remain a voting member of the national ASA council.

I truly believe that the success of our umpiring program is based upon the people I have assisting me—so thank you everyone!! As a local university advertises about their students who volunteer in the community, they say—“It’s not about me.” While people compli-ment me on our umpiring program, I truly believe that—without the as-sistance of my DUIC’s throughout the state our program would not enjoy the success it has!

Unfortunately, due to some health related issues with my wife, I will not I will be attending the ASA Council Meeting in Oklahoma City in November. I will miss seeing a lot of old friends, but I need to address my attention to this issue. A Fargo delegation will be in Okla-homa City bidding with the hopes of landing a slowpitch national tournament for 2015, and while I was hoping to assist them in trying to secure a tournament, I know the group that will be there will do a great job!

I wanted to include an update on the Sam McQuade Sr. Budweiser Charity Softball Tournament. Once again I would like to extend a great big THANK YOU to all of the teams and umpires that participated in the tournament and all the fans who came out to watch. After all the expenses were paid, I am happy to announce that we had a record setting year and in September we distributed over $86,000 to local charities and organizations—a new record! I wish each and every one of you could have the opportunity to attend the banquet where we hand out the money and hear all of the heartwarming stories about just how much the charities and orga-nizations appreciate the funds they receive. If you ever want to attend, please let me know and I will make sure that happens!

The winning teams are now posted on the McQuade website. Be sure and check out all the win-ners at www.mcquades.com Once again, thank you players, umpires, and fans for making this tournament the most successful one we’ve held! Watch for the registration form for the 2013 tournament that will be available shortly after the fi rst of February on the McQuade website. Tournament dates for 2014 are June 27, 28, & 29. Let’s make this the biggest one ever! Remember—en-ter early! Be sure and be one of the record setting teams that participate in this year’s tournament and don’t be one of the many teams that didn’t make it into this year’s tournament. We hope to see you there!

The Slowpitch Task Force Com-mittee met recently in Valley City to address several softball related issues. I was fortunate to have been invited to the meeting and it is very reassuring to know that slowpitch softball in North Dakota is well represented by a lot of caring indi-viduals who have a great knowledge of the game and who are looking out for the best interest of softball in North Dakota. Jack Jones heads this committee and if you ever have any concerns about softball related issues, don’t hesitate to contact him.

North Dakota will be hosting a national umpire school for the fi rst time since 2005. The national umpire school will be held in West Fargo May 2, 3, 4, 2014. PLEASE make sure you mark these dates on your calendar and plan on attending this national school. It is one of the best learning opportunities you will ever get as an umpire. Not only will it help you do a better job in local league games and tournaments, it will also prepare you for state tournaments and national tourna-ments. It is not often that we get an opportunity to hold a national umpire school in ND, so don’t let this opportunity pass you by! In order to work a national tournament in 2014 or beyond, you will need to attend this national umpire school. More information to follow!! Mark your calendar now!!!

Another great season of softball in North Dakota is behind us. Thanks to all of the players and um-pires who make this game so great. I certainly appreciate all of the emails, phone calls, and questions I receive from players, managers,

and umpires throughout the year on rule interpretations or concerns you might have. I also get asked several questions at many of the tourna-ments that I attend throughout the summer. I think it is great that we can discuss plays and situations so that umpires and players can come to better understand the rules of the game. Dialog is great and please always remember that I am willing and able to assist in any manner that I can!

As we end another season, I would ask leagues, players, and umpires around the state to assist us in recruiting more umpires. I challenge you to do whatever you can to recruit just one new umpire for next season in your area of the state. We are losing umpires across the country at an alarming rate and North Dakota is no dif-ferent. By recruiting just one new umpire, you would be doing your part to make sure the great game of softball continues well into the future with a suffi cient number of umpires. Maybe that umpire is you! One night a week can make a huge difference to any league across the state! Players and umpires—if you know of someone you think might make a good umpire, encourage them to try it. All it takes is a little persuasion from an umpire or a player and someone just might give

umpiring a try—you’ll never know unless you ask!

I encourage you to continue to contact me at any time with any questions or concerns you may have. For me, the softball season never really ends so don’t hesitate to drop me an email at [email protected] or give me a call on my cell at 701-400-2100 with any ques-tions or concerns you may have. I am available to help you in any way I can. Have a great off season. I look forward to seeing many of you again at a rules clinic next spring or on the diamonds next summer or even somewhere along the line this winter! Remember—Isn’t it great that in all North Dakota leagues and tournaments we PLAY ASA and UMPIRE ASA!!!

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Junior Olympic Notes Our girls fastpitch season saw a

lot of major success in growth in numbers, quality of play, attendance at tournaments, quality coaching and top notch umpiring.

I want to wish Bill Butterfi eld and his family the Best of Luck in the future. Bill has resigned as the JO commissioner to do more rodeo’s with his son. I will replace Bill and look forward to continue working with the JO program.

I want to recap a very successful state tournament held in Bismarck on July 6th and 7th. We had a record 37 teams that participated in 10U, 12U, 14U, 16U and 18U divisions. It was great to see some new teams from Lisbon, Mandan, Minot, and Grafton participate in this year’s tournament.

West Fargo Impact (Pat Johnson coached both teams) won both the 18U and 16U divisions. Bismarck won the 10U and 14U divisions, with Grand Forks winning the 12U division. The 10U, 12U, and 14U championship games were decided in the second championship game (or IF game). There was plenty of drama and 1 run games that decided the tournament champions. I have to mention that the Dickinson Dia-monds had 4 teams place second in 10U, 12U, 14U, and 18u levels. So congratulations to all those teams that placed in the state tournament. Next year, we are looking forward to having the state tournament in Grand Forks, for the fi rst time ever.

Bismarck hosted the 14U B Northern National tournament from July 31 to August 3rd. We had a total of 20 teams that included teams from Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Kansas, North Dakota and South Dakota. Tim Kuntz and Naomi Erdahl, from Bismarck Parks & Rec. Dept. were the tournament managers. The tour-nament committee spent a number of hours in planning for events that went with hosting this type of tournament. There are a number of moving parts to this tournament and I want to send out a BIG Thank-you to all who were able to make it hap-pen. Special thanks again to Tim Kuntz and Naomi Erdahl for tak-ing on the challenge of putting on a very successful tournament. The weather was perfect, and everyone is still talking about the opening ceremonies that were held on the steps of the state capitol grounds.

T h e W i s c o n s i n P l o v e r 14’s(Plover is a town) won the tournament with a 7 – 0 record.

They defeated Pride of the Midwest (Brookfi eld , Wis.), in the champi-onship game. The Michigan Heat fi nished 3rd. We are really proud of the Bismarck Sparks , coached by Joel Barta, who went 4 - 2 in the tournament and placed 4th. The tournament provided a number of thrilling extra inning games (if you coach get familiar with the tie breaker rules) along with number of drama fi lled Home Runs. Lyle Rader, was umpire in chief and his group of umpires did a fantastic job. We hope to have that group ready to ump again at next year’s tournament. I could not believe the size and how nice the individual awards were that go to the top 3 fi nishers. ASA does a nice job on those individual awards. Minot, Grand Forks, and Dickinson also had teams that participated in the tournament.

I have seen a number of parents who are willing to sacrifi ce just about anything to see their kids play sports. At the National tournament, we had a mother drive up from Plover Wisconsin for the opening ceremonies and Thursday’s games. After the games on Thursday, that Mom and another mother drove back to Plover for her sister’s wed-ding. So after the grand march, they drove back to Bismarck and arrived in Bismarck at 8:00 a.m. to watch her daughter play in the undefeated and championship game. Then after the championship game they drive back to Plover. It is a 12 hour trip from Plover, WS to Bismarck ND. She spent 48 hours in a car traveling back and forth. That is the over the top award.

We also need to recognize that West Fargo Impact placed 3rd in the 18U B Northern National held in Rochester, MN. Impact fi nished with a record of 4 -2 and was coached by Terry Greenlund. At the same time the West Fargo 16U team, played in the 16U A Northern National and fi nished with a record of 4 – 4. Again, great job by those girls, coaches, parents, and spon-sors for supporting those programs.

Looking ahead to next year, Bismarck will be hosting the 16B Northern National tournament. Everyone needs to play and attend these National tournaments. If you don’t , these girls are missing out on a great experience and it gives them an edge of confi dence. I encourage everyone to attend these national tournaments.

Several ND umpire’s selectedto work national tournaments

There are over 33,000 umpires across the United States, but only a fraction of those umpires get selected to umpire an ASA national tournament. Umpires work hard throughout each season and their careers to perfect their skills with the hope of being selected to umpire in an ASA national tournament. This season, several North Dakota umpires either umpired in ASA national tournaments or served in an administrative capacity. Hopefully, I didn’t overlook anyone! My apologies if I did! CONGRATULATIONS to the following individu-als who were selected to umpire or serve in an administrative capacity at a national tournament:

Naomi Erdahl—Bismarck—USA Girls 18 Gold—Oklahoma City, OKCraig Hahn—Grand Forks—Girl’s 16U & 18U Fastpitch—Rochester, MNDonald Doyle—Grand Forks—Girl’s 16U & 18U Fastpitch—Rochester, MNElliott Gerhardt—Bismarck—Girl’s 16U A Fastpitch—Roseville, CAChris Coleman—Fargo—Men’s C—Liberty, MOTom Hamkens—Bismarck—Women’s D—Watertown, SDJason Hassebrock—Bismarck—Women’s D—Watertown, SDTerry O’Clair—Bismarck—Girl’s 14U—Bismarck, NDBarry Adair—Bismarck—Girl’s 14U—Bismarck, NDTom Lawson—Donnybrook —Girl’s 14U—Bismarck, NDShane “Red” Nordick—Grand Forks—Girl’s 14U—Bismarck, NDChad Mears—West Fargo—Girl’s 14U—Bismarck, NDLyle Rader—Wahpeton— Umpire-In-Chief—Girl’s 14U—Bismarck, NDWalt Stack—Bismarck— Assistant UIC—Girl’s 14U—Bismarck, NDMichael Wolf—Bismarck—Umpire Coordinator—Girl’s 14U—BismarckNaomi Erdahl—Bismarck—Asst. Tourn. Director—Girl’s 14U—BismarckMichael Wolf—Bismarck—Umpire-In-Chief— Women’s D—Watertown, SD

By Brian Neuhardt, JO Commissioner

ASA Heads home for 82nd Annual Council Meeting

OKLAHOMA CITY --- The Amateur Softball Association (ASA) and USA Softball Board of Directors announced today the selection of Craig Cress (Edmond, Okla.) as the next Executive Di-rector for the National Governing Body (NGB) of Softball in the United States. Cress, who currently serves as the association’s Director of Membership Services since May 2002, will begin duties as Execu-tive Director effective November 15, 2013 at the ASA/USA Annual Council Meeting in Oklahoma City.

“I am very humbled, honored and excited for this tremendous opportunity,” said Cress. “ASA/USA Softball has a storied history and there are many individuals who helped build and maintain this outstanding association. It has defi nitely been my privilege to have served ASA/USA Softball for over 35 years in many different roles and I look forward to being part of the future by serving as its next Executive Director. I appreci-ate the support and confi dence of the ASA Board of Directors, the Membership and the National Of-fi ce Staff - we will need everyone as we create the next chapter of this historic organization!”

Cress has been involved with the ASA for over 35 years serving in several roles as a player, umpire, district Commissioner, Umpire-In-Chief, league administrator, as a council member, and National Offi ce staff member. A native of Terre Haute, Ind., Cress started his involvement with ASA Softball as a player and spent many years behind the plate umpiring at all levels including National Champi-onships and International Softball Federation Women’s and Men’s Fast Pitch World Championships. He served on the ASA National Umpire Staff for four years and in 2005, he was nationally honored for his years of expertise as an umpire by being inducted into the National Softball Hall of Fame in the umpire category.

“ASA is honored and proud to name one of its own as the next Executive Director of ASA/USA Softball,” said current ASA/USA Softball President ET Colvin (Mississippi ASA Commissioner). “Craig has come from the local ranks as a district commissioner, local umpire-in-chief to one of the best umpires in the nation. He came to the ASA National Offi ce as Director of Membership services and has led that department and the ASA umpire program. He has the experience and knowledge at all levels to be a very successful Executive Director. Over the past few years Craig has been involved in the grass root programs of all 76 local associations and worked closely with all of ASA’s local Commissioners. He will provide the leadership and guidance that will continue to move ASA forward and keep us as the leader in the sport of softball.”

In the interim, Cress will con-tinue his duties as Director of Membership Services and will work alongside current Executive Director Ron Radigonda who an-nounced his retirement in Decem-ber of 2012 after 14 years leading the organization.

“Craig will bring a wealth of knowledge and softball expertise to his new role in ASA,” said Radi-gonda. “He has progressed through various levels and roles within our association and has excelled in all of his endeavors. He has gained valuable experience in his most recent role as our Director of Membership Services and has had direct contact with our 76 local as-

ASA/USA Softball announces Craig Cress as next Executive Director

sociations for the past decade. He is well versed in all aspects of softball and our association and will provide outstanding leadership to ASA for many years to come.”

Prior to his work in Oklahoma City as Director of Membership Services, Cress served as the Ex-ecutive Director of the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center in Terre Haute, Ind. and supervised over 20 employees who provided services to over 2,000 members and volunteers. He conducted several fundraising events annually that generated revenue and exposure to the Sports Center in Indiana.

In May of 2002, Cress began his tenure with the ASA National Office in OKC overseeing the Membership Services department who supply services and benefi ts to all members of ASA. In addi-tion, the Membership Services staff oversees the ASA Hall of Fame four-fi eld complex that hosts over 30 events annually including the NCAA Women’s College World Series and the World Cup of Soft-ball. He coordinates and leads the ASA Equipment Testing and Cer-tifi cation Committee who regulate equipment for the game of softball.

Cress works closely with staff in budget preparation and operation for the association and has been an integral aspect of ASA’s success over the past decade.

Cress and Karrie, his wife of 28 years, currently reside in Edmond, Okla. and have two sons, Rich and RJ, who also reside in Oklahoma.

About ASA The Amateur Softball Associa-

tion, founded in 1933, is the Nation-al Governing Body of softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. The ASA has become one of the nation’s largest sports organizations and now sanctions competition in

every state through a network of 76 local associations. The ASA has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 210,000 teams today, representing a mem-bership of more than three million. For more information on the ASA, visit http://www.asasoftball.com/ http://www.asasoftball.com/.

About USA Softball USA Softball is the brand cre-

ated, operated and owned by the ASA that links the USA Men’s, Women’s, Junior Boys’ and Junior Girls’ National Team programs to-gether. USA Softball is responsible for training, equipping and pro-moting these fi ve National Teams to compete in international and domestic competitions. The USA Softball Women’s National Team is one of the only two women’s sports involved in the Olympic movement to capture three consecutive gold medals at the Olympic Games since 1996. The U.S. women have also won nine World Champion-ship titles including the last seven consecutive as well as claimed six World Cup of Softball titles. For more information about USA Softball, please visit http://www.usasoftball.com/ http://www.us-asoftball.com/.

The Amateur Softball Asso-ciation (ASA) of America will converge in Oklahoma City, its National Headquarters, on No-vember 9-16 when it hosts its 82nd Annual Council Meeting at the Renaissance Hotel. During the week long event, administrators, players and tournament hosts from around the country participate in a series of meetings to evaluate the needs of the association along with proposed rule and code changes for all divisions of ASA softball. In addition to the business side of the organization, the ASA also presents several awards during the Annual Council Meetings, including the James I. Moyer Sports Complex of the Year Award, the Bright Light Award presented by ASA and Musco Lighting, Years of Service and the James Farrell Certifi cates and Awards of Excellence for excel-lence in conducting ASA National Championships.

The ASA National Council is comprised of about 300 voting members from all aspects of the sport. The National Council, which consists of ASA Commissioners or Commissioner Emeritus, Ex-ecutive Director Emeritus, Coun-cil Member Emeritus, Regional Player Representatives, At-Large Player Representatives, Regional Junior Olympic Commissioners, Regional Umpire-In-Chiefs, Allied Members, Elite Athlete Reps, and Past Presidents, are charged with making decisions on legislative changes, rule changes and is solely responsible for awarding National

Championships to host cities across the country.

On Sunday, November 10 the 33rd Annual Hall of Fame Induc-tion Ceremony and Banquet will be held in the Grand Ballroom. Mem-bers of the 2013 ASA Hall of Fame class include: Margie Wright (Clo-vis, Calif), Randy Melvin (Dowa-giac, Mich.) Laura Berg (Santa Fe Springs, Calif.), Lisa Fernandez (Long Beach, Calif.) and Shirley Simmons Snell (Shreveport, La.). In addition to honoring the Class of 2013, the Hall of Fame Class of 2014 will be announced.

More than 80 exhibitors from throughout the United States are expected to attend the annual ASA Trade Show, which will be held Wednesday evening. The show will feature exhibits from cities bidding on the ASA National Champion-ships, equipment manufacturers, softball suppliers and the ASA National Offi ce staff with more than 1,000 council members, associa-tion delegates and visitors passing through.

The Wilson Sporting Goods To u r n a m e n t Aw a r d s L u n -cheon will be held on Wednes-day while the 5th annual “Fun Walk”, organized by Joey Rich, will be on Thursday morning.

For further information on the 2013 ASA Annual Council Meet-ing, please visit ASASoftball.com. Photos and live updates from OKC will be posted on the ASA and USA Softball Facebook and Twitter pages.


HIGHLIGHTScontinued on page 6

WOMEN’S SLOW PITCH

Class DDriftwood Lounge of Wahpeton

topped a ten team fi eld to win the state title in Class D Women’s slow pitch August 3 and 4 in Devils Lake.

Driftwood opened with a bye before topping Town Hall of West Fargo in a ten run win 12 to 2. They registered another ten run victory with and 11 to 1 win over Simplot Growers/All Pets of Grand Forks.

In their third game of the tourna-ment, they destroyed Kupper Chev-rolet of Bismarck 23 to 2 to reach the fi nal game. In the title game, they bested Eides/Ground Round of Grand Forks 17 to 12 to claim the state tournament title.

Runner-up Eides/Ground Round of Grand Forks opened their tourna-ment run by losing to the Town Hall of West Fargo 7 to 4 which dropped them into the loser’s bracket and forced them to play fi ve games to reach the title game only to lose to Driftwood Lounge.

Following their fi rst round lose, Eides/Ground Round beat Sperle Masonry/Chubbs of West Fargo 10 to 0 and then they hung a decisive defeat on Ottertail/Creative Impres-sions of Devils Lake 34 to 2. In their next game, they hung a ten run de-feat on Simplot Growers/All Pets of Grand Forks 13 to 3 before getting even with Town Hall of West Fargo who beat them in the fi rst game of the day. The score of this one was 26 to 13 in favor of the Grand Forks team. To reach the fi nal, they beat Kupper Chevrolet of Bismarck 23 to 10 before losing the fi nal game to Driftwood.

Kupper Chevrolet claimed third place and Town Hall was fourth.

Rec ISaunders Chiropractic/All Amer-

ican team from Minot won the Women’s Slow Pitch Rec I state title in Valley City the weekend of August 3 and 4 topping a fi eld of thirteen despite a loss which made two championship games necessary.

Saunder’s opened their quest for the title with a close win over KB’z Bar of Bismarck 6 to 4. Their second game was a bit easier as they posted a ten run win over Overhead Door of Minot 10 to 0. In their next contest, Saunder’s beat Pete’s of West Fargo 8 to 5 before losing their

only game of the day 6 to 4 to IDK of Jamestown.

Saunder’s came back with a win over Capri Bar of Minot to get another shot at IDK . In the fi rst championship game, Saunder’s prevailed 17 to 6 to force an “if” game which they captured in a close contest 10 to 8 to grab the state title.

IDK of Jamestown had a good tournament winning four games be-fore losing the championship game and the “if” game to Saunder’s. They began their day with a victory over Advanced Truss Fabricators of Bismarck 10 to 6 and then shut out Paradiso of Minot 7 to 0. In their third game they won a dandy and a rarity in slow pitch softball as they won 2 to 1 over Capri Bar of Minot. In the unbeaten game, IDK won over Saunder’s Chiropractic/All American of Minot but fell to that same club in two championship games 17 to 6 and 10 to 8.

Capri Bar of Minot won third place and Pete’s of West Fargo was fourth.

Roughrider Division was won by Minot Paradiso.

Rec IIPace Painting of Grand Forks

won six straight games in winning the Women’s slow pitch Rec. II title over a field of 24 teams in Jamestown the weekend of August 10 and 11.

Pace opened their tournament run with a 21 to 12 victory over CJ Rigging of Bismarck. The followed up with a 20 to 8 win over Mayport Insurance/Top Hat before being tested severely in an 8 to 7 triumph over the Red Birds of Devils Lake. Lidgerwood was their next victim going down 7 to 2 and Dakota Fron-tier of Bismarck was also beaten twice by the crew from Pace.

Dakota Frontier Co-op of Bis-marck was the runner-up, winning four games before losing the title to Pace Painting. Dakota Frontier opened with a win over Grotberg Electric of Valley City 8 to 5 and then defeated Highway Express/Subway of Beulah. Dakota Frontier then clobbered Advanced Me-chanical of Bismarck 14 to 1 before meeting and beating Nite Owl of Beulah to advance to the title game which they lost to Pace Painting.

Third place was won by Nite Owl of Beulah with an 8 to 2 triumph over Lidgerwood.

Consolation winner was Broken Oar Bar of Bismarck and the con-solation runner-up was McLean/McHenry Mutual Insurance.

Hooter’s/NW Mutual/Smartt of West Fargo won the Roughrider Division

Rec III EastThe Hatton Sunfl owers claimed

the Women’s Slow Pitch Rec III state title winning five straight games to best a fi eld of 42 teams the weekend of August 10 and 11 in West Fargo.

Hatton began with a shutout win over FUI/Angry Beaver 10 to 0 before crushing Empire Liquors of Fargo 21 to 6. In their third game, they did not get the offensive punch they had against Empire but played good defense to win 6 to 2 over Je-rome Wholesale/Ray’s Printing of Devils Lake. The Sunfl owers found their bats again in their next game pounding out a 16 to 7 victory over Drake UCB which put them into the title game. In the championship game, they best the Mayville Vets 10 to 4 to take home the winner’s trophy.

Runner-up Mayville Vets were also unbeaten going into the fi nal game having defeated Nogo’s in their opener 7 to 5; the Harvey Old Pros and the Cooperstown Mer-chants 7 to 3. In their fourth game of the event, they bested the Silver Dollar Bar to reach the champion-

ship where they dropped a 10 to 4 decision to the Hatton Sunfl owers.

West Fargo Silver Dollar claimed third place with a 10 to 0 shutout over the Fargo Silver Dollar/Sexy Pigs.

Grand Forks Strictly Used/Kel-ly’s Bar won 18 to 14 over the Carrington Merchants to grab the Consolation title.

Roughrider Division winner was Devil’s Lake Proz and the Tumbleweed Division was won by Jamestown Stokkelands/Shady’s.

Rec III WestDickinson Kohler Communica-

tions won the Women’s Slow Pitch Rec III West championship over an eight team fi eld in Dickinson the weekend of August 10 and 11.

Kohler had to survive a lose in the fi rst championship game but came back to win in the “if” game to take home the trophy. Kohler opened with a huge win over Alibi’s Lounge/Elite Hair of Beulah 28 to 2 then had to scramble to squeeze out a 5 to 4 victory over Nabor’s Drilling of Williston. Their next win was easier as they claimed a 9 to 1 win over Lonesome Dove of Mandan which put Kohler into the unbeaten game which they lost to Jimmy’s Pizza/Long Shots of Beu-lah 6 to 1. In the “if” game, Kohler prevailed in a nail biter 11 to 10 to win the championship.

Runner up Jimmy’s Pizza/Long Shots of Beulah beat Elbow Room/CVB of Bismarck 12 to 3 but lost their second game 7 to 4 at the hands of Lonesome Dove of Mandan. Jimmy’s then marched through four straight games to get into the fi nals. They defeated the 4Mile Bar of Williston 9 to 1; Nabor’s Drilling also of Williston; Lonesome Dove of Mandan 9 to 6 and the beat Kohler Communica-tions 6 to 1 to force the “if” game which was won by Kohler.

Mandan Lonesome Dove claimed third place

Masters Division IMoritz Sport and Marine of Bis-

marck won the Women’s Masters Division I crown in a four team round robin tournament held July 27 and 28 in Bismarck. They earned the title by winning all of their three games. Moritz defeated Arnie’s of Bis-marck 23 to 2, IDK of Jamestown 20 to 9 and Capital City Construc-tion of Bismarck 19 to 1.Runner-up IDK of Jamestown lost to Capital City Construction 14 to 10 and lost to Moritz 20 to 9 be-fore salvaging a win over Arnie’s 10 to 5.Arnie’s; Capital City Construction and IDK had identical records in pool play with IDK claiming sec-ond place on the basis of Pool Play Tiebreakers.

Masters Division IILithia Ford of Grand Forks won

the Women’s Masters Division II the weekend of July 27 and 28 in Bismarck. Only five teams an-swered the call for this Division so a round robin schedule was utilized to determine the winners.

Lithia Ford won all four games to claim the title beginning with a win over O’Brien’s Tavern in Bis-marck 15 to 6 then defeated Walker Chiropractic in their second round game. Rudy’s Old Pro of Oakes fell to Lithia in their third game 14 to 10 and the Mercer County Misfi ts were shut out 10 to 0 in round four.

Rudy’s Old Pro won second place winning three games and losing only to Lithia. Rudy’s fi rst game was a victory over Mercer County

2013 State Tournament highlights

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Luther Freeman Heaton 82, Mi-not, North Dakota Softball Hall of Fame umpire and award winning youth director at the Minot Air Force Base died on Wednesday, July 24 in a Grand Forks hospital.

Luther was born on August 3, 1930 in Crossville, Alabama and was reared and educated in Cross-ville where he graduated from high school in 1948. He played profes-sional baseball for one season prior to enrolling in Newberry College in South Carolina. Following his edu-cation, he was employed at a textile mill and played amateur basketball.

Luther married Ruth Saylors on June 2, 1950 in Trion, Georgia. He enlisted in the United State Air Force on February 11, 1952 and was stationed at various air force bases including Greenland, Georgia, Ten-nessee, Germany, Vietnam, Minot and Japan. He spent fi ve years at Minot Air Force Base from 1967 to 1972 and returned to Minot in 1976 where he retired after 26 years of service on February 28, 1978.

Following his military service, Luther continued his education at Minot State University and received his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in 1982. Following his graduation, he was employed at the Minot Air Force Base athletics intramural director for two years before becoming the manager of the Minot Air Base youth center from 1983 to 1993.

Luther umpired softball for forty years beginning while in the service and continuing after his retirement. He umpired in 25 state tournaments

for men’s fast pitch softball and also worked 18 men’s slow pitch state tournaments. He also worked both fast pitch and slow pitch state tournaments in women’s softball. He also worked regional tourna-ments in both fast pitch and slow pitch and umpire three men’s fast pitch national tournament and two women’s national tournaments as well as serving as Assistant Umpire in Chief for six national events. One of his notable achievements as an umpire was the mentoring of dozens of umpires, many of whom are still actively umpiring today all over the country. He also served as a state Deputy Umpire in Chief for Minot and the northwest area of North Dakota for many years.

His family includes his daughter Lisa (Paul) Kocsis of Grand Forks and two grandchildren, Jessica and Michael Kocsis. Luther’s wife Ruth died on September 23, 2007.

The Last CallLuther Freeman Heaton

Darwin “Dar” Gorder 73 of Fargo passed away at Sandford Health in Fargo on August 28, 2013. He was born in Fargo on February 22, 1940, graduated from Oak Grove Lutheran High School in 1957 and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Concordia Col-lege in Moorhead, Minnesota in 1961. He earned a Master degree in history from North Dakota State University in 1963 and returned to Oak Grove as a Social Studies, Psychology and Physical Education instructor . He also served as a coach in football, basketball, wrestling and tract. His 1969 boy’s basketball team went undefeated and won the state Class B title.

Throughout his years at Oak Grove, Darwin eagerly accepted new assignments ranging from driver’s education to interim presi-dent, from principal to athletic di-rector, from dean of student affairs to vice president of development. He remained active in district, regional and state athletic events throughout his career. When not coaching, his winters were spent as a basketball referee and summers found him on the softball diamond competing as one of the top fast pitch hurlers in the state. In his 26

year career he amassed a record of 545 wins with 198 losses while batting at a .285 clip with plenty of long ball ability. He spent his entire career with the Hektner Insurance team competing at the highest level of fast pitch softball. He led his team in 18 state tournament, winning fi ve state titles and fi nish-ing in second place three times. He also pitched in nine regional tournaments competing against the best teams in the Dakotas and Min-nesota. He is remembered as hav-ing an outstanding drop ball and a fi erce competitor while remaining a gentleman off the diamond. He was elected to the North Dakota Ama-teur Softball Hall of Fame in 1986.

Darwin Gorder dies in Fargo.


Misfi ts 16 to 7 and they then beat Walker Chiropractic 18 to 7 before losing to eventual champion Lithia Ford 14 to 10. In the fi nal round, Rudy’s beat O’Briens in a ten run win 13 to 3.

Masters Division IIITom’s Electric of Jamestown

swept through fi ve games unbeaten to win the Women’s Master’s Division III title the weekend of July 27 and 28 in Bismarck. Eight teams were slated into the Division and several games were closely contested.

Tom’s won their fi rst game beat-ing the East River Gals from Wash-burn in a close game 3 to 1 then busted out in Game 2 with the ten run victory over USB of Drake 14 to 4. Games 3 and 4 on their title run were both close and well played defensive battle with Tom’s win-ning over TNA of Dickinson 5 to 1 and Harvey Old Pros 3 to 1. In the fi nal game for the championship, Tom’s prevailed over the East River Gals again, this time by 11 to 6.

The East River Gals who are always competitive in the Master’s Division were named runners-up losing only to Tom’s Electric in their fi rst game and in the fi nal. In between, East River beat Dickinson TNA 9 to 3 and shut out UCB of Drake 17 to 0. They also defeated Hopfauf Construction of Bismarck 11 to 1.

MEN’S SLOW PITCH

Rec IGetting a jump start with a fi rst

round bye, Michelob Golden Light of West Fargo went undefeated to capture the Championship of the Men’s Rec I Division in the state tournament held in Fargo the week-end of August 10 and 11. 31 teams from around the state were slotted into this competitive event.Michelob won their closest game in the second round of the day with a 6 to 5 victory over MDI of Wahpeton. From there on, the Michelob bats did most of the damage as the team won over the Jamestown KC’s 19 to 3; IDK Bar and Grill of Jamestown 16 to 5; and two wins over Kupper Chevrolet/Lang’s Lawn Service/Kramer Agency of Bismarck 15 to 14 and 15 to 8.Runner up Kupper strung together four wins before losing to even-tual champion Michelob. Kupper opened with a 20 to 7 win over Liberty Lanes of Grand Forks then beat Proz/Klemetsrud of Devils Lake in a ten run win 14 to 4 before beating Mulligan’s/K and A Oil/Jed/JLG of Williston in another ten run game 15 to 5. Their fourth win was a victory over Capri Bar/MJGA of Minot 14 to 11. In the unbeaten game, Kupper lost to Michelob by a single run 15 to 14. In the loser’s bracket, Kupper beat IDK Bar and Grill of Jamestown 11 to 4 to gain another shot at Michelob but they here defeated again by the West Fargo bunch 15 to 8.Jamestown IDK Soldiers won third place over the Jamestown KC’s.

Rec. II EastForty two teams gathered in

Wahpeton to contest the Men’s Rec II state championship the weekend of August 17 and 18. A local team, Driftwood Lounge came out on top after two days of competition.Driftwood Lounge had to win six games in the two day event to take home the championship hardware. They opened their quest with a win over Sports City of West Fargo then won a close defensive struggle 9 to 8 over Gentskow of Dickey/LaMoure. Their next opponent didn’t give them near that kind of a game as Forman lost 26 to 5 to the Driftwood gang.

Another close game followed as Driftwood edged another Wahpeton team the Sportsman’s Lounge 10 to 9 before defeating the Jamestown Vets. In the fi nal game, Driftwood beat Fargo Valley Imports/Valley Recon 9 to 8 to claim the title.Valley Imports/Valley Recon of Fargo took runner-up honors start-ing with a win over RM Stoudt/Shadow Cats of Jamestown 12 to 9. They then enjoyed a bye in the second round before beating Waind Chiro and Acupuncture 17 to 5. FM Mortgage of West Fargo was their next victim losing 12 to 1. Next up was North Country Marketing of Fargo and they went down 14 to 9. In the fi nal game, Driftwood edged the Fargo team to win the trophy.Jamestown Vets won third place with a 19 to 9 win over Fargo North Country Marketing.Consolation championship went to West Fargo Urgent Medical which won 10 to 7 over Fargo Edward Jones.Roughrider Division winner was Rutland with an 18 to 9 victory over Razor’s Edge of Devils Lake.Tumbleweed Division was won by Wahpeton Caterpillar 21 to 11 over West Fargo Sports City

Rec II WestKrahler’s of Fessenden won

fi ve games without a loss to claim the Rec II West title over 28 other teams August 17 and 18 in Dickin-son. Krahler’s had their bats going throughout the tournament as they posted double diget scores in all but the fi nal game. They opened with a convincing 15 to 3 win over Dakota E-Cycle/Kays/Jochim Therapeutic of Mandan and followed that win with a close triumph over Gline Electric of Dickinson 14 to 13. In their third game of the tournament Krahler’s defeated Dakota Commu-nity Bank/Northern Improvement of Bismarck 14 to 6 followed by a victory over Active Life Chiropratic of Bismarck 17 to 11. In the cham-pionship game, Krahler’s prevailed 7 to 3 over Player’s Sports Bar and Grill of Dickinson.Dickinson Sports Bar and Grill claimed runner-up honors begin-ning with an opening round win over O’Briens/Coors Light of Bismarck 18 to 15. In their second game, they best Kelly’s Chiroprac-tic of Minot in a ten run contest 17 to 7 before they met and beat Lee’s Bar of Rugby 12 to l in another ten run victory. In the fi nal, they lost to Krahler’s 7 to 3. Third place went to Lee’s Bar of Rugby over Active Life Chiroprac-tic of Bismarck 23 to 16.Consolation winner was Man-dan Dakota E-Cycle/Kays/Jochim Therepeutic over Inge’s Pub of Bismarck 14 to 10.Roughrider Division winner was Cased Hole Solutions of Williston 9 to 8 over RV Rentals/NDCom/Dak. Mini Storage of Bismarck.

Tumbleweek Division went to Skeel’s Electric of Bismarck 26 to 16 over Bismarck Trailer Center.

Rec. III EastA team from Devils Lake, Proz/

DLYA won the men’s Rec III state championship over a fi eld of 56 teams the weekend of August 10 and 11 in Grand Forks. Proz/DYLA went unbeaten in six games to claim the crown and they did it without scoring in double fi gures in four of their wins.

Proz/DYLA opened with an 8 to 1 win over Northside Soldiers #2 of Fargo and then edged Qand Z Plumbing and Heating/Speedway of Grand Forks by the score of 9 to 8. A ten run victory over the Rutland Buzzards 11 to 1 gave them win number three. Their next game was a 21 to 6 win over Construction Engineers of Grand Forks and in the semi-fi nal game, the boys from Devils Lake beat Farmers Union/

Citizen State Bank of Grafton 7 to 4 to gain the championship game. That fi nal game proved to be a nail biter as Proz/DYLA prevailed 9 to 8 over Sun Pros of Grand Forks.

Runner-up Sun Pros of Grand Forks won their way into the championship game with fi ve wins before losing the fi nal. In their opening game, Sun Pros beat ICS of Fargo 7 to 2 and then defeated EGF American Legion 6 to 1. In their third game, they beat a team from Devils Lake, Thirsty’s 10 to 6. Game number four brought another win this time over Absaraka 17 to 10 before meeting and beating B-Dubs of Fargo in the semi-fi nals. They lost the fi nal game in a tight contest 9 to 8 to claim runner-up honors.

Third place was won by B-Dubs of Fargo 16 to 12 over Farmers Union/Citizens State Bank of Grafton.

Consolation winner was Wild Hog/CI Sport of Grand Forks over Money Farm of Fargo 11 to 7.

Pioneer Division winner was Ar-gusville over Sports City of Fargo 16 to 2.

Roughrider Division was won by Caterpillar of Wahpeton over Nuseed/Apple Mindak of Wahpe-ton 15 to 4.

Rec. III WestBismarck hosted the largest of the

NDASA state tournaments when 82 teams showed up to contest the Rec III West title the weekend of August 10 and 11. A team from Gackle, Dani’s Place/Third Base bar, claimed the title by winning fi ve straight games without a loss.

Gackle began their march to the championship with a 7 to 4 win over Anderson’s Cabinets and followed that up with a win over N.D. Phe-nom by a score of 11 to 5. Western Steel fell to Gackle in game number three by the ten run rule 12 to 2 and Nola’s also lost 18 to 2 to the crew from Gackle. The win over Nola’s put them into the semi-fi nal game against Boyko/Mandan/Center Machine which was won by Gackle 9 to 4 in a well played contest. In the Championship game, Gackle prevailed in a close game 11 to 9 over Solid Dakota of Bismarck.

Runner-up Solid Dakota of Bis-marck had a solid tournament winning five games and scoring in double fi gures in each of them. Their fi rst game was an 18 to 1 romp over Big Sky Buffalo and they backed that up with a ten run victory over Railway Credit 16 to 6. Wings and Rings was their next opponent and Solid Dakota won an-other ten run game 12 to 2. Game number four of the tournament was another win for Solid Dakota over Lucky Strikes/MJGA 13 to 3 and in a semi fi nal game, Solid Dakota beat Burgess Detailing 12 to 6 to reach the championship where they were beaten by Gackle.

Third place was won by Boyko/Center Machine 15 to 4 over Bur-gess Detailing.

Consolation winner was the Rugby Eagles 13 to 11 over Dakota Community Bank of Mandan.

Roughrider Division as won by Anderson Custom Cabinets 15 to 4 over Dickinson Basin Hydro.

Pioneer Division winner was the Amvets over Rudy’s Old Pro 20 to 16.

Tumbleweed Division title was claimed by Paragon Products of Bismarck over Bismarck Sidelines 9 to 8.

Cactus Division won by Rugrats of Bismarck over Hometown Mov-ing 13 to 12.

Rec. IV, East It took six victories in six games to do it but JRS Bar of Grafton did just that to win the state title in Men’s Rec. IV. Sixty eight teams entered the tournament held in Fargo the

weekend of August 17 and 18. JRS won their fi rst game of the tour-nament over Country Financial of Fargo 14 to 7 and then won a tight game 8 to 6 over Work Zone #3 of Fargo. Gundy’s of Jamestown fell in the next game and Work Zone of West Fargo also was beaten by JRS. Gundy’s lost 11 to 1 and Work Zone 15 to 9. In a semi-fi nal game, JRS beat H and S Painting of Fargo 8 to 6 to reach the fi nal game where they met and beat Munich 5 to 2 to claim the championship.Runner-up Munich waltzed through the fi rst fi ve games of the event be-fore losing the fi nal to JRS. Munich beat a West Fargo team, Twin City Garage, 20 to 2 in their fi rst game and then beat DM River Rats 12 to 2. Munich then beat Mexican Village/State Bank of Fargo 19 to 9 and O’Leary’s of West Fargo 16 to 6. In their semi-fi nal game, Munich shut out the Cabinet Makers of West Fargo 11 to 0 to gain the champion-ship game where they lost of JRS Bar of Grafton 5 to 2.Third place went to H and S Paint-ing of Fargo over Cabinet Makers of West Fargo.Consolation title was won by Carl-son Farms/Dickey LaMoure over the Minto Men 5 to 2.

Rec. IV, WestA team from Williston, Found it

Now, is the 2013 champion of the Rec IV West division of NDASA. They claimed the title over 30 teams in a state tournament held in Minot the weekend of August 17 and 18.

Five victories without a loss was the formula to win this tournament and the Williston team, Found if Now did just that. They won their fi rst game of the tournament over Reeza’s Pitch of Bismarck 18 to 3 and came right back with a shutout win over Hometown Tavern/Strikes Enemy of Minot 13 to 0. Game number three was another victory, this time over Cenex of Rugby 12 to 2 and in game number four Willis-ton beat the Ice Box 14 to 5 to win their way into the championship game where they bested Kvamme Feed Yard/Ziegler Oil 8 to 4.

Runner-up Kvamme beat Souris Valley Lodge 14 to 4 in their fi rst game and the Aftershock from Williston 9 to 2 in their next game. They then beat Logo Magic of Dickinson to get into the fi nal game where they were beaten by Found it Now 8 to 4.

Ice Box won third place over Logo Magic of Dickinson and the Consolation title was grabbed by AC Delco of Minot over ProFloor/Pita Pit of Bismarck.

The Tumbleweed Division was won by NOV Wilson/Wyoming Casing of Dickinson 8 to 0 over Magic Tricks/Nite Owl of Beulah.

Roughrider Division was claimed by Rolette Bar over AJ and H Ma-sonry/TL Main Street Market in a

10 to 0 shutout.

Division I Mandan Heartland Investors won four straight games to best an eight team field and claim the trophy in the Men’s Slow Pitch Division I tournament held in Fargo the weekend of August 3 and 4. The tournament win qualifi ed the team for the national Class B tournament to be held in Minneapolis which they also won. Heartland opened with a ten run victory over Paramount Builders/Dakota Gaming/Bud Light 11 to 1. Another ten run win followed over Budweiser/NoDak Mutual/Stadium of Bismarck 13 to 3. Their third win was an 18 to 9 win over Pita Pit/Heart River/Bud Light/Zach Shack of Bismarck and their fourth win of the event was a 17 to 3 victory over Budweiser//NoDak Mutual/Stadium of Bismarck.

Budweiser/NoDak Mutual/Sta-dium was runner up losing twice to Heartland.They posted wins over Gustafson of Minot 14 to 9; RMI/Northern Seed/Budweiser of Grand Forks 11 to 10; Hooter’s of Fargo and Pita Pit/Heart River/Bud Light/Zach Shack of Bismarck while they dropped two games to Heartland 13 to 3 and 17 to 3.Pita Pit/Heart River/Bud Light/Zach Shack was the third place team while Hooter’s of Fargo place

fourth.

Division IICoup Counters of Bismarck won the championship of the Men’s Slow Pitch Division II over a 12 team fi eld in a tournament held in Fargo, August 3 and 4. The team won fi ve games to claim the title. They won their fi rst game of the tournament beating Men’s Hair House of Bismarck 15 to 10. Their second game was a victory over the Valley City Merchants 12 to 7 and their third win was a 20 to 12 thumping of Great Plains Tech/Zan-der Body Shop of Mandan. In game four, they prevailed 16 to 11 over Hooter’s/Miller Lite of Bismarck to send them to the loser’s bracket.Hooter’s/Miller Lite of Bismarck was the runner-up starting with a fi rst game win over Titan Machin-ery of Minot 27 to 12. They beat another Minot team in their next game winning over the Homestead-er’s 13 to 3. Hooter’s continued their winning ways with a win over Fastenal of Fargo 19 to 17 in a free scoring affair before beating Titan Machinery of Minot again 16 to 6.In the fi nal, Coup Counters of Bis-marck won 14 to 4 over Hooter’s to win the title and the trophy. Titan Machinery was in third place and Mandan Great Plains Tech was

fourth.

Division IIIFourteen teams were slotting into Division III in the Men’s slow pitch tournament held in Fargo the weekend of August 3 and 4. A Bis-marck team sponsored by Bistro/RF Jewelry/Northwest Contracting won the title winning fi ve games while losing one. The winners began their title search with a win over Grand Forks Ru-mor’s Hashers 5 to 3 and then beat Dakota Pharmacy of Bismarck by a score of 14 to 8. In their next game, Bistro won over Buffalo Wild Wings/RMS/Marco of Grand Forks then beat the Box of Fargo in a close contest 6 to 4. Bistro lost the unbeaten game to The Box/Diamond Dawgs of Fargo 10 to 7 then came back in the “if” game against the Dawgs winning 13 to 3 for the Division crown. Runner-up the Box/Diamond Daw-gs of Fargo began their tournament with a win over Berry Acres of Mi-not 11 to 2. They then lost to even-tual champion Bistro 6 to 4 and had to battle back in the loser’s bracket. The Box beat American Casing/Car Tunz/J.Dubs of Williston 10 to 2 then won over The Lodge/Red Door Homes/Miller Insulation 15 to 10 before winning again over American Casing of Williston 9 to 6 and also beat Bistro in the fi rst championship game 10 to 7 before dropping the ‘if” game 13 to3.American Casing of Williston was third and Grand Forks Rumors ended in fourth place.

Masters 35, Div. IThe Men’s Masters 35 Division One was won by Roughrider Re-sources of Bismarck in an eight team tournament the weekend of July 27 and 28 in Bismarck. They were pushed to the limit and forced

2013 State Tournament highlights



Men’s Masters 50, Wood Bat State Champions, Mandan Mariner Construc-tion: Front row, left to right: Randy Pegors, Bob Humann, Randy Anderson, Brian Olsen, Kevin Kramer, John (Rat) Finck, Bernard Weigel. Back row, left to right: Steve Smith, Claude Wagner, Alvin Weigel, Roger Weigel, Jim Doll, Ed Stroh, Tony Stroh.

Men’s Masters 40, Division I State Champions, Bismarck Staduim/Budweiser/Broken Oar: Front row, left to right: Jon Gums, Tim Michelsen, Jeff Deler, Stacey Keller, Gordy Smith, Tom Schmit, Dale Back. Back row, left to right: Kyle Chris-tensen, Ty Shope, Jim Bryant, Tim Burkhard, Mark Bohrer, Tad Fink, Dana Ereth. Not pictured: Dennis Bense, Billy Schmidt, Jason Salz.

Men’s Masters 50 State Champions, Mandan Dust-Tex: Front row, left to right: Dave Reis, Russ Nelson, Wayne Becker, Norlyn Schmidt, Bumper Baumgartner, Steve Harrington, Randy Becker. Back Row, left to right: Kelly Krahler, Nike Nider, Don Magstadt, Ron Geffre, Jim Becker, Dean Geschellchen, Tim Houser, Kelly Krahler.

Men’s Masters 40, Division II State Champions, Jamestown Tom’s Electric: Front row, left to right: Mike Johnson, Tom Johnson, Steve Dale, Marchel Krieger, Paul Monson, Greg Nordstorm. Back row, left to right: Mitch Ostley, Greg Lunzman, Ryan Carlson, Eric Hewitt, Duane Sauvageau.

Men’s Masters 35, Division I State Champions, Bismarck Roughrider Resourc-es: Front row, left to right: Shane Piatz, Dale Back, Stacy Keller, Scott Brahos, Dustin Bratlien, Jason Salz. Back row, left to right: Mitch Neumiller, Scott Sheldon, Brad Hank, Josh Schaner, Jon Gums, Kyle Christensen. Not pictured: Darren Johnson.

Men’s Masters 35, Division II State Champions, Bismarck RV Rentals/Dakota Mini-Storage: Front row, left to right: Mike Walker, Chad Stewart, Jason Seidel, Gregg Klein, Chris Milner, Travis Tibor, Nash Droll. Back row, left to right: Steven Gierke, Wayde Schulz, Brock Schatz, Shane Dettmann, Shannon Julson.

Men’s Masters 35, Division III State Champions, Center Merchants: Front row, left to right: Wayne Haag, Jonathan Urbach, Chad Olson, John Haag, Mike Carlson, Cody Berger, Michael Larson, Ray Hall.

STATE TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS2013

Contact InformationNDASA State Offi ce

Telephone: (701) 952-4448FAX: (701) 952-4488

Email: [email protected]: [email protected]



Men’s Slow Pitch, Division I State Champions, Mandan Heartland Investors:Front row, left to right: Dana Roller, Shane Piatz, Blaine Horsager, Jason Salz, Scott Brahos. Back row, left to right: Eugene Grainer, Ryan Johnson, Michael Feldman, Tyler Liffrig, Brandon Wilkens, Joe Cornell, Scott Huffman, Tyler Merkel, Brad Jaeger.

Men’s Slow Pitch, Division II State Champions, Bismarck Coup Counters: Front row, left to right: Josh Mruby, Andrew Seeberg, Silas Standing Elk, Sam Ingeman-son, Jon Mausauer, Josh Standing Elk. Back row, left to right: Mike Ingemanson, Casey Gray, Brandon Piatz, Tim Lang, Sid Carry Mocassin, Tyson Maxon, Ryan Malon, Rudy Rivera, Jr.

Men’s Slow Pitch, Division III State Champions, Bismarck Bistro: Front row, left to right: Matt Hay, Mike Hausauer, Gerard Schmidt, Shawn Maxon, Billy Schmidt, John Mindt III. Back row, left to right: Mack Keller, Scott McDonald, Scott Yantzer, Travis Kudrna, Doug Schmidt, Larry White, Parker Fischer, Chirs Ulrich.

Men’s Slow Pitch, Rec I State Champions, West Fargo Michelob Golden Draft Light: Front row, left to right: Larry Selberg, Willie Brown III, Cameron Nietzel, Den-nis Britton, Jeremy Guest, Jim Richels, Chris Larson. Back row, left to right: Emma Holsen, Paul Hoefer, Casey Sannes, Derek Blackburn, Brain Stark, Drew Russ, Blaine Johnson. Not pictured: Casey Sargent, Don Setter, Jr., Justin Blackburn.

Men’s Slow Pitch, Rec II-East State Champions, Wahpeton Driftwood Lounge: Front row, left to right: Camden Kretchman, David Thompson, Stephen Breuer, Troy Wittenburg, Sawyer Mohs, Mike Miranowski, Jason Hejtmanek. Back row, left to right: Curt Kretchman, Alex Beach, Jason Sirek, Arlyn Johnson, Ross Wilson, Dale Formaneck, Tim Mohs.

Men’s Slow Pitch, Rec II-West State Champions, Fessenden Kahler’s: Front row, left to right: Ty Bruner, Kelby Houchin, Koby Houchin, Riley Hovland. Back row, left to right: Trenton Bruner, Kelly Krahler, Caleb Rogelstad, Jeffery Johnson, Curt Krahler, Travis Bruner.

Men’s Slow Pitch, Rec III-East State Champions, Devils Lake Proz: Front row, left to right: Al Goeser, Adam Wirth, Mark Woodrow, Brian Goeger, Josh Bukowski, Riley Beck, Robbie Woodrow. Back row, left to right: Richie Olson, Scott Anderson, Alex Anderson, Thomas Vestero, Mitch Wirth.

Men’s Slow Pitch, Rec III-West State Champions, Gackle Third Base Bar/Dani’s Place: Front row, left to right: Andrew Bartholomaus, Mike Zenker. Back row, left to right: Alex Knudson, Garret Frey, Jeff Lautt, Chris Zenker, Josh Gackle, Travis Triepke, Derek Hust, Tyler Jonas.



Men’s Slow Pitch, Rec IV-East State Champions, Grafton J R’s Bar: Front row, left to right: Curtis Rose, Zach Suda, Kerry DeMars, Guy Demers, Wade Presteng, Logan Thompson, Kody Stark, Mark Burns. Back row, left to right: Cory Burns, Tan-ner Carpenter, Chris Olson, Billie Peterson, Ryan Dusek, Austin Campbell, Todd Presteng, Chris Mattson, Jeff McKay.

Men’s Slow Pitch, Rec IV-West State Champions, Williston Found It Now: Front row, left to right: Matt Birch, Tim Eskelson, Dave Huck, Jonathan Hippe, Ty-las Huck. Back row, left to right: Tyler Stoseth, Josh Rustad, Clint Strietzel, Chad Larson, Bob Turcotte.

Women’s Slow Pitch, Rec I State Champions, Minot Saunders/All American: Front row, left to right: Mary Brown, Ashley Ackerman, Bridget Mclntyre, Kayla Lambrecht, Enn Loucks. Back row, left to right: Alicia Gressnor, Barb Nesheim, Jill DeVries, Ann Nesheim, Michelle Hemstad, Jen Leddron. Not pictured: John Leddon.

Women’s Slow Pitch, Rec II-East State Champions, Grand Forks Pace Painting: Team members: Jessica Helland, Sarah Shoup, Samantha Lee, Jordan Rudnik, Dennae Swenson, Laura Barclay, Denise Martin, Brittany Norman, Rhonda Olson, Terra Wockenfuss, Lisa Contreras.

Women’s Slow Pitch Masters, Division I State Champions, Bismarck Moritz Sport & Marine: Front row, left to right: Therese Schmidt, Myste Hutton, Cassie Smith, Amber Rohrich, Julie Yantzer, LaShae Michels. Back row, left to right: Thai Haggin, Lynn Geary, Kristin Glass, Jill Schedel, D.J. Saragosa.

Women’s Slow Pitch Masters, Division II State Champions, Grand Forks Lithia Ford: Front row, left to right: Twyla Tunseth, Melissa Grafenaver (kneeling), Mary Moser, Jessica Johnson, Carrie Olivier, Jill Adams, Kristi Hovland, Mel Hanson (kneeling). Back row, left to right: Heidi Corzine, Jenny Karas, Brandi Offerdahl, Sheri Raftevold, Karen Arvin, Nancy Breakey.

Women’s Slow Pitch Master, Div. III, State Champions, Jamestown Tom’s Electric: Front row, left to right: Rachel Krieger, Teresa Speidel, Patti Rondestvedt, Candace Scott. Back row, left to right: Chris Cebula, Beth Lautt, Chasity Meidinger, Joy Shahin, Trudy Dallman, Emmy Hoffmann, Sue Partridge, Stephanie Petersen, Lisa Longtin, Stephani Partridge.

Women’s Slow Pitch, Class D State Champions, Wahpeton Driftwood: Front row, left to right: Tracee Meyer, Lindsay Gaustad, Stacey Agar, Bret Mayer, Amber Perdue, Katrina Reinke. Back row, left to right: Becky Lejer, Tara Meyer, Kelsey Proell, Brittany Marohl, Therese Schmidt, Brehyn Marohl.


STATE TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS

Women’s Slow Pitch, Rec III-East State Champions, Hatton Sun Flowers: Front row, left to right: Kayla Smith, Jessica Ostile, Mindy Carpenter, Katie Ellingson, Anne Pladson. Back row, left to right: Coach Jay Ostlie, Mindi Mehus, Sandy Headland, Kim Ostile, Stephanie Iverson, McKenzie Bye, Kelsey Pladsen. Not pictured: Eryan Hoefs, Stephanie Lillemoen, Amanda Amb.

Women’s Slow Pitch, Rec III-West State Champions, Dickinson Kohler Com-munications: Front row, left to right: Tylene Walters, Erika Honeyman, Alesha Shepard, Kristy Johnson, Becky Hoff. Back row, left to right: Alexis Stiefel, Joy Schoch, Britney Miller, Deb Barros, LeeAnn Karsky, Lauren Asheim, Sarah Gels-inger, Angie Shilman.

Coed Slow Pitch, Division I State Champions, Fargo Brady’s Service: Front row, left to right: Cole Horsager, Sharon Horsager, Austin Horsager, Ryan Sunram. Back row, left to right: Chris Dahl, Ross Olson, Jen Sunram, Stacie Olsen, Brittany Olson, Angie Young

Coed Slow Pitch, Division II State Champions, Valley City Captain’s Pub: Front row, left to right: Cynthia Klabo, Krista Sorensen, Jill Heck, Nikka Swenson. Back row, left to right: Danny Swenson, Sammy Logan, Chad Lueck, Matt Klabo, Jason Beilke, Jordyn Heck, Leonard Kjelland. Not pictured: Hayley Bevan.

Coed Slow Pitch, Division III State Champions, Arthur R & R Hunter Insur-ance: Front row, left to right: Rebecca Breen, Sam Lako, Shalyn Van Den Einde, Libby Augedahl, Beth Bush, Amber Eller. Back row, left to right: Eric Rensvold, Nate Bush, Konner Kyllo, Luke Bush, Dustin Moen, Jake Lako.

Coed Slow Pitch, Division IV State Champions, Wyndmere The Well: Front row, left to right: Nichole Benedict, Jay Dickey, Paige Skillings, Jenny Anderson, Chuck Stahl. Back row, left to right: Haley Oster, Tammy Ciesynski, Alex Beach, Nick Zalewski, Dustin Benedict.

2013

the loser bracket to get back into the championship game against us and it was a back and forth game that Precision came out on top. We put together back to back big innings in the 3rd (scoring 7 runs) and 4th (scoring 9 runs,) however it was not enough to overcome the hot-hitting Precision team. Joe Cornell and Brad Jaeger were 4 for 5, Brandon Wilkens was 4 for 4 and Scott Brahos was 3 for 3 in the game

2nd Team All American: Shane Piatz and Tyler Merkel

Winning the ASA Class B Na-tional was a great achievement for this team and for North Dakota softball. A lot of hard work, time and dedication went into this year and all the guys made sacrifi ces to make this team reach its potential at the tight time. Having the suc-cess of last year and winning the Northern C National in Rapid City, SD and getting a chance to complete in Oklahoma City, OK

Gamecontinued from page 1 Game 7 – Heartland over Preci-

sion 23 to 2 (Second Champion-ship Game)

Not taking the loss too hard, Heartland was able to get right back on track scoring 14 runs in the fi rst inning. Also, this was the fi rst time Heartland decided to make a pitching change. Brandon Wilkens took over the pitching duties and did an excellent job considering it was his fi rst game pitching on the weekend. The big fi rst inning proved to be too big of a gap for

Precision as their bats went cold and it ended up being a one-sided game. It was over in the 4th as Heartland won by the 15 run rule. Joe Cornell and Brad Jaeger were both 4 for 4 in the game. Scott Huff-man and Brandon Wilkens were both 3 for 4 and Ryan Johnson was 2 for 3, hitting 2 HR’s.

Individual Awards: MVP of the tournament – Joe Cornell

1st Team All American: Brad Jaeger, Mike Feldman, Blaine Hor-sager, Jason Salz, & Joe Cornell.

for the overall C Champion was a great experience. But we knew go-ing into the next year that we were going to be competing at the B level and the challenges that would bring. We all staying together and looking forward at playing the A National next year in Oklahoma City.


2013 NDASA Women’s Slow Pitch teams to be moved up

Class D to Class C Wahpeton Driftwood Grand Forks Eides/Ground Round Rec 1 to Class D Minot Saunders/All American Jamestown IDK Rec 2 to Rec 1 (Rec 2 had only 1 division this year) Grand Forks Pace Painting Bismarck Dakota Frontier Coop Beulah Nite Owl Bar Rec 3 East to Rec 2 Hatton Sunfl owers Mayville Vets West Fargo Silver Dollar Grand Forks Strictly Used/Kelly’s Bar Rec 3 West to Rec 2 Dickinson Kohler Communications Beulah Jimmy’s Pizza/Long Shots

Looking for current addressesThe NDASA offi ce in Jamestown has been looking for the following

Hall of Fame members whose mail has been returned to our offi ce. If anyone reading this notice knows of the current address of any of these individuals please let me know. Email address is [email protected] or you can call me at 701-223-9748 or my mailing address is 105 Country Club Drive in Bismarck, 58501.

Arlen E. Evenson Hall of Fame member since 1978 Lary Zeadow Hall of Fame member since 1983 Dwight Leier Hall of Fame member since 1993 Jack A. Arends Hall of Fame member since 1993 George Cederstrom Hall of Fame member since 2002 Carolyn Wilberts Hall of Fame member since 2004

Thanks for any help

Action from the 14 and under Northern National girl’s fast pitch tournament in Bismarck August 3 and 4.

Plover’s 14 of Stevens Point, Wisconsin won the 14 and under Girl’s Northern National fast pitch tournament held in Bismarck the weekend of August 3 and 4.

Photo by Tom Stromme/Tribune

Stop in at the Cenex C-store in Wilton and check out the in Wilton and check out the

new items in our deli!

We also have f’real shakes, smoothies and

frozen cappucinos!

We have daily lunch specials, one ofwhich is the new “Smoked Beef

Brisket Sandwich.”

Farmers Union Oil Co.Wilton • 734-6312

Jaime Barta of the Bismarck Sparks pitches during a game earlier in the tournament at the ASA Northern Territory 14U B Na onal Championship.


2013 State Tournament ResultsWomen’s Slow Pitch,

Class D Champion: Wahpeton The

Driftwood; Runnerup: Grand Forks Eides/Ground Round; Third: Bismarck Kupper; Fourth: West Fargo Town Hall

Women’s Slow Pitch, Rec I

Champion: Minot Saunders/All American; Runnerup: James-town IDK; Third: Minot Capri Bar; Fourth: West Fargo Pete’s; Roughrider: Minot Paradiso

Women’s Slow Pitch, Rec II

Champion: Grand Forks Pace Painting; Runnerup: Bismarck Dakota Frontier Coop; Third: Beulah Nite Owl Bar; Fourth: Lidgerwood; Consolation Cham-pion: Bismarck Broken Oar Bar; Consolation Runnerup: McLean/McHenry Mutual Insurance; Roughrider: West Fargo Hooters/NW Mutual/Smartt

Women’s Slow Pitch, Rec III-East

Champion: Hatton Sunfl owers; Runnerup: Mayville Vets; Third: West Fargo Silver Dollar; Fourth: Fargo Silver Dollar/Sexy Pigs; Consolation Champion: Grand Forks Strictly Used/Kelly’s Bar; Consolation Runnerup: Car-rington Merchants; Roughrider: Devils Lake Proz; Tumbleweed: Jamestown Stokkeland’s/Shady’s

Women’s Slow Pitch, Rec III West

Champion: Dickinson Kohler Communications; Runnerup: Beulah Jimmy’s Pizza/Long Shots; Third: Mandan Lonesome Dove;

Women’s Slow Pitch Master, Div. I

Champion: Bismarck Mori-tz Sport & Marine; Runnerup: Jamestown IDK

Women’s Slow Pitch Masterrs, Div. II

Champion: Grand Forks Lithia Ford; Runnerup: Oakes Rudy’s

Women’s Slow Pitch Masters, Div. III

Champion: Jamestown Tom’s Electric; Runnerup: Washburn East River Gals

Men’s Slow Pitch, Rec I Champion: West Fargo Mich-

elob Golden Draft: Light; Runn-erup: Bismarck Kupper Chevrolet; Third: Jamestown IDK Soliders; Fourth: Jamestown Knights of Columbus

Men’s Slow Pitch, Rec II-East

Champion: Wahpeton Drift-wood Lounge; Runnerup: Fargo Valley Imports; Third: Jamestown Vets; Fourth: Fargo North County; Consolation Champion: West Fargo Urgent Medical; Consola-tion Runnerup: Fargo Edwards Jones; Roughrider: Rutland Buz-zards; Tumbleweed: Wahpeton Caterpillar

Men’s Slow Pitch, Rec II-West

C h a m p i o n : F e s s e n d e n Krahler’s; Runnerup: Dickinson Players Sports Bar & Grill; Third: Rugby Lee’s Bar; Fourth: Bis-marck Active Life Chiropractic; Consolation Champion: Mandan Dakota E-Cycle/Kays Jochim Therapeutic; Consolation Run-nerup: Bismarck Inge’s Pub; Roughrider: Williston Cased Hole Solutions; Tumbleweed: Bismarck Skeel’s Electric

Men’s Slow Pitch Rec III-East

Champion: Devils Lake Proz; Runnerup: Grand Forks Sunpros; Third: Fargo B-Dubs; Fourth:

Grafton Farmers Union/Citizens State Bank; Consolation Cham-pion: Grand Forks Wild Hog; Con-solation Runnerup:Fargo Money Farm; Roughrider: Wahpeton Caterpillar; Pioneer: Argusville

Men’s Slow Pitch, Rec III-West

Champion: Gackle Third Base Bar/Dani’s Place; Runnerup: Bis-marck Solid Dakota; Third: Man-dan Boyko, Inc./Center Machine; Fourth: Minot Burgess Detailing; Consolation Champion: Rugby Eagles; Consolation Runnerup: Mandan Dakota Community Bank & Trust; Roughrider: Mandan An-derson Custom Cabinets; Pioneer: Bismarck Amvets; Tumbleweed: Bismarck Paragon Products; Cac-tus: Bismarck Rugrat

Men’s Slow Pitch, Rec IV-East

Champion: Grafton J R’s Bar; Runnerup: Munich; Third: Fargo H & S Painting; Fourth: West Fargo Cabinet Markers; Consola-tion Champion: Oakes Carlson Farms; Consolation Runnerup: Minto Men; Roughrider: West Fargo BCM Construction; Pioneer: West Fargo Silver Dollar Bar; Tumbleweed: Hunter; Cactus: Fargo McNeilus Steel

Men’s Slow Pitch, Rec IV-West

Champion: Williston Found It Now; Runnerup: Butte Kvamme Feed Yard/Ziegler Oil; Third: Minot Ice Box; Fourth: Dickinson Logo Magic; Consolation Cham-pion: Minot AC Delco; Consola-tion Runnerup: Bismarck Pro Floor/Pita Pit; Roughrider: Rolette Bar; Tumbleweed: Dickinson NOV Wilson/Wyoming Casing

Men’s Slow Pitch, Division I

Champion: Mandan Heartland; Runnerup: Bismarck Budweiser; Third: Bismarck Pita Pit; Fourth: Fargo Hooters

Men’s Slow Pitch, Division II

Champion: Bismarck Coup Counters; Runnerup: Bismarck Hooters/Miller Lite; Third: Minot Titan Machinery; Fourth: Mandan Great Plain’s Tech

Men’s Slow Pitch, Division III

Champion: Bismarck Bistro; Runnerup: Fargo The Box/Dia-mond Dawgs; Third: Williston American Casing; Fourth: Grand Forks Rumors

Men’s Slow Pitch Masters 35, Div. I

Champion: Bismarck Roughrid-er Resources; Runnerup: Bis-marck The Lodge/Budweiser; Third: Fargo Hooters; Fourth: Fargo Burnn Boiler

Men’s Slow Pitch Masters 35, Div. II

Champion: Bismarck RV Rent-als/Dakota Mini-Storage; Run-nerup: Bismarck Carpet World; Third: Jamestown Tom’s Elec-tric; Fourth: Minot Stereoshop/Thompson-Larson

Men’s Slow Pitch Masters 35, Div. III

Champion: Center Merchants; Runnerup: Bismarck Mike’s Elec-tric; Third: Minot Harley’s Place; Fourth: Jamestown IDK

Men’s Masters 40, Div. I Champion: Bismarck Stadium/

Budweiser/Broken Oar; Runn-erup: Bismarck Oswald’s; Third: Mandan Dust-Tex

Men’s Masters 40, Div. II Champion: Jamestown Tom’s

Electric; Runnerup: Mandan Shirt Shack; Third: Bismarck Moose

Men’s Slow Pitch,

Masters 50 Champion: Mandan Dust-

Tex; Runnerup: Fargo Business; Third: Fargo PCI;

Men’s Slow Pitch, Masters 50 Wood Bat Champion: Mandan Mariner

Construction; Runnerup: Mandan Dust-Tex FOG; Third: Fargo Wal-ton Chiropractic; Fourth: Mandan Capital Construction; Consolation Champion: Mandan Maring & Williams; Consolation Runnerup: Mandan Farmers Insurance

Coed Slow Pitch Div lChampion: Fargo Brady’s Ser-

vice; Runnerup: Kensal Vining Oil; Third: Grand Forks The Ho Sports Bar

Coed Slow Pitch Div. IIChampion: Valley City Cap-

tain’s Pub; Runnerup: Grand Forks Kelly’s Bar; Third: West

Fargo Zim’s/MVM; Consolation Champion: Minot Capri Bar; Conso. Runnerup: Grand Forks Mac’s Sandbaggers; Roughrider: Grand Forks Kustom Kollision/Erickson Embroidery

Coed Slow Pitch Div. IIIChampion: Arthur R & R

Hunter Insurance; Runnerup: Grand Forks JUC Redskins; Third: Wahpeton State Farm; Fourth: West Fargo Crary Bearcats; Con-solation Champion: Valley City Boomers Corner Keg; Consola-tion Runnerup: Fargo Mikkelsen; Roughrider: Grand Forks Kelly’s Bar/Hugo’s

Coed Slow Pitch Div. IVChampion: Wyndmere The

Well; Runnerup: Grafton 12th Street Bowl/Budlight; Third: Dazey Punky’s Bar/Nubar/Kunze Construction; Fourth: Grand Forks Hankey Law/TJ’s Sports Bar; Con-

solation Champion: Grand Forks Muddy Rivers; Consolation Run-nerup: Grand Forks Tubs of Fun; Roughrider: Grand Forks Hugo’s Wine & Spirits

Junior Olympic Girls Slow Pitch, 12 & Under

Champion: Langdon; Runn-erup: Medina;


Champion: Medina; Runn-erup: Hankinson; Third: Wahpe-ton; Fourth: Horace; Consolation Champion: Beulah; Consolation Runnerup: Lidgerwood


Champion:Hankinson Zukies; Runnerup: Medina; Third: Cros-by

to win an “if” game before they claimed the trophy.Roughrider opened with an easy victory over the Grand Forks Mer-chants 20 to 5 before scoring a ten run win over the Lodge/Budweiser of Bismarck 16 to 6. The third triumph was an 18 to 6 win over Hooter’s of Fargo but in their next game, the Lodge/Budweiser dealt them their fi rst loss of the tourna-ment to avenge an earlier defeat. The Lodge/Budweiser prevailed in this game 23 to 14. Roughrider Resources bounced back to win the “if” game and take home the title.The Lodge/Budweiser won their fi rst game over ETI then dropped into the loser’s bracket when they lost to Roughrider Resources 16 to 6. They fought their way back by being the Homesteaderz 17 to 5; Burnn Boiler of Fargo 13 to 5 and Fargo Hooters 16 to 5. In the fi rst championship game, they beat Roughrider Resources23 to 14 but were beaten in the “if” game by Roughrider 17 to 7.Hooter’s of Fargo won third place and Burnn Boiler, also of Fargo, claimed fourth place.

Master’s 35, Div. IIAnother “if” game was neces-sary before a champion could be crowned in the Master’s 35 Division Two of men’s slow pitch during an eight team tournament held in Bismarck July 27 and 28. Bismarck RV Rental/Dakota Mini Storage was the eventual champion over Carpet World of Bismarck.RV Rental/Dakota Mini Storage won four games before they lost in the unbeaten game by Carpet World . RV Rental began their day with a close 16 to 14 win over Bootleg-gerz and then they beat Premium Assault 8 to 4.Shirt Shack was beaten by 10 runs in the third game 12 to 2 and then RV Rental beat Carpet World 14 to 10. Carpet World came back through the loser’s bracket to beat RV/Rental /Dakota Mini Storage and force a second championship game which was won by RV Rental/Dakota Mini Storage to claim the Division Two title. Carpet World of Bismarck won runner-up honors with wins over the Stereo Shop 19 to 16; Tom’s Electric of Jamestown 7 to 3 and Charvat Construction 10 to 9 before losing to RV Rental/Dakota Mini Storage 14 to 10. After another victory over Tom’s Electric in a tight 7 to 6 ball game,they suffered their second defeat at the hands of RVRental/Dakota Mini Storage 10 to 5. Jamestown Tom’s Electric won third place and Minot Stereo Shop/

Thompson-Larson was fourth.

Master’s 35, Div. IIIThe Center Merchants won fi ve

straight games to capture the Mas-ter’s 35 Division Three title in men’s slow pitch state tournament action the weekend of July 27 and 28 in Bismarck.

Center won their fi rst game over Nola’s 17 to 8 before beating Knife River by a score of 8 to 3. Center then won over Mike’s Electric of Bismarck 14 to 9 and over Har-ley’s Place of Minot 12 to 9 before meeting Mike’s Electric again in the championship game which was won by Center by a score of 14 to 9.

Runner-up Mike’s Electric of Bismarck won their fi rst two games before losing to Center. They beat Holligan’s 17 to 12 in their opener and Enderlin 26 to 22 in their sec-ond game. After losing to Center, they bounced back to beat Enderlin again 15 to 10 and IDK of James-town 18 to 4. In their semi-fi nal game, they beat Harley’s Place of Minot to earn another shot at the Center Merchants but lost 14 to 9.

Harley’s Place of Minot was the third place winner and IDK of

Jamestown claimed fourth.

Master’s 40, Div. IMandan hosted fi ve teams vying for the championship in Men’s Mas-ter’s 40 Division One the weekend of July 20 and 21. Bismarck Sta-dium/Budweiser/Broken Oar went unbeaten in four games to win the Division outright. Stadium beat Miller Lite in their opening game 26 to 11 and kept their bats hot the rest of the tourna-ment beating Oswald Brothers 19 to 9, Dust-Tex 19 to 8 and Bootlegerz 24 to 4. Oswald Brothers was the runner up winning over Bootlegerz 14 to 7; Miller Lite 13 to 7; and Dust Tex 23 to 17 while losing to Stadium/Budweiser/Broken Oar 19 to 9. Dust-Tex claimed third place.

Master’s 40, Div. IITom’s Electric of Jamestown took advantage of an opening game bye to win three more games and claim the championship in a six team fi eld entered in the Master’s 40, Division 2 state tournament held in Mandan, July 20 and 21.Tom’s Electric won a one run game over Elliott Farms 14 to 13 in their fi rst game following the bye and then won another one run game 10 to 9 over Moose/Capital RV. In their last game of the tournament, they beat the Shirt Shack 14 to 3 to claim Division 2 honors.Runner-up Mandan Shirt Shack also drew a bye to open their run to the fi nal game before beating Mooreton 24 to 9; Marv’s Bar 15 to 6; Elliott Farms 13 to 4; and the Moose 10 to 3 before losing

the championship game to Tom’s Electric 14 to 3.

Old Pro 50Dust-Tex FOG won a couple of games in Pool Play by identical 4 to 3 scores then went on to score three more wins in bracket play to win the Master’s 50 Division of the NDASA the weekend of July 27 and 28 in Fargo.Dust-Tex beat Fargo Busch Light and the Jacklitsch Agency by iden-tical 4 to 3 scores then pounder Mooreton 18 to 2 in bracket play. They also beat another team spon-sored by Dust-Tex 50 by a 14 to 4 margin. They fi nished off the tournament with a 14 to 3 licking of Liberty Business of Fargo to win yet another 50 plus title. Liberty Business of Fargo claimed second place in the ten team event beating Mooreton 10 to 5; Jack-litsch Agency 16 to 9; and PCI 17 to 16. They lost to both Dust-Tex teams, Dust-Tex 50 by a score of 17 to 7 and Dust-Tex FOG 14 to 3.PCI won third over Dust-Tex 50 by a score of 17 to 13.

WOOD BAT 50Eight teams met in Mandan the weekend of August 3 and 4 to decide the championship of the Master’s 50 Wood Bat tournament. The title was won by Mariner Con-struction of Mandan with Dust-Tex FOG coming in second. Mariner started with a convincing 19 to 7 win over Kelly Inn and then squeezed out a 10 to 9 victory over an always tough Dust-Tex 50 team 10 to 9 before cruising to an easy 23 to 3 win over Capital City Contruction and then they pitched a shut out in the fi nal game 10 to 0 over the other Dust-Tex team, Dust-Tex FOG.Runner-up Dust-Tex FOG opened their play with a bye, then beat Magi-Touch 10 to 7 and Walton Chiropractic 13 to 0 in an easy shut out before losing the fi nal game to Mariner’s also by shut out 10 to 0.Third place was won by Fargo Walton Chiropractic 14 to 4 over Capital City Construction.Consolation champion was Mar-ing and Williams Law Offi ce of Mandan and Farmers Union Insur-ance of Mandan was consolation runner-up.

COED SLOW PITCH

DIV. I A scant fi eld of three teams were classified into Division One of the state Co-Ed slow pitch state tournament held in Grand Forks

Highlightscontinued from page 6



the weekend of September 7 and 8.Brady’s Service of Fargo was declared the champion of this Division despite losing it’s fi rst game of the event to the Ho Sports Bar of Grand Forks in a 17 to 15 game. Brady’s bounced back from that loss to defeat Ho Sports 11 to 9 and also beat Kensal Vining Oil twice 9 to 5 and 16 to 15 to claim the winner’s trophy.Kensal Vining Oil was named runner-up after beating Ho Sports Bar of Grand Forks in their open-ing game 14 to 13 before losing two games to the eventual champs, Brady’s Service 9 to 1 and 16 to 15.The Ho Sports Bar claimed third spot.

Div. IIThe Captain’s Pub of Valley City won the 12 team Division Two of the state Co-Ed slow pitch tour-nament held in Grand Forks the weekend of September 7 and 8. The Valley City outfi t won three straight games to claim the title beating Mac’s Sand Baggers of Grand Forks in their opener 16 to 7; Kustom Kollision/Erickson Embroidery of Grand Forks 8 to 6 and Kelly’s Bar, also of Grand Forks, 14 to 11.Runner-up Kelly’s Bar began the day with a convincing 18 to 7 vic-tory over Capri Bar of Minot and followed up with a 15 to 9 triumph over Zims/MVM of West Fargo before bowing to the eventual champs from Valley City 14 to 11.Third place was won by Zims/MVM of West Fargo. Consola-tion champion was Minot Capri Bar over Mac’s Sand Baggers of Grand Forks while the Roughrider Division was claimed by Kustom Kollision/Erickson Embroidery of Grand Forks.

DIV. IIIR and R Hunter Insurance of Arthur won Division Three of the state Co-ed slow pitch tournament held in Grand Forks the weekend of September 7 and 8. Division Three drew the most teams in the tournament as 20 teams were clas-sifi ed into this Division.R and R Hunter went unbeaten in four games to win the Division title. They opened with a close win over Minnkota Windows 9 to 7 and followed that up with a rousing 26 to 13 victory over Applebees/Traut Wells/Ottertail.Their next win was a 12 to 5 defeat of State Farm of Wahpeton and in their last game of the event they won a one run victory over JUC Redskins of Grand Forks 9 to 8.JUC Redskins of Grand Forks finished as Division runner-up losing only to R and R Hunter of Arthur in the championship game 9 to 8. The Redskins opened their run at the title with an 11 to 5 win over Boomer’s Corner Keg of Valley City and then beat Kelly’s Bar/Hugo’s of Grand Forks 5 to 1 before winning over the Crary Bearcats of West Fargo 13 to 11. Wahpeton State Farm won third place 13 to 10 over Crary Bearcats of West Fargo while Boomer’s Corner Keg of Valley City was the consolation champ winning 14 to 3 over Fargo Mikklesen.The Roughrider division was claimed by Kelly’s Bar/Hugos of

Grand Forks.

DIV. IVA team from Wyndmere sponsored by The Well won the eight team Division Four of the state Co-Ed slow pitch tournament in Grand Forks the weekend of September 7 and 8. Their fi rst game tested them severely as they eked out a 16 to 15 victory over Tubs of Fun from Grand Forks. In their second game, they pitched a shut-out winning 5 to 0 over Punky’s Bar/Nubar/Kunze Construction

of Dazey. In the fi nal, they beat the team from Grafton sponsored by the 12th Street Bowl/Bud Light 12 to 8 to win the trophy for Divi-sion Four. Runner-Up 12th Street Bowl/Bud Light of Grafton claimed two victories before losing the fi nal to Wyndmere. They beat Muddy Riv-ers 23 to 15 and then won a one run squeaker 4 to 3 over Hankey Law/TJ’s Sports Bar of Grand Forks. The Grafton team lost the fi nal to Wyndmere 12 to 8.Punky’s Bar/Nubar/Kunze Con-struction of Dazey won third place 8 to 7 over Hankey Law/TJ’s Sports Bar of Grand Forks.Consolation winner was Muddy Rivers of Grand Forks over Tubs of Fun/Strictly Used of Grand Forks 15 to 4.Roughrider Division winner was Hugo’s Wine and Spirits of Grand Forks.

JUNIOR OLYMPIC SLOW PITCH12 & Under Girls

A disappointing turnout of only two teams showed up for the state tour-nament in the 12 and under division of the Junior Olympic Girl’s slow pitch tournament in Jamestown on July 20. Despite the small show-ing, both teams wanted to play so a double-header was arranged and the team from Langdon won both games over Medina 8 to 5 and10 to 4. No trophy was awarded.

14 & Under GirlsMedina girls Junior Olympic team of 14 year olds won the state tournament in their age group over a fi eld of 8 teams July 21 at Jamestown. Medina won all three of their tournament games to take home the winner’s trophy. They opened with a tight game against a good Lidgerwood team and won 7 to 6. Their second game was against Wahpeton and Medina prevailed 13 to 5. In their fi nal game, they beat Hankinson 17 to 5 for the crown.Hankinson won their opener 12 to 9 over Beulah and then beat Horace in a defensive struggle 7 to 6 before losing the fi nal to Medina 17 to 5.Wahpeton grabbed third place beat-ing Horace 11 to 7 while Beulah crushed Lidgerwood 17 to 3 to claim the Consolation title.

18 & Under Girls The Hankinson Zukies won the 18 and Under Girl’s JO slow pitch state tournament in a small fi eld of teams July 7 at Jamestown. Only three teams qualifi ed for the state tournament.Hankinson opened the event with a 34 to 0 whitewashing of Crosby then lost the next game to Medina 5 to 3. They came back with victories over Crosby again and then beat Medina 19 to 5 and beat them again in the fi nal game 13 to 3.Runner-up Medina opened with a 5 to 3 win over eventual champion Hankinson and then beat Crosby twice 25 to 0 and 14 to 2 before los-ing their fi nal game to Hankinson 19 to 5. Hankinson was declared the tournament titlist by virtue of

Pool Play Tiebreakers.

JUNIOR OLYMPIC FAST PITCH

10 & UNDER GIRLSSix teams registered to vie for

the ten and under division title in Girl’s fast pitch softball at the state tournament held in Bismarck the weekend of July 13 and 14 with the team from Bismarck claiming the championship by virtue of an unde-feated charge through the bracket.

Bismarck opened their run at the title with two strong offensive games, beating Mandan MS Chiefs

Highlightscontinued from page 12

23 to 6 and Grand Forks 28 to 3. They then met a strong Dickinson team and beat them twice including a close 11 to 9 game in the champi-onship fi nal.

Dickinson won their fi rst game with a strong effort against James-town 23 to 3 before losing their next game to eventual champion Bismarck. Dickinson came back in the loser’s bracket winning over the team from Grand Forks to win their way back into the championship game where they lost a defensive game to Bismarck 11 to 9.

Following Bismarck and Dickin-son in the fi nal tournament standing was the team from Grand Forks. A total of 36 teams entered the state tournament which was a double elimination event with a third game guarantee. North Dakota in only third season of ASA play has registered close to one thousand fast pitch players with Bismarck listing 220 and Dickinson 208.

12 & UNDER GIRLS The 12 and Under Girl’s team

from Grand Forks captured the Division championship over a ten team fi eld the weekend of July 13 and 14 in Bismarck. They had to play an “if” game after suffering their first tourney defeat in the fi rst championship game against Dickinson.

Grand Forks won their fi rst game 10 to 1 over the Mandan MS Chiefs and then beat the Valley City Hur-ricanes 16 to 5 and Bismarck 9 to 1. Their last victory in the bracket was over Dickinson 9 to 0 but the Dick-inson crew came back through the loser’s bracket beating Casselton to gain another shot at Grand Forks in the fi nal. Grand Forks was beaten by the plucky team from Dickinson 9 to 7 to force an “if “ game which was won by Grand Forks in a 13 to 7 championship game.

Dickinson won their fi rst game in the Division stomping the Valley City Stars 30 to 0 before beating West Fargo 13 to 3 before losing to Grand Forks in a 9 to 0 game. In the loser’s bracket, Dickinson won over Casselton 14 to 4 and then beat Grand Forks in the fi rst champion-ship game 9 to 7 forcing an “if” game which Dickinson lost 13 to 7.

The order of finish showed Grand Forks as the champion,

Dickinson as the runner-up team and Casselton in third place.

14 & Under GirlsThe 14 and Under Bismarck

Sparks won the 14 year old Divi-sion of the girl’s fast pitch division tournament played in Bismarck the weekend of July 13 and 14, It was the second state title claimed by a local team with the 10 year olds also winning.

The Sparks won their fi rst three games with victories over West Fargo 12 to 2; Dickinson 3 to 2; and Grand Forks 10 to 3 before dropping a 7 to 3 decision to the Dickinson Diamonds in the fi rst championship game. In the “if” game, the Sparks won 7 to 6 in an eight inning contest to claim the state title in the 14 year old division.

The always competitive Dickin-son Diamonds won their opening game before dropping a 3 to 2 game to the Bismarck Sparks which put them into the loser’s bracket. They then beat Minot Ryan 11 to 1; West Fargo 12 to 2; Grand Forks 8 to 3; and the Bismarck Sparks in the fi rst championship game forcing an “if” game which was won by the Sparks in eight innings.

Final team placement was Bis-marck Sparks as the champion; Dickinson Diamonds as runner-up and the Grand Forks Express in third place.

16 & Under GirlsAs expected, the West Fargo

Impact claimed the championship in the 16 and under division of the state tournament held in Bismarck the weekend of July 13 and 14 over a fi eld of six teams including a very strong Bishop Ryan team from Minot.

The Impact shut out Bismarck 8 to 0 in their fi rst game and beat Grand Forks 11 to 3 before meeting Bishop Ryan and winning 4 to 0. The anticipated meeting between West Fargo and Bishop Ryan never materialized due to an upset pulled by Grand Forks over Ryan in their second game. Ryan came back in the loser’s bracket but the fi nal game was anti-climatic.

Ryan won their fi rst game over Grafton 9 to 1 before losing to Grand Forks 6 to 3. In the loser’s bracket, they won over the Fargo

Eagles 9 to 1; Bismarck 11 to 4 and Grand Forks in a shutout 6 to 0 before losing the fi nal to the West Fargo Impact.

The order of fi nish was West Fargo Impact as champion; Bish-op Ryan as Runner Up; and Grand Forks claiming third.

18 & Under GirlsThe West Fargo Impact contin-

ued their dominance of girl’s fast pitch softball by sweeping to vic-tory in a six team fi eld of 18 and under girl’s division of the state tournament held in Bismarck the weekend of July 13 and 14.

The Impact shut out Valley City 13 to 0 in their fi rst game and then beat Dickinson twice to win the championship. The scores were 7 top 4 and 4 to 3.

Dickinson won over the North Dakota Thunder 9 to 1 in their fi rst game, then lost to West Fargo 7 to 4. In the loser’s bracket, they beat Valley City 8 to 2 to get back into the championship bracket where they lost again to the West Fargo team 4 to 3.The order of fi nish was West Fargo Impact as champions; Dickinson was Runner Up and Valley City third.

Dave Frueh of the Mandan Parks and Recreation De-partment will be the tourna-ment director for the Men’s Northern National E-Rec tournament to be held in Mandan in 2014.


Class B to Class A

Mandan Heartland Investors

Rec 1 to Class D

West Fargo Michelob Golden

Draft Light

Bismarck Kupper Chevrolet

Jamestown IDK Soldiers

Rec 2 to Rec 1

Wahpeton Driftwood Lounge

Fargo Valley Imports

Jamestown Vets

West Fargo Urgent Medical

Fessenden Krahlers

Dickinson Player’s Sports Bar

and Grill

Rugby Lee’s Bar

Jamestown IDK Bar and Grill

Williston Mulligan’s/K and A Oil/JE

Dun/JLG

Fargo Crown Royal

Rec 3 East to Rec 2

Devils Lake Proz

Grand Forks Sunpros

Fargo B-Dubs

Grafton Farmers Union/Citizens

State Bank

Grand Forks Wild Hog

Fargo Money Farm

Gackle Third Base Bar/Dani’s

Place

Bismarck Solid Dakota

Mandan Boyko,Inc/Center

Machine

Minot Burgess Detailing

Rugby Eagles

Mandan Dakota Community

Bank & Trust

Mandan Anderson Custom

Cabinets

Bismarck Amvets

Wahpeton 3TF/FCCU/DHP

MinDak

West Fargo FM Mortgage

West Fargo Sports City

Rutland Buzzards

Williston Cased Hole Solutions

Rec 3 West to Rec 2

Grafton JR’s Bar

Munich

Fargo H and S Painting

West Fargo Cabinet Makers

Oakes Carlson Farms

Minto Men

West Fargo BCM Construction

Williston Found It Now

Butte Kvamme Feed Yard/

Ziegler Oil

Minot Ice Bar

Men’s Slowpitch move up

14Ucontinued from page 1

the Wisconsin team scored wins over Pride of Illinois 11 to 3; the Smash from South Dakota 15 to 0; Bismarck Sparks 11 to 0; another team named Pride from Wisconsin 9 to 2 and the championship over the same Pride team from Wiscon-sin 5 to 4 in their only close game of the tourney.

North Dakota champion Sparks from Bismarck opened their bracket play with a shutout win 3 to 0 over Princeton, Illinois and the won a

close game over the Point from Wisconsin 7 to 6 with a rally in the last two innings after trailing 7 to 1 in the fi fth inning.

The Sparks then ran into the eventual champions, the Plovers from Stevens Point, Wisconsin 11 to 0. Bismarck bounced back from that defeat to win over White Bear Lake of Minnesota 6 to 5 before losing to the Mid-Michigan Heat 12 to 5 in an elimination game.

This was the eleventh national

North Dakota2013 STATE CHAMPIONS

DIV. I .................................. Mandan Heartland InvestorsDIV. II ................................. Bismarck Coup CountersDIV. III ................................ Bismarck BistroMSP - Rec I ....................... West Fargo Michelob Golden Draft LightMSP Rec II-East ................ Wahpeton Driftwood LoungeMSP - Rec II-West ............ Fessenden Krahler’sMSP - Rec III-East ............ Devils Lake ProzMSP - Rec III–West ........... Gackle Third Base Bar/Dani’s PlaceMSP - Rec IV-East ............. Grafton JR’s BarMSP - Rec IV-West ............ Williston Found It NowMasters 35 Div. I ............... Bismarck Roughrider ResourcesMasters 35, Div. II ............. Bismarck RV Rentals/Dakota Mini-StorageMasters 35 Div. III ............. Center MerchantsMasters 40 Div. I ............... Bismarck Stadium/Budweiser/Broken OarMasters 40 Div. II ............... Jamestown Tom’s ElectricMasters 50 ......................... Mandan Dust-TexMasters 50 Wood Bat ....... Mandan Mariner ConstructionWSP - D ............................ Wahpeton The DriftwoodWSP - Rec I ....................... Minot Saunders/All AmericanWSP - Rec II ...................... Grand Forks Pace PaintingWSP - Rec IlI-East ............. Hatton Sunfl owersWSP - Rec IIl-West ........... Dickinson Kohler CommunicationsWSP Masters - Div. I ......... Bismarck Moritz Sports & MarineWSP Masters - Div. II ........ Grand Forks Lithia FordWSP Masters - Div. III ...... Jamestown Tom’s ElectricCoed SP Div. I .................. Fargo Brady’s ServiceCoed SP Div. II ................. Valley City Captain’s PubCoed SP Div. III ................ Arthur R & R Hunter InsuranceCoed SP Div. IV ................. Wyndmere The Well

Junior OlympicGirls 18 & Under SP ......... Hankinson ZukiesGirls 14 & Under SP ......... MedinaGirls 12 & Under SP ......... LandgonGirls 18 & Under FP .......... West Fargo ImpactGirls 16 & Under FP .......... West Fargo ImpactGirls 14 & Under FP .......... Bismarck SparksGirls 12 & Under FP .......... Grand Forks ExpressGirls 10 & Under FP .......... Bismarck Sparks

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Teams await their turn to be introduced at the opening ceremony for the girl’s 14 and under Northern National tournament in Bismarck August 3 and 4.

Tournament offi cials set out team and individual trophies at the girl’s 14 and under Northern National tournament in Bismarck.

Impactcontinued from page 1

Illinois. They then claimed another win over the Minnesota Chaos 8 to 5 and victory over the Monroe, Wisconsin Lightning in a tight ball game 4 to 3. They took their initial loss in their next game against a powerful team from Minnesota Bo Diddley’s. The score was 8 to 1.

West Fargo bounced back from that loss with wins over the Venom from South Dakota in a 3 to 1 con-test and another 3 to 1 victory over the Renegades from Wisconsin. In their fi nal game of the tournament the Impact was beaten again by

the Minnesota Bo Diddley’s in a ten run contest 13 to 3. The Impact fi nished the event in third place in the regional event.

Pitcher Hannah Reimer won four games and took the loss in both games against Bo Diddley’s while pitcher Brook Rheault won one game as did Jess Larson.

West Fargo hitters were led by Sydney Greenlund with a batting average of .536 followed by Brooke Breckheimer hitting at .522. Ty McKeever fi nished the tournament with a .480 average while Brook Rheault hit .414.

tournament hosted by Bismarck and the fi rst Junior Olympic event. Twenty teams entered from Min-nesota, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Illinois, Michigan and Kansas. Four North Dakota teams participated including Grand Forks, Dickinson and Minot as well as Bismarck.

Bismarck is also scheduled to host another Junior Olympic tour-nament next year when the 16 and Under Girl’s Fast pitch tournament will be held in the Capital city.


STATE TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS

Junior Olympic Girls Slow Pitch, 18 & Under State Champions, Hankinson Zukies: Front row, left to right: Sheela Pankow, Bailey German, Lacey Dickerman, Kennedy Falk, Alissa Meede. Back row, left to right: Coach DeeAnn Bilben, Alexis Pankow, Hannah Gaukler, Kelsey Gaukler, Jenny Reimann, Amber Bilben, Brenna Stren, Betsy Asp, Allison Hermes, Coach Jaime Krump.

Junior Olympic Girls Fast Pitch, 10 & Under, State Champions, Bismarck Sparks: Kneeling, right to left: Coach Troy Nelson, Delani Clarke, Mia Hinsz, Brook-lyn Morris, Ashlee Potter, Kelsey Mischel, and Coach Lisa Wingeter. Standing, left to right: Jocelyn Julson, Hannah Tollefson, Megan Klein, Arianna Berryhill, Grace Meschke, Lexi Duchscherer and Coach Darin Meschke.

Junior Olympic Girls Slow Pitch, 14 & Under, State Champions, Medina: Front row, left to right: Bailey Hefl in, Lindsay Hoffmann, Coach Noelle Moser, Kalie Gud-mestad, Dani Eissinger, Janaya Huff, Laurin Moser, Amber Buskness, Miriah Wick, Halle Uehran, Megan Moser. Back row, left to right: Coach Steve Wick, McKenzie Hefl in, Coach Rory Hoffmann.

Junior Olympic Girls Slow Pitch, 12 & Under State Champions, Langdon: Front row, left to right: Elise Ramberg, Jess Gellner, Abby Romfo, Carrissa Tetrault, McKenna Belle. Back row, left to right: Emma Field, Savannah Ullyott, Emily Mess-ner, Jessica Hoffarth, Sadie Fetsch, Rylan Rueger, Greta Haslekas, Kylee Moline, Brooke Bakke. Coaches: Darren Gellner, Trevor Romfo, David Haslekaas.

2013

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Heartland Investors wins Class B National

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