Babe Ruth team The Staples Motley 13 and Under Babe Ruth team competed last week in the Babe Ruth state tournament, finishing in third place after losing twice to Albany. From left, front row, Eric Kossan, Joey Amador, Dakota Waverek, Brent Sterriker, Austin Bendson and Reid Busker. In the middle, Jalen Busker, Tyler Holub, Devon White and Mark Kossan. In back, Jordan Denning, Tyler McCollum, Kyle Quast, Riley Johnson, Ass't Coach Shawn Motl, Seth Auger, Coach Joe Roline and Garrette Secora. Staples Motley Babe Ruth team last weekend finished third in the State Babe Ruth Tournament in Hawley, winning three games and losing two. Coach Joe Roline turned in the following report.

The state tournament requires teams to play a lot of games in very few days. Because of this, teams are allowed to draft up to three players from within their district. Shawn (Motl)and I debated on whether or not to draft, but decided on taking Riley Johnson and Tyler McCollum, a catcher and pitcher from Park Rapids.

In our first game against DGF, we picked up right where we had left off at the district tournament. Jalen Busker started on the mound throwing two good innings before his arm began to bother him. He was relieved by draftee Tyler McCollum who went on to pitch the rest of the game. Mark Kossan, Devon White, Riley Johnson and McCollum all had two hits. Jalen Busker, Jordan Denning, Seth Auger, Tyler Holub and Brent Stericker all had a hit. Busker, Johnson and McCollumeach had doubles. Tyler McCollum received player of the game honors for his performance on the mound and at the plate.

McCollum came back to start our next game against the Albany Huskies. He pitched the first two innings striking out five of the seven batters he faced before reaching his seven inning limit. Riley Johnson pitched the final five. Going into the seventh inning, the score was five to four in favor of Albany. Albany collected three hits and three walks and added four runs in the seventh inning.

The final score was nine to four. We didn't play our best baseball that game, however, we were still in the game to the very end. Jalen led the way at the plate, going three for five with a double. Riley, Devon, Jordan, Seth, Tyler M, Tyler H and Brent all had a hit.

The boys came back the following day on a mission. I've never seen them that focused. I felt bad for the teams that had to play us that day. Our first game was against Melrose. Tyler M pitched the first two innings and Devon White pitched the last five. Devon led the way at the plate going three for four. Mark had two hits, Tyler M, Jalen, Riley, Jordan, Seth and Joey Amador all had a hit. The only extra base hit was a double by Jalen. The final score was 11-2. Devon White won player of the game honors.

We had a five hour break before we faced Roseau. Jalen, Seth and Mark shared the pitching duties. The Cards pounded out 16 hits and scored 21 runs. Riley Johnson went an impressive six for six and won player of the game honors. Riley is a great player and helped our team tremendously. He caught a total of 27 innings in four days, that's a lot of innings. The win set up a re-match with Albany, Sunday at noon.

Riley pitched the first inning and Tyler M pitched the rest of the game. Tyler is one of the best pitchers I've seen all year. He has excellent control and controls his emotions on the mound very well. He threw 16 innings in the tournament giving up 14 hits, five walks and striking out 17. We played much better than we did in the prior game against Albany, but so did they.

After three innings we were trailing four to zero. Our bats finally woke up in the third inning when Jordan Denning hit a two RBI single to cut the lead in half. Denning in the following inning had a clutch single to tie the game at four.

In the top of the seventh, Albany's lead off hitter got on with a walk and managed to round the bases to put Albany ahead by one. Mark Kossan led off the bottom of the seventh, was bunted over by Tyler M and drove in by none other than Denning. Jordan had a heck of a game. He came through with three clutch hits in tough situations. We had all of the momentum going into extra innings. An umpire cannot win or lose a game, but the field ump managed to blow two very crucial calls in the eighth inning. Even the Albany fans were in shock when the young man called their runner safe and our guy out. The final score was six to five. It stinks that it had to end that way.

New York Mills went on to beat Albany in the championship. I received compliments from fans, coaches and umpires on how well mannered and respectful our team was. They represented the Staples Motley community very well. Going from a 6-18 record in the regular season to taking third in the state tournament is quite the turnaround. I'm very proud of the way the boys competed this summer and kept working to improve.