PHOTO BY JOHN GEYERMAN
Friday night’s Babe Ruth World Series “Banquet of Champions” at Williston State College.
By Steve Krause
WILLISTON, N.D. — Lynn Babe Ruth All-Star manager Leon Elwell likes that his team doesn’t get too high or low. That characteristic may come in handy today when the team opens the World Series against Atlantic Shore, N.J.
Elwell was extremely impressed by the Babe Ruth World Series “Banquet of Champions” Friday night at the Williston State College gymnasium. The gym was packed with players and parents from all 10 regions represented. Each player was introduced individually as he came through an archway that seemed more in line with the red carpet on Oscar night. Former Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins pitcher Jack Morris was the guest speaker.
Elwell took note.
“We open the show tomorrow, and there may be a lot of pressure on these two teams,” he said. “There will probably be a lot of people from tonight here tomorrow hanging around, and I’m sure these two teams are going to be jacked up. At this point, everybody’s excited to be here, and just want to go out and play some baseball.”
The game is at noon, EDT, and will be streamed on the 42-inch TV in the sunroom at Gannon Municipal Golf Course.
If it’s not enough to be the team chosen to get this tournament underway, there’s also the fact that this Atlantic Shore team won the World Series last year as 14-year-olds. But Elwell has had many of these players since they were 12. Each year, they get better at taking things in stride so that they don’t become too emotional, he said.
“They don’t get too high, and they don’t get too low,” Elwell said. “And at the end of the game, the final score is what it is.”
That served the 15-year-old boys well in the Eastern Massachusetts and New England Regional tournaments, when they had to climb out of holes caused by early defeats. They lost the first game of the regionals.
“Every game was a must-win after that,” said Elwell.
In keeping with his belief that pitching and defense represent the cornerstones of his team, Elwell has elected to start David Barnard on the mound. He will have Christian Burt, co-MVP of the regional tournament, start at shortstop.
“I think we’re a little better defensively with Christian at short,” he said. “And David proved, by how he pitched in the New England championship game, that he’s our No. 1 pitcher. The coaches talked it over, and we were all pretty much in agreement.”
Pitching depth is one of the things Lynn has going for it, Elwell said. Barnard and Burt carry the bulk of the load, but there’s also Brett Bucklin and Erick Ubri.
“We have options,” he said.
If there’s anything that does concern Elwell, it’s that his team hasn’t played a game since July 26, when it won the regionals.
“We’ve done some hitting, and our pitchers have done their work,” he said. “But it’s that competitive thing. We haven’t played…We shipped our gear out last Tuesday so we really haven’t practiced that much either.”
After today’s game, Lynn has Sunday off before playing the remainder of its pool games Monday (7:30 EDT) against West Fargo, N.D.; Tuesday (1) against Florida; and Wednesday (3:30) against Washington State.