With the limits in space in the newspaper, there’s not always enough room to tell every last thing we know. Here’s another anecdote from a Legion player that we had to cut out for the print article on Team South Dakota and Jason Anderson. Thanks to correspondent Josh Benham for some of the leg work.

Here’s a link to the original story.

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Michael Baldwin, an 18-year-old pitcher on Sturgis’ American Legion team, also had contact with Anderson this spring. Baldwin said he initially met Anderson through Herz and later had a throwing tryout with Anderson for an older age division squad of Team South Dakota, a traveling ballclub that purpotedly was to travel to different tournaments around the country over the summer.

“I threw for Anderson, and he liked what he saw,” Baldwin said. “He told me there was a team he wanted to start.”

Although he did see Anderson just about every day, Baldwin said it was usually just a one-on-one workout, or that a couple other players would be around. But there were never enough players there to assemble a team.

“I pretty much went down there every day, and worked out with him,” Baldwin said. “We just worked out and practiced.”

Baldwin said his family declined to give a specific amount, but he said his family paid the full amount that Anderson requested for team expenses.

“He offered some deals for flights, and we would pay travel and team costs,” Baldwin said.

Baldwin hasn’t played any games with the team and has since rejoined Sturgis’ squad. He said his family hasn’t received any money in return from Anderson.

Throughout the time with Anderson, Baldwin said he never noticed anything suspicious about him and didn’t really have any negative experiences with him until the current situation.

“He just seemed to be a pretty busy guy, that’s all,” Baldwin said.

Baldwin said it had probably been more than a week since he last spoke to Anderson. Baldwin’s father, Dale, declined to comment.

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Also, Ken Packwood called the Journal on Friday afternoon and said that Anderson failed to meet the family with the $6,400 he says they are owed.

Their wait goes on. The Packwood family filed a complaint in small claims court earlier in the week with receipts of cash payment and a signed contract that Anderson would return money given to him for the Packwoods’ 9-year-old son’s admittance to the team.

Post 22 won their first game with ease against Casper 16-3, and their offense was phenomenal. They had 12 hits, Jordan Carlson blasted a three-run dinger, and seven different players had RBI in the game.

While easy to overlook with the way the Hardhats hit, the Post 22 defense was just as impressive. In the first inning, Carlson made a wonderful, shoestring catch in left field on a drive from Casper’s Alex Hill.

In the fourth inning, Donte Bledsoe gunned down a Casper runner at home with a laser that catcher Austin Wickham barely had to move for. And in the top of the fifth, right fielder Jake Sullivan made the second to last out, laying out for a sliding grab to get the Casper hitter.  Besides an error from the usually surehanded third baseman Jarrett Jensen, the infield made every play look routine, which is key when they are behind a pitcher like Tanner Chleborad, whose sinking balls generate a ton of ground balls.

The Post 22 team, offense, defense and pitching, really seems to be coming together, and will be an extremely difficult out in the regional.

Josh

Belle Fourche won the 7B American Legion Championship Sunday, and a big part of it was starting pitcher Alex Keenan. He gave up a three-run inning to Hot Springs, but other than that, he was solid through his six innings of work, and never gave Hot Springs much hope of making of serious comeback. He struck out a handful of batters with his curveball, and did well locating his fastball.

Belle Fourche really excelled defensively, and all of their infielders have good arms. They really helped out the pitching of Belle Fourche, as they still had to execute the grounders and double plays that they feasted on all day.

The 7B Champs earned a berth to the state tournament in Lennox July 21, and as catcher Brandon Fulk hoisted a teammate in the air as the players converged to celebrate, you saw how much the win meant.

Josh

Sunday was the final day of the Firecracker, and Post 22 and the Missoula Mavericks were the big winners.

Post 22 furthered themselves from their stinker of a performance against Missoula and Eden Prairie, as they defeated Boulder 6-1. Their offense came to hit again, even though they still left a few too many runs on the bases. Jordan Carlson, Parker Sullivan and Donte Bledsoe all had two or more hits, and it is a great sign for them that they seem to have different players, like Carlson who was 3-for-4 with a solo home run, lead them on offense each game.

But what really led them to a victory was Kolton Emery, who struck out 14 batters out of the 21 outs he recorded. He struck out the side in the first and the fourth, and rebounded from a performance against Omaha that despite getting the win, he and head coach Dave Ploof were not happy about. To Emery’s credit he shook off the “poor” start and got back to business.

Emery gets in trouble when he lets runners get in his head, and he has a tendency to lose his composure a bit out there. When he just focuses on the batters, though, and trusts his remarkable pitching ability, he is as good as it gets.

Emery said after the game that hopefully the two losses on Friday in the tournament will galvanize the team. After Post 22 dropped two home games to Denver Playball in June, it did just that. They came out with urgency and a renewed sense that they need to start and finish the games with the same focus. If they can get the same improvement out of the Firecracker losses, the sky is the limit.

In the championship game, it was a shame that so many people left after the Post 22 game. Neither team deserved to lose in the 10-9 extra inning thriller. Both teams are blessed with great hitting up and down the lineup, and the lucky few who stuck around got to see a couple of the best teams in the region.

Overall, the tournament went as expected, with goo competition and a fun atmosphere. Next year, Dave Ploof said that the Vermont Seamonsters and the Anaconda Indians from New York have already committed to play, so the 2011 Firecracker looks to be as good, if not better, than this years.

Josh

It looks like Post 22 will have to start another win streak. They dropped two games in the Firecracker Tournament Friday evening, and neither was very close.

There could be many reasons for the losses. For one, they played until midnight the prior day with an extra-innings win over Omaha, so that could have been a factor. Also, any team that plays Post 22 at night in this tournament will be geared up for that game. All the games matter to their opponents, but the Hardhats face a team’s best shot every night of the Firecracker being the host.

But more simply, Eden Prairie and Missoula just flat-out came to play. Missoula, in particular, was excellent offensively. Thinking back, I’m surprised they didn’t score more runs with the way the ball was flying off their bats.

Again, however this may be another plus in the long run. Post 22 was possibly getting too fat and happy with how they’ve been playing. I don’t know if that’s the reason, but with the 30 minute plus speech head coach Dave Ploof gave his team following the second loss, maybe they needed to be knocked down a peg or two.

What is clear, is that Eden Prairie, Missoula and Post 22 are the top three teams in the tourney, and it will be a shame for whichever team doesn’t get a chance to play for first place.

Josh

So far, so good for Post 22 on the first day of the Firecracker. Omaha was a really tough team who had players that did a great job of putting pressure on the Hardhat defense. But Post 22 rallied from three runs down to win 6-5 in eight innings. The game was marred a bit at the end by some testiness from both sides.

After Taylor Muhlbeier took out Omaha’s second baseman ( a clean play to be sure) on a slide in the seventh inning, Muhlbeier and him exchanged shoves, and all nine Omaha players raced out to second base. Umpires and players stepped in the way before anything severe came about, but it looked like a Omaha player or coach was ejected from the game.

It seemed to me that it wasn’t really anything malicious from either team, but a case of two teams just really, really wanting to get a win. Omaha had just dropped another 6-5 heartbreaker to Denver in the previous game, and Post 22 was looking for its 12th straight win. It did not take away from the fact it was a well-played game between two well-coached teams. Post 22 third baseman Jarrett Jensen and shortstop Newt Johnson stood out all night defensively, as they really helped out starting pitcher Kolton Emery.

Missoula (Mont.) was the other strong performer of the first day, winning both its games against Las Vegas and Boulder (Colo.). They open up the second day with two more back-to-back games, but if they can at least split, they will get only one game a day for the rest of the week, which would bode well for their chances at a spot in the championship game, or at least the third-place matchup on Sunday.

Josh

It was a bit of a shock for Post 22 to not get a run in the first inning against Fort Collins Wednesday. After all, they made a living in the Hinseth Tournament jumping out on their opponents from the first pitch.

But it was no big deal for the Hardhats, as they ended up getting two runs in the second, on their way to a 16-6 victory. It was a sound performance all around, as they displayed the depth that is so crucial to their success. Kyle Gorsuch filled in for Jarrett Jensen at third base, as Jensen got the start on the mound, and more than just filled in. Gorsuch was 4-for-4 with four RBIs

Another good sign was they won without standout Kolton Emery making a huge splash in the game. Anytime they can get a performance like that without one of the best players carrying them is a good sign. The whole team is really starting to come around, as at the beginning of the season a few guys had some struggles. But first baseman Jake Bohne is hitting well, Parker Sullivan has been on a tear of late, and it is tough to imagine a team that will be able to hang with them, IF they bring their A game. But even if they don’t, it sure is a comfort to head coach Dave Ploof that they can still soundly defeat a team when someone has an off night.

Post 22 is in Denver to take on Denver Playball Sports, a team that came into Fitzgerald Stadium and won two games earlier this season. It will be a great barometer to see how much they have improved, but hopefully a travel glitch won’t slow them down. They had some bus troubles on the way to Colorado, and it is still up in the air whether they will play them as scheduled. With the way they are clicking on all cylinders, perhaps it is the only thing standing in the way of a Post 22 win.

Josh

Post 22 went 5-0 in the tournament, and looking at the scores, it would be easy to point to their offense as the key. After all, they combined for 56 runs in the five games, and everybody, 1 through 9 in the lineup was hitting the ball. But what really was their biggest advantage in the tournament was their starting pitching. Tanner Chleborad and Kolton Emery would probably be the best pitcher on many other Legion teams, and having them as a 1-2 punch has to feel like a great luxury for Dave Ploof.

Watching Chleborad Sunday night, you could tell that he is a pretty sure-handed defensive pitcher. He makes the plays he needs to in the field, which is big, because he generates a lot of ground ball outs with his style.  Chleborad rarely gives hitters anything up in the strike zone, and his pitches seem to have a natural “dive” to them. That also shows how well the Post 22 defense has been performing, as they were as precise as they could be behind Chleborad.

If that pitching continues, Post 22 should have little trouble being in just about every game. As they’ve shown, they will be a tough team to shut out.

Sioux Falls East was undefeated at 17-0 prior to Friday’s game against Post 22, but ran into the buzzsaw that is Post 22 right now. Behind Kolton Emery’s starting pitching performance, 22 won handily 7-3.

Besides the usual offensive excellence of Emery and Parker Sullivan, Post 22 really won with great execution on both sides of the ball. They used two back-to-back bunt singles from Donte Bledsoe and Taylor Muhlbeier to get their five-run second inning started, and Austin Wickham also contributed a great sac bunt later in the stanza. Head coach Dave Ploof really loved to utilize the bunt, but in order to use it, you need kids willing to step in and execute it. This team seems to be gelling at the right time, with tournament time in full swing, and even with the loss of Dana Hill, their lineup is as potent as ever.

But what really jumped out Saturday was their defense. They seem to have solidified their infield, with Newt Johnson at shortstop, and Donte Bledsoe, who started out at shortstop, moving over to second base is really helping. Johnson made every routine play you want, and had a spectacular moment, where he just could knock down a sharply hit ball from a Sioux Falls East batter. Stopping the ball, it appeared there was no chance to get the runner. However, Johnson calmly scooped it up and in the same motion whipped it to first baseman Jake Bohne, barely edging out the runner. 

Bledsoe looks more comfortable at second base. It looked like he was pressing early in the year, and many of his throws were high to first. But at second, he is coming into his own, and looks much more relaxed. Whereas he was committing mistakes early on, I can’t recall a bad play from him in the last few weeks of watching the games.

At the halfway point of the tournament, Post 22 looks the part of the best team here, but they still have two more days to get through.

Josh

The Rich Hinseth Agency Tournament started Thursday, and if you like to see a lot of scoring in baseball, it appears this is the tournament for you. In each game, the winner scored double-digit runs, and after the first day it looks like the two Colorado teams, Sioux Falls East and Post 22 are the cream of the crop.

It truly was a shame that Wednesday’s Post 22 game against the Colorado Outlaws was canceled due to rain. Obviously there is nothing we can do about it when the weather behaves poorly, but still, Mother Nature robbed us of a good one. Hopefully that can be rescheduled.

Post 22 scored an astonishing 18 runs in the first inning, and while it is clear Sioux Falls West was outclassed, head coach Dave Ploof has to be pleased with the start to the game. They did it all, reaching base on walks, hit batsmen, looping singles, deep drives, and everything in between. It seems they are rounding into shape offensively, and a big key is their patience at the plate. Post 22 is not swinging at very many bad pitches anymore, and are waiting for the right one. If they don’t get it, they simply take their base now and let their teammate behind them drive them in, and not trying to force the action like before.

Friday’s 5 p.m. matchup with Sioux Falls East promises to be a treat. East is undefeated, and is coached by former Post 22 player Brandon Hunt. Will the pupil come back and beat his teacher. or will the wily coach school his former student? SF East took down a very strong Cherry Creek team pretty handily in the third game of the day, and a test for 22 will be their pitching. SF East’s bats looked pretty hot, so eliminating big innings will be the key for Post 22.

Josh