Legion team finishes season

The Annandale-Clearwater American Legion baseball team ended its season with a 6-9 record after losing a tough tournament game to Dassel-Cokato 6-3.
Following a 14-game regular season, the July 19 loss put the Legion team out of commission after the first game of the tournament.
The players entered the tournament fired up after a recent 9-2 win over Mound, coach Cory Larson said, but they just couldn’t pull it off.
“It looked like a promising step forward just in time for the tournament,” he said. “We ended up losing a nail-biter. The score doesn’t indicate how close the game really was,” he said.
The Annandale-Clearwater team pulled ahead early in the game with a base hit by Marty Imholte and a drive that resulted in two RBIs for Chris Picken.
Mark Zahn contributed with a base hit and Matt Cordell brought in a runner on a base hit.
Dustin Schlagel’s base hit in the second finished Annandale-Clearwater scoring for the game. They ended up leaving nine runners stranded on base that day.
The tournament performance was a reflection of the team’s regular season as a whole.
“We got on the losing end of some of our games, but we were not losing by big numbers,” Larson said.
Most of the team’s losses came within one or two runs, and by the end of the season, the players were showing marked improvement, especially when it comes to hitting.
“We began attacking the ball a lot more and not watching as many pitches go by,” he said.
Next year Larson looks forward to coaching a strong team, despite the loss of eight high school seniors.
The eight players remaining will provide a strong backbone thanks to the experience they got this year, he said.
Larson attributes much of their success to strong parent support during the season. Not only did parents support their sons from the stands, they actually got out on the field to help coach.
Paul Steinhoff was also an asset to the team thanks to his work organizing the league, Larson said.
One of the goals of American Legion baseball is to improve players’ skills for high school varsity play.
It is the perfect opportunity for players to work two solid months at improving their skills both in the field and at the plate, Larson said.
“All of these kids really enjoy baseball,” he added.
This season was the third year of Annandale-Clearwater Legion baseball.