Springs Owls: Thank You to the Community for Your Support and Help This Season
Springs Community, there is no way to thank every person that helped with the Owls District 3 Tournament. We had volunteers taking tickets, singing the Anthem, and with general cleanup. We also had the best play-byplay announcer around in Becky Krueger do all eight games and she just never slowed down. The FCCLA ran a great concession stand. My own family sat in the heat all weekend at the beer stand. Ryan Jensen made numerous trips bringing ice and supplies. The Red Hog also helped coordinate the beer tent. From myself and the Owls team, THANK YOU! The players had the responsibilities of field care between every game in the heat and humidity. Anyone who was there witnessed a very fine looking field and it is only going to get better.
We just happened to play our weakest baseball in the District, but still managed a win. During the extended part of the Districts in Chamberlain they really returned to their normal selves and played a very strong game, winning 11-0. All parts of the team had a good night and we qualified for State. I keep telling the team that it is very difficult to win at the State tournament. The competition is just stellar. We drew an Iowa team, Akron, that plays in a very good league in SE South Dakota. We got off to an early 3-0 lead and then the lead flipped in their favor. We did regain the lead and were able to hold on for that elusive victory. We moved on to play Larchwood (another Iowa team in the SD tourney?). They presented a big challenge. They are an extremely offensive oriented team, to go along with good pitching and defense. They ended up beating us 16-6, but we did give them a bit of a challenge in the 7th and forced them to bring in a pitcher that I don’t think they wanted to “dust off” quite yet. Congrats fellas.
The offseason will actually be kind of busy, continuing work on the baseball fields and completing the batting cage. Please support the Gala on September 21. The proceeds this year have been awarded to the baseball association to improve the facilities at both fields in Wessington Springs. We have some ideas, but I welcome ideas to make the fan experience more enjoyable. Contact me with your thoughts. It really does take a lot of effort and money to make baseball go. With the obvious financial support and the great crowds at Districts, State and even regular season home games, it is apparent that the community stands with all baseball teams in town.
I know these editorials of mine seem to ramble on, kind of helter skelter all over the place, but there are just so many things that pop up that need to be said. So many thank yous, so much excitement. As the winter rolls on and we turn our attention to all of the other great sports and activities, we will be doing things to improve your summertime baseball experience.
Joe Butterfield, Owls Manager
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