Firle making the most of offseason

NEW ULM -- Minnesota Valley Lutheran basketball player Jake Firle has been selected to play in the prestigious USA Junior Nationals Championship Sports Festival July 8-14 in Columbus, Ohio.

Firle, a junior, had an outstanding performance in the USA Junior Nationals All-State High School Basketball Tournament held recently in Sioux Falls, S.D.

"I played well in the tournament, " Firle said. "In our three games there, I was named the Most Valuable Player in two of those games."

Firle averaged 25 points a game and hit a high of 30 points in the last game against other high school basketball players from North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and some from Minnesota.

"I had an opportunity to go to another tournament over the Easter break in Minneapolis, but I decided to go to this one -- it was a week later," said Firle, the son of Jim and Lynette Firle of New Ulm.

Firle's solid play has now got him invited to Columbus, Ohio "which is a great honor. It was nice to get to go there -- I just wanted to play good (in Sioux Falls) and see what happened. Now, this is kind of a bonus."

And it is a select group from the Sioux Falls tournament that are going. "We had 75 players there, and 10 were selected to go to Ohio. I am playing on the South Dakota team for this tournament."

And if you know Jake Firle, he has worked hard on his basketball skills.

"Playing basketball is all that I have been doing since our (high school) basketball season was over," he said. "I have been practicing basketball and lifting weights for about three hours a day."

Since the Charger boys season ended, Firle has missed only one day of his own basketball practice.

While Firle has worked on improving his basketball skills for next season, he is also working on getting more muscle on his 6-foot-5 frame.

"I am benching 230 pounds and squatting 305 pounds -- I am working on getting stronger and ways to improve for basketball," he said.

"The weight lifting is also helping me for football (Firle is a tight end and defensive end for MVL). It works both ways," he said. "I have been getting some letters for football from some D-II schools and smaller schools around here. But I think that I want to play basketball in college. Hopefully, this will help me get more recognition for college basketball."

Firle is also looking for donations to help defray the cost of going to Ohio. If you are interested in helping a New Ulm young man, you can send your checks to Jake Firle, 1122 South Jefferson, New Ulm, Minnesota, 56073. Firle said that he will acknowledge all donations.

AMATEUR BASEBALL BEGINS SUNDAY: This Sunday signals the start of the 2002 Amateur Baseball season in the Tomahawk East League.

Here in New Ulm, the Brewers will host Leavenworth in a 2 p.m. meeting at Johnson Park.

While it is a new season, you may also notice -- or rather hear -- something different at the parks this summer.

Gone will be the 'ping' of the aluminum bat, which will be replaced the the 'crack' of the wood bat that is now the only bat permitted in amateur baseball this year.

And the local supplier of bats for the area baseball teams, Nicklasson Athletic, is ready.

"We had teams order early to make sure that we could get them started," said Mitch More of Nicklasson's. "We sold about 500 bats on the early season, and I have just placed an order for another 300 bats to come in."

The bats are a combination of ash, maple and composite bats which are acceptable this year.

The cost of an ash bat is $39.95, with a maple bat running $64.95 and a composite bat costing $69.95.

More said that the most demanded bat is "the ash," said More. But what about the maple bat that has been made popular by San Francisco's Barry Bonds?

"A lot of people see that Bonds is using that , but because of the cost, most of the players are going with the northern ash,." he said. "The northern ash is your basic wood while your maple is a harder wood. They are supposed to be more durable."

Commentators on ESPN's Baseball Tonight said players who use the maple bat said it hits "like an aluminum bat."

More said he should be able to keep up with the demand for wood bats. "My 300 bats that I have ordered are to kind of carry us through most ot the year," he said. "But there will be a lot of bats cracked early in the year and then as the season goes on and players learn how to hit with the wood bat, there will be less breakage."

More commented that teams that have bought wood bats "are excited about the change to wood bats. Coaches are looking forward to coaching and not playing for a three-run homer to tie the game. They know that they will have to bunt and hit-and-run."