New Ulm

doesn't

get 2002

tourney

NEW ULM -- By a narrow 3-2 vote, Williston, N.D., will be the site of the 2002 Central Plains Regional Legion Baseball Tournament, getting the nod over New Ulm.

Other bidders for the tournament were Rapid City, S.D., and Eau Claire, Wis.

"It was a close vote," said Jim Quinlan of the National American Legion Baseball Committee in Indianapolis. "It had to go to a tiebreaker with the chairman casting the deciding ballot."

Kansas was the state in line to host the Central Plains regional, but no city was interested in hosting the tournament. That meant that all seven states in the Central Plains Region (Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas) were eligible to bid for the tournament.

"It will be Minnesota's turn to bid for the 2003 Central Plains tournament and only Minnesota cities can bid for that tournament," said Quinlan."Whatever team wants to bid can bid."

Quinlan said the fact that, if New Ulm would have been given the tournament, that Minnesota would have the regional two years in a row was not a big factor in the selection.

"The (Central Plains tournament) has not been to Williston in a long time," he said. "It has probably been better than 15 years since a regional tournament has been there.

"Both New Ulm and Williston have good baseball areas and we know that when New Ulm hosts a tournament, it will be well-run,"

New Ulm may still be bidding for the 2003 Central Plains tournament, but will have some stiff competition from other rumored bidders St. Cloud and Duluth.

New Ulm hosted regional tournaments in 1985 and 1988.

KNISLEY MAKES CHANGE: Last year at this time, New Ulm Cathedral pitcher John Knisley was a sophomore with a good arm. But he had control problems that easily frustrated him and led to him being pulled from mound performances.

But this year, Knisley has made a 180-degree turnaround. He ran his record to 3-1 with a 5-1 four-hit win over McLeod West.

"The biggest thing about John this year is that he is a year older," said coach Bob Weier. "Maybe being a year older and being at the same age level of the kids that he is competing against, plus we have played pretty good defense behind him ... have not allowed him to get into trouble."

In Tuesday's win, Knisley got into trouble in the sixth inning when he fell behind two hitters by 3-1 counts before coming back to strike them both out.

"Last year, when he fell behind hitters he would lose his confidence and end up walking them," recalled Weier. "This year, he is battling back to get those hitters. That is what you have to learn as a pitcher."

Knisley agreed his attitude has improved.

"I don't get quite as upset out there as I used to and that has helped me a lot," he said. "I kind of decided to change (my attitude) myself because I was doing poor on the mound last year."

He said he now has the confidence to come back on hitters this year. "My outside corner fastball has been my outpitch this year."

Knisley is a pitcher with a lot of ability, and gaining his composure and maintaining it on the mound in certain situations will make him that much tougher on opposing hitters.

CATHEDRAL FUND-RAISER: Cathedral will have a fund-raiser for their baseball team from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. today, Friday and Saturday at the Randall's lunch stand. Hot dogs and brats will be served. Funds raised will help in the purchase of new uniforms. Take yourself and the wife to lunch there and help out a good cause.

EAGLES NEAR CONFERENCE TITLE: New Ulm High moved a step closer to another South Central Conference baseball crown with a 3-2 win over Waseca Monday afternoon.

"Andy Stolt pitched another fine game for us," said Eagle coach Jim Senske. "We did not give him a lot of run support."

The Eagles faced another soft-tosser in the game, the same type of pitcher that United South Central threw against New Ulm High in the Rebels surprise 5-1 win.

New Ulm High then hammered Waseca 15-5 in the second game -- a game that did not count in the conference standings. "They (Waseca) had been rained out of four games this year that they cannot make up and we have been rained out of the Minnetonka game and could not play a make-up date with them. This way, we will get our 20 games in."

Senske said he was happy with good pitching from Stolt. "We scored a run in the top of the seventh (in the 3-2 win) and he held that lead. ... The (pitching and defense) were fine, but the hitting did not do a good job of adjusting to the type of pitcher that we saw. He threw soft and off the plate. We need to hit that pitch to right field.

"You have to be able to adjust to the different styles of pitchers."

If New Ulm High wins today at Fairmont, they will win the SCC crown.

The Eagles will host Mounds View Friday night.

"I saw that they have one of the top pitchers in the Metro area with a very low ERA, but I don't know if we will see him or not," Senske said. "They have about half of their people back when they were the favorite to win the (Class 3A) state tournament. They were ranked No. 1 for most of last year. They were beaten by a good Brainerd team (that won the Class 3A title) so they will be a nice club to meet."

NEW ULM TOURNAMENT IN WORKS: An eight-team baseball tournament to begin next year is in the works with New Ulm High hosting at both Johnson Park and Mueller Park. Plans are to invite several Metro schools (Cretin-Derham Hall, Minnetonka, Hastings) along with possibly Brainerd and Moorhead.

PAA RANKED THIRD IN CLASS 2A: Amanda Paa, a junior at New Ulm High, is ranked third among individuals behind only Ingrid Rickers of Worthington and Amy Schumacher of Rocori. The Eagle girls golf team is ranked eighth in Class 2A. Fairmont is ranked third in the state.