Area team

shows little

respect

for game

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- Sportsmanship. Sometimes you wonder where it has gone.

Twice this season I have watched an area high school baseball team play and come away shaking my head, wondering about them. Not because they are a poor-fielding team or because they are a poor-hitting team. But rather they are a team that displays little respect for anyone on the field but themselves.

And you even have to wonder about that.

In the two contests I have watched them play, their actions did not speak louder than their words as the old saying goes. They were constantly bickering about calls and players were flapping their lips every chance they got.

Recently, it came to a head when they played a local high school team. After a runner from the area team reached second base, he started talking trash to an infielder. The base umpire ordered the runner to settle down but it did no good; the talking continued from the runner.

A few seconds later, the base umpire noticed that the runner had made contact with the fielder for no apparent reason. The umpire immediately ejected the runner from the game.

Upon that ejection, a fan came out of the stands and raced onto the field where the umpire, probably wondering who this person was and what he was going to do, ejected the fan.

The fan turned out to be the area school's athletic director.

One really has to wonder what was going through the head of the school administrator. Adults are supposed to set examples for our youth, not have an example made of them.

Why did the actions of this team all season go unpunished or overlooked by the head coach?

And why even more by the athletic director?

Winning and losing games is part of the game of baseball. Losing respect for the game is not.

AREA ACTIVITY FEES: According to the Star-Tribune of Minneapolis, activity fees at Metro schools ranged from $150 per sport at Spring Lake Park to only $3 a sport at Hastings.

But how do activity fees range in this area?

The two most expensive schools in the area are both Mankato East and Mankato West; each charge $80 per sport with speech, drama and science club $25. It costs you $45 to belong to either swing choir or jazz band.

In the South Central Conference, New Ulm is the most spendy with football and boys and girls hockey $65. All the other sports are $60 with cheerleading $25.

Waseca is $50 per sport with St. Peter between $45 and $50.The rest of the conference averages $45 a sport with United South Central between $25 and 30.

But New Ulm is not the most expensive school after the Mankato schools. That goes to Sleepy Eye High, which charges $65 a sport with Sleepy Eye St. Mary's at $60 a sport

Minnesota Valley Lutheran charges between $41 and $45 while New Ulm Cathedral charges $35 a sport.

The rest of the schools in the Tomahawk Conference are between $25 and $30 with Wabasso the least expensive at $15 a sport.

MEMORIAL PARK THE BEST: For those of you who were in attendance at Fairfax's Memorial Park Tuesday night for the St. Paul Saints game, you know that Memorial Park is THE BEST field in this area, bar none. Not only is the field the best, but the hospitality is also tops.

COME-FROM-BEHIND WINS: This season, the New Ulm Eagle baseball team has recorded 15 wins. Of those 15 wins, six have been come-from-behind wins.

Twice the Eagles have overcome deficits against Blue Earth while staging comebacks against St.Peter, Edina, Mankato East and Fairmont, a game in which they trailed 5-2 in the fifth inning and ended up winning by nine runs. I still say that the Eagles will repeat as Section 2-3A champions when the smoke clears.

CLYNE RESIGNS: Randy "Sam" Clyne who has been the B-squad baseball coach at New Ulm Cathedral for the past 18 years, resigned from that spot Tuesday. Clyne knows the game of baseball as well as anyone can.

RANWEILER NAMED SECOND TEAM: Brady Ranweiler of New Ulm has been named to the Second Team All-NCC baseball team from Minnesota State-Mankato. Ranweiler is hitting .366 with 10 home runs and a team-high 18 double.He leads the Mavericks with 52 RBI. Another New Ulmite, southpaw pitcher Aaron Heitzman has a 6-3 record with an ERA of 3.01. He has struck out 61 batters in 68 2-3 innings. He has held opposing teams to a .209 batting average.

The Mavericks begin tournament play today when they tangle with Central Missouri State in the NCAA Divison II Central Plains Tournament in Warrensburg, Mo.

Winona State, with former New Ulm Cathedral pitcher John Spaeth, on the roster will play Rockhurst in the other game.

TWO FORMER EAGLES GET HONORS: Kristi Andersen and Rachel Seifert, former softball players at New Ulm High, were named to the NSIC all-conference team. Andersen batted .354 and lead the league in steals with 12, including four in one game. She also received all-academic honors. Seifert led the team in hitting with a .412 average and had a slugging percentage of .549.