The need to hold the lead

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- Holding a lead is something that teams need to do. The ability, or inability, to do that can cost teams games during the regular season.

And in playoffs, it can end your season.

Sunday night, the inability to hold a lead and prevent a big inning ended the New Ulm Kaiserhoff's 2001 season when they lost 11-9 to Marshall in the third and deciding game of the Section 4B playoffs.

New Ulm held leads of 5-0 and 9-3 in the game before falling.

"We got hit with a big inning again and that (big inning) was created by a couple of errors," said first-year manager Brady Ranweiler who saw his Kaiserhoff's season end at 17-10. "Once that momentum started to swing and they took the lead, it was almost a snowball effect and we could not overcome that."

While the season ended sooner that everyone on the team wanted it to, it was still a successful season considering that there were a lot of new faces on the team this year.

"If I assessed the season as a whole and after losing nine players from last year's (state tournament) team - almost all of who contributed to last year's team, it was a success," commented Ranweiler. "We gave Marshall (33-3) all that they wanted in the (playoff) series. They wanted the challenge."

HAD CHANCES TO WIN: Ranweiler said that his team "had chances to win the series. Both games that we lost (12-10 and 11-9) we had chances to win. When you lose two games by two runs, it means that one team did the little things a little bit better than you did."

"We had four crucial errors that accounted for runs (against Marshall) in that seven run seventh inning that they had. But you look at the errors and they were made because of inexperience on our part."

K'S FUTURE BRIGHT: While the inexperience was a hinderance at times to the Kaiserhoff this year, that same inexperience will turn to experience in a couple of years and that bodes well for the future of the Kaiserhoff.

"It is a good future and really we were one infielder and one pitcher away from being as solid a team as we were last year. But when you have that inexperience at certain positions, it is a growing period."

This year, New Ulm had a lot of first-year players who played a dual role playing with the Kaiserhoff and with New Ulm Legion Gold. Players such as picher Andy Stolt and infielders Joey Schugel, Jamie Hoffmann, Jace Marti along with catcher Brandon Reinarts is a strong nucleus for the years to come.

"Aaron Dolan (at secondbase) I thought would have trouble hitting and be a good fielder but he did a good job with the bat also," Ranweiler said. "Travis Fleck (at shortstop) had a great year; it was a 150 per cent improvement."

Ranweiler also praised the Legion Gold players who sometimes played three games in a day ands at times played six straight nights.

'I take my hat off to them because they faced pitchers who were either in college or former college pitchers. They all battled. That valuable experience that they got this year will pay off big time in the future for New Ulm Kaiserhoff."

One player who has vastly improved on the field is Cory Ranweiler who pitched, caught and played thirdbase for the "K" this year. "He worked hard in college on his quickness -- he has that drive that he wants to succeed. Sometimes that comes off as a sign of frustration but in the overall context of the game, he will do anything to win. He hates to fail."

"We lost to a good team in Marshall; we had our chances. We kept battling back and were in every game.

GOLD READIES FOR STATE TOURNAMENT: New Ulm Legion Gold (30-4) is getting ready for their entrance into the 2001 American Legion State Tournament which begins on Thursday in Rochester and Austin.

Gold wlll meet the District One champion Waseca at 1:30 p.m. Thursday in Austin.

New Ulm won the Second District title by beating Sleepy Eye twice.

"The guys were more focused this (past) weekend and they made sure that they were going to play their best ball," said coach Dave Kunz. "Sleepy Eye is a very capable team and I think that maybe we were a little overconfident (last weekend when New Ulm lost 9-5 to Sleepy Eye). They knew that two teams (from the district) went to the state. I think that went down that weekend not playing to win but playing not to lose."

But Kunz said that he felt a "different attitude" when the New Ulm bus arrived in Fairmont this past Saturday.

"They had a little different look about them and they realized what they are capable of doing but that they had to come to play every game. They felt that they did not play their best.":

"Our attitude (going into that game with Sleepy Eye) was that we knew that both teams were going to state but we wanted to go as district champions. They wanted to do the things that they did well all year long."

Waseca is New Ulm's first one round opponent at 1:30 on Thursday. "Win or lose, we will play the East Grand Forks-Hibbing winner or loser, depending on what we do. If we win, we would play at 7 p.m. that same night and if we lose, we would play at 4:30, also on Thursday."

PARENT INFORMATION NIGHT: The New Ulm Public School Activities Department will hold a Parent Information Night for parents and students in grades 7-12 who are planning on participating in fall activities. The meeting will be held on Wednesday, Aug. 8 at 7 p.m. in the New Ulm Middle School Auditorium.

BREWERS ROLLING: The New Ulm Brewers hope to close out Leavenworth tonight at Johnson Park after winning the first two Section 2C playoff games handily by scores of 12-2 and 12-3. The winner of this series will meet the winner of the St. James-Sleepy Eye series for the Section 2C title. The Brewers are the defending champions.