Did your slowpitch softball leagues start yet?

[ozzie]

Your name came up in a conversation about a week or two ago and we were like don't know what happened to him!!! Well now we know!!!!

We still play in Zimmerman league and that is actually the only one I am playing in....first time in many years that I am only playing 1 night and last year was the first in like 4 that I played in Zimmerman.....

I am now married to a girl I met from Coon Rapids and live in Zimmerman now....been married for 2 years.... No kids yet but hopefully soon.....I work with my old man in Elk River selling ins. and trying to find the next time to get out fishing!!!

It is kinda funny that I never read your bio but I have always read your posts and thought I might know you being in St. Francis....small world!!!!

Nice to hear from you Adam and we will have to stay in contact and maybe get together and do some fishing sometime!!!

Take care- David

[TNFL]

for sure, I plan on hitting blue a lot. Last fall when I first got my new/used boat I went out there a few times solo during the vikes games. I usually go in the morning sometimes pretty early. Shoot me any email and i'll let you know if I'm going out there, If you're not busy we could meet up.

berg_adam yahoo

Quote:

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It is kinda funny that I never read your bio but I have always read your posts and thought I might know you being in St. Francis....small world!!!!

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Its funny, I've read your posts and thought you were....hispanic, and lived by blue lake

[Juan Grande]

Did either of you guys play in that Zimmerman Day tourney two weekends ago?

[ozzie]

Juan- wild west days......yep i was on a team there.....0-2 and Bar-B-Q just the way I like my memorial day tournament.....done early and ready to party!! Were you around Juan!!! Alot of good teams to watch up there!!

Berg- email sent....

[Juan Grande]

Oz,

No, but a team from our league (Hassan Sand & Gravel) won it. I play on Thursdays in Albertville.

Hassan is listed as a D team, but they shouldn't be. They've beaten a lot of the B and C teams in our league this year.

[ozzie]

Yeah I watched those kids play a few games...they are a good ball club.....they should have lost to Sportsdiamonds early Sunday like their second game on Sunday in the 7th down by 1 the second baseman for SD over threw the first baseman and then booted a ball and Hassan scored 2 runs because of it then went on to beat 2 pretty good squads and then beat Legion of Doom from the Saint Cloud area twice....LOD was the CC state champs last year in ASA and are one of the top teams in the state!!! Pretty impressive tourny for the Hassan boys......the only thing is though I am not sure they were as hungover from the weekend as some of the other teams on Sunday!!!

[ozzie]

Hey berg I saw Pete S last night....i guess he is in town for a couple days.

[CNY Tim]

Slugfest last night and we came out on top 26-22. We face the team tied with us at 3-1 next week and the week after is the position round. Did not hit well last night 2 for 5 with a walk and 2 bi's. Starting to have problems with my left knee. I think it's been all the fast-pitch games I have been umpiring lately.

[TNFL]

No, I'm not playing ball this year. Is anyone playing in St. Francis pioneer days tourney this weekend?

[The Donk]

Anybody have an idea why the national qualifiers this year are having poor turnouts? My buddy played in DL 2 weeks ago, only 5 DD teams signed up. Now I am going down to Fairbault for the next one this weekend, and 3 C teams and 3 CC teams are put in the same bracket because thats all that signed up. Last year at Fairbault, there were like 14+ teams in C alone

[The Donk]

If that team from Hassan beat the Legion of Doom TWICE, they must be a he l l of a good team! We play league with em on Monday nights, and they rarely lose... We lost to em 17-2, but in our defense, it was the first game of the season. (what a way to start the schedule)

[ozzie]

I am good friends with Curt D on LOD the short stocky guy with massive arms and legs.....also friends with Joel H the first baseman...played ball with them a few years ago...great guys......yeah Hassan beat them twice but like I stated they shouldn't have even been in the tourny at that point...They are a good ball squad (Hassan) but in a tourny that counts they would have a tougher time against those teams they played!!!

[PierBridge]

Softball is about as dead as NHL hockey its been on a steady decline for the last decade.

[Juan Grande]

Donk,

I'm not sure about the decline at the qualifiers. We won DD state (central) last year and were bumped up to CC. We could have gone to DD nationals last year in California, but flight and hotel costs were too much. It probably depends on where nationals are held. That and you have to have a young team that doesn't have a lot of family obligations.

I'm guessing the better teams would rather go to the big money tournaments vs. the qualifiers.

What do you guy think of this tiering system (CC, C, DD, D, etc) that ASA uses? We're technically a CC team now, although we can't conistently compete at that level.

Hassan is a good team, they can hit the ball and play hard. They won't be D for long if they play State.

[ozzie]

ASA is a joke if you want my opinion....the umpires are far and few between that have any idea as to what a strike is and height limit......USSSA is my perfered association for the pace of the game the concept that a pitcher can have a impact on the game and lately it seems to be better competition......ASA and their tier system is confusing and doesn't help the overall association with teams and competition....oh well I only play carpet ball now so..........

[TNFL]

Gotta love carpet ball, no questionable calls anyway.

Oz I never got your email did you remeber the _

[Juan Grande]

Yeah, I'm getting to the point that I'd rather spend my weekends fishing than playing in tournaments.

I guess I'm getting old.

[ozzie]

nope fortgot the _ i resent the e-mail to ya

[First Ice-Mike]

We did go out to California to nationals. The thing that sucks is we were a DD team, but states like Cali only have like 2 classes so we end up playing teams that are actually B or C teams. The one team was called "North Cal" - talk about a bunch of steroid freaks. The all looked like ultimate fighters!

FI

[The Donk]

I hear that... we went down to Midland Tx two years ago for D Nationals, we won our first game, and then lost our next two. There was 51 teams to start, and 6 of the last 8 teams were from California, talk about a joke. We had a good team that year, but we were not even in the same light year as the team(s) there.

[CNY Tim]

Well we won our fourth straight last night by the score of 14-7... Were in first place going into the first position round, struggled again at the the plate 2 for 4, no bi's. It also helped that the guy that bats in front of me hit 2 three run jacks to pace us to victory.

Weird skies overhead last night it would pour rain for a minute, stop do it again 5 min. later, on/off all night..

To the victory go the spoils, La Pub beers and Garage pizza, I love it...

[Juan Grande]

Yeah, we were toying around with going to Sunnydale, CA last year for Nationals and some guys told us to not even bother. They said those Cali teams are really good. I guess it helps that they can play year round.

I think I read some where that C Nationals are in Moorhead, MN next year. Anyone know if that's true? I wonder if those California teams would travel here?