Plenty of local success by Southeast Missouri baseball teams

While much of the baseball fandom in Southeast Missouri is watching the St. Louis Cardinals tread water near the .500 mark, and obsessed with roster moves, potential trades and Matt Carpenter's salsa, a couple of local summer teams in the area are proving to be serious contenders.

The Charleston Fighting Squirrels are headed back to the Senior Babe Ruth World Series, having captured their second straight Midwest Plains Regional Championship last week. It will be Charleston's fifth trip to the World Series, which begins Aug. 4. The Squirrels made it to the semifinals last year. Charleston outscored its opponents 53-7 in the tournament. Simply outstanding.

Meanwhile, in Sedalia, Missouri, the Cape Girardeau Ford and Sons Post 63 Senior Legion baseball team took second place in the state tournament, falling to Jefferson City 9-3 over the weekend after a nice tournament run and successful season. Congratulations to the Senior Legion team, which went 31-11 on the season and played solid baseball all summer long.

In other local baseball news, the Cape Catfish collegiate summer baseball team, 11 months from playing its first game, announced some basic roster construction details last week. The team plans to carry 15 position players and 17 pitchers. The team will sign players this fall. There is still much work to do before the Catfish lurk just beyond the Capaha lagoon.

So while area baseball fans are hoping for some of the Cardinals' sluggers and pitchers to break out of slumps, and for a GM to make another move or two, there is baseball success and offseason maneuvering happening in our own back yard.

Here's to the home teams.