Quality abounds in Babe Ruth field

The beginning of the Senior Babe Ruth baseball playoffs often used to mean the beginning of a new team, one that could compete with the best from other regions of the state.

"The way it was in the beginning created, Charleston would have a team, East Prairie would have a team, Sikeston would have a team," Charleston Fighting Squirrels coach Michael Minner explained. "Then, at the end of the year, they would put together a district team that would go compete at the state level. They put together an all-star team from all the districts. Well, people are just kind of foregoing that now, and they go out and get the kids they want to play with all year."

Minner's team, which will host the 10-team state tournament at Hillhouse Park in Charleston beginning today, includes players from nine different schools.

Chaffee all-state picks Cody Payne and Jared Walker and Scott City all-state selection Ryan Fortner make up part of Charleston's roster.

The Squirrels (41-9) will open play today at 7:30 p.m. against the Leopold Razorbacks, whose roster includes Notre Dame's all-state pitcher Justin Landewee and last season's Southeast Missourian player of the year Jake Dobbelare from Perryville.

Oran's team unsurprisingly includes several members of the Eagles' Class 1 state championship team, including all-state selections Kody Moore and Alex Heuring in addition to players from Chaffee, Scott County Central, Bell City and even Central graduate Christian Cavaness on a part-time basis.

These types of roster combinations wouldn't be possible under the much-more strict geographical rule of American Legion baseball.

"It's allowed kids to kind of get an opportunity to travel around and get to play for different teams and get to play with different kids in the summer," Minner said.

Teams based in East Prairie, Jackson, Poplar Bluff, Arch City, Booneville, Potosi and Mineral Area, which Minner said will enter the tournament with a 13-game winning streak and a 20-2 record, will round out the field.

"That's the most that we've had since I've been coaching," Minner said of the 10-team field. "It's going to be a really quality tournament."

The winner of the tournament will earn entry into the Midwest Plains Regional in Oscaloosa, Iowa.

"There's probably seven or eight teams that if they get hot at the right time could probably come down and win this thing," Minner said.