The 300-plus
players who will compete in this year's state Legion
baseball tournament were told Wednesday night that they
are participating in the "best state tournament in
the nation."
Rob Fornasiere, Assistant Head Baseball coach at the
University of Minnesota, said he travels the nation as
part of his job, and the Minnesota tournament is
unparalleled.
Fornasiere was the featured speaker at the annual
Division I Banquet, held this year at the Hibbing
Memorial Building.
The event is the kick-off for the Division I tournament
that opens Thursday in Hibbing and three other sites
along the Range.
The banquet was also the venue for giving ou the Legion's
top awards for this past year.
Bill Kinnunen, the coach at Grand Rapids, was the Coach
of the Year in Legion Baseball.
LeSueur and Henderson were named Posts of the Year.
Darin Everson of Ada was named the Graduate of the Year.
Everson played Legion ball in the late 1980s, was an
All-American at college, and spent six year playing
baseball in the Montreal, Pittsburgh, and Boston
organizations.
He is presently the head coach of the independent minor
league team in Washington, Pennsylvania.
Jeff Resse of New Richland was inducted into the
Minnesota American Legion Baseball Hall of Fame. Reese is
a longtime Legion coach, District official, and youth
sports organizer and coach in his community.
Fornasiere challenged the players to play hard on every
pitch in the
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tournament.
"There's a crisis point in everry game that will
determine the outcome," he said. "How your team
handles that crisis will determine how you do in the
tournament."
Fornasiere also had advice for coaches, including never
assuming that they know all there is to know about
baseball.
He also had some common sense advice: "There is no
plan for poor pitching."
He urged the players to take personal responsibility for
their actions on the field and in their community.
"Transfer of blame has become the national pastime
in this country."
Fornasiere was recently the winner of an ethics award at
the University.
There were several other speakers during the program,
including State Senator David tomassoni and State
Representative Tony Sertich.
Tomassoni said he had played in the state tourney in
1970, "and I remember every play in those
games."
Minnesota American Legion Commander, Al Davis, urged the
players to go home after the tournament and thank their
parents and coaches for all the things they did in
helping them grow.
The master of ceremonies for the night was Elayne
Crecelius of Range 11 Northland News Center.
Pastor Dan Erickson did the invocation and benediction.
Co-chairmen for the tourney are Larry Pocrnich and Babe
Glumack. |
The 2010
Minnesota American Legion State Baseball Tournament
begins today in Hibbing, Nashwauk, Grand Rapids and
Cohasset.
The double-elimination tournaemtn will feature 16 teams
from Minnesota's 10 Legion Districts.
Play will continue through Sunday, with the final two
games played at Al Nyberg Field in Hibbing.
The top two finishers in the tourney will qualifiy for
American Legion National Regional play.
The teams who qualified include Alexandria, Excelsior,
Mankato National, Lakeville North, St. Cloud Chutes,
Maple Grove, Fergus Falls, Duluth Lakeview, Eastview,
North St. Paul, Minneapolis Post 1, Eden Prairie,
Owatonna, Eagan, Coon Rapids, and Hibbing (host).
The final Minnesota American Legion Poll for this year
made Eden Prairie as the the team to beat. First place
votes ( ) is followed by total points awarded by the
Legion pollsters):
1. Eden Prairie (12) 139
2. Eastview (2) 121
3. North St. Paul 103
4. Lakeville North (1) 84
5. Excelsior 72
6. Mankato National 46
7. Lino Lakes 35
8. Burnsville 34
9. Maple Grove 35
10. Rosetown 20
11. Coon Rapids 19
12. Owatonna 19
13. Rochester Patriots 16
14. Duluth Lakeview 13
15. Fergus Falls 12
16. St. Cloud Chutes 11
17. Apple Valley 76ers 6
18. Rochester Redhawks 6
19. Eagan 5
20. Alexandria 4
21. Minneapolis Post #1 4
22. Forest Lake 2
For a list of voters and
week-by-week poll results, take this link to the MN Statewide American
Legion Coaches & Media Poll.
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