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Charleston Fighting Squirrels open up Babe Ruth baseball state tournament with eyes on another title
It has all been leading up to this. All the doubleheaders, all the regular-season tournaments. It was to prepare the Charleston Fighting Squirrels for another postseason.
The defending Missouri Senior Babe Ruth state champions begin their quest for a second straight crown today, facing the SEMO Spartans at 7:30 p.m. at Hillhouse Park in Charleston, Missouri.
That game is one of two on the opening day of the six-team, double-elimination tournament. The first sees Ultimate Baseball, from Kennett, Missouri, take on Charleston 18U at 5 p.m.
Both the Southeast Tropics of Scott City and Wayne County Perfectos received first-round byes.
"We're trying to be prepared for anything," Squirrels coach Michael Minner said. "This is one of those deals where on any given day, anybody can beat you. We've tried to express that to the kids. You just have to be ready to play. One bad inning could cost you your season. We don't take anybody lightly.
"Our only objective is to win on Thursday and try to advance into the winner's bracket, and each day presents a new situation for you."
Last year, the Squirrels breezed through the field, going 5-0, the beginning of a run that took them to the semifinals of the Senior Babe Ruth World Series.
Some players from that squad returned this summer, including Cole Nichols, Ronin Rice, Bobby Wright and Will Pratt.
"It's always good to have just good players back that have had a good experience," Minner said. "A lot of those guys went off to college too, so not only do they have the experience, they come back a year stronger. They're better baseball players a year later, and they're better leaders. We're hoping for big things. Our expectations, and our goals, are always to win the World Series. We've never done that.
"We were close last year, so we hope that good things happen to us in the postseason and ultimately, one of these days we hope to win the last pitch of the year."
The Squirrels will have to navigate a crowded field if they want to retain the state crown.
Ultimate Baseball fell to the Squirrels in last year's championship while Wayne County won the state title in 2015 and '16. Just last week, The Tropics went undefeated to win the #GoNuts Classic, which includes many of these teams and eliminated bracket-style play due to inclement weather.
Two weeks ago, the Squirrels won the Glen Sain Tournament in Paragould, Arkansas. Those types of tournaments, along with doubleheaders on back-to-back days, help simulate the format of the Senior Babe Ruth tournament in which the Squirrels will have to win at least four games in four days to claim the title.
"We try to schedule two or three or four doubleheaders in two or three or four days to try to prepare ourselves for those situations where you have to play back-to-back, and you have to play in the heat," Minner said. "We've had a couple of opportunities to get some quality tournaments in."
If Charleston wins today, it will face Wayne County on Friday. First though, the Squirrels must get past the Spartans, who are based out of Dexter, Missouri.
"They've had a really good run the past couple years as a Junior Babe team, so now they're 16 and 17," Minner said. "We went down there and played at Dexter this year, and the second game kind of got ugly, but the first game we won 5-3, and we were only up 4-3 and we got an insurance run in the seventh inning and actually we probably should have lost the game."
The championship game will be 6:30 p.m. Sunday. If the team out of the loser's bracket wins that game, the winner-take-all final will be 6:30 p.m. Monday.
The last two years Missouri sent two teams to the regional, but that likely won't be the case this year, according to Minner, which places even more emphasis on the championship. The winner will move on to the regional tournament in Bismarck, North Dakota.
The state tournament is also being held a week earlier this year to allow the winner more time to set up travel and accommodations.
"People don't realize how much money is spent to get to a regional," Minner said. "It'd be an expensive trip for somebody to go to Bismarck, North Dakota, so they've moved things up so you've got a week to prepare before you have to make that trip."
Minner certainly hopes he'll have that scheduling problem.
For that wish to become reality, Charleston needs to eliminate inconsistent play, starting today.
"We kind of have been up-and-down as we've gotten rolling here late in the year," Minner said. "Defense has been OK. Pitching has been pretty good. Offensively, we feel like we have a shot to be really good. We just haven't put it all together yet.
"But this is our time of year. These kids know our expectations, and we expect to be very, very competitive."
BABE RUTH STATE TOURNAMENT
at Hillhouse Park, Charleston, Mo.
Today
Game 1: Ultimate Baseball vs. Charleston 18U, 5 p.m.
Game 2: SEMO Spartans of Dexter vs. Charleston Fighting Squirrels, 7:30 p.m.
Friday
Game 3: Winner Game 1 vs. Southeast Tropics of Scott City, 5 p.m.
Game 4: Winner Game 2 vs. Wayne County Perfectos, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday
Game 5: Loser Game 2 vs. Loser Game 3, 10 a.m.
Game 6: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 4, 12:30 p.m.
Game 7: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 3 p.m.
Game 8: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6, 5:30 p.m.
Game 9: Loser Game 5 vs. Loser Game 6, 8 p.m.
Sunday
Game 10: Loser Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 4 p.m.
Game 11: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 10, 6:30 p.m.
Monday
Game 12: Winner Game 11 vs. Loser Game 11, 6:30 p.m. (If-necessary)