Fighting Squirrels win Midwest Plains Regional; advance to World Series in Jamestown, New York

Behind stellar pitching and hot hitting, Charleston was able to go undefeated at the Midwest Plains Regional in Bismarck, North Dakota from Friday, July 20 to Monday, July 23.

In pool play, the Fighting Squirrels went 3-0, defeating Bismarck, Scott County, and East Twins. In all three games, Charleston outscored their opponents 33-3 — the largest run differential of any team in the tournament.

Charleston then took on Williston in the first round of bracket play, where they won 9-3. Will Ferrell had a strong outing, as he went the distance while giving up three runs on five hits and striking out 10 batters.

Overall, head coach Michael Minner said that he loved what he saw out of his pitching staff.

“Our guys, they just do what they do,” Minner said. “We got guys that are strike throwers; they utilize our defense. We just kind of stuck to the plan. We go up and try and mix in three or four pitches for strikes and try to nibble on some corners, get ahead and let our defense work. Our guys were really good this week. We had guys that, when they pitch it like that and we play defense, we’re tough to beat.”

The win over Williston advanced the Fighting Squirrels to the regional championship game, where it played Scott County for the second time in the tournament — Charleston beat Scott County 7-0 on Saturday.

Charleston wound-up winning 11-1 over Scott County to claim the regional championship and advance to Jamestown, New York for the Babe Ruth World Series. The World Series will is from Saturday, August 4 to Saturday, August 11.

Playing strong defense, along with having the bracket come out in their favor is how Minner described Charleston’s play throughout the four-day stretch.

“Ultimately, it played out in our favor,” Minner said. “We were the best team there, so the best team’s moving on I think. We talked about, we had to do some things well going out there, and we pitched it really well. We played unbelievable defense, we turned a bunch of double plays, just did all the little things defensively and on offense, stayed true to form. We hit the ball, put the ball in play, played hard and put a lot of pressure on defense, and good things happened for us all weekend.”

At the beginning of the season, Minner said that his goal for the team was to make it to the World Series.

Minner added that traveling to a place where most of his team may have never been before, along with playing in a stadium where former major league players have played will add more memories.

“At the beginning of the year, our goal was to get to Jamestown,” Minner said. “This is kind of a new place; sometimes the World Series winds up in places that you’ve been before. You always want to win, but it’s a new place, new experience. It’s an old minor league stadium, that’s got some really, really cool history behind it. A lot of great major leaguers have played there. It’s a really, really neat stadium. That’s cool for our kids, to get out of Southeast Missouri, and you get a chance to travel there. I’m not sure if anybody in our group that’s going has ever been to New York, so we’ll get an opportunity to make a really cool trip together and make some more memories.”