CVL All-Stars just miss defending championship
Sports reporter
The 12-and-under CVL All-Stars didn't have to win, but they did anyway.
Normally, a team would have to capture the district title to compete in the Cal Ripken state tournament. But as a rule, any team that plays host to the tournament is exempt from having to be district champs.
It didn't matter.
The All-Star team, made up of kids from Marion, Hillsboro, and Chase County, won the district tournament anyway.
The team prepared to defend its state title from last year at the Marion Baseball Complex against seven other teams from across the state.
Six ballplayers from Marion competed July 22-26, falling just short of a repeat with a second-place finish: Adam Maag, Isaac Hett, Brian Fruechting, Cody Wildin, Dillon Wildin, and Wil Case. The boys were coached by Jay Talkington of Chase County, Shawn Edwards of Hillsboro, and Casey Case of Marion.
Wil (.615) and Brian (.600) led the team in batting average during the six-game tournament. Every ballplayer from Marion had at least one RBI, with Case knocking in five.
Cody Wildin and Fruechting both recorded a victory as pitchers during the tournament. Cody racked up 16 strikeouts in just 10 1/3 innings.
Wil, Brian, and both Wildins have been playing on a team managed or coached by Case for eight years. All four also were on the state championship team a year ago.
Heath Hill of Marion, who was absent from this year's team but on the state tournament team last year, Isaac, and Adam have played off and on for Case the past eight years.
This was the last time the boys will be playing together before moving up to the Babe Ruth league format. That means playing on a team of 13-to 15-year-olds, leaving these kids at the bottom of a team stacked with older players.
It also means going from 50-feet pitching mounds and 70-feet base paths, to major-league standard 60-feet six-inch mounds and 90-feet base paths.
Coach Case said it's possible if enough kids come out next year an extra team could be formed just for the 13-year-olds. But even if that doesn't happen, the boys have a championship and runner-up finish they will always remember.
Not bad considering the last time a team with players from Marion won a state title was 20 years before these kids were even born.
