Tourney attendance highest in 58 years

By: 
Chuck Kajer, The New Prague Times

Plato’s Kyle Panning (4) was a Blue Jay in flight as his team celebrated winning the State Class C Baseball Championship at Memorial Park Stadium in New Prague Monday, Sept. 3. The tournament, played in New Prague, Shakopee and Jordan over three weekends, drew 17,349 fans, the most in 58 years. (Chuck Kajer Photo)

 

The 2018 Minnesota Amateur Baseball State Tournament concluded Monday, Sept. 3, with an 8-5 win by Plato over Sobieski for the Class C championship at New Prague’s Memorial Park Stadium.

The game, the last of 29 to be played at New Prague, concluded five years of work to land, prepare and host the annual tournament, along with co-host Shakopee and third site Jordan.

In all, 70 games were played over 10 days covering three weekends. Sixty- four teams competed and two champions were crowned. Chanhassen won the Class B Tournament with two wins over Miesville on Monday in Shakopee.

Local tournament organizers were pleased with how things went, and so were the participating teams and the Minnesota Amateur Baseball board, which had many nice things to say about the host cities.

Attendance for the tournament totaled 17,349 between the three sites. That was only the fourth time since 1960 that attendance topped 16,000 and was the most since 1960, when Springfield hosted the tournament. The 2018 figure topped the 1998 tournament total of 17,346, when Hamburg and Chaska hosted.

Locally, New Prague had 8,178 for the 10 days. That included 1,429 on Sunday, Aug. 26, when four area teams - New Market, New Prague, Faribault and Belle Plaine, all played separate games, and 1,642 for Saturday, Sept. 1, which included New Prague’s final game of the tournament. Paid attendance for the championship game on Monday was 667.

Until the final day, weather was hardly a factor in the tournament. There were just two rain delays during the tournament, a one-hour delay between games on Friday, Sept. 24, and a 10-minute delay during New Prague’s second-round game on Sunday, Aug. 26. The championship game, however, had a 90-minute rain delay in the fifth inning. That delay gave a chance for the field maintenance crew to show off their preparation, as they spent about 20 minutes getting the field back into game shape. Both teams commented on how well the field....

To see more on this story pick up the September 6, 2018 print edtion of The New Prague Times. 

Category:

Publication:

Suel Printing Company

Copyright © Suel Printing Company
All Rights Reserved
200 Main St E
New Prague, MN 56071

Phone: 952-758-4435
Fax: 952-758-4135

Latest articles

Thu, 03/28/2024 - 11:40am
Thu, 03/28/2024 - 11:33am
Thu, 03/28/2024 - 10:00am
Tue, 03/26/2024 - 4:12pm

If you would like to receive a FREE digital edition with a paid print subscription please call 952-758-4435.