Players and families of South Salem’s 12U baseball squad are making flight plans and packing their bags, in preparation for the Cal Ripken Baseball Major/70 World Series in Branson, Missouri. The event runs from August 3rd through the 14th.
The Saxons are one of twenty teams from the United States who advanced to the big event at the monstrous, 1.2 million square foot Ballparks of America Complex, which features 2/3rd scale fields that are designed to look like historic major league fields in St. Louis, Chicago (Wrigley Field), Kansas City, Boston, and the old Brooklyn Dodgers facility at the long-since-torn-down Ebbets Field. South Salem won the state and regional tournaments to qualify; Oregon’s West Linn team is also playing in the series after winning the regionals for 11-year-olds last season, which gave them an automatic bid to the big tournament this year. In addition to the American teams, there are eight international teams which will also be competing.
Saxon Domination
The Saxons finished their season with an impressive record of 31 wins, 8 losses and a single tie. They outscored their opponents 182-14 in the post season, while hitting a sizzling .573 as a team.
Saxons manager Mike Sidwell says he has quite the complete team—with a group of kids who have mostly played together since the age of nine.
“We score lots of runs,” says Sidwell. “everybody on the team can put the ball in play, and that makes it easy to win games.”
“We have seven pitchers, and that makes us exceptional as most teams have three good hurlers to choose from.”
The team hit the ball well in the regional in Meridan, Idaho, beating teams by a minimum of eight runs in crushing the opposition in all six games. Pitchers combined to limit opposing offenses to just eleven total runs. In the title game, South topped Bitteroot, Montana 12-2 to clinch their trip to Branson.
Assistant Coach Kevin Scharer—a PE teacher at Leslie Middle School—agrees with Sidwell’s assessment of the team as a consistent unit on offense and defense.
“The players like each other and love to learn the game. We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses.”
Kevin’s son, Cody—the primary catcher and one of the top hitters for South with a .452 average—loves the team chemistry as well.
“We’ve been together for a really long time,” says Cody. “We have a really good defense, and when we get hot, we are hard to beat.”
Out of the seven pitchers on the team, Cody says Wyatt Timmerman, Kellen Bowman, and Sam Mosar standout on the mound as the top hurlers. Bowman had a perfect 4-0 record in the post season, with an ERA of 0.91 and 31 strikeouts. Bowman also leads the team with a .794 batting average. Closer Okton River, who normally plays center field for the Saxons, is the sole lefty in the rotation. River is also the team’s leadoff hitter, with a batting average of .567.
Sidwell credits his coaching staff for making the team so dominant. In addition to Scharer—a former McKay High and Willamette University athlete—the coaching staff includes Brent Timmerman, the former pitching coach for South High, and Scott Erwin, the first base coach and infield specialist. Parents Jimmy Ordaz, Sr. and Jeff Otjen also put in time at team practices.
“Those coaches are the key to our success,” says Sidwell with genuine appreciation.
“They keep the kids focused and enthusiastic. I take care of the other, organizational stuff.”
The Price of Success
Of immediate concern is raising money to get the Saxon team and family members to Missouri. The cost of the last-minute flights alone is about six thousand dollars per family of five. Needless to say, most families don’t have that kind of money lying around.
Sidwell says the initial fundraising efforts through the team’s GoFundMe page has been successful, but they could still use more donations to help with the other expenses such as meals and transportation. Costs for the team are estimated at $50,000. Click here for the link for that GoFundMe page.
World Series Play
Once they arrive in Branson for the Ripken World Series, the Saxons will start with pool play, which has five American groups and two pools for international teams. Australia, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Taiwan are in one international pool, and Aruba, Canada, Mexico and a Caribbean regional team are in the other. South is in pool C on the American side, and will square off against teams from Arkansas, Connecticut, Kentucky, and North Dakota—the team they face in their World Series opener on August 5th at 9:00 am.
Pool play winners will advance to the bracketed finals, playing against the other pool winners.
Cal Ripken baseball is a bit different from traditional Little League baseball. Base paths are a bit longer (70 feet) and the pitching distance is set at 50 feet. Teams also have ten batters. After this year’s Cal Ripken season, South Salem will move on to Babe Ruth baseball—which has hooked up with Ripken baseball for its older teams.
“Nobody really anticipated this last-minute summer vacation to play baseball,” says Sidwell.
“We plan to enjoy every minute of our time in Missouri.”