The Quad Cities Baseball Association 14-and-under team had high hopes for the 2012 season.
The squad had a solid year but fell short of its goal of a state tournament berth with regular-season losses to Mankato, WEM, Eagle Lake and Maple River, finishing 8-4 in league play. The overall record was 11-10, with half of the losses coming in tournaments to teams at least a year older.
Highlights included beating state tournament entrant Nicollet twice, in the JWP Tournament at Waldorf and at New Richland’s Legion Field. Those games were won with tough pitching, solid defense and clutch hitting. Nicollet (11-2) and WEM (8-3) represented the league at state.
The locals went 1-1 in the league tournament at Owatonna, defeating Albert Lea and falling 10-9 to WEM.
The team’s top hitters this year were Wyatt Fitterer, Brody Hanson, Trey Hoppe, Zeke Erickson, Dempsey Tucker and Palmer Peterson. Leading the pitching staff were Tucker, Eli Lutgens and Luke Overgaard. The rest of the team included John Cole, Clayton Nelson, C.J. Schiltz (whose season was cut short by injury), Jack Skalicky, Karter Sletten and Trai Wicks.
Coach Tom Schiltz, assisted by Jim Peterson, would like to thank all the parents, his wife, Tricia, scorekeeper Tina Hoppe, photographer Nikki Erickson and the following people for helping during practices: Jeff Reese, Al Shultz, Noel Hoppe, Bill Webster, Jim Lutgens and Todd Fitterer.
