Heat Advisory: Legion Baseball and ASA Softball

Amateur Softball Association (ASA) 18-under B State Tournament
American Legion Baseball District 15 Tournament Championship
7/17/10

Little did I know, the weather would be extremely hot. Since it was a Saturday, I packed up a cooler full of water. It was a good thing, because a heat advisory was in effect. The heat index reached 105-110 degrees in the afternoon.

The original plans were to head over to Clinton for their 7-on-7, and then on to Casey-Westfield. My body urged me to get at least 6-7 hours of sleep, so my planned 6:00 a.m. wakeup call was delayed. As I woke up, still very tired and run down, I changed my plans. It just didn't seem like a good plan to drive across the state (2-4 hours one way) to watch a few teams in a 7-on-7. They are great, but they are just practices against other teams. There is no line play, and I've heard so many stories of teams looking great in a 7-on-7 tournament, only to go winless during the actual season, or win just a couple games.

Directly in my immediate area was the ASA 18-under B state tournament, and the American Legion District championship. That was the plan, and after working on a few things and drinking my much needed morning coffee, I headed north at about 11:00.

First stop was back in Galesburg at Lake Storey Park for the ASA tournament. Before heading there, I picked up a bag of ice for the cooler at Casey's in Monmouth. I packed a liter bottle of water, along with a pitcher.

I went to the main diamond, which featured the Highland Orange Crush against the Chillicothe Blue Devils. It was the 4th inning, with the Blue Devils leading, 4-0. They would go on to win, 6-2. I talked with a Chillicothe fan, to get some names from the Blue Devils. Videos from the game can be seen at www.ihssn.net. I also talked with the head coach of Highland, to obtain a few names from his team.

It was shortly after 1:00, and there was going to be a short break, before the next game. The District 15 Legion tournament championship began at 1:00, so I headed up the highway to Oneida. Coming into town, it was the Oneida Homecoming. It took every ounce of energy to stay away from the carnival, where I yearned for some deep fried treats. I stayed strong! No elephant ears or funnel cakes for me. No corn dogs or lemon shakeups. In fact, I have not eaten any carnival food this year. That's a first!

The game was in the top of the 2nd inning when I walked up to the diamond. Logan Scott was starting on the mound for Galesburg Post 285. John King was Henry County Post 31's starter. The game was tied, 2-2.

Galesburg broke the tie in the 4th inning, with Caleb Weaver and Dalton Davis scoring to make it 4-2. Henry County crossed the plate in the bottom of the inning. Post 285 added two runs in the 5th inning. Caleb Weaver hit an RBI double and Jake Milligan had an RBI single.

Henry County closed the gap in the bottom of the 6th inning, trailing by a run, 6-5. One of the Henry County batters looked familiar. It appeared to be my cousin, Michael Atwell, not knowing he played for the Henry County Legion team. I walked over and talked with a couple Henry County dads, and sure enough it was my cousin, Michael. With other committments, he was making just his fourth or fifth appearance with the team. He was the quarterback for Geneseo's Class 4A runner-up last fall, and will be playing college football at Hope College in Holland, Michigan.

In my conversation with the Henry County fans, I asked what geographic area the team pulled players from. Most of the players are from Geneseo, with the team also having players from Bureau Valley, Princeton, and Wethersfield. Judge Ted Hamer is the Post 31 head coach.

Galesburg Post 285 opened up the scoring in the 8th inning, a frame that was highlighted by a Nick Milligan grand slam. Caleb Weaver later hit a solo home run, giving Galesburg a 15-5 lead. That would be the final score, sending Post 285 to the regional tournament in Moline next week.

After the game, I had a chat with Atwell, and then talked with Galesburg coach Steve Cheesman. 1590 WAIK will broadcast the Post 285 games next week at Moline. He was unaware what time the game will be, but it will be on Tuesday afternoon. The opponent will be the district winner from Jacksonville.

Afterwards, I headed back to Galesburg, to take in the championship game at the ASA tournament. I could feel the sunburn getting back into my car. All of my ice in the cooler had melted, sitting in the back of a scolding car.

It was Highland vs. Chillicothe in the championship game. This was a rematch from the game earlier in the day. It was hard to read the scoreboard, so I had to head back over to the umpires tent and talked with tournament director Ron Carr. He said that Highland was leading, 2-1. The game was in the 2nd inning.

One of the discussions in the tent was about the scoreboard, and how hard it was to read with the sun shining right on it. The other diamond has red lights, which are much easier to read, even with the sun. Apparently, the red lights are an extra $3,000.

I took just a few videos, where there was no shade. I was sweating profusely, and running low on water, and the skin was overcooked. From the 2nd through the 5th inning, I walked back and forth, taking some video and getting shade under the tent. One of the times I was walking back and passing the Highland dugout, one of the coaches was asking how my video content was accessed. I replied that it was free on my website, and they are just uploaded to Youtube. He relayed the information to the players in the dugout, and I heard one player exclaim, "They're FREE!" It is comments like that, that make all of the expense and time covering these events, worth it. Another comment about the videos came from coach Cheesman's wife at the Legion game earlier in the day. She mentioned she had never seen a video on Youtube, until her son, Legion player Carson Cheesman, showed her the video of his run driving single at the Leo Brunner Invitational two weeks ago.

The heat became too much in the 5th inning. That, and the fact I hadn't eaten since breakfast. I wanted to stay longer, but my skin began to hurt from the burn. The sad thing is, I have a bottle of sunscreen in the car, but don't like to wear it. I may have learned my lesson today. Yes, I understand not using it is dangerous, so I will be a little more careful in the future.