After two extremely humid days, Sunday’s cooler temperatures were a relief for players, coaches and fans at the 23rd Annual Youth International Baseball Tournament.

Monday, July 02, 2001

After two extremely humid days, Sunday’s cooler temperatures were a relief for players, coaches and fans at the 23rd Annual Youth International Baseball Tournament.

The championship trophy went to Mason City, Iowa, while in second place was the Rochester Spartans, third place went to the Mankato Gold team, Westfort, Canada, was fourth and fifth place went to Blue Earth. Hutchinson received the sportsmanship trophy.

The annual tournament is a time to reacquaint with old friends and to make new ones.

"This weekend is a time for families to get together," tournament director and Austin All-Star coach Gabby Weiss said. "This is an annual trip for some families."

Even grandparents come to the tournament. Hutchinson’s Mike Olson saw his grandmother make the trip from Fargo, N.D., to watch the 12-year-old Olson play.

"The best part of this tournament is each player gets to play at least three innings in each game," Weiss said. "The kids are having a good time; that’s all that matters."

Joel Heitner, the first-year coach for the Mankato Royals, was at the tournament for the first time.

"I brought 11 boys down with me," Heitner said. "We stayed at the Comfort Inn in Albert Lea. The boys entertain themselves. There’s a swimming pool. The kids like to wrestle and go swimming in the pool."

The big part of taking care of 12-year-olds is feeding them. Shelly Brady has two twin boys, Tyler and Andrew – who play with the Austin All-Stars, and she hosted two Canadian boys at her house.

"It has been constant feeding them," Brady said. "I fed them hamburgers, hot dogs, and Friday night we ordered two large pizzas. My two boys had to get to the games early on Saturday, so the Canadian boys slept in. They had a breakfast of doughnuts when they woke up. My husband and I have to wash the boys’ uniforms at night. We have had a full house, but it’s been a lot of fun."

Lidia Kirby of Austin has had two sons in the tournament the last few years. She was busy grilling burgers and hot dogs on Saturday afternoon with temperatures in the 90s.

"We didn’t host any boys this year, but we have the last two years," Kirby said. "Our kids established relationships with the Canadian players. One Canadian kid who stayed in our neighborhood, but not with us, came back this year asking about our family. The only thing about this tournament that can be hard is it is usually so hot."

The Canadian players were having a hard time with the humidity on Saturday and gallons of pop and water were consumed. Coaches were wetting towels and placing them on players’ necks to cool them off. Fans and players were cooling themselves with water from spray bottles.

The Canadian and Austin players were looking forward to the evening to gather at the Holiday Inn to go swimming.

"It is a fun tournament," Weiss said. "We started out SPAM days this year. Next year we will have this tournament in the thick of SPAM days. The Fourth of July falls on a Thursday next year and our tournament starts on the fifth. It should be fun."

Call Sheila Donnelly at 434-2214 or e-mail her at sports@austindailyherald.com.