The 13AAA Waite Park Babe Ruth baseball team just won back-to-back state titles on two consecutive weekends.

On the weekend of July 13th, 2012, the Waite Park 13AAA team won the 32 team MBT State Tournament.  In pool play, Waite Park beat Waconia 7-4, Shakopee 11-0, and Farmington 17-5.  In bracket play, Waite Park beat St. Croix 6-3 and in the quarter finals beat Eastview 23-3.  Then Waite Park beat Burnsville 4-1 in the semi-finals before beating Osseo / Maple Grove 10-5 in the championship game to win the state title.

On the weekend of July 20th, 2012, the Waite Park 13AAA team won the 8 team 13U double elimination Babe Ruth State Tournament.  In the first game, Waite Park beat Baxter 20-1, then beat Brooklyn Area by a score of 14-1.  In the semi-finals, Waite Park beat the East Twins (White) 8-0, and then beat East Twins again by  a score of 5-2 to win the state championship.

The team has played in six tournaments this year.  They took third place in the Brooklyn Park tournament in May, then won the championship in the next five tournaments (including tournaments at Big Lake, Burnsville, and Brainerd).  The team is now 30-3 on the season and ranked #4 in the state, according to the June 28th issue of  “Let’s Play Baseball” 13AAA rankings. The new rankings will be made available August 2.

Up next for the team is the 13U Babe Ruth Midwest Plains Regional tournament in Gering, Nebraska.  The winner of the regional tournament advances to the World Series in Kitsap, Washington.

Players on the attached picture are as follows:

Back row: Bryan Backes (Coach), Tanner Brosh, Chris Backes, Jack Schramel, Camren Dehler, Joey Atkinson, Drew Amundson, and Mike Dehler (Coach)

Front row: John Atkinson (Manager), Keaton LeClaire, Reagan Garden, Peter Nelson, Sam Nelson, Dan Schoborg, Michael Petron, and Bill LeClaire (Coach)

(Information courtesy of Mike Dehler)

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