North Babe Ruth tunes up for tourney
You may think of it as the tournament before the tournament.
That’s what happened this weekend at the North Fort Myers Community Park as Babe Ruth All-Star teams throughout Southwest Florida came to play a tune-up tournament before the actual one this coming weekend at Veterans Park in Naples.
For the North programs, the results were mixed. Still it was a great opportunity for them, and all teams, to get some action under game conditions, try different things and put their players in positions where they will most likely succeed.
Not every team came this weekend. Naples and Punta Gorda passed on the opportunity. But teams from Sanibel and Cape Coral played some competitive games throughout the weekend.
Tom Dense, head coach of the U12 team and league vice president, which plays its games more like real baseball, said it was a perfect practice run.
“It’s good that North offered a free tournament. It’s an exhibition to get ready to play next week,” Dense said. “It also gives us a chance to correct some things and scout the other teams and see our pitchers.”
Many of the players on all teams had the opportunity to pitch an inning or two to show their stuff in real game conditions. What teams didn’t want to do was show all their cards this weekend, saving some surprises for the following weekend.
“I want to hold some of my cards, but I also want to practice real-game scenarios so they’re ready for them this weekend,” Dense said.
Starting pitcher Kannon Davis looked strong for North, as did Justin Baxter who relieved him.
As for the other teams, Dense was impressed with a young Sanibel team they easily handled in the opener before taking the field against Cape Coral.
“I don’t think they have a 12-year-old. They had a lot of 9-, 10- and 11-year-olds,” Dense said. “They’ll come around and my team needs to work a little more.”
“We didn’t expect to match up well with a team of 12 year olds. The expectation was to work on the fundamentals. We were hoping to get better this weekend,” said Chuck Phoenix, Sanibel coach. “We have a lot of work to do.”
The U10 squad didn’t quite fare as well, losing to Cape Coral 9-4 in their opening game before taking on Sanibel.
“There are no trophies or awards for this tournament. It’s just to get the kids used to the real thing,” said Joe Baublis, U10 coach and president of the league. “We hope this will shake out the butterflies. Next week will be the tell-all, see-all.”