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Madison set to welcome VFW State Tournament
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By ARIY-EL BOYNTON, Sports Editor
| 07/29/2010 |
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Madison's Crazy Days will get even more visitors in town due to the eight-team 13&14-year-old VFW Baseball State Tournament being held this weekend at Flynn Field.
The first event of the weekend will be a coaches meeting at 9:30 a.m. on Friday at the 4-H grounds. Tournament director Paul Hansen and others will give the ground rules and other important information.
There have been countless hours put in beforehand to make the tournament a success.
The VFW Madison Maroon coaches, Todd Williams and Chris Giles, made the pitch for the state tournament to come to Madison. Team manager Susan Williams has taken several pages of notes at several meetings and has secured the national anthem singers for the weekend. As a group, they have acquired the services of many volunteers from the Madison area.
The VFW, with the help of Richard Stearns, will provide the Color Guard for all games.
Local businessman Darin Namken has helped to create a 32-page brochure. Namken and Infotech Solutions will give fans access to a webcast of every game.
"Everything is looking good. We are looking forward to representing Madison," said Hansen.
KJAM Radio employees and Keith Bundy will announce the games. Mike Miller, head crew chief, and several helpers will keep Flynn Field looking its best for all games. Hansen said that Scott White did a great job of mowing Flynn Field on Wednesday.
"The show's ready to start," said Hansen.
One of the tournament favorites, Parkston will start action on Friday against Dell Rapids. Parkston is the Region 3 champion and was one of two teams to go 4-0 in their region. Dells Rapids is the Region 2 runnerup and was 2-2 in the region. Dells Rapids defeated Crooks and Colton in the region.
The winner of the Parkston/Dell Rapids game will take on Beresford or Groton, who will tussle at 2:30 p.m. Beresford is the Region 1 champion and went 4-0 in the region, scoring 47 runs in the tournament. Groton downed previously-unbeaten Madison and went 3-2 in the region. Groton was the Region 4 runnerup.
Between the second and third games on Friday, the VFW will give all eight teams and their coaches a welcome ceremony.
In the 5:30 p.m. game, Dakota Valley, Region 1 runnerup who downed Vermillion, Canton and Lennox in the region, will face Humboldt, who won the Region 2 championship. Humboldt is also referred to as West Central or Hartford-Humboldt. They downed Crooks 17-2 and then downed Dell Rapids twice on their way to the region crown.
Region 3 runnerup Chamberlain, who lost two games in the region by four runs or less, will face the Madison Maroon at 8:30 p.m. Chamberlain went 2-2 in the region.
The Maroon is 25-1 on the season and is the Region 4 champion. They are making a return to the state tournament, as are Parkston, Humboldt and Groton. Madison was 3-1 in the region.
On Saturday, the loser-out games will begin at noon and 2:30 p.m. The winners-bracket games will start at 5:30 and 8 p.m.
On Sunday, the tournament will have a fifth-place game, a third-place game and the championship. If a team loses on Friday or Saturday, they are eliminated.
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