News and notes from the Babe Ruth tourney trail
CommentaryBy RAY WILDE, Sentinel correspondent
Last year, Mifflin County played both Potter-McKean and Ridley for the first time and won each game. Mifflin County defeated Ridley 8-4 on the 13-year-old level, while in the 14-year-old bracket, Mifflin County topped Potter-McKean, 9-2. This time, the tables were turned on Mifflin County as Ridley downed Mifflin County, 8-1, in the 14-year-old bracket and Potter-McKean edged Mifflin County in the 13-year-old tournament, 2-1.
For years, the dominating leagues out of District 1 (Delware County) have been Drexel Hill and Broomall-Newtown. When Ridley won the state title on the 14-year-old level, it marked the first time that a team from Dristrict 1 other than Drexel Hill or Broomhall-Newtown had won a state title in 26 years. In 1974, Chester Youth in the 15-year-old division and South Chester County in the 13-year-old bracket won state titles. District 1 used to include both Delware and Chester counties, but Chester County is now in District 6. Drexel Hill is the only current District 1 team to have won a 14-year-old state title, when it did in 2004.
Bernie Howard, Mifflin County's manager of the 14-year-olds as well as Lewistown West, had an overall managerial record of 36-3 this season. Howard's Lewistown team won 27 games in the regular season, added three more wins in the Bob Reigle Memorial tournament, four in the District 7 competiton and two more in the state tournament. The record for most wins in a season is held by Scott Reigle of Reedsville who had a 37-10 record in 2002.
Howard's overall mark is now 265-79 with an All-Star record of 57-17. He is now tied for sixth place on the all-time wins list with the Gary Fultz of Milroy, who had a 265-201 rrecord. Howard has won seven District 7 titles and has seven finishes in the state's final four.
With State College reaching the state finals in the 14-year-old bracket on Sunday, it expanded its Pa. record of having at least one of its All-Star teams reach the state finals in every season dating back to 1998, a span of 12 seasons. The second-longest mark belongs to Mifflin County's active streak that began in 2001. Mifflin County could extend that to nine if either the 15-year-old or 13-year-old team reaches the state finals.
The Mifflin County 14-year-olds outscored its opponents, 83-32. The 83 runs were the sixth highest for a Mifflin County 14-year-old team. Over the past two years, the current 14-year-olds (Class of 2010) have played 18 games and have a record of 13-5. Three of those losses occured in the final four as Mifflin County lost to the eventual state champ (Ridley) and eventual state runner-up (State College) in 2009 and fell to State College in the state finals in extra innings in 2008.
Scott Reigle, skipper for the Mifflin County 13-year-olds, will manage his 400th game his next time out. Reigle currently has a 285-114 record and manages Reedsville in the regular season.
Ray Wilde is a Sentinel correspondent.
