Parkway’s Crosley Triplett gets down for a slide into home and a score for the Panthers. (Press Pros Feature Photos By Julie McMaken Wright)
The Minster Classic pulls back the curtain on the village’s residents, revealing their commitment to local youth sports, and relentless positivity.
By Alan Brads for Press Pros
Minster, OH – Minster, like Nebraska, may be best known by outsiders for its agriculture, or not known at all. But in the case of Minster, its best product is not its corn, but its people, and what they stand for.
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The Minster Classic, Ohio’s largest little league tournament, proves that to be true.
Alan Brads is a journalism student at Cedarville University, and writes sports at large for Press Pros.
It’s evident from the moment you pull into the parking lot that Minster cares about youth baseball and softball in a way that most of the country stopped caring years, or even decades ago.
The complex is exceptional. I’ll speak more soon on what made the environment so perfect, but for now, I’ll just say, Minster cares, and it shows. Money talks, and I doubt the park built itself.
Despite playing host, Minster’s baseball teams got roughed up a bit on Friday. The 8U squad lost 2-12 to Fort Recovery, but bounced back in a bat-clanging 20-15 win against Delphos St. John’s. The 9U team fell 15-0 to New Bremen, 11U clipped Fort Recovery 2-1, and 12U lost to Russia 7-2.
Minster’s Wuebker caught between second and third base and makes is safe back to second.
Even on a day that could’ve gone a little better for the Wildcats, players like Kai, the first baseman and leadoff hitter of the 8U team, found reasons to smile.
“We’ve been playing really good,” Kai said. “But today we were a little scared because of the first inning when they got hits.”
Perhaps they had reason to be timid. Those same squads faced off in the championship a year ago, and the Indians came out on top.
“My favorite part about this tournament is that it’s really competitive, and it’s really fun,” Kai said.
He wants to keep playing baseball in high school, like his favorite Minster player, James Niemeyer.
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Wildcat softball dominated the diamond Friday, staying hot on the bats at all ages. 10U crushed Fort Recovery 12-1, 11U beat Coldwater 9-3, 13U took the lone loss to New Bremen, and 14U fended off St. Henry for an 8-5 win. Any varsity MAC softball coaches in attendance today surrey have realized the difficult task coming down the pipe.
Minster doesn’t put together elite high school squads by accident. Like other schools in the region, they prioritize youth baseball, and they’re picky about how it’s done. In the age of maximizing the monetization of everything, Minster took a stand.
Parkway Panther, Maddox Matthewson winds up for his next pitch.
They say it loud and clear on the website:
“NO SELECT TEAMS – all players MUST be from the same school district.”
Whether explicitly or implicitly, Minster, among others in the MAC and SCAL, has told the fancy travel ball folks that they’re not interested in setting up a system to maybe rake in a few more bucks. The currency of the United States may be the dollar, but the currency of West Central Ohio is championships. Anyone who has watched Marion Local football, New Bremen volleyball or Russia basketball lately can tell you how clear it is that those kids have played together since before they learned to multiply.
And funnily enough, I don’t think a single parent wished only the best 10-year-olds played on their son or daughter’s team. Instead of creating superteams, kids play with their best friends, who will likely continue to be their best friends through high school, and for some, their whole lives.
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Local baseball gives us stories that travel can’t, like that of Roger Boeke, one of the Minster Classic’s founders. He established the tournament when it included just 32 teams, and his son played on Minster’s 13U team. 23 years later, his son’s son stepped to the plate for Minster’s 8U team.
That’s not to say select baseball is evil and has no place in the world, but there’s something to be said for the organic human connection of kids from the same town on the same team.
Sliding head first, this New Bremen runner scored the 6th of the 6 runs allowed in an inning.
Even when a competitive tournament resulted in losses for Minster, the parents and kids kept it positive, because that’s just how they do things.
One of the joys of writing sports in West Central Ohio is that even though the many towns I have the privilege of visiting are so much alike, they each still have their own fun and unique flavor. Minster’s flavor is positivity.
The first story I ever wrote for Press Pros magazine took me on a trip to Minster for a two-touchdown win over Fort Loramie, where I was impressed with their blend of in-game intensity and post-game humility. Almost a year later I’ve been hard-pressed to find a community as positive as Minster. I’ve seen them win big, and I’ve seen them lose big, I’ve seen them rally around an injured quarterback, and support a top-wideout-turned-quarterback. But no matter what they face, the community always keeps it about the kids, and squints their eyes until the glass looks half-full, maybe even a bit fuller than that.
That’s the Minster way.