Marion Local ten-year-old Will Moeller gets his money’s worth, scoring in Thursday night’s win over Minster in the ‘Minster Classic’. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
On Day 2 of the annual Minster Classic for community baseball and softball, a bunch of 10-year-olds from Maria Stein make the case for boys growing up together, playing together, and learning from each other.
Minster, OH – On day 2 of the Minster Classic Thursday, a slim young lady in a blue Marion Local T-shirt sought me out and introduced herself.
“I’m Marcia Moeller,” she said. “And I’m the new volleyball coach at Marion Local. Just thought I’d say hello.”
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We made pleasantries…about MAC volleyball, area volleyball, state volleyball, and the competitive legacy of everything Marion Local.
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“I have a son playing on the 10U team from Marion,” she added. “And he loves baseball.”
Of course I get cold chills when I hear young parents say they have kids who love to play baseball. Like the writings of the Apostle Paul, nothing gives me more hope for the future than to hear that a 10-year-old loves baseball.
“Tell me more about him,” I inquired. “And let me ask you this. Does his dad spend a lot of time playing baseball with him?”
“Oh he plays with him a lot,” she smiled. “They spend a lot of time on baseball.”
And as an aside, whether your child plays baseball or stud poker, nothing is more nurturing than dads who take their mentoring role seriously. If you question that, just compare the demographics where there is no father figure in the house. Boys respond to a male figure taking an interest in them, correcting them, and teaching them the skills with which to naturally assimilate with their peers. There is no substitute for a strong, positive male figure in a child’s life.
With that I set about watching the ten-year-old contest between Marion Local and Minster. And while there were age groups playing all over on Thursday, I’m typically interested in that 10 to 12-year-old age group after having a pro scout once tell me that that’s the age where early baseball accumen begins to manifest itself.
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“It’s where they begin to watch older players, see how they make plays, and try to imitate,” said former White Sox scout Joe Simpson. “That’s the age where the fire to play baseball really begins to burn.”
I won’t swear to it, but I thought of his words as I watched the Marion team race out to an early 10-0 lead over Minster. And they did a lot of things that led me to believe that somehow, some way, they were paying a lot of attention to baseball.
They came to plate swinging at the first pitch, because young pitchers are typically taught to throw a ‘get-ahead’ fastball for a strike on the first pitch. The Marion kids were raining line drives all over the field and over the heads of Minster outfielders.
They were aggressive on the bases, taking the extra base if a fielder was a indecisive or a step slow in making a defensive play.
If the pitch wasn’t in the strike zone they didn’t swing. They were willing to take a walk to get on base for the next hitter.
They played with a sense of joy, and comfort, as if they believed and trusted in each other. As Craig Stammen talks about so often…there’s nothing better than playing baseball with your friends. The Marion kids must have had those words written on the bill of their cap.
Marcia Moeller’s son, Knox, was the catcher for the Flyers, and handled the difficult duties of catching and blocking balls in the dirt with youthful skill and confidence.
“They play all day until they begin to fight and argue. Then things kinda’ break up for the day. But tomorrow they’ll be back playing again.” – Marcia Moeller
“Tell me more about your son and this group of kids,” I asked her.
“Well, my husband Phil coaches them,” she began. “So I’ve gotten to know them as a group. They spend a lot of time together playing baseball.
“As a matter of fact, we live in a sub-division across from the high school and every day there’s about 20 of them that show up every day and play baseball. Doesn’t matter if it’s hot, they’re out there in shorts and no shirts, sweating and playing baseball together all day. Matter of fact, the other day someone in car pull into the cul-de-sac and parked. He just sat and watched. When someone asked him if everything was alright he said, “I heard there was a bunch of kids here playing baseball together, and I was just interested to watch.”
She continued.
“They play all day until they begin to fight and argue later in the day. Then things kinda’ break up for the day. But tomorrow they’ll be back playing together again.”
And is this not the scenario that Stammen talks about so passionately when he says, “There’s nothing better than growing up, playing together and learning from your friends?”
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Later, after Marion had won in run-rule fashion, I asked Moeller’s husband Phil, about his observations over kids growing up in the community, playing and learning together, over the much-talked-about advantages of ‘travel’ and ‘elite’ baseball.
“They definitely learn from each other,” said Moeller. “The older kids teach the younger ones, they get on them sometimes, but they accept it and learn because they know and trust the older kids. They’ve grown up together. They comfortable together.”
They play with an enthusiasm as if unconcerned with the score. Minster’s ten-year-old pitcher chucks one Thursday against Marion Local.
To borrow from the oft-used phrase, even at the age of ten they ‘play for each other’, or at least for each other’s approval. And this is the essence of what Mike Wiss, Craig Stammen, and University of Nebraska baseball coach Will Bolt talk about when they extoll the virtues of learning from community baseball over the questionable virtues of better competition in ‘travel ball’.
“You learn to play through repetition,” says Bolt, whose Cornhuskers finished as the #2 seed in the this year’s Big Ten Tournament and earned their annual NCAA regional tournament berth as a host team. They finished the year with a 43-17 record.
“My problem with travel ball is there’s so many games and so little time for the simple repetitions that come from practice and just being together. That was my experience from growing up playing community baseball in Texas.”
“And when they’re together, they’re playing baseball,” smiled Marcia Moeller, who excused herself to go watch her other children playing in different age groups at other parts of the Minster complex.
Concluding, if you haven’t noticed Marion Local high school baseball is on the rise in recent seasons, this year earning a regional berth in the OHSAA tournament.
So, is there any coincidence between boys growing up together, playing multiple sports together, learning to trust each other, and learn from each other?” I asked Phil Moeller.
He shrugged. “Maybe. But that’s above my pay grade.”
The early returns say yes, Phil. And the long-term prospects are even more intriguing.
After the game stop by for a winning ‘Big Buy’ at The Spot, in Sidney…presenting sponsors of the 2026 Minster Classic.