"Christian nationalism" upsetting USA apple cart?

The image from Twitter is Jim Carey's caricature of Mike Pence. Pence is ever more being shunned by the main body of Trump supporters. "Christian nationalists" truly have a litmus test. They lament the failure of the Jan. 6, 2001, attempted revolution. Or was that just a "rehearsal?" Are you on board with that? Can you "sell" this to your children?

 

Can Christianity be re-captured by the truly benevolent and caring people of America? Don't you think this is a fundamental question this nation faces? We hear references to "Christian nationalism." We hear how our beloved faith has become perverted, made grotesque by getting interwoven with the January 6 assault on the capitol. 

Don't you worry about the kind of impression being made on our youth? A religion that is supposed to be loving, forgiving and concerned about the poor and afflicted has been co-opted. Co-opted by truly sinister forces, people willing to threaten murder and most likely commit it, if given the chance. 

A friend of mine echoed my exact thoughts a few days ago: It is difficult to stay interested in the Jan. 6 hearings because of how all of it just drones on. Let's say "ad nauseam." (And, I have learned to spell that word properly, not like "museum.") 

Let's say it's nauseating because it's so long after the Jan. 6, 2001, disruption, we tire of hearing the new questions getting asked, the new info getting confirmed. If Congress really cared about getting to the bottom of the attempted violent revolution, it could have summoned the proper resources in a timely way. It could be an existential question for America. 

Concerned as I feel, I am also developing some detachment. There is a sense of futility. The process slogs on. News tidbits are offered each day that are supposed to get us excited. But it's nearly July of 2022, for goodness' sake, and the mid-term elections are not far off. Not only that, there is a general consensus in the media that the Republican party will make gains in the mid-terms. In other words, there appears to be no stopping this train. 

If only we could get a super majority of Democrats at all levels of government for four years, we would achieve stability. At the end of four years, maybe we'd be sick of them. By then, maybe the Republican party will have learned better manners, to be more civilized. 

Check out your own friends and neighbors. Where are they at with their attitudes? Are they just impressed watching Trump on TV? He understands the power of television. Roger Ailes brought Bill O'Reilly on board because O'Reilly "understood television." Know what I mean when I cite "understanding television?" The unique power it has to shape our views? How the personalities onscreen project the illusion that you "know" them? You begin to put trust in them. They might seem relatable when they're on the screen in your home. Like Bill Cosby was for years and years. 

As for O'Reilly, he just became too messy with his personal misdeeds for even Fox News to keep around. Remember how O'Reilly used to suggest he was "one of the folks?" Illusion. It's like Hollywood being the "dream factory." O'Reilly had to pay out something like $32 million to avoid a sexual harassment lawsuit. Ailes who ran Fox News for a long time got in trouble in a like way. 

So these are the people who managed and manipulated the kind of messages that get into our living rooms now. Trump was a master of TV before he declared for the presidency. The flim-flam man has something to sell for people who will buy it. Do you think Trump is motivated by even one ounce of benevolence? He is the antithesis of humility, obviously. "Ike" Eisenhower had an outlook of "giving credit to others, taking blame for myself." And wasn't Ike the epitome of honor? And of real manliness? And Trump ought to impress you as 100 percent the opposite. 

Yet a major portion of our beloved Christian faith in America has bought into him. We see the phenomenon right here in the Morris area. Apostolics have driven around with "Trump" flags flapping in back of their pickups. Oh, along with "Keep America great." As if skeptics of Trump do not want America to be great. 

Elect Trump again and you'll see more tax favors done for the richest one percent, maybe just a fraction of the one percent. This is well-known, yet so many rank and file American fall all over themselves to stay on the Trump train. To trumpet "election fraud" in connection with 2020. And if they don't exactly support what happened on Jan. 6, 2001, their attitudes are mild about it. They feel stronger in the negative about any Democrats involved in the process, or "traitors" like Liz Cheney. 

 

Pence cast adrift

Doesn't Mike Pence look pathetic now? He has been thrown overboard by the Christian nationalists. What if Pence's own family had been violently attacked or killed on Jan. 6? Such was the sentiment. Pence knows his standing now. He did not attend the 2022 Faith and Freedom Coalition annual conference in Nashville TN. I love Nashville so I think it's unfortunate the event was held there. Pence now knows he best not show his face there. 

Trump still rules with a significant chunk of America, and a major portion of people who call themselves "Christian." Ron DeSantis has like standing. 

What if Karen Pence had been beheaded on Jan. 6? Instances of this have happened through world history. If the attempted coup had succeeded, and if an autocracy had truly been established, would the Morris area Apostolics and other basically like-minded "fundamentalists" really be satisfied, or would they find it's too late to wake up about all this? 

The coup supporters are such hard-line people, they do not accept dissent at all. They consider dissent to be treasonous. And I think they are prepared to punish this kind of treason with death. Congressman Jim Jordan has appeared to suggest as much. This kind of thing started happening with the Nazis. How would our news media cover it? I mean, the ones who would dare try to cover it? 

Once a sinister type of revolution like this gets started, we can find it's too late to restore order. It's like the horse "Boxer" in George Orwell's book "Animal Farm," who found it was too late to fight - he had gotten old, worn out from overwork and too weak. Is that the kind of America we are headed to?

I attend an ELCA church, so does that mean I will go to hell, in the eyes of the people I am criticizing here?

 

Reprise of my poem

Here once again, my lyrics or poetry about the Jan. 6 incident. Thanks for visiting this blog site. 

 

"January 6 Lament"

by Brian Williams

 

A place where cherry blossoms

Adorn the public space

Is where we should be solemn

And not be moved by hate

So why should we be hearing

The call to "hang Mike Pence"

We should have been more leery

Of those devoid of sense

The new year was just dawning

A placid winter scene

We all should have been yawning

And followed our routine

But MAGA stoked the fire

Of riot and revolt

The denizens conspired

To give us all a jolt

We thought we might be dreaming

With manufactured fears

There just was no believing

A travesty so weird

But there it was before us

A crowd that wanted blood

An insurrection chorus

They moved as if a flood

Behind it all a grifter

Just pulling all the strings

He had his fans atwitter

To blow up everything

And though he said "be peaceful"

It would not rule the day

On top of all the evil

It was just CYA

The siren song of Fox News

Had wafted far and wide

And Newsmax had its own views

Dispensing fear and lies

We had been teased on TV

And let it all take wing

Like football players kneeling

As if that was a thing

So many came to foment

A riot in its name

The image of one woman

Just lingers like a flame

Her name was Ashli Babbitt

So loyal to the cause

She saw her chance and grabbed it

There was no time to pause

She came from California

Traversed the USA

To show her love of MAGA

She would not be delayed

She had been in the Air Force

A patriotic stance

But something caused a new course

A QAnon romance

So Ashli had a vision

She shared with all her folks

Of going on a mission

To nullify the votes

A window had been broken

The chance to move was there

The president had spoken

He urged them all to dare

A sea of discontented

Now why were they so mad?

Their feelings were cemented

Behind a single man

The signs were all around them

That Trump was not their friend

They could not seem to fathom

He's just about himself

So Ashli was a victim
A cop just had to act

Her family rued her mission

She should have just stayed back

We feel for Ashli Babbitt

Her soul resides in peace

Could she not understand it

The cesspool of deceit?

An epilogue is needed

Of justice breaking through

To see a man defeated

Who showed us he's a fool

There is still time to salvage

The best of who we are

To neutralize the damage

And clear away the scars

I pledge allegiance to the flag

In the "thick" of things with mowing

My front yard with downed trees from "derecho"

It's a year in which summer seems never to want to take hold. We hear about the unique things that are happening because of climate change. I noticed another one a few days ago. 

My grass had gotten to a typical height where I consider cutting it. Let's use the correct term for a certain type of mower: it's "walk-behind" mower, not "push" mower. "Push" might suggest those borderline antique things that have no motor at all. The Cyrus Post Office had one of them, as of a few years ago. I shouldn't say "no" power because the power came from human exertion. 

So my powered walk-behind mower was set to go a few days ago. I had previously mowed with my rider. Now I wanted to give the lawn more of a "haircut" where I'd get to the base of trees better, that sort of thing. My walk-behind had just had the carburetor cleaned. 

Word is, the standard unleaded gas has higher ethanol these days and this is bad for small engines. There's an alternative fuel which I hear is available at only two places in Morris. A friend tells me it's "oxygenated" but I think he might have meant "non-oxygenated." Whatever, it all gets confusing even after one has consulted the Internet, and that's unusual. My response to my friend this morning:

 

One question again about the gas for mowers: The "gold pump" gas at Jerry's, is that oxygenated or non-oxygenated? I think you meant non-oxygenated. I have tried researching this using Internet but no matter where I look, I just get confused. Usually the Internet helps boil everything down, but not with this. And what about the term "premium?" Then we get into octane levels etc. I just want to know what pump to look for. What's it called? Whatever, I think I might just sink or swim with gas from Casey's. Just get a new mower every three years or so, if I have to.

 

Whatever fuel you settle upon, it appears there are pluses and minuses. What about the old days when you just went and bought "gas?" Everything in life has gotten too complicated. 

Is the ethanol content of the unleaded gas a government-mandated thing? To help the farmers? Farmers don't seem to face much risk these days. It's not at all like the days of old. There was a time when farmers fretted to the point of irritation. We had to feel for them, but still. It appears now we have "over-corrected" for the farmers. They'll claim they still face some issues because that's human nature. No class of people will ever say they have it made. They're still looking around for favors. 

But it appears farming has developed to where it's quite risk-free. 

If the ethanol is creating problems with small engines, I wish the government would end any special policies that are contributing to this. The government could just straight-up pay the farmers. Pay farmers for not growing something? Is there any precedent for that? 

I'm just shrugging and continuing to buy the unleaded gas. So a few days ago I cranked up my walk-behind and was game to take on the grass. I consider my mower to be quite good enough. This was a first-time experience at my property: the grass was too think and moist to be tackled by your average walk-behind mower. It would stall and kill after a few seconds. 

I cranked up my rider again. The rider could overcome this, thank goodness. So I charged forward in the rider, ensuring that my property would continue to have a civilized look. People can give me a pass for having two downed evergreens in the front yard. Scenes like that are common now. The "derecho" passed through. Have you ever before heard that term applied to local weather? Almost certainly we are seeing climate change. 

There's a home on east end of my neighborhood where a fallen tree is still pressed up against the side of the house. I'm surprised it has not been attended to. Have the occupants of the home been gone? This is Morris, after all, a town about which I have joked that "we're going to be gone" should be on the water tower. So who knows? 

 

Cultural shift

In the old days we'd all know each other's business better. There was an up side and down side to that of course. The early days of my neighborhood saw everyone very open and friendly with each other. There is nothing un-friendly now, but we've all sort of withdrawn into cocoons - people everywhere have. You hear the joke or irony about how we don't even know our neighbors anymore. A stone's throw away. I only observe that norm because it is the norm. I would not mind at all having more open relations. But when in Rome, do as the Romans do. 

Sometimes when we feel inhibitions, we send emails! Emails are like a refuge for when we really feel we need to communicate with someone. My theory is that it feels safe because we're not demanding immediate feedback. We say what we need to say, then it's up to the recipient how, or if, to answer. I have the email addresses of three of my closest neighbors. They have proven useful at times. 

Telephone is a whole different proposition than in the old days, because so many people opt not to "pick up." You must realize that in the old days, standard behavior was to just "answer the phone" when it rang. The norm began fading because of telemarketing. And then we decided we liked the "cocooning" stance of not being as available. People my age will remember the transition. I am 67 and have the perception of a "boomer." 

My generation has always been so powerful and trend-setting. Are we prepared to relinquish some of that? The time has come, and in fact is probably already here. The boomers will have a storied place in American history. What made us unique, shockingly so in some respects? I will distill that answer down to one chief thing: we were the first U.S. generation of kids to be marketed to. Marketing is manipulation. It made us cynical. It made us smart alecks. 

The world cares less and less about what we have to say now. We are becoming relics, though surely we are in denial about that. Inevitably we will pass from the scene. 

 

Music video as time capsule

My 50-year high school reunion is next summer. Ah, the transitions we have seen. I was reminded of three of them when I called up an old music video recently. What a delightful video: "Born in East L.A." from Cheech and Chong. It's not a "stoner" thing. It gets humor from illegal immigration, which I think is taken far more seriously now. The video made an impression on me because right at the start, there are three things that are very dated. 

At first, the singer coming out of his home is struck in the chest by a newspaper tossed by a "delivery boy" on bike. Newspaper delivery boys! From the days when they were oft-seen, considered a normal part of the landscape. No Internet as of the year 1985 of course. I was 30 years old. 

Next we see the singer get distracted by two "shapely" women who he decides to fawn and ogle over. Quite dated! We bitterly object to objectifying women today. I welcome the new attitude. Had we activated our brains, we would have been concerned about how all the (apparently) non-attractive women felt about the fuss being made. But we don't judge women like that now, and if you insist to do so, please just do so in your private thoughts. Today we have #MeToo of course. Sometimes it gets carried away, but on the whole it's constructive. 

Sometimes I feel for someone like Garrison Keillor who, frankly, just had the not-uncommon problem of being overwhelmed by his hormones. Am I subject to this? No comment. 

OK, still another dated thing from the Cheech and Chong music video: right after the encounter with the females, the guy goes to the corner store to get "a loaf of bread and box of smokes." Horrors. But this was when smoking was still quite accepted out and around, and even if the smoke irritated you sometimes, it was considered bad form to make a fuss about it. The law eventually took care of this. Restaurant owners were privately glad that happened. 

So here we are in mid-June of 2022 and with grass in the rather unique condition of being stubborn to mow, so that the standard "walk-behind" equipment won't work. If no rider, you might have to hire someone. I'm hoping to get the tree guy to my place soon. Maybe we'll have some normality by the Fourth of July. 

Don't forget that Donald Trump considers climate change a "hoax." Hey, he's still popular in Stevens County.

 

Addendum: I am hopeless for spelling "carburetor" without looking it up.

  

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Mariah Carey/Andy Stone schism tarnishes Christmas?

She's a sweetheart: Mariah Carey

There was a time in the history of the "Morning Joe" TV program that the panel was not fixated on hot-button politics. Not fixated on the partisan mudslinging and gamesmanship of the "Beltway." I pine for the days when the panel would discuss song-stealing lawsuits. They might go on for 20 minutes on such a thing. And it would be fascinating. 

I cannot rule out that the panel today (6/6/22) will touch on the Mariah Carey thing. I watch "Morning Joe" in bits and pieces now on YouTube. I am a "cord cutter" with cable. So maybe the "Joe" gang will talk about the breaking news of a new lawsuit in the alleged song-stealing world. But in general terms, let's accept that the direction of the morning program has plunged the depths of the incessant and depressing political posturing. 

What would they say about the song-stealing suit? There is an educated basis for speculating. This show and any other with a modicum of sensibility would say the lawsuit really has zero chance. That's based on the accepted principle that "you cannot copyright a song title." It's off the table, CW has it. But remember in the original "Star Wars" how the bad guy leader in the "Death Star" at the end was so convinced he couldn't be vanquished? A concerned subordinate approached him and said "I've studied the strategy of (the attackers) and there is a danger." 

The danger may have seemed negligible. But the Death Star blew up. So is there "a danger" for Mariah Carey and her operation with what emerged in the news the last couple days? And I'm not sure the news media should really make a big deal out of a "lawsuit" being announced. Silly rabbit, anybody can sue anybody. It does not prove anything. Massive coverage of a lawsuit like this actually has consequences affecting people. Carey might walk away from this untouched, but people will always remember the suit. They might suspect that even though she legally escaped, well, maybe there was something to it, a tiny bit. 

"There is a danger?" Let me explain: even though it's accepted judgment that a song title cannot be copyrighted, the case in question here has a somewhat special quality. Here it is: the length of the song title. Yes, it is an especially long song title. The longer the title or phrase, the less likely that the duplication was inadvertent. I didn't come into town on a turnip truck. This is an issue that deserves serious attention in this particular case. 

I don't think it is enough for the suit to succeed. Success would have difficult ramifications for the songwriting world. That world has faced headwinds just because of the fear of suits like this. Songwriters have been deterred from their craft by fear of inadvertent copying of a previous musical idea. The fear is that "inadvertent" won't be a good enough defense. Who wants to be sued? 

Songwriters had to pay attention to the Katy Perry case. Boy, if this wasn't a "firebell in the night" for them. And why does a jury even get to decide these things? Put a case like this in front of a jury, and those bozos will almost always side with the accuser. It's elementary: if an alleged song-stealing case gets so far as to be weighed in a courtroom, with jury, then the two songs under scrutiny must certainly have some similarities. 

But to cross the line into actual "theft" affirmation? Who wants to be accused and found guilty of theft? 

Mike Barnicle of the "Morning Joe" panel had to deal with his own issues of this kind from when he was columnist with the Boston Globe. Today he boils it down to a basic "joke-stealing" thing. Heaven help us if we cannot recycle jokes. Or song titles. 

I ply songwriting myself some, am proud to do so. And a long time ago I took the title of a Bill Chase number, "So Many People," a song I really liked, and re-processed it for my own totally original song. Mine is not on YouTube. It's filed away on a cassette tape. I had the demo recorded by an outfit in Canoga Park CA. My lyrics were styled after "Blood, Sweat and Tears" in that the theme was philosophical as opposed to interpersonal relationships and feelings. Well, enough about me - I just would point out how I can relate to the current news story re. Carey. 

Carey with Christmas theme

Carey is famous for "All I Want For Christmas is You." I gush with enthusiasm for this song and the original video. IMHO there was no need to do an updated video, but that's what people do nowadays. The original has an "archival" quality to it, but so what? It's a non-issue 100 percent. The original song and video complements the Christmas holiday season like nothing else. But hey, the song title is rather long. 

When it comes to alleged plagiarism in the writing craft, there is this guideline: up to six words can be coincidence, inadvertent. As soon as you get past six words, odds increase greatly that you are borrowing something. Not sure this even applies to the Carey case, because I'll state again that "song titles cannot be copyrighted." So unless that stance is going to be modified - shudder - Carey need not sweat. Much. 

But who wants to be sued? Katy Perry for the rest of her career might have to shake off the stigma of having been sued. The original judgment went against her. So there was considerable attention over that. The judgment was overturned on appeal. The basic melody was not even the crux of the matter. The crux was background stuff, so heaven help us all if that's a basis for winning a suit. 

The Perry song in question was "Dark Horse." Her initial setback was dealt by a cotton pickin' jury. A pox on them in cases like this. It took a judge to get everything straightened out. 

Sorry George Harrison, I cannot sympathize with you. There were two melodic elements, not just one, at question in his "My Sweet Lord" matter. 

Hey, didn't Harrison have a song called "Dark Horse?" 

Pick a number

Carey now faces a $20 million lawsuit, jaw-dropping and cause for media attention, right? So I might suggest that the damage is already being done her - not fair. It's all about money of course. 

Songwriter Andy Stone is the guy tossing the brickbat. He wrote a song with the same title five years earlier. But it's just a title. Yes, a title with a fairly long series of words by the standards of song titles. So is there a crack of an opening for success? Hmmm. I cannot decisively say "no" on that. So we'll see. 

The writer of Carey's song may well have been totally aware of the previous iteration if you want to call it that. If so, he might as well admit it. So what? I admit that I used "So Many People" but that's just three words. Copywriting song titles? Man, that would be an absolute sea change in popular music. 

Stone wrote his song under the name "Vince Vance and the Valiants." I have listened to it now. It is a very nice song. Endless new Christmas songs of high quality are written all the time. Ahem, I have written a few. 

I haven't read of anyone suggesting that Stone's song has any similarity with Carey's outside of the title. Sure enough I see none. But hey, Stone is going to get lots of attention now and his song will be called up by countless people out of curiosity. So maybe that's the whole idea? Take out "maybe." 

All I want for Christmas is no more lawsuits like this.

Shameless plug: my newest original song on YouTube is "Why Can't We All Get Along?" based on what's happening in Ukraine/Russia. The title is inspired by the words of Rodney King of the infamous Los Angeles traffic stop/beating. King was no saint but his "get along" words had/have staying power, don't you think? Why did I think of it? Bless you if you give a listen to my song. Here is the link:

https://youtu.be/7JEC2ot6t2o 

 

- Brian Williams - morris minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

MACA baseball gets complete game pitching

High school sports stays pretty vibrant over Memorial Day weekend. So on Saturday, the Section 3AA-North playoffs got into high gear. Some of the action was here in Morris. So the Tigers displayed a winning flourish. This was done twice. Each time there was a complete game pitching performance. 

Riley Asmus showed prowess on the pitching mound as MACA got past the West Central Area Knights. He was complemented by ten hits off the bats of orange and black batters. Our fielding was clean: just one error. The pluses added up to a 6-2 win. The WCA line score was 2-6-3. 

Asmus got all the backing he would need in the second inning: three runs. The Tigers went on to plate one run each in the third, fourth and fifth. WCA pushed across one run each in the first and second, then was stymied by Asmus and his mates.

The Asmus pitching story in the boxscore was: seven innings, six hits, two runs (earned), three walks, seven strikeouts. WCA pitching was done by Camden Anderson (the loser) and Colten Lindquist.

Brandon Jergenson was adept and fast on the basepaths with his five stolen bases. Wow! With the bat he had a two-for-three boxscore line. He also drew a walk. Ross Marty doubled as part of a two-for-four showing. He crossed home plate once. Sam Kleinwolterink went two-for-four with a run scored. 

Kyle Fehr stood out with his two-for-three line, two RBIs and a run scored. Brett Hansen doubled, scored a run and drove in one. Dylan Rose also socked a two-bagger, plus he scored a run. Asmus stole two bases, walked and scored a run. 

The WCA hits were by Cole Anderson, Bryce Kjesbo, Dane Anderson and Colton Lindquist.

 

Success again

Brandon Jergenson was up to the task of a complete game victory over ACGC. We are seeded No. 2. A close game had Jergenson and his mates edging the Falcons 4-3. Coach Kirby Sayles was smiling.

ACGC was the No. 3 seed. The Falcons are not eliminated. They will continue with a game against Minnewaska Area. Baseball and softball have the feature of double-elimination in the post-season. Double-elimination can make things a little complicated for the fans. 

The Tigers advanced to face Fairmont in Marshall. 

Jergenson overcame a pair of solo home runs with his Saturday work. These were off the bats of Logan Straumann and Jack Peterson. The Tigers led 2-1 after two innings. The teams exchanged runs in the third. The Tigers proceeded to score one run in the fourth, the run that made the difference. Our line score was 4-8-0 compared to 3-4-0 for ACGC. 

Jergenson in his full seven innings struck out six batters and walked one. He allowed four hits and the three runs that were earned. ACGC had two pitchers share the work: Jaxon Behm and Connor Barker. 

The hitting story for Motown had Kyle Fehr rapping two hits in as many at-bats. He scored two runs and drove in one. Sam Kleinwolterink also had the perfect two-for-two line. He drew a walk and scored a run. Jergenson hit safely and drew a walk. He also stole a base and scored a run. 

Brett Hansen was one-for-one with an RBI. Kaleb Breuer's bat produced a hit and he drove in a run. Riley Asmus added to the mix with a hit. 

Falcons who hit safely were Straumann, Peterson and Zach Bagley. The Falcons had advanced earlier in the day 2-1 over Montevideo. The game-winner came on a hit-by-pitch. The score was 1-1 in the seventh when Terrell Renne was HBP with the bases loaded.

Softball: post-season

Pipestone 14, Tigers 7

The Tigers of softball got on the ropes early in their Saturday game against Pipestone. The site was the Marshall diamond. It would be a long day of softball and unfortunately for the Tigers and their fans, a disappointing one. Our team got bested 14-7 in the day's first game. 

We got on the ropes early when the Arrows plated four runs in the first inning. Kyla Hubbing's single drove in two runs. The Tigers showed signs of life in the early stages with two runs in their half of the first. The Pipestone pitcher was wild. Our batters were patient and were rewarded with walks. 

Meanwhile our pitching was not fooling the Pipestone batters. The Arrows had 17 hits as they rolled up their 14 total runs. They got up 12-2 before MACA showed renewed energy, as we put four runs on the board in the fifth. With the score 12-6, an uphill battle certainly presented itself. We could not surmount. 

Sydney Dietz was a standout for the orange and black with a double and two hits total. She drove in two runs. Brianna Marty got a run across with a double. 

Pitching: Four players total were called on to pitch for MACA. Brienna Dybdahl had a three-inning stint. Coach Holmberg employed two eighth graders who got some nice seasoning - these were Haley Kill and Nora Boyle. The pair was touched for one earned run in three innings. This was the varsity debut for both.

Litchfield 3, Tigers 0

The green-themed Litchfield Dragons were next as the opponent for the proud Tigers. This time our defensive efforts were more solid: a mere three runs for Litch. But the Tigers got blanked. We fell 3-0 in the game that proved to be our season-ender. 

The pitcher getting kudos for Litch was Taylor Draeger. She allowed but one hit in her route-going performance. She walked just one batter. She set down six Tiger batters on strikes. 

Litch's offensive story is highlighted by one player: Izzy Pennertz. This Dragon singled to drive in a run in the first. Then she drove in two with a double in the second. So she drove in all of Litch's runs. 

Yasmine Westerman was in the pitching circle when the Dragons scored. Dybdahl came in to pitch and fared better, allowing zero runs in 4 2/3 innings. Our only hit was off the bat of Kortney Sanasack: a double in the third. 

Two losses in a day had to hurt, but consider the final W/L of the Tiger crew: 20-3.

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Tigers seize on passed ball to win at Melrose

We're coasting into the end of another school year. Today (Thursday) the weather is most pleasant with not a hint of wind. It lifts people's spirits, but we have had to wait so long for this. We plodded through dreary March and April and then dealt with the day out of hell for weather recently: a soaker in the morning, a wind straight out of hell later. 

So the weather is nice now, but for how long can we appreciate such conditions? 

High school sports faced adversity through the spring. Far more than usual, I would suggest, and the usual is challenging. This current week has been cooperative. Well it's about time. So prep teams have been busy. On Monday (5/23) the baseball Tigers visited Melrose. It was a hard-fought game that was captured by the Tigers, score of 3-2. 

The Dutchmen struck first with two runs in the first inning. We answered in the third with a two-run rally. Ross Marty came home on a Riley Asmus base rap. Brandon Jergenson scored on a misplay by the right fielder. Our run in the sixth proved to be the game-winner. A passed ball opened the door. It allowed Dylan Rose to scamper across home plate. 

The Tigers' line score was three runs, eleven hits and four errors. Yes, we had to survive some bumpy fielding. The Melrose line was 2-8-1. 

Brett Hansen pitched six innings to get the win. He struck out six batters and walked none. Melrose touched him for eight hits and he gave up two runs, earned. Drew Huebner pitched one inning in which he got two of the three outs by strikeout. He walked two and allowed no hits. 

The pitcher of record for Melrose was Devin Orbeck: six innings, six strikeouts, three walks, eight hits allowed, three runs (two earned). Max Wehlage pitched an inning and was touched for three hits.

OK let's look at the hitting. Here we have Kaleb Breuer with two hits, one of them a double, and he stole a base. Asmus went two-for-four, drove in a run and stole a base. Marty had a hit, a run scored and a walk. Jergenson had a hit and a run. 

Sam Kleinwolterink socked a double. Kyle Fehr had a hit plus he reached on hit-by-pitch. Trevor Buss added to the mix with a hit. Hansen had a one-for-three line, and Rose had a hit in his only at-bat while drawing two walks and scoring a run. So all in all, a day of positive highlights for coach Kirby Sayles' crew. 

The Melrose batters with hits were Orbeck, Connor Anderson, Ethan Frieler, Isaac Rosenberger, Wehlage and Breydon Dobmeyer. The Tigers came out of the day 15-3. At present we're all getting focused for the post-season.

 

True team track

One can get confused with the late-season track and field terminology. You might hear the term "state meet" but it's not the "real" state meet. Well, in a way it is because it's the Class A True Team State Meet. It's an alternative way of judging team strength. The idea is to accentuate team balance, quality across the board. And our boys team took ninth by this standard. Action was Saturday in Stillwater. 

Ethan Lebrija was No. 1 in the long jump. He was No. 2 in both the 100m and 200m dashes. Trey Hunt had impact in the dashes too: 10th in the 100m, eighth in the 200m. The shot put saw Evan Oberg in second and Monte Fehr in tenth. Oberg threw the discus to sixth place. Fehr was the No. 11 discus thrower. 

The exciting pole vault event had Kaden Bruns in third. Max Lietz took fourth in the triple jump. Blake Bruns was ninth in the 400 meters. The 4x800m relay team took eighth. 

Perhaps none of our girls finished high enough to be reported, unfortunately. I found no details.

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com