To the editor:

On behalf of the Kansas Babe Ruth and Cal Ripken Baseball program, I would like to say thank you to the City of Wellington and more importantly to the Wellington Recreation Commission for a job well done.

From July 11-15, Wellington hosted the 12-year old State Tournament and did a fabulous job! Cimarron River (Liberal) was the State Champion as they were undefeated and were winning 10-4 when I had to suspend the game for rain.

Mid-Kansas All-Stars took second place and Stevens County (Hugoton) was third place. You couldn’t ask for better ballgames from some great teams. Other teams involved were: Paola, Wellington, Derby, Osawatomie and Fort Scott.

There are many people to thank, but let’s start with the leadership of Tanner Ford. Tanner served as Tournament Director and had many great helpers who stepped up to the plate and hit a home run. Tanner did a great job in hosting his first State Tournament.

He made sure the teams got everything they wanted and needed! Juanita Avalos was the official scorekeeper for the whole tournament and did an outstanding job. She even got Paola into a Mexican restaurant late and they served the entire team. That even got her some Taco Bell one of the following days from the Paola parents.

She and I had a great time bickering throughout the tournament on MVP’s and WOW awards. But, she was keeping track of the best plays and the good players! The grounds crew did an unbelievable job getting the field back in shape to play after a downpour on Saturday night and all day Sunday. We did get the games underway Sunday night and played until 2:30 in the morning. We tried to get the games in on Monday, but more rain forced us to suspend the tournament.

All the staff from WRC who helped at the picnic, particularly Cody White who did all the cooking on the grill. That was one of the smoothest picnics I have been associated with. The Umpire in Chief, Dwight Ritter did an outstanding job with all the umpires and they were on top of their game.

Austin Treft who was Tanner’s helper all weekend did a great job in whatever was needed. Ronnie Metzen cooked and served the best breakfast for all the officials. The concession stand people were amazing and had some great food! I am sure I missed some other people that helped but it was a smooth, running baseball tournament!

All in all, it was great weekend for Wellington! Again, THANKS to everyone involved and hopefully the City of Wellington can entertain some more Babe Ruth or Cal Ripken State or Regional Tournaments in the future. Ultimately, the long-term goal would be to host a World Series at one point. Wouldn’t that be AWESOME!!!

Thank you,

Chad Knight

12-year old Assistant State Commissioner