Beloit Bombers had outstanding summer

BELOIT — Amidst the many tournament trophies and league titles, one major component of the Beloit Bombers organization’s summer stuck out to Beloit Youth Baseball Association president Matt Huffman.

Growth.

“We had a lot of firsts for some age groups,” Huffman said.

And that speaks not only to the development of the athletes, but also to the Bombers, whose job is to help mold Beloit’s youth into strong baseball players as a travel ball organization.

“It was a successful year on the field up and down our age groups,” Huffman added.

One of the biggest leaps around the ballparks this summer was at the 10U level, where manager Brian Walters helped lead a big turnaround for the Bombers.

“They only won one game last year,” Huffman said. “And this year they ended up grabbing a couple seconds (in tournaments) and picked up their first tournament win out in Baraboo, the last tournament of the summer. Wins and losses-wise, they did much better, which is a result of putting in some extra work. The kids believed a little bit more. More importantly, they flushed the rough season they had the first time around.”

Huffman said that the 9U squad had its fair share of struggles, but added that it may have been a result of the opponent selection.

“It was a good group of kids, but some of our tournament selections weren’t very good for them,” he said. “And they got bit by the rain bug quite a bit, so they didn’t get as many opportunities.”

The 11U Blue Bombers, managed by Jason DeZwarte, racked up a slew of tournament victories including taking first in Beloit’s season-opening bash at the Stateline YMCA Youth Sports Complex. They also finished first at tournaments in Waupun and Baraboo.

“They played in some advanced tournaments this year, trying to challenge themselves a little bit, and they succeeded in some of those,” the BYBA president said.

Huffman added that the Seth Frisbee-led 11U Red team, which had a second-place finish at a tournament in Wind Lake, “got much better statistically.”

“Both 12U teams got much better even with low numbers,” Huffman continued. “They had some kids they lost throughout the year, whether it be from injuries or other instances.”

The 12U Blue Bombers won Beloit’s season-opening bash along with first places in tourneys in Verona and Baraboo.

But where the Bombers saw the most success was undoubtedly the older age groups.

The 13U Bombers, managed by Makayla Edell, went 11-1 in league play and won a league title in addition to a tournament win in the season-opening bash and a second-place finish at a tournament in Sussex.

“They’ve struggled in competitive games over the last few years, but this year they jumped into the Badgerland Teeners League and did real well,” Huffman said. “And the same held true for our 14U Red.”

The 14U Red Bombers, managed by recently retired Beloit Memorial head coach Steve Johnson, was only formed as a team a few summers ago in a Bombers organization that usually strives on starting kids together on a team at 9U and keeping them with each other through 14U.

“They just started when they were 13,” Huffman said. “They were in the C Division in (the Badgerland Teeners League) for the 14U and they ended up winning their championship as the fourth seed.”

The 14U Red squad also had a second-place finish at a tournament in Oconomowoc.

And Huffman is very familiar with the massive success of the 14U Blue Bombers, which he is the manager of.

His squad won the season-opening tournament, took home first-place trophies from Verona, Wind Lake and Baraboo while winning the Badgerland Teeners League Championship in the B Division.

“They won six of their seven tournaments,” Huffman added.

And the BYBA president said that all of the strong results on the field will be very beneficial for the program.

“It’s good for recruiting,” he said. “We always say our ultimate goal is just to get better and the scoreboard takes care of itself. This was a year that that really held really true.”

And with the success of the older age groups, it bodes well for both Beloit Memorial and Beloit Turner.

Yes, both of Beloit’s high schools. Huffman didn’t beat around the bush about any doubts that the Bombers favor one over the other.

“The biggest misconception is that we cater to one high school or another,” he said. “Typically in the past, our numbers have favored more towards the township or Turner kids. And honestly, we’re still trying to figure out how we can get more of the city kids over here. In conversations we’ve had over the last couple of years with Steve (Johnson) or city parents is about that citywide softball that is put on over there. I believe that it’s no cost, so there’s probably a good number of baseball players over there. And it could be that when people hear travel baseball, they probably think there’s a ton of fees and so they don’t bother to check it out, which is unfortunate. We are certainly looking to increase those numbers every year. The ultimate goal is to better the kids, no matter where they go to high school.”

Huffman emphasized that the Bombers is one of the cheaper travel ball options that parents will find in the area.

“We’ve crunched the numbers,” Huffman said. “Our fees are $350, maybe $375 for the older kids. “We realized that we were actually losing money on every kid that signed up by the time we handed out all the equipment and paid for umpires and tournaments. The fundraising that we do really offsets that. We’ve done a phenomenal job over the past couple of years raising a lot of money, so we haven’t had to raise those costs at all.”

Along with the various tournaments, several Bombers squads got to play in some unique games.

The 10U squad played at Helfaer Field outside of the Milwaukee Brewers’ American Family Field.

“They usually get some Brewer tickets,” Huffman said. “They play baseball in the morning, and then they can go watch the game. They have that bonding in a hotel afterwards or with tailgating.”

The 12U Blue and Red Bombers got an opportunity to travel out to Iowa and play in the ‘Field of Dreams’ Tournament, with the Blue squad battling their way into the championship game of a tournament Sunday, earning the right to play on the Field of Dreams diamond in Dyersville, Iowa, the site of the namesake movie.

“It’s probably one of the best things that the kids will ever get to do,” Huffman said. “Most of the dads are the ones that know what’s going on out there. You try and have these kids sit out and watch that movie, and it’s not quite their cup of tea just yet. But it’s the memories that you can make out there that are just unforgettable.”

The Bombers also hosted their annual Wooden Bat Tournament at the YMCA Complex, where new metal bats are put away in favor of the oak and pine ones of yesteryear.

“The Bombers have been holding that the past ten years or so, so that was an easy one,” Huffman said.

And both 14U squads got an opportunity to play a game at ABC Supply Stadium, home of the Beloit Sky Carp.

What better to do than play at a Class A, minor-league facility that’s the best around,” he said. “We had great weather, great crowds and it was good baseball on a fantastic night at a pretty darn cool stadium.”

The Bombers brought several members of the community together, and that shined brightest when Chase Andrews, a member of the 14U Blue, was hit in the head with a fly ball at the tournament in Baraboo. Andrews assured his coaches he was fine, but he started to show signs of a head injury and a trip to the hospital where a CT scan revealed a brain bleed. He was transported to UW-Madison and had to undergo PT, OT, and speech therapists as he worked towards being discharged.

When Andrews was released and back home, the team came out to visit.

The GoFundMe page set up for Andrews currently sits at $7,520.

“We actually received some donations from other teams that we’ve played against,” Huffman said. “Milton has been like our rivals but our brothers because our games have been fantastic, and their coach reached out right away and said, ‘What can we do?’ We ran into a couple of teams in Baraboo, and they sent almost $800. Our team is our family, and our kids have all sent money to us, close to $2,000 worth.

“We did take the team over to see him, and I know he was glad to see us trying to get some normality back, but he’s still fighting. He’s still got some bumps ahead of him. But, the organization was great, and the people outside the organization made it even better.”

And Huffman hopes to continue to see numbers stay steady within the program as tryouts for next summer are already underway.

“The sign ups are over 100 now on pre-registration,” he said. Last year we had about 170 kids, so we’ll get a bunch when tryouts actually start. We’re hoping to be right around there. We are seeing an increase in what we call out of area kids. We do have the relationship with the Y, which allows some Roscoe kids to participate.”