Rod's Tuesday Ramblings 8/4/09

It was a frustrating year for the Pierre Rattlers amatuer baseball team. No so much wins and losses, as 17-7 is a nice winning percentage. But an early exit from the post season Sunday in the region tournament leaves one to wonder about next year. And next year, nobody is talking about just yet. Alot has to depend on numbers of players? Will jobs allow guys to take the time to play? And bodies get another year older and wear and tear can take it's toll. That's why you don't see baseball players playing as long of careers as say, slow pitch softball. Still this year provided some big numbers for several players. Tyson Lindekugel, the player-coach, finished the year with a .418 batting average with 12 home runs and 42 RBI's. Harry Decker had a .451 average with 4 home runs and 33 RBI's. And Michael Gardner, who was the losing pitcher against Brookings on Saturday for his first and only loss of the season had an ERA of 3.72 over 46 innings pitched, the most of any pitcher on the staff. Several Rattler players will have the opportunity to continue to play in the state tournament even though their team's season is over. Each amatuer team can pick up two players from other teams in their region. Lindekugel and Decker have been asked by Brookings while Tony Rislov and Kyle Kurth were asked by Aberdeen.