Posted: 7/16/03

Forest Lake team headed to nationals

Joe Drennan
Sports Editor

The Forest Lake 13-A traveling baseball team will be heading to Amarillo, Texas for the week of July 18-25, for what they are calling a ìdream baseball vacation.î

While in Amarillo the Forest Lake team will not be watching any pro baseball or touring training facilities. No. The boys will be playing in the AAU National Baseball Tournament. To earn a trip to the national tournament, the team took second at the Mendota Heights Tournament almost a month ago.

Since qualifying for nationals, the Forest Lake team had been busy doing everything it can to raise the money needed to make the trip. The players have washed cars at the ERA Muske Company parking lot, worked the American Legion Bingo tent at the Fourth of July carnival, and bagged groceries at the Forest Lake Cub Foods among other things.

ìPeople have been very generous,î assistant coach Lee Goodyear said. Goodyear has been in charge of the fundraising effort for the trip.

Head coach Steve Johnson said, ìit has been amazing support with the short period of time to raise that money.î It will be almost exactly one month to the day that the Forest Lake team will arrive in Amarillo from the day they found out they were going to nationals.

Johnson is coaching a team where he is not related to any of the players unlike many coaches at the same level. Before coaching the Forest Lake team, Johnson coached some high school baseball in Eau Clair, Wisconsin for Eau Clair North High School.

ìI believe we can compete with anybody,î Johnson said. ìWe lost to Oak Dale in the qualifier game 4-2, but you take away a couple of errors and we win that ball game.î

Since that loss to Oak Dale, the players have been feverishly trying to raise money so their parents do not have to dig deep into their own pockets to fund the trip. With all the fundraising efforts, the players still have to think about baseball.

In preparing his team for nationals, Johnson said, ìThese are 13-year-old kids so we stress having fun, and that you donít have to be a great hitting team. We are keeping the kids focused and teaching them that the mental game is important.î

The players are not the only ones who are excited about the trip to Amarillo. The parents of the players are just as much a part of the team as the players are. Sandy Dupont, mother of one of the players said, ìIt has been an emotional roller coaster.î

Although the players have been working hard on fundraising, the parents are a vital part of that. Assistant coach Lee Goodyear had been sending letters out to local businesses asking for donations, and says that the American Legion, VFW, and Forest Lake Amateur Athletic Association have been their biggest supporters.

The team will check into the tournament on Friday, before the opening ceremonies. Each team will be paraded out around the baseball field as the players are introduced with the flags of their respective states in an Olympic-like opening ceremonies.

ìIt will be a lot of fun for the boys,î Goodyear said.

The players have worked hard to earn a trip to the national championship tournament. At the start of the season they only had 3 solid pitchers according to Johnson. ìWe have taken some kids who havenít been pitchers in the past and helped turn them into pitchers, and that certainly helped us in the national qualifier,î Johnson said.

Before they can go up against the best the nation has to offer them, the Forest Lake team had to play in the state tournament.

In the tournament, the team went 0-3. ìWe just could not pull it together,î said Johnson. ìThe games were all one and two run losses.î

Despite the winless state tournament appearance, the team played well.
After their state tournament appearance, the team went to Cub Foods to bag groceries for the community. In the few hours they were there, the team received over $1,000 in tips.

ìThe community was awesome,î Johnson said.

Forest Lake coach Steve Johnson is looking forward to the national tournament and is not worried about his teamís ability compared to the others that will be there.

ìI believe we can compete with anybody,î Johnson said. ìWe are coming around right now and we are all on the right page.î

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