Sports & Recreation

Editor

The 5th annual Cromwell Municipal Liquor Store golf tournament at the Retreat Golf Course in Floodwood ended Saturday, July 26, with four teams out of 15 tied after 18 holes, forcing a playoff for the championship.

That’s when the Heaser, Heaser, Lampi, and Anderson team stepped it up a notch and came away with the win.

Using a scramble format where each player hits from the best previous shot, it was one player in particular that came through in the playoff.

According to team member, Mick Heaser, his son Dennis was really the one that won it for the team.

“We used his drive, his approach, and he putted it in for birdie,” Mick said.

The playoff was between four teams that all teed off on the number nine par 4 dogleg right. All four teams were tied at seven under par going into the playoff, but Heaser’s birdie put them at one under the rest of the field for the win.

Dennis’s first shot played the dogleg right perfectly as his ball turned around the trees, which lined the immediate right of the tee box.

“It was about 115 yards from the green,” Dennis said.

He followed it up with a great second shot on his approach, landing only about eight feet from the pin, leaving him with what would be the winning put in the tournament.

Putting was a big part of the team’s earlier success in the tournament, when Mick won the longest putt competition in the third hole with a shot from about 25–30 feet away according to Dennis.

Everything wasn’t perfect for the team, however, as the par 4, fifth hole gave them a challenge.

“Number 5 was a really bad hole,” Dennis said.

The second shot of the hole required a shot over a pond that wraps nearly halfway around the green.

“Three out of four of us hit it in the water on the second shot,” Dennis said. “We ended up with a bogie.”

In the tournament with tight competition from a field of good golfers, the Heaser, Heaser, Lampi, and Anderson team quickly composed themselves and continued on to a sweet victory in a clutch ending by the team’s strongest player.

According to event organizers, Tomeka Borglund and Danny Karppinen this was the most successful year so far. “Danny did a lot of work putting it together,” Tomeka said.

For their win, the team of Mick Heaser, Dennis Heaser, Paul Lampi and Ken Anderson each received a cash prize, a free round of golf at the Nemadji Golf Course, a hat and a bottle of Boone’s Farm wine.

The second place team consisted of Robert Dahl, Landon Olesiak, Greg Anderson and Seth Koivisto.

For this story and more, pick up this week's Voyageur Press.

Sports Writer

The McGregor Pony League baseball team, sponsored by Ukura’s Big Dollar, closed out its successful season with a 15–2 romp over the Hardware Hank team of Aitkin. Having already clinched the league championship, the team left no doubt who was number one with a crushing win.

McGregor set the tone in the top of the first inning when the first seven batters reached base safely and four runs were scored. McGregor would go on to score one more in the second inning, three in the fourth, one in the fifth, two in the sixth, and four runs in the seventh inning.

Having big days were Brandon Anderson who had two walks, hit a single, drove in two runs and scored two runs; Hope Sorensen who hit two singles and scored two runs; Zerek Marsyla who hit a double and a home run; Preston Hurd who was hit by a pitch, hit two singles, and scored two runs; and Elliott Haapoja who hit two singles, a double, and scored two runs.

As usual, the pitching of Zerek Marsyla and Elliott Haapoja was outstanding as Aitkin went down in order four times and managed only two runs while striking out seven times.

For the season, the team finishes with seven wins and one loss. In 24 innings of pitching, Elliott Haapoja struck out 38 batters, walked 15, and had an ERA of 2.07. In 23 innings of pitching, Zerek Marsyla struck out 26, walked four, and had an ERA of 2.40.

Alex Carlstrom led the offense with a home run, a triple, five doubles, and a total of 15 hits in 21 at bats for a batting average of .714. Zerek Marsyla had a home run, a triple, four doubles, and a total of 18 hits in 34 at bats for a batting average of .529. Three other players batted over .300.

In eight games the team scored 91 runs and gave up 30 for an average score of 11–4.

Next year will be a rebuilding year as nearly the entire team ages out and moves on to the McGregor Legion team. Congratulations to the kids for an outstanding year.

For this story and more, pick up this week's Voyageur Press.