Batter up: Busy summer on deck for Brookings baseball

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BROOKINGS – The turf at the recently remodeled Bob Shelden Field is just under 14 months old and already has seen a massive amount of usage in that short period of time.

This coming summer will be no different.

With the spring high school season having wrapped up this past Saturday the attention now switches to the “boys of summer,” and Brookings is set to be a city filled with the sound of the crack of the bat, snap of baseball meeting glove, and the intoxicating aroma that is fresh burgers and hot dogs being prepared at the concessions.

The Friends of Brookings Baseball as well as the Brookings Cubs (the latter are three games into their season) are set to embark on what is shaping up to be another busy summer both at home and on the road.

With six teams sharing the field at “The Bob,” including four different tournaments as well as weekly 12 and under games, it’s a safe bet that if one drives by Bob Shelden Field on any given day from Memorial Day through the end of July, chances are better than not that you can stop in and catch a game.

For more information and complete schedules for all teams visit the FOB website at brookingsbaseball.com.

The Cubs’ schedule is also listed on the FOB website but for more information on the Cubs visit brookingscubs.com.

All total there are 87 regular season games scheduled for this summer at Bob Shelden Field. That number does not include approximately 50 tournament games or any in-house Majors (12U) games which are played on the field once or twice a week.

18U Bandits

The Post 74 Bandits will open their 2022 summer season on May 31.

Recently anointed head coach has built a busy schedule in his first year. Brookings will play 27 regular season games and participate in tournaments in  Sioux Falls, Marshall, and the Gopher Classic which is held at numerous sites in and around the Twin Cities. In all the Bandits will play approximately 40 games from May 31 through July 16 with regions getting underway a week later.

The South Dakota Class A American Legion Baseball state tournament will be held the final five days of July at another recently renovated ballpark, Dave Ploof Field at Black Hills Surgical Hospital Ballpark in Rapid City, though despite the name change still is referred to as its old name, Fitzgerald Stadium.

16U Jr. Legion

25 regular season games and three tournaments dot the schedule for the top 16 and under team in Brookings.

The team does not host a tournament of its own but will make visits to Harrisburg, Sioux Falls, and Minnetonka for road tournaments.

Regions will be held at to be determined sites on July 23 and 24 and the state tournament will be held at Harmodon Park in Sioux Falls from July 28 through Aug. 1.

16U Bullets

The second Brookings 16 and under team, the Bullets, have 24 games on their schedule with two different tournaments adding approximately 10 more games.

Brookings will participate in the Dakota Classic in Sioux Falls before playing host to the Buffalo Wild Wings Tournament in Brookings the same weekend as the Brookings Summer Arts Festival, July 8-10.

All teams participating at in the same division as the Bullets are eligible for the state tournament, and as such there are no qualifying tournaments.

The state tournament is up the road in Watertown, July 28-31.

Bombers Black 14’s

The Brookings Bombers Black, comprised of 14-year old players, has a 25 game regular season schedule upcoming. In addition to the regular season games the team will play in a pair of tournaments including the Cubby’s Sports Bar & Grill Classic June 17-19.

The 14U division of the Cubby’s Classic has eight teams and games will be played Bob Shelden Field, Mickelson Field, and Erv Huether Field on the SDSU campus.

The state tournament for the Bombers Black age level is July 28-31 in Pierre.

Bombers Maroon 13’s

A similar schedule has been setup for the Brookings Bombers Maroon team which is made up of 13-year old players.

Brookings will play in three regular season tournaments in addition to their regular season games. Tournaments will be held in Watertown, Sioux Falls, as well as Brookings in the 13U division of the Cubby’s Classic.

Similar to the 14U division the 13U division has eight teams with games being played at the same three sites as the 14U division, but with the addition of some games moving west to Volga and to Hoff Field.

The Maroon team will get to sleep in their own beds for the state tournament as the 13U state tournament comes to Bob Shelden Field July 28-31.

12 & Under

In addition to the in-house games being played at the Majors (11-12 year olds), Minors (9-10 year olds), and Juniors (7-8 year olds) levels, Brookings has seven different traveling teams. The 12U, 11U, and 9U levels have two teams each while 10U has just one travel team.

Each of the travel teams will play in three or four weekend tournaments with two of those being held in Brookings.

The Cubby’s Classic in June has outgrown the ability to be hosted on just one weekend, so for the first time the 13U and 14U weekend is being played separate from the 9U-12U weekend.

The Southbrook Softball complex will be home to the 9U-12U portion of the tournament from June 10-12.

Games will begin on Friday morning at 9 a.m., running through 9 p.m. that day. The schedule resumes the next morning at 8 a.m. through approximately 10 p.m. Sunday’s action again starts at 8 a.m. with the last games of the tournament starting at around 6 p.m.

38 teams will embark on the complex that weekend.

The Buffalo Wild Wings Tournament, July 8-10, is shaping up to be an even larger tournament.

15 teams are registered for the 9U division, 16 more in 10U, five in 11U, and 14 in the 12U division, a total of 50 registered teams so far. Registration is still open and numbers are expected to grow, so much so that the 9U portion of the tournament might require a venue change and move back to the old stomping grounds of the Four Fields complex next to Bob Shelden Field.

Brookings Cubs

The Cubs’ season is three games old with all three games being tallied in the left (win) column as opposed to the right (loss) column.

Brookings has a 23-game regular season schedule which includes a pair of tournaments, the Cubs Invitational June 3-5, and the Atwater Days tournament June 17-18.

The Cubs will complete their regular season on July 21 with district play beginning July 30.

The state tournament for Class A amateur baseball is split over two weekends: Aug. 5-7 in Aberdeen, and Aug. 12-14 in Mitchell.