Marshfield to host state Legion tournament

MARSHFIELD – Area baseball fans will soon be treated to a week’s worth of state tournament play in Marshfield.

The Blue Devils of Post 54 are hosting the Wisconsin American Legion Baseball Association’s 98th Annual Class AAA State Tournament, scheduled for July 28-Aug. 1 at Jack Hackman Field in Marshfield.

“This is a big opportunity for the Marshfield community and for Post 54 Legion baseball,” said Mike Schade, local host chairman. “Different communities or different teams can bid for State to host and we were awarded a bid for this year’s state tournament.

“There’s a Regional and then the top eight teams that come out of all those Regionals in the state of Wisconsin for Triple A Legion baseball will be playing in the state tournament, with a chance to play in the national Regional, which is the following week,” Schade added. “So it’s the chance to be the top team to come out of Wisconsin in Legion baseball.”

American Legion Class AAA Regional tournaments run Aug. 5-9 at eight sites across the country, featuring state and regional champions. Teams from Wisconsin compete in the Great Lakes Regional in Lexington, KY. The eight regional winners advance to the 99th American Legion World Series, Aug. 13-18 at Veterans Field at Keeter Stadium in Shelby, N.C.

“There are 28 teams at Triple A level this year that are in the playoffs and we’ll get the top seven teams, plus Marshfield, coming in for this,” Schade told Hub City Times. “Since we host, we are an automatic bid into State.” 

There are four games scheduled for the first day of the tournament and Marshfield will play in the finale at 7:30 p.m.

“We do an opening ceremony for the entire tournament between the 4:30 game and the 7:30 game, where we do a first pitch and Color Guard and all the things associated with Legion baseball and a tournament of this magnitude,” Schade said.

“I guess it worked out that we have a good team for the year we’re hosting,” Blue Devils Head Coach Josh Metz told Hub City Times recently. “We know that we should be able to be competitive in that tournament and not just be a benefit of one of those teams that makes it just because they’re hosting. I’d like to still go to the Regional and win it to show that we deserve our spot there.

“Last year we were absolutely one of the top teams. Just didn’t get it done in Regionals,” Metz added. “Ran into a really good pitcher in our first game and lost that one to Everest and we just weren’t able to overcome it. It’s just so hard to get through that Regional. Double elimination. You’ve got to win four or five games to get through it just to get to the state tournament, so you’ve got to be playing good baseball and unfortunately it just didn’t work out for us last year. But, we return a good chunk of our team and the expectations are high that we’ll give ourselves a good chance this year.”

There is an $8 admission fee for each day of the state tournament and children 5 and under will be admitted free of charge. A full concession stand will be available during the entirety of the tournament.

Fans will also have an opportunity to win one of three autographed MLB jerseys signed by former Blue Devils who’ve made it to the Big Leagues.

“We have three prominent Post 54 Legion baseball players that have gone on to play in the Major Leagues – Gary Varsho, his son, Daulton Varsho, who’s currently playing, and Jordan Zimmermann,” Schade told us. “We’ll be doing a raffle for three different signed jerseys from all three of those players.”

The week will also feature several 50/50 progressive raffles as well.

American Legion baseball is a 19U organization, featuring this year’s and last year’s high school graduates.

“You get some really high-quality baseball games out of it,” Schade added. “There are some really good Legion teams and a night out at the ballpark is certainly something that all can enjoy. It’s a really good venue at Hackman Field. Great seating and great sight lines. So, I think that it’s going to be a great event for the city of Marshield, both for bringing folks into the community, as well as for our program and our local fans.”