Jamestown tourney remains in team’s plans prior to the 10th District playoff
A return trip — 25th straight — to Jamestown, N.D. and the annual Post 14 tournament was secured this past week thanks to a change in the 10th District tournament schedule.
Instead of the North and South Hennepin Leagues conducting separate league/sub-district playoffs during the third weekend of July, the 10th District will sponsor a 16-team double elimination tourney featuring the top eight teams of each league July 23-26 (hosted by Post 334 at Wintercrest Park). This plan was endorsed by the North Hennepin League coaches Nov. 16 and was expected to receive similar endorsement by the South Hennepin League coaches before Thanksgiving.
If so, according to 10th District director Mike Perry, the 16-team plan would be put into place starting in 2009.
With this change in the district tournament schedule, the third weekend of July — which has annually been the Jamestown tournament weekend for Post 334 — opened on the schedule. Post 334 was subsequently able to keep its longest streak as a guest alive in any of the tournaments in which it has participated since its beginning in the mid-1960s.
“We were keeping our fingers crossed that something could be worked out,” said Post 334 head coach Tom Yelle. “The loss of a weekend at the end of our schedule with the national and state tournaments moving up from their traditional weekends has really messed with our typical schedule and the schedules of many other teams and those which host invitational tournaments.
“We have already dropped some long-time tournament dates because of the reworked national schedule and we were looking at losing our annual trip to Jamestown, too. That would have been ashame.”
Indeed, the Jamestown tournament has annually been an end-of-the event for players and families of the team. Among the featured items are the annual slow-man’s race, a visit to White Cloud and its bison buddies on the hill and the uniform theme game or games. Last summer Post 334 players and coaches wore orange-based Autism Awareness jerseys.
Details on the Jamestown weekend will be forthcoming as will official details on the 10th District tournament.
Posted: November 19th, 2008