The NIACC Fall League is held on Sep. 19,25, 26 and Oct. 3,10,17.  Those dates are all Sundays except for Sat. Sep. 25th.  The cost of the camp is $100 per player or $800 per team.  A team has to include 12 players and I am willing to pay for half of the team cost ($400) if we have enough players for a team.  The total cost then per player would only be about $33.  Please let me know as soon as you can if you can or cannot play.  More information can be found on the following website:   http://www.niacc.edu/athletics/baseball/FallLeague09.html

The Lions held their end of the season banquet for the 2010 season on Sunday night, August 15th.  We would like to thank all the players and parents that attended and to all who helped supply the food.  The following awards were given out to players as voted by their fellow teammates:

Most Valuable Player:  Ozzie Adams

Pitcher of the Year:  Elliott Neuberger

Defensive Player of the Year:  Ozzie Adams

Most Improved Player:  Jake Kockler

Freshman of the Year:  Gavin Sheakley

Lion Award Winner 2010:  Alex Uhlenhopp

The following players were also recognized as All-Conference players in the North Central Conference: 

Ozzie Adams – First Team Infielder

Alex Uhlenhopp – Second Team Infielder

Elliott Neuberger – Second Team Pitcher

Michael Keeran – Second Team Utility

Tanner Truesdell – Second Team Outfielder

Austin Kessler – Third Team

The following players were recognized as All – District players in the Central District in Class 3A:

Ozzie Adams:  First Team Utility

Elliott Neuberger:  Second Team Pitcher

The Lions finished the 2010 season with a 22-10 record.  Their 14-4 record in the North Central Conference was good for a 2nd place finish.  We would like to thank all the parents, fans, and supporters who helped make this season such an enjoyable and successful one for our kids.  We want to wish the best of luck to our lone senior this year, Alex Uhlenhopp, as he heads off to college next year after a very successful season and career as a baseball player and student-athlete at Clear Lake.

The Lions are currently sitting at 13-7 with a NCC conference record of 8-3.  They won 5 of 6 last week against teams that had records of 14-5, 15-5, 16-3 and 16-11 heading into their games with the Lions, splitting a double-header on the road with St. Edmonds, sweeping a doubleheader against St. Ansgar, beating Lake Mills on the road, and beating Bishop Garrigan at home.  After starting the season 2-4, the Lions are playing some exciting baseball and look to finish the conference season strong heading into district play.  There are a number of home games left (tonight 6/29 against Mason City,  Friday 7/2 against Webster City, Tuesday 7/6 DH against Iowa Falls, Thursday 7/8 against Central Springs, Friday 7/9 DH against Humboldt, and Monday, 7/12 against WCLT).  Come enjoy a night of baseball at Lions Field and cheer on your Clear Lake Lions!

The 3^rd Annual Lion’s Youth Baseball Clinic finished Monday, May 3^rd with a game and awards night under the lights following the first varsity practice.  The clinic included instruction from the Clear Lake High School coaches and parent volunteers on defense, pitching, baserunning, and hitting.  There were drills, activities, treats, and contests after school the week before with 45 current 3^rd – 7^th Graders participating in the clinic.  The awards given out this year for contests throughout the week went to the following participants: 

3-5 Grade “Golden Glove” Award:                                 Carson Parker

3-5 Grade “Pitcher of the Year” Award:                     Thomas Storbeck

3-5 Grade “Hitter of the Year” Award:                        Carson Parker

3-5 Grade “All-Around Champion”:                          Carson Parker

5-6 Grade “Golden Glove” Award:                                 Devin Uhlenhopp

5-6 Grade “Baserunner of the Year” Award:          Carter Garrington

5-6 Grade “Pitcher of the Year” Award:                     Rowdy Yates

5-6 Grade “Hitter of the Year” Award:                        Tanner Storbeck

5-6 Grade “All-Around Champion”:                           Devin Uhlenhopp

3-7 Grade “Lion Award” Winner:                                     Jackson Hamlin

(for hardest worker and best attitude throughout the week) 

The Team Champions Grade 3-5 were Ben Blaha, Jake Baalson, Dylon Crotty, Dalton Grell, Jackson Hamlin, Owen Orr, Ryan Atkinson, Ryan Leisure, Jacob Peterson, Parker Crispin, and Tanner Huey. 

The Team Champions Grade 6-7 were Reese Barracks, Sam Jones, Zach Tatum, Parker Truesdell, Brock Adams, Danny King, Dustin King, Matt Stephany, Tucker Tusha, Dane Waldron, and Makean Bang. 

We would like to thank all of the players, coaches, and parent volunteers and for being part of our Clinic and thank all the players and fans that came out to watch the 2 great games Monday night.  There will be a youth baseball night this year for one of our varsity games, and all those players that participated in the clinic will be able to get in for free to the game and join our varsity players on the field as they warm up for the game.  We hope to see as many fans as possible this summer cheering on our Lions baseball team for what hopefully will be an exciting and successful season.

The 2010 season is underway as players from 8th – 12th grade have started pitching every morning before school and hitting on Sunday nights.  It is exciting to see the snow melting and our field emerging!