Official Guide to Delano 2020 | Page 34

A’s determined to return to state MATT KANE Sports Editor The Delano Athletics play in the North Star League in Class C as part of the Minnesota Baseball Association. The A’s were 22-4 overall in 2019 and 19-1 in the North Star League. Delano hosted the Class C state tour- nament, but, unfortunately, the home- town nine did not make it. The A’s were the top seed for the Region 12C tournament in Hutchinson, but, as someone once said, they play the games for a reason. No. 8 seeded Loretto upsed Delano 5-3 in the first round and Buffalo knocked Delano out with a 12-8 win over the A’s in the elimi- nation round. Delano players were all over the sta- tistical leaderboard in the North Star League. Infielder/pitcher Tyler Wolfe led the league with a .500 batting average and 36 runs batted in. He was also the top closer in the league, and won the MVP award. Hunter Hart finished second in bat- ting with a .447 average. He led the STATE TOURNAMENT APPEARANCES 1930, 1932, 1935 A 3rd, 1940, 1941 A 2nd, 1942 A 2nd, 1945, 1946, 1961, 1966, 1967, 1971 B 2nd, 1975, 1976, 1988 C Champ, 1992, 1996, 2001, 2004, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018 NORTH STAR LEAGUE HALL OF FAME Valentine “Dutch” Styrbicky, Gene Bouley, Perry Ditty, Van Merriman, Rich Ditty, Marshall “Bud” Dainsberg, Dick Shaver, Al Juelke, Jerry Litfin, Frank Muckenhirn, Ralph “Buzz Bernick, Richard “R.T.” Traen, Tom Ditty, Jeff Janzen, Todd Traen. MINNESOTA BASEBALL HALL OF FAME Perry Ditty, Rich Ditty, Valentine “Dutch” Styrbicky league with seven home runs, 34 hits and 25 runs scored. Jack Paulson also finished in the top- 10 in hitting with a .378 average in North Star League games. Delano’s Jeremy Maschino was one of the best starting pitcher in the league. He finished with a miniscule 1.36 earned run average. That led the league. Maschino was 7-0 with 48 strikeouts in 53 innings. Somehow, that season did not net Maschino the pitcher of the year hon- or. That went to Howard Lake’s Mike Dockendorf, who went 7-1 with a 1.37 earned run average and 63 strikeouts in 79 innings. The team that enjoyed a huge 2019 regular season is mostly back. Maschino is back on a pitching staff that includes veterans Austin Schneider, Jackson Royer, Jake Gleason and Matt Arens, and second-year player Max Otto. Paulson and Hart are also two effec- tive pitchers for the A’s. The lineup will be without the league MVP, as Wolfe is gone from the team. He is now the hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals’ Gulf Coast League team in rookie ball. Hart and Paulson will be back. Hart plays first base. Paulson is a mid- dle-infielder and can play all over the Shaped by Play. Play isn’t one thing. It’s everything. Anything. Play doesn’t care what a body can or cannot do. Because play lives inside us. All of us. And as we grow older. We come back to what we know. That play will always shape us. playlsi.com | 34 | Parkview Hills Park Official DELANO GUIDE BOOK 2020