Younger tourney staged at Hillsboro

By FINN HARTNETT

Staff writer

Like Peabody, Hillsboro was host for a Babe Ruth state baseball tournament this weekend, this one for players 10 and younger.

The five competing teams arrived for a baseball clinic and picnic Wednesday night before competing Thursday to Sunday.

Schools representing Parsons, Columbus, and Wichita were all present, as were two county teams, Hillsboro Gold and Hillsboro Maroon.

Both Hillsboro teams included a few kids from Marion and Chase County to fill out their ranks, Hillsboro Parks and Recreation director David Ediger said, although those teams did not bear the “Cottonwood Valley League” moniker kids in Peabody used.

Hillsboro has been the site for the tournament a few times before, including last year.

“They said we did such a good job that they’re giving it back to us,” Ediger said. “This year, we had five instead of six [teams], so we played a round-robin and then went into tournament play.”

Parsons defeated Columbus in the final game, 10-6, and will move on to a regional tournament in Goddard.

The Gold and Maroon county teams finished third and fifth respectively.

“There was some really good baseball with some small-town teams here,” Ediger said. “The Gold team played right with Columbus, which was a really, really good team.”