Youth-laden Legion team ends year
American Legion baseball encompasses a wide age group of 14- through 19-year-olds.
But for the Tonganoxie team, the age range is quite narrow.
With a team made primarily of 15- and 16-year-olds, the youthful squad competed against many teams with veteran rosters.
Tonganoxie was supposed to have both a younger team and an older team, but the elder team never came to fruition.
Coached by Bill Reetz, Tonganoxie finished the 2003 season with a 9-13 record.
“All in all, being a younger team we played well against teams made up of older kids,” Reetz said. “The point of the whole team was to get them experienced in the Legion league and hope that over the next couple years they will be older and will gain more talent and will be able to compete better against the older teams.”
Tonganoxie mainly played against teams within the Leavenworth area league, but the team didn’t play in any postseason league tournament this season.
Doug Parrett and John Pettengil also coached this year’s legion team.
Come next year, Tonganoxie again could have two teams and Reetz might coach the younger team for a second season.
But that’s up in the air.
“I’m undecided right now,” Reetz said.