#1
Tiny town of Watson pitches a baseball comeback story
By Tom Cherveny on Jul 11, 2016 at 2:10 p.m.
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WATSON -- It may be too late for a Twins comeback story, but the tiny community of Watson has one to tell this season.
Youth baseball has returned to this Chippewa County community of just over 200 people after what most believe has been an absence of two decades.
“It’s a big thing,’’ said Kyle Jones, the community’s mayor. He drove by Aane Torgerson field earlier this summer and enjoyed the chance to once again see parents hooting and hollering for their team and visiting as friends and neighbors, just like old times.
Those old times date to 1947, when town booster Aane Torgerson enlisted the help of his neighbors and sons to carve out a diamond on land the city had just purchased for it. His son, David, now of Clinton, remembers helping his dad build the field.
He also remembers how much it meant to him and others: David Torgerson is in the Minnesota Softball Hall of Fame for his 37 years as a pitcher in fast-pitch softball for the Watson Saggers.
Yet with maybe a few exceptions, since the late 1990s Aane Torgerson field has not seen either softball or baseball.
“There’s been nothing for baseball around here for kids,’’ said Shane Augeson. He spoke as he squared off the batter’s boxes around home plate in preparation for a June 30 game of the Watson Honkers.
Augeson is the one that Jones and others credit with bringing organized youth baseball back to the community. Augeson enlisted the help of other parents with school-age youths and “started from scratch.’’
They devoted volunteer hours to restore the 69-year-old field, fixing up the diamond, turf and fencing. Sue Brickweg, city clerk, submitted an application to the Minnesota Twins Community Foundation and was awarded a Fields for Kids grant. The $6,500 in funds allowed the volunteers to construct two dugouts to make Aane Torgerson field complete again.
This year it’s home to two teams in the independent Little Sioux Baseball League. One team is for third- and fourth-graders and the other for fifth- and sixth-graders. There are 27 kids from the Watson area on the teams, and their enthusiasm is proving contagious. Augeson is confident the town will have a team for seventh- and eighth-graders next year.
“We’ve got the numbers to do it,’’ Augeson said.
The youths play against teams from Dawson, Montevideo, Lac qui Parle Valley, Canby, Cottonwood, Granite Falls, Lakeview, Renville and Minneota.
With the field restored, softball play has returned as well, said Augeson.
Until now, kids from the Watson area who wanted to participate in summer baseball could do so by traveling to Montevideo. Having the opportunity to play in Watson has opened it up to kids who would not have gotten to play otherwise in Montevideo, where the talent pool is much larger.
The youth league games provide an opportunity for parents and others to get together. A concession stand has re-opened at the field, and parents put out lawn chairs to enjoy the action.
“It’s fun to see all the people up here,’’ said Augeson. But the best part, he said, is this: “It’s fun to see the kids get the chance to play.’’
#2
Watson pitches a baseball comeback story
By Tom Cherveny on Jul 14, 2016 at 12:00 a.m.
Dutch DeJong waits for the ball and his chance for a hit during a youth baseball game June 30 in Watson. This year the town is home to two teams in the independent Little Sioux Baseball League. Tom Cherveny / Tribune
WATSON—It may be too late for a Twins comeback story, but the tiny community of Watson has one to tell this season.
Youth baseball has returned to this Chippewa County community of just over 200 people after what most believe has been an absence of two decades.
"It's a big thing,'' said Kyle Jones, the community's mayor. He drove by Aane Torgerson Field earlier this summer and enjoyed the chance to once again see parents hooting and hollering for their team and visiting as friends and neighbors, just like old times.
Those old times date to 1947, when town booster Aane Torgerson enlisted the help of his neighbors and sons to carve out a diamond on land the city had just purchased for it. His son, David, now of Clinton, remembers helping his dad build the field.
He also remembers how much it meant to him and others: David Torgerson is in the Minnesota Softball Hall of Fame for his 37 years as a pitcher in fast-pitch softball for the Watson Saggers.
Yet with maybe a few exceptions, since the late 1990s Aane Torgerson Field has not seen either softball or baseball.
"There's been nothing for baseball around here for kids,'' said Shane Augeson. He spoke as he squared off the batter's boxes around home plate in preparation for a June 30 game of the Watson Honkers.
Augeson is the one that Jones and others credit with bringing organized youth baseball back to the community. Augeson enlisted the help of other parents with school-age youths and "started from scratch.''
They devoted volunteer hours to restore the 69-year-old field, fixing up the diamond, turf and fencing. Sue Brickweg, city clerk, submitted an application to the Minnesota Twins Community Foundation and was awarded a Fields for Kids grant. The $6,500 in funds allowed the volunteers to construct two dugouts to make Aane Torgerson Field complete again.
This year it's home to two teams in the independent Little Sioux Baseball League. One team is for third- and fourth-graders and the other for fifth- and sixth-graders. There are 27 kids from the Watson area on the teams, and their enthusiasm is proving contagious. Augeson is confident the town will have a team for seventh- and eighth-graders next year.
"We've got the numbers to do it,'' Augeson said.
The youths play against teams from Dawson, Montevideo, Lac qui Parle Valley, Canby, Cottonwood, Granite Falls, Lakeview, Renville and Minneota.
With the field restored, softball play has returned as well, Augeson said.
Until now, kids from the Watson area who wanted to participate in summer baseball traveled to Montevideo. Having the opportunity to play in Watson has opened it up to kids who would not have gotten to play otherwise in Montevideo, where the talent pool is much larger.
The youth league games provide an opportunity for parents and others to get together. A concession stand has re-opened at the field, and parents put out lawn chairs to enjoy the action.
"It's fun to see all the people up here,'' Augeson said. But the best part, he said, is this: "It's fun to see the kids get the chance to play.''
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