Sports

CLOUD OF DUST - A Virginia runner was called safe at second as Gage Merhar applied the tag Tuesday night at Veterans Memorial Field. Ely won the American Legion game 8-2. Photo by Eric Sherman

STATE MEDALIST James Schwinghamer and Ely head coach Will Helms. Submitted photo.

by Tom Coombe -

The jerseys are the same and the age level is nearly identical, yet Ely will make a major switch when it comes to youth baseball this weekend.
That’s when for the first time in community history, Ely will field a Junior Legion team.
Junior Legion has replaced VFW as the middle level of Ely’s summer baseball program, and the team makes its debut with this weekend’s ’Zup North Realty Classic.
Eight teams, including host Ely, will take part in the three-day event that wraps up Sunday at Veterans Memorial Field.
Like VFW baseball, Junior Legion is largely for players age 16 and under, but a few 17-year-olds make the cut thanks to a Jan. 1 cutoff date.
Across the state, Junior Legion is taking off, particularly for small-school programs such as Ely’s.

by Tom Coombe -

by Tom Coombe -

One baseball season in Ely is winding down while another is set to start.
As the high school baseball playoffs (see related story) continue, the summer baseball season in Ely is moving forward on several fronts.
The Ely Baseball Association will hold its annual parent and volunteer sign-up session Monday, with team practices soon to follow and the first summer baseball tournament of the year on tap next weekend.
Ely’s Junior Legion team will host the ‘Zup North Realty Classic, an eight-team, three-day event that opens Friday, June 8, at Veterans Memorial Field.
With the summer season fast approaching, registration continues and culminates Monday.
That’s when summer sign-up wraps up at the EBA session, slated for 6 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Field. All parents are invited to come to return registration forms and sign up for volunteer shifts in the concession stand and ticket booth.

Ely continues to be a destination for major baseball tournaments, including one set for later this summer.
The first-ever American Legion Division II Northeast Substate Tournament will be held at Veterans Memorial Field from Friday July 27 through Sunday July 29.
While the format has not yet been finalized, either six or eight teams will take part in the double-elimination event, including host Ely, others from the Iron Range and Duluth areas as well as two representatives from a western subgroup that includes Park Rapids, Wadena, Walker, Pierz, Crosslake and Crosby-Ironton.
This marks the first season American Legion baseball has moved from a district to substate format, and Ely is one of seven locations across the state to host the first small-school substate events.

Four Vermilion Community College baseball players have won acclaim from the Minnesota Community Athletic Conference, including one who earned a spot on the league’s All-State First Team.
Lukas Adelman, who provided a big bat in the middle of the Vermilion lineup as well as steady defense at shortstop, was named a first team all-stater this week by league coaches.
Adelman, who was also named to the All-Northern Division Team, was joined by fellow freshman Connor Knettel in landing MCAC recognition, Knettel was All-State Second Team.
Knettel and sophomores Dakota Schafer and Clayton Gallus also got honorable mention to the All-Northern squad.
Adelman, a Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley graduate, had a team-high six home runs for the Ironmen while leading the team with a .426 batting average and 30 runs batted in.

by Tom Coombe -

by Tom Coombe
Ryne Prigge has made her mark as one of the area’s best long-distance high school girls track athletes.
The Ely senior held to form Wednesday at Hibbing, overcoming unseasonably warm conditions and taking first in the 3,200 meter run at the Section 7A North Subsection Meet.
Prigge had the Wolves’ only victory, but she’ll have plenty of company at Thursday’s section meet at Duluth.
Teammate Brielle Kallberg had second-place subsection finishes in both the long jump and triple jump and will move on to sections in the 100 dash as well, while seventh-grader Zoe Devine moves on after a second-place finish in the 1,600 run.
Ely’s Lauren Olson, Ande Visser, Evelyn Bercher and Annikka Mattson all won section berths and the Wolves will also advance their four-by-800 relay, after Emma Terwiliger, Bercher, Phoebe Helms and Devine combined to take fourth.