The SEMO Bruins, a 13U travel baseball team composed of athletes from Ste. Genevieve, Perryville, and Cape Girardeau, have already accomplished a lot in their inaugural season, including a berth in a national tournament in New York, set to begin later this month.
The team originally planned on playing in a few tournaments locally in Missouri and Illinois, but after cancellations, they decided to buy into and travel to South Dakota for a regional tournament, of which the winner would qualify for the Babe Ruth World series in Jamestown, New York.
The Bruins ended up going on an undefeated run in South Dakota, qualifying for the national 13U competition. Wingert said he knew his team was capable, but was surprised they were able to advance with such little experience.
“I think we all knew that there was a possibility of going to New York, you know, but I thought it was pretty far-fetched for us to travel to South Dakota, not knowing what kind of teams we’re going to see, for us to believe that we could get there,” Wingert said. “We ended up throwing it back out there, that if we would win this thing, how does everybody feel about going to New York? And I think when you ask that question, I think everybody’s like, ‘yeah, sounds great.’ But I think everybody in the back of their mind is thinking the same thing, ‘it’s gonna take a lot to win it’”.
After the third win in South Dakota, Wingert said the kids and the parents started to seriously consider the possibility of going to New York, before winning game four the next day.
“Obviously, the excitement of possibly doing it was big when we won the semi-final game in walk-off fashion,” Wingert said. “That night at the hotel, you could tell people were really thinking ‘let’s do this thing, if we can win tomorrow, let’ do this.’ We ended up winning on Sunday, and we had a team meeting on Tuesday night after everybody got back from their 10 hour drive and talked about it. The moms are full bore with fundraising and the dads are trying to fit practice in with vacations.”
As of the start of August following the South Dakota tournament, the Bruins have a team batting average of .356, with 63 hits and a team slugging percentage of .435. Jackson Browne leads the way at the plate with an average of .545, and 12 hits including a home run.
Wingert said one of the reasons the team has been so successful so quickly is because of the chemistry they have with each other despite being put together from other teams just this year.
“We’ve got a great group, a great group of family,” Wingert said. “And I think that’s the biggest thing is how amazed the coaches and the parents are, how this group of 11 young men have come together and become a team so quickly. I think it was constantly said up in South Dakota that these guys act like they’ve been playing together for three or four years now. And it really is cool to see. It’s like they have been best friends for 10 years and haven’t seen each other for a little while and they’re right back where the last sentence ended. It’s been great. It’s been fun. You know, and we hope to go make everybody proud in New York.”
Teams will arrive in Jamestown for the tournament on August 13. Pool play begins on August 15, and the single elimination tournament featuring the top six teams from pool play begins August 20 and ends with the final on August 22.
