Jr. Babe Ruth takes on Washington

Alexis Barker 
NLJ News Editor 
 
Despite coming home with a 0-4 record from the Pacific Northwest Regional baseball tournament in Camas, Washington, after taking home the state title a week earlier, Newcastle’s Jr. Babe Ruth Stampede team played hard throughout all four games and “held their own,” according to coach Justin Tystad. The games were played July 22-27.
The 19 players on the team were Jerome Lipp, Holden McConkey, Mathew Drake, Hayden Overman, Aidan Chick, Tate Engle, Jonah Vik, Hogan Tystad, Jacob Prell, Slade Roberson, Neil Whitney, Keyan Mefford, Dayton McFarlin and Braden Jenkins. Their opponents were teams from Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Justin Tystad and Trenton Engle, as well as manager Phil Lipp, coached the 2019 team.
What was important about the tournament, Tystad said, was the opportunity the 12-15-year-old players had to play on a bigger platform and give the teams from larger areas a fight to take home the win. 
After he told a man from Portland, Oregon, of Newcastle’s location and its population, Tystad said, the man was “amazed that we were able to put together a team like we had out of such a small community.” 
“Their draw (of players) in Portland is out of a population of 650,000, a population bigger than our entire state,” Tystad said. “We put a scare into those bigger communities, and it absolutely showed that our kids can compete at the same level as larger places.”
The teams that the Stampede players faced were also composed solely of 15-year-olds, while Newcastle’s team is a mixture of ages. 
“I was pretty impressed that we were able to put it together and how well these kids did play against those bigger teams,” Tystad said. “There is not a huge difference between these teams and us. You see those big teams and get intimidated but when it gets down to it, you have to play the game and our kids held their own and I am proud as heck of them.” 
Tystad said that the trip gave the boys the opportunity to play on a unique 78-year-old field with a resident bird. But, he said, it also gave them the opportunity to make memories with teammates most of them have known their whole life. 
Not only did the team attend a West Coast league game played by the Pickles, a wood bat amateur team, but the Stampede players were also invited to the field, where they were introduced and congratulated for taking their state title. 
“The boys also got to go to the ocean and hang out where the Goonies was filmed on Cannon Beach,” Tystad said. “Overall, it was just a really good experience.” 
The trip was also a learning experience for the small-town boys, he said, who had to deal with crowds, traffic and the homeless – all things that Tystad said are not common in Newcastle. 
“The experience was overall a good learning opportunity for the boys, not only in the game but showing them that they can keep up with bigger communities,” Tystad said. “They also were able to realize how fortunate they are that they have been able to play with almost the same team since they were kids.”
Other teams didn’t necessarily have “the team mentality” that the Newcastle boys had from playing together the entire 2019 season and, for some of them, since T-ball. 
The community that supports the kids made this entire learning experience and trip possible, according to Tystad. 
“I don’t even know how to put into words the support we got from the community. From the fire truck rides to the calls we received offering help, everyone came together and helped out without being asked,” Tystad said. “It was absolutely incredible, and I don’t think you get that anywhere else, only in a community like this. Newcastle has always been that way.” he concluded. 
And the team returned that favor, Tystad said. by representing Newcastle, Weston County and Wyoming well, both on and off the field.