Two Wakefield youth baseball teams made a deep run in their respective Tri County League tournaments in late June/early July.
Wakefield Didgets win Gold Division
After starting their season in mid-May, the Wakefield Didget (10u) youth baseball team finished off as league tournament champs in early July beating the top three teams.
The 2025 Tri County League Didget Gold Division tournament featured the top 16 teams among the 30 Didget programs.
Wakefield 10u finished the regular season league schedule 9-2 and entered the postseason as the #6 seed.
"Throughout the year we (coaches) saw the players really develop," said coach Ross Hansen. "Some of the younger players took a little time to adjust to player pitch, but really came on as the year progressed. During the Mid-Siummer Classic we had the bats going, scoring more than 10 runs in three out of four games. During the league tournament, our bats cooled off and we had to rely on timely hitting and incredible pitching."
Ross Hansen has coached youth sports, either as an assistant or head coach in basketball and baseball for three years.
He added it was a great group of kids top to bottom and they loved to play together.
"Everyone played a role in the season we had including Andrew Smith and Brock Hansen, who both provided lights out pitching and outstanding hitting throughout the year," added Hansen. "Burke Dolen and Callaway McAfee were our defensive pillars, playing well at any position we asked them to. Knox Riewer's bat really came to life the second half of the season and was huge for us in the league tournament."
Wakefield started with a 16-1 win over #11 Oakland-Craig White on June 27 in Wakefield before playing their next three games on the road. On June 29, Wakefield knocked out #3 Logan View Gold, 4-0 at Logan View, won 4-2 over #2 Battle Creek #1 on July 1 in Bancroft and won the championship game over the host #1 Bancroft, 3-0 on July 2.
In the championship game, Brock Hansen threw five innings allowing one hit while striking out 11 batters and walking one. Andrew Smith closed out the final inning.
"We stranded several runners but managed to manufacture three hard earned runs, thanks in large part to Knox Riewer's timely hitting," Hansen mentioned. "The defense played well throughout the tournament. Bancroft was a really experienced and skilled team, who had beaten us twice this year."
The stat of the league tournament was the Wakefield Didget pitchers of Andrew Smith, Brock Hansen and Callaway McAfee recorded 59 strikeouts and walked four batters combined.
"The boys played their best baseball at the right time and we were really fortunate to come up with a win when we wanted it most," said Hansen. "We really stressed the one game at a time mentality and the boys responded to the challenge. I couldn't be prouder of these kids and the way they competed this year. "
According to coach Ross Hansen, winning both the Mid-Summer Classic and league tournament is something no Wakefield team has ever done.
Wakefield Broncos go 2-1 in Tri County League Blue Division
After securing a spot in the Bronco Blue Division during the Tri County League youth baseball tournament, Wakefield 12u had some work to do to in finishing strong.
After going into the tourney dropping three straight, the Wakefield Broncos turned the momentum and won their next two of three games to finish as Tri County League Blue Division runners-up.
Wakefield 12u earned the #3 seed and started with a home victory on June 30 of 9-2 over #6 Tekamah-Herman Purple.
At the plate, Armando Rodriguez came up big with a double and two RBI. Cinch Hample and Cruz Andrade both were able to score twice.
Also recording hits were Jordan Valenzuela, Conner Hansen, Bo Decker, Sawyer Miller, Jack Tello and Jacoby Galles.
Andrade led the way on the mound pitching the first three innings recording three strikeouts.
Saul Hansen followed the next two innings and retired six of the seven batters he faced via strikeout. In order to keep pitch count low, Conner Hansen came in the final inning striking out two batters while only throwing 13 pitches.
The Wakefield Broncos followed with a 13-0 dominant victory at #2 Logan View Blue on July 2 to earn a trip to the finals.
Cruz Andrade led the way finishing with three hits while Jordan Valenzuela added two hits.
Also recording his were Conner Hansen, Saul Hansen, Sawyer Miller and Armando Rodriguez.
Conner Hansen picked up the complete game shutout victory recording six strikeouts to one walk.
In the Blue Division finals, Wakefield 12u fell one run shy, 5-4 at #1 Logan View Gold.
Saul Hansen provided a spark in the sixth inning with a lead off triple later scoring to bring the Wakefield Broncos within one run
Sawyer Miller added a single while runs were scored by Jordan Valenzuela, Sawyer Miller, Jacoby Galles and Saul Hansen.
Saul Hansen pitched the opening four innings allowing two runs while striking out seven batters. Cruz Andrade came on in relief allowing three runs while striking out two batters.
With the second place finish in the league tournament, the Wakefield Broncos closed out their season at 6-8 (league games/league tourney only record provided).
