The Prior Lake Amateur Baseball Association (PLABA) and the Union Hill Baseball Association (UHBA) will be submitting a proposal to be co-hosts for the 2007, 2008 or 2009 Minnesota Baseball Association Inc (MBA) State Amateur Class B & C Baseball Tournament. The annual tournament takes place the final 2 weeks of August and concludes Labor Day weekend. PLABA sponsors the Class B Jays of the Carver Central League and the Mudcats of the Class C Dakota, Rice Scott League (DRS) while UHBA operates the Class C Union Hill Bulldogs of the DRS.
Both PLABA and UHBA have long baseball traditions and have shown through their continued park development that they can contend when the MBA board evaluates the future host sites for the State Tournament. Prior Lake and Union Hill hope to demostrate the best of what their city and country park settings have to offer visiting fans and players as hosts. Their close proximity in Scott County will offer fans & players attending from across the state many recreational and leisure options in addition to unique ballpark experiences offered by the venues.
Over 250 teams in Class B & C from across Minnesota play down to reach the 32 team Class C & 16 Team Class B fields. The Tournament generally draws between 12,000-17,000 fans between the 2 sites over the course of the tourney. There should be a broad benefit to local organizations and businesses that join in the process, should the bid be awarded, as a result of the staffing and support functions that will be required to stage the event. Sites wishing to host the State Tournament will make a presentation before the MBA Board at their January meeting. The last bidding process had 9 bids for the 3 site pairs that were awarded through 2006. The 2004 State Tournament will be hosted by Belle Plaine and Jordan. There will be a series a planning meetings leading up to the presentation to MBA. For additional information interested parties can call the Prior Lake Hardball Hotline at 952-985-3800 and leave a message or link to many of the teams in the state and MBA on the web at www.minnesotabaseball.org.
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