Staff photo by Connor Cummiskey Newlyweds Kelcey Cordes and Shawn Andrews performed their wedding on home plate at the Courtland baseball field.

COURTLAND — Shawn Andrews and Kelcey Cordes signed a lifetime contract with a no-trade clause on the Courtland baseball field Saturday.

Under a clear, blue sky on a diamond with freshly painted lines, Andrews and Cordes were eternally wed on the site where they first met.

The two chose to have the ceremony on the field where they met, though their meeting involved some poorly timed matchmaking by a mutual friend.

“One of our friends, Pam Meyer, she played softball with Shawn and she has played softball with me separately and thought we would be a perfect match, so she tried to play matchmaker,” Cordes said.

What Meyer didn’t know was Cordes already had a boyfriend. When Meyer made the discovery she was mad, storming off the field.

Neither of the two newlyweds had picked up on Meyer’s plot and made nothing of it at the time.

As the softball season went on, Cordes eventually broke up with her then boyfriend. Andrews and Cordes began talking and growing closer, eventually falling in love.

The two have been dating for five years. Andrews decided to pop the question after thinking about “The person she makes me and the person she helps me be,” he said.

He did so during the holiday season, trying to surprise her with a ring while they were decorating the Christmas tree.

Andrews was insisting one night that the two set up their tree. Cordes, however, was feeling lazy and insisted on sitting on the couch.

“So he goes upstairs and brings down all of the boxes, brings down the tree and he starts setting up and I am still playing games on my phone,” Cordes said.

Eventually Andrews asks her if she is going to help at all. Cordes finally decided to get up and starts going through a box set aside for their nicer ornaments.

In that box Andrews had hidden the engagement ring, hoping she would find it. Though when she did, she thought she had spoiled the surprise.

The newlyweds both grew up in New Ulm. After high school Andrews went to Alexandria Technical College for carpentry.

He worked for Mike Kral for seven years before opening his own company Rustic River Construction in March.

Cordes went to Minnesota State University, Mankato for a degree in exercise science. She is currently working in the lab at Firmenich.

The two New Ulm natives intend to stay put here in the community they love, Cordes said.

“Pretty much just let life take us where it is going to take us, flying by the seat of our pants if you want to word it that way,” Andrews said.