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NEW ULM-- Region 2C Commissioner Marty Brandl said that there was a new attendance record set this year for the 2C Tournament.
The tournament was held at Johnson and Mueller Parks in New Ulm, Riverside Park in Springfield and the Sleepy Eye Baseball Park.
"The tournament went really well," Brandl said. "We had tons of fans and we set a new attendance record with over 4,000 fans. There were a lot of good games -- lots of positives from the fans and the teams. And once we got it going --especially the second weekend -- life was good."
Next year, the Region 2C tournament will be held at two teams from the Cornbelt League, with the Wabasso Jaxx and the Milroy Yankees hosting.
Will we see attendance see a drop next year?
"That is what everyone is talking about," Brandl said. "That is going to be the big challenge for sure. We will see exactly how things shake out -- it is going to really be about how well the Tomahawk East teams and fans travel. They are used to being able to go 10-15 minutes for a game. Next year it will be closer to 45 minutes to an hour for a game. It will be interesting but we will see what we can do."
Brandl said that having the games at four great baseball venues was a big plus, especially when Mother Nature tossed an unexpected curveball with rain.
"That was something that was really underscored when the Minnesota State Legion Tournament was going on, and on Friday of that tournament [because of rain] they were struggling to find out where to play those games."
Brandl said that he talked to one of the Minnesota State Legion officials on Friday night when they played a game in Springfield and were looking for additional baseball parks.
"He said that this area has such an incredible inventory of baseball parks around here. He said they were talking to Leavenworth, they were talking to Stark, and they ended up putting some games in Essig," Brandl said. "And they were very impressed of all of the great ballparks -- we are really blessed with all of the great places we have to play baseball."
Brandl said it was a great experience with all of the fans that came to the games.
"It was intersting as I talked to [New Ulm Brewers manager] Al Flor and the Brewers went and played their [Section A] playoff games and he said that at those games they had 10s of people at the game while we had hundreds of fans at our games here. We definitely live in a real great baseball area."