The captain’s official game account:

The Saint Croix Base Ball Club began their 2009 season at Midway Stadium in St. Paul against a combined St. Paul Saints and celebrity contingent on February 28th.

The match began with the sound of the St. Croix player Liberty singing the Star Spangled Banner which is the custom of the home club. The umpire for the match was Mr. Tholkes and with a tossing of the stone at home base to determine who would strike first, the Captain of the St. Croix’s, Mr. Peterson, correctly called the toss and elected to have his club strike first.

The first inning saw both clubs getting used to the footing and striking conditions that several inches of powder snow makes on the playing field. No aces were made by either club.

The second inning had the St. Croix’s again scoring with no aces in their half of the inning but the strong hitters of the Saints came to strike and were able to tally twice in the inning. In the third, the St. Croix’s countered with two aces of their own with strong hitting and some fancy base running, with Mr. LaVigne and Mr. Sjogren tallying for the St. Croix’s.

The St. Paul club tallied two more runs in their third, again taking the lead in the match by the score of 4 to 2. The St. Croix’s again had some fine base hits and were able to take advantage of several miscues by the fielders and had Mr. Robinson and Mr. Maurer tally to tie the score at four each.

The rest of the match featured several fine outs on the fly by both clubs. In the final inning the St. Paul club had a man on every base and there were two hands down. One of the Saints strongest hitters was at the bat but lofted a soft fly to the left field where it was securely caught.

The match was ended after the fifth inning as previously agreed upon by the captains of both clubs.

The several thousand cranks that were on hand to witness the spectacle believed it to be one of the finest matches of ball they had witnessed this season and it is hoped by all that another match will take place in the future.

The final score was 4 aces for the St. Paul Saints and 4 aces for the St. Croix Base Ball Club. Continue reading →