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The Chisago Cubs U11 boys’ baseball team finished the regular season 7-9. They played in three tournaments this year, with their best finish being third place in the recent Big Lake tournament. And Cubs’ assistant coach Ron Kimlinger sees it as a successful season for the kids. “We’ve won more games in the second half of the season than the first half,” said Kimlinger, “which shows how much we’ve improved since the beginning of the season.”

The rules for U11 traveling baseball are pretty close to real baseball rules. One of the main modifications is that players cannot lead off – they can only steal when the ball leaves the pitcher’s hand. The other modification is that batters are not allowed to try to advance to first base if the catcher drops the third strike.

Kimlinger talked some more about the season. “For the Chisago kids, this is the first year of traveling. Most of the other teams in our league played traveling ball at U10 last year. Our main goals this year are to try to educate the kids about fundamentals of the game in the field and at bat, to make them more competitive and to get them to work together as a team. And it’s paid off. Defensively, we’re one of the least scored upon teams in the league, so Joel I can see that the kids are picking up on the fundamentals. And one of our biggest highlights this year was camping together at the Big Lake Tournament. The kids went swimming and hung out together and really bonded as a team. This is a great group of kids and Joel and I really enjoy coaching them.”

The Cubs are seeded second in the Gopher State League Tier 2 playoffs. Their first game was scheduled to be played last night at the Middle School field.

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