It has been a great 2014 season for the Millers! The weather was slightly more cooperative this year, allowing us to practice more than we could in 2013. We also got some much needed experience from playing in the 2014 Bolingbrook Beep Ball Bash in Bolingbrook, IL, where we beat the Cleveland Scrappers and had an amazing 10 run inning against the Indie Thunder. Our annual exhibition game at Glenco Days in Glenco, MN, was delayed because of weather, but finally happened a week before the World Series. We also demonstrated beep baseball at the 2014 T-Mobile Allstar Fanfest. Finally, player Evan Van Duyne won the fifth place defensive MVP award at the 2014 World Series.

The season was also punctuated with several moments of sadness for us. Two players, Gary Boecher and Evan Van Duyne, lost their guide dogs this year. Our thoughts and Prayers go out to them and their families for their loss.

The entire team would like to thank the volunteers and supporters who made all of this possible:
• Coach and spotter Doug Van Duyne, who’s excellent leadership helped us to achieve everything we did in 2014.
• Pitcher Dan Eliason, who continues to help us hit the ball.
• Catcher Kelly Peterson, who continues to help us hit the ball.
• Spotter Kathy Quin, who constantly encourages us to be safe and do better.
• Volunteer Mark Arvold, who cheered us on all week and who invited an entire beep baseball team into his home.
• The National Beep Baseball Association, especially the officers and tournament committee.
• The Rochester Sports Commission and volunteers from the Rochester area that made the tournament possible.
• The Minnesota Telephone Pioneers, who furnished us with more comfortable uniforms.
• The Glenco Lions club, who has supported us financially and by spreading the word about beep baseball for the past two years.
• Other Lions clubs throughout the state of Minnesota.
• Individual donors and supporters.

Our thoughts will now be turning to the 2015 season, when we’ll be traveling to Rochester, NY, for the 2015 World Series. We also hope to return to Bolingbrook for the 2015 Bolingbrook Beep Ball Bash. The cost for the 2015 season is projected to be around ten thousand dollars, so we’ll hope you all continue to spread the word about beep baseball, and about our fund raising campaign which will kick off later this year.

We just finished the first day of the Bolingbrook B ball bash with one win and two losses. The first win, against Cleveland, was great. The second loss, to Chicago, was pretty bad. The third loss, though, was really a win for us. In the top of the sixth inning, we were trailing by 10 runs. In the bottom of the sixth inning, we managed to come back with nine runs.

We are so proud of all of the players who pulled off this huge rally. We couldn’t do it without the help of our volunteers and staff, though, so the biggest thanks needs to go to them.

Today was the first day the team has seen each other since last summer. We spent some time at the beginning of practice catching up with each other, but we spent most of the time keeping busy practicing our defense and offense. We were all very pleased that, for the most part, we haven’t lost our edge since last season. From a defense perspective, most balls were fielded within five seconds. Offensively most balls were hit. Are baserunning looked good, but we didn’t take the time to actually time each player to see if people have improved over the winter.

We welcomed one new player this year, Greg, and we expect several more to join us in the coming weeks. Our volunteer staff is also increased in size, slightly, with the addition of the second pitcher, Zach.

The practice was capped off with a short team meeting, held by Stephen Guerra. Topics included our next practice, scheduled for May 31, our upcoming trip to Bolingbrook Illinois for the Bolingbrook beep ball bash, and our fundraising game in Glencoe Minnesota at the annual Glencoe days event.