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Howard Lake Orphans’ town team baseball is alive and striving, and the 2008 season was another good one.
The Orphans, members of the North Star League, finished the season with a 27-6 overall record, and were 13-5 in league play.
The 27 seasons is a new team record for wins in a season.
That 13-5 record was good enough to win the West Division championship, finishing two games ahead of second place Maple Lake.
In the league playoffs, the Orphans took home first place honors to qualify for the Region 11C tournament.
For the third straight year, Howard Lake won the region tournament to qualify for the Class C state tournament.
At state, the Orphans dropped a tough opener to Elko, losing 6-2. All Elko did after beating Howard Lake was go one to win the Class C state championship.
While the 2008 season ended earlier than the Orphans would have liked, it was again a very successful season.
Town team baseball in Howard Lake goes back a long way, starting in 1905.
Back in 1905, they were named the Blue Sox.
Throughout the early 1900s, Howard Lake eventually lost the nickname, but gained a new one in 1947.
Playing their home games in Cokato that year, as their field was being refurbished and couldn’t be played on, they started getting called the Orphans, and the name stuck.
The Orphans made their first state tournament appearance in 1951.
Town team baseball in Howard Lake ceased from 1942-1946 due to World War II, but the Orphans took back to the field after the war, and thrived until 1967, when the team folded.
The 1970s and 1980s were a dark period for town team baseball in Howard Lake, as they had no team, with many players playing in neighboring towns.
The team did try to come back in 1991, and also fielded a team in 1992, but then folded again.
That is when a group led by current manager Mike Gagnon and Kevin Gruenhagen started the Orphans back up, and it has been a success ever since.
That first year, 1995, the Orphans qualified for state, and have done so six times since then, including in 2008, and the past three years in-a-row.
The Orphans play their home games at Memorial Park in Howard Lake, which is located on the shores of Howard Lake.
Over the past decade, the park has seen a number of improvements, including seating behind home plate, a batters’ eye, and a grass infield, among other improvements.
All of those improvements, along with more to come, have made Memorial Park one of the best baseball fields in the area.
This winter new dugouts and a new backstop are being put up, and should be in place at the start of the 2009 season.
Mike Gagnon manages the Orphans, while being assisted by Bob Heber.
For additional information, on the Orphans go to their web site at www.orphansbaseball.com.
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