The 6th annual Salem One Pitch Tournament was held on Saturday, April 30th. If you aren’t familiar with what a one pitch tournament is – basically each at bat is only one pitch, period. You either hit the ball into play, take a ball (which is a walk), take a strike (which is an out), or hit a foul ball (which is also an out). This makes the games go by quicker so you can fit more into the day. This year’s tournament was double elimination and consisted of 6 teams: New Hope Cambridge, Oxlip Ballhawks, Oxlip, Refuge, River of Life, and the host Salem Saints.

The games were competitive, featured great sportsmanship, and fun was had by all. In the end, Oxlip went undefeated and topped New Hope Cambridge for the championship, while the Salem Saints claimed third place.

The first 3 weeks of the 2023 schedule are live on the website – just click on the Schedule tab to view or click here: https://www.dalboareamsl.com/schedule/

If you see any mistakes, please reach out to one of the commissioners. The rest of the schedule will be released soon.

If you haven’t already done so, registration and league fees ($225) for the 2023 season are due by April 14th. Payments can be sent to:

Dalbo Area Ministerial Softball League
36762 Palm St NW
Stanchfield, MN 55080

Three rule changes were made at the annual league meeting on Sunday, March 5th. Here’s what you need to know…

1. Minimum Pitch Height
   • We are changing the minimum pitching height from 3ft from release to 6ft minimum. What this means: Once the ball is released from the pitcher’s hand, it must reach height of at least 6-feet from the ground. This is to eliminate “flat” pitches. There will continue to NOT be a max on height.
2. 180 Foot Rule
   • We are also updating the 180′ rule to state teams must have 4 outfielders behind the 180′ line and. This means that no rovers are allowed (even if the rover is female), and no 5 person infield can be played while a female batter is up.
3. Time Limit for Shared Fields
   • If you are playing on a lit field and there is a 2nd game scheduled after you, the time limit is 90 minutes (7:00 PM to 8:30 PM). This limit must be followed to accommodate both games.

Division 3 has nine teams, so 8th seed Refuge 2 had a play-in game just to get to the traditional first round. They won the play-in game, knocked off the top seed, and never looked back as they won the first place. Third seed Dale was upset in the first round, but then battled back all the way back to play for the championship as they won 2nd place. Sixth seed Cross Pointe 3 won third place.

Top seed Refuge 1 entered the tournament with a perfect 14-0 record and won each game by an average of almost 13 runs. On Saturday, they were forced to play shorthanded and were knocked into the loser’s bracket by fifth seed Karmel 2. Refuge 1 fought all the way back to face Karmel 2 for the championship on Sunday. Refuge 1 took the first game from Karmel 2, forcing a 3rd meeting between the two teams. Karmel 2 showed that their win the previous day was no fluke by defeating Refuge 1 a second time for the championship. Third seed Cambridge Lutheran’s only losses were to the top 2 teams as they also had a great tournament run to finish 3rd.

After finishing 2nd last year, 3rd seed ROC was on a mission this year and went undefeated in the tournament to win the championship. They defeated top seed Karmel 1 in the championship game. Cross Pointe 1 rebounded from a close loss in the opening round to win 3 straight games en route to 3rd place.

Division 1

Division 2

Division 3

Despite steady rain throughout the day, fun was had by all at the 2022 youth tournament. In the end, top seeded Dale defeated perennial contender North Isanti Baptist Red to claim the championship. Karmel-Oxlip and Cross Pointe Miller also had great runs to win 3rd and 4th place, respectively.