By Ben Catley
MaxPreps.com
Basketball: Flathead Sophomore Set to be a Bulldog
Some high school athletes like to wait as long as possible before making their collegiate choices known. Some like to sign early and get it out of the way, so that they can enjoy their senior seasons.
Then there is the case of Kalispell 15-year-old Brock Osweiler, who didn't want to wait the two years until his early signing period to make a choice.
While he cannot sign a National Letter of Intent until November of 2008, Osweiler has verbally committed to Gonzaga University, and intends on being a part of Mark Few's program once his Flathead High School career is done.
Osweiler was first contacted by Gonzaga in the eighth grade, and the interest reportedly picked up during his freshman season. Osweiler even made a trip to a game in Spokane, and met star forward - and Montana born - Adam Morrison.
If his freshman season is any indication as to what the Bulldogs could be getting, they should be more than happy to get his signature in two years.
Osweiler, a 6-8 forward, averaged 17 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and 2.5 steals a game for Flathead in his first year of interscholastic play. Osweiler also hit 60 percent of his field goal attempts. The Braves were 16-9 last season, and finished 4th in the Class AA Boys State Basketball Tournament.
Baseball: Wood Bat Stand Gains National Attention
Nearly every youth baseball program in the country uses aluminum bats in every game they play. There are, however, a few exceptions to that rule.
Miles City, Mont., is one of those exceptions.
Since the death of Brandon Patch on July 25, 2003, the Miles City Youth Baseball Association made it standard procedure for every team - from the T-Ball level to the Miles City Mavericks American Legion squad - to use wood bats in all competitions.
While that rule has been met with respect since 2004, the envelope has been pushed like never before this season.
First, a group of parents sought to waive the wood bat rule for its all-star teams, which the group's board turned down this week. Teams in postseason play will use metal bats, while the Miles City teams will continue to use wood.
The most recent - and most publicized - move came this month, when a team in the Mavericks' conference decided to not play with wood bats.
The Bozeman Bucks, under the direction of head coach Mitch Messer, decided that they would not honor their agreement made in the scheduling meeting in November, to continue to play with wood bats both in Miles City and Bozeman. Faced with a decision, Mavericks head coach Matt Phillips decided to forfeit the games.
"It's a safety concern," Phillips said. "I did not want to put a player on the mound to have to face metal in that situation."
The Mavericks and Colts Legion teams also take one additional safety precaution in addition to using wood bats - all of their players, while in the field, wear skull caps - the non-earflap batting helmets, similar to what some catchers wear, in addition to what former major-leaguer John Olerud wore in the field.
All of the other teams in the Eastern AA Conference - the Billings Royals, Billings Scarlets, Butte and Helena - have and will continue to use wood bats against the Mavericks this season. Those teams use metal bats in other competition, other than at wood-bat tournaments.
If the Mavericks are able to qualify for state tournament play, they would have to not only win at least six of their final eight conference games, but get help from other teams just to force a tie for the fourth and final spot from the Eastern AA in the state tournament. They would also be faced with the dilemma again, since teams have anticipated to use metal for the state tournament, no matter what Miles City decides to use. The Mavericks have yet to qualify for the state tournament in the two prior seasons of using wood bats.
For the record, there is a American Legion league in Florida which also uses wood bats, and the state of North Dakota has opted to have its teams begin using wood only with the 2007 season. Most of the Legion programs in North Dakota use the equipment from the high school programs, so they may also be using wood bats in the near future.
They join at least four junior college leagues - the Empire Conference, the Arizona Community College Athletic Association, and the Scenic West Athletic Conference, all Division I junior college programs, and the Division II Mon-Dak Conference, which use wood in either conference play or exclusively in regular season play. Teams from all of the above conferences use metal bats in post-season play. Three of the four have been using wood since the 2003 season.