Albany advances to youth baseball Babe Ruth World Series in Virginia this weekend

St. Cloud Times

ALBANY − The Albany Babe Ruth 13-15 year old team will be heading to the Babe Ruth World Series this weekend after a successful 2022 season.

There are two routes to take in Babe Ruth baseball. The first route is to play an intact route where you play a league schedule, then district playoffs and finally a state tournament.

Many local teams choose this path and Albany used to go this route until 2018 when the Huskies chose the second route. This option requires a team to finish top-two at the state tournament to advance to the regional tournament.

The Albany Babe Ruth 13-15 year old baseball team earned second at the Midwest Regional tournament and have punched its ticket to play in the Babe Ruth World Series in Virginia.

At regionals, a team needs to be top-two to advance to the Babe Ruth World Series, which is a 10-12 team tournament with teams from across the country.

Albany won the Midwest Regional in 2018 and 2019 and advanced to the state of Washington and Bismarck, North Dakota, for the World Series in respective years. The COVID-19 pandemic shut down tournaments in 2020 and 2021, so this is the first time since the pandemic that the World Series is back.

The Huskies were able to finish top two at the state tournament and advanced to the Midwest Regional. At regionals, Albany lost 3-2 in the championship game against Rapid City, South Dakota, to earn second and punch its ticket to the Babe Ruth World Series in Stafford, Virginia.

Albany will play in pool play to begin the World Series and then the best teams will form a bracket to play for the championship title. The Huskies will start its pool play 8:30 p.m. (EST) Saturday against Stafford, Virginia.

Then, Albany plays against Torrance, California, at 3:30 p.m. (EST) Sunday followed by a game at 10 a.m. (EST) Monday against Hamilton, New Jersey. Finally, the last pool play game will be against Eau Claire, Wisconsin, at 7 p.m. (EST) Wednesday, Aug. 17.

Brian Mozey is the high school sports reporter for the St. Cloud Times. Reach him at 320-255-8772 or bmozey@stcloudtimes.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrianMozey.

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