A side of Kraut

by

Casey K rautkramer Reporter

Love seeing fans behind outfield

While growing up in Marathon City, I would spend time with Dave Martin’s father, who was my next door neighbor, watching his beloved Chicago Cubs afternoon games on WGN.

I recall seeing on television Cubs fans sitting on the Wrigley rooftops, which are residential apartment buildings in which fans can sit on the roofs and watch Cubs home games in Chicago.

Thursday’s Stratford versus Edgar softball WIAA Division 4 regional championship gave me a similar feeling to seeing Cubs fans on the Wrigley rooftops. Although there are no residential rooftop apartments outside Hilgemann Field in Stratford, it was interesting to see the large amount of people who either sat in lawn chairs in the sun on the hill behind the outfield fence or underneath the large shade trees.

There were just as many people watching the game from behind the outfield fence as there were fans sitting outside the backstop by the concession stand, or essentially where sports fans would normally sit at a baseball or softball game.

I loved seeing people bring tents so their children could camp inside them and not get sunburned during the Stratford against Edgar softball regional championship. I also loved seeing people drive their sports utility vehicles in the Stratford VFW Post 6253 clubhouse parking lot so they too could see the game from atop of the hill behind the outfield fence. I loved seeing the creativity fans used in watching the softball game.

Today (Wednesday) night, I will see more of the same when the Marathon baseball team plays against Stratford at home in a WIAA Division 3 regional championship.

It’s a tradition for many Marathon baseball fans to back up their trucks in the parking lot along the outfield fence so they can sit on lawn chairs in their truck beds and watch the game.

There are also no residential rooftop apartment buildings outside the Marathon High School baseball field, but Red Raiders fans watching the games from their truckbeds provides a similar experience.

Fans might not get the same sports watching experience behind the outfield in Athens, but it’s sure nice to have both the baseball and softball diamonds right next to each other to allow fans to go back-and-forth between baseball and softball games. The concession stand is the only thing that separates the Athens High School baseball and softball fields.

Anyone looking to watch youth sports in Athens this weekend should go to the Athens village diamond on Saturday and Sunday. Athens is hosting an 8U and 10U baseball/softball tournament.