CL Babe Ruth honors duo for sportsmanship
Crystal Lake Babe Ruth Baseball League recently awarded Eric Humpa and Scott Taege the league’s 2009 Sportsmanship Award.
The award honors players who show team spirit, enthusiasm, dedication and goodwill. League president Jim Sabo said the award reinforces how important sportsmanship is and how youth baseball is as much a developing ground for good citizens as it is for good baseball players.
Humpa has played for the CLBR in-house program for three years. He also has been a member of the league’s 13U, 14U and 15U tournament teams as a pitcher and outfielder.
For the past four years, Taege has played in the in-house program and on the tournament teams. Before that, he was the bat boy for the CLBR 15U tournament team that his brother, Brian, played for in 2003.
Taege said being a part of the Babe Ruth league meant a lot to him, both on and off the field.
“It’s been a great experience,” Taege said. “I’ve made so many friends though Babe Ruth.”
Humpa said that playing baseball has been both a learning and a bonding experience.
“It was fun to play with all my teammates,” Humpa said. “And I learned a lot from all my coaches.”
Humpa said that he believes his enjoyment of the game was a big reason he was chosen for the award.
“I try to go out every day with a positive atti-tude and just have fun,” he said.
Taege said his leadership qualities toward the younger players was a big factor in his selection for the award. Like Humpa, Taege also credited his ability to stay positive even in difficult circumstances in his selection.
“Even if players didn’t do good, I stayed positive with them,” Taege said.
Both players said their best experience playing in the Babe Ruth league has been their participation in the USSSA tournament hosted in Crystal Lake each summer.
Taege said players from his team got to hang out with members of a team from the Dominican Republic last summer.
“It was just a great experience to meet everyone from different countries and different states,” Taege said. “We meshed real good with them.”
Humpa’s best memory from playing in the USSSA tournament could be considered bittersweet, but he considers the experience to be positive.
“I got to pitch in the premier night game against the Dominican Republic,” Humpa said.
CLBR lost that game, 7-6, but it also was particularly meaningful for Humpa because he was one of five CLBR players to travel to the Dominican Republic in June with the McHenry County Youth Sports Association select team.
“They’re all baseball crazy,” Humpa said of his experience in Latin America. “They’re all really good.”
• Rob Smith is a sports writer for the Northwest Herald. Write to him at rsmith@nwherald.com.
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