Springers
enjoy sweet victory in '73
Written for 2002 State Tournament Program
By Tom Elliott
St. Cloud Times
For Bill Huls and the rest
of the Cold Spring Springers, at least the ones who had been around for a few
years, the 1973 state championship season was a moment of sweet redemption.
In 1970, Huls was named MVP
of the state tournament, but Cold Spring lost to Deer Creek 8-7 in 12 innings
in the championship.
"If anything, I
remember that loss more than I remember winning in some ways," Huls said.
But there was plenty to
remember in 1973. The Springers were one of 36 teams competing in the
single-class, single-elimination tournament in Jordan, one of Cold Spring’s
favorite places to play.
The Springers opened the
tournament with a 7-2 win over
"The big thing, after
that, was one of their players came up to me and said, ‘Shoot, you’re a thumber. I thought you were a hard thrower,’" Huls
said. "I guess I was just a thumber."
Cold Spring then beat Red
Wing 10-2 on Wednesday, Sept. 5. Don Nierengarten, a
left-handed draftee from
"He was really a good
kid," said John "Boogs" Rausch, who
was Cold Spring’s shortstop and its leading hitter (.386) during the regular
season. "He was kind of Tommy Arnold-like (Arnold was the Springers’ ace
in 1981 and a key member of the ‘86 team during Cold Spring’s other
championship seasons). He had a slight frame and he was smooth as silk. He had
a nasty curveball and a sneaky fastball."
In the quarterfinals, Cold
Spring beat St. Augusta, 6-4. As could be expected, it was an intense, tightly
contested game between two
"What I remember about
that one was that they had us beat," Huls said. "Their star was Dick
‘The Whip’ Weber. I hit him (with a pitch) and it seemed like it kind of went
to hell for them after that."
Huls said that after the
Springers rallied and won, he could remember trying to leave the park when a
female St. Augusta fan kicked him, telling him that the kick was for hitting Weber.
In the semifinals, Cold
Spring beat Mayer 7-3. The Springers then played Dassel-Cokato in the
championship and won 3-1. Nierengarten was the
winning pitcher. He earned MVP honors. Dave Bell, Tom Roske,
Steve Hansen and Jeff Neutzling, a draftee from Avon
who played for the
"It was a great
feeling to finally win the championship," Huls said.
"The first one’s
always special," Rausch said.
Around the horn, the club
featured Jim Bell at first base, Dave Bell at second and Paul Bell at third.
Tom Bell played a bit of first base and was a coach. Rausch, a star at
Minnesota State-Mankato, was the shortstop.
Steve Hansen, a future star
for the Springers, played some infield and outfield. Also in the outfielder
were Tom Roske, Tim Roske,
Andy Rausch (Boogs’ brother), Gary Hansen and John Ficker.
Norb Kalthoff
did most of the catching, though Neutzling helped a
great deal in the state tournament.
Jim Thelen,
Charlie Reiter, left-hander Joe Roske and Roger Illies pitched, along with Huls.
Andy Rausch batted .333 and
Tom Roske hit .312. Dave Bell, who had been on the
Springers’ 1955 championship team with his brother Tom, led the team with 26
stolen bases. Dave Bell would eventually set a Springers record by playing 28
seasons.
"It was kind of a nice
one because I was getting up there age-wise," said Dave Bell, who is now a
banker in Greenwald. "You don’t know how many years you have left to
play."
He had just enough to win
one more title in 1973.