West Ottawa to honor 1970 state baseball title team at alumni tournament
The West Ottawa baseball program will honor its 1970 state invitational championship baseball team at its inaugural alumni tournament on Saturday.
Many of the players from the 1970 team will be in attendance as a banner will be posted on the outfield wall and the pressbox will be updated with the title.
The first game begins at 11 a.m. with a 1 p.m. game to follow.
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The 1970 team tied for the OK Red Conference title with a 10-2 record, then defeated Rockford for the district title on a thrilling home run by Rod Berkompas, before defeating Zeeland in the regional finals - again behind a home run by Berkompas.
"Every time he came up he was ready to hit a home run," Tom Kruithoff said. "He hit some out of Riverside Park."
West Ottawa defeated Flint Holly 6-5 in the state semifinals, then shut out Sanford Meridian 8-0 to claim the Class B state invitational title, finishing 20-4 overall.
"We honor this amazing group of men almost 54 years later with a new and earned championship windscreen banner in centerfield and an updated 1970 on the press box sign which is long past due," West Ottawa coach Sean Bateman said. "This championship team was led by MHSAA Hall of Fame baseball coach Doug Waldron. Coach Waldron had a masterful understanding of the nuances of the game and poured his knowledge and expertise into each of his players throughout this season and during his accomplished career."
The players on the 1970 team included seniors Dan Tripp, who was drafted by the Montreal Expos in 1970 out of high school, then in 1971 by Cleveland in the second round.
Other seniors were Berkompas, Les Zomermaand, Greg VanWieren, Tom Kruithoff, Mike Mesbergen, Randy Assink, Bill Nykerk, Glen Bloemers as well as the late Jerry Plaggemars, Larry Saylor and Mike DeVree.
Juniors were Jack Glupker and the late Joe Sosa and sophomores were Paul Berkompas and Mike Gorman.
"I think Sean has done a terrific job putting things together. It was a special team. It has been 54 years, so a lot of the games and moments have faded. The '69 team got us ready and the next year after us was pretty good also. It was a good run," Kruithoff said. "I wouldn't want to face the top five guys in our lineup."
Contact sports editor Dan D’Addona at Dan.D’Addona@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @DanDAddona or Facebook @HollandSentinelSports.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: West Ottawa to honor 1970 state baseball title team
