The Student Newspaper of Westminster Christian Academy

The Wildcat Roar

The Student Newspaper of Westminster Christian Academy

The Wildcat Roar

The Student Newspaper of Westminster Christian Academy

The Wildcat Roar

Westminster vs. the World

Two sophomore baseball players face off against international teams.


Ben Mitchell and Bryce Bell's USA team poses with a friend from across the world.

Usually, the Ellisville baseball fields play host to many teams from around the St. Louis area and even some teams from across the country.  But from August 2 to August 8, the fields were the home for a special and different kind of tournament.  Select baseball teams from all over the world met to play in the annual SLBBA International Games, and two of Westminster’s own were there to experience all the action.

Ben Mitchell and Bryce Bell, sophomores, each competed for slots on one of the national USA teams competing in the tournament, and they each made the same team.  Bell was the primary second baseman on the team while Mitchell mainly played first.  Bell also played a little bit of center and even played catcher in a friendly game against the Australian team.

“We only had nine players on our team, so we all got a lot of playing time,” said Mitchell.

The team started off with a scrimmage against Singapore, then moved on to the Japan B team.  It was a close game, but the USA team pulled out a 5-2 victory.

“[The Japanese teams] talk all the time, even when they’re on the field,” said Bell

Because of the wide ranges of international teams in the tournament, the American teams had to get used to playing with a different type of ball.  Instead of a normal baseball, every team had to play with a kenko ball, a smaller and lighter ball used mainly in Japan.  A kenko ball behaves totally different than a normal baseball, as it is much bouncier.  The ball also worked better with a different type of bat, a kenko bat.

“It takes some really crazy bounces,” said Mitchell.

The team later went on to play the Eureka Freshmen Legion team, and another USA team.  They won both to propel themselves to the championship game against the Japan A team.  The game was hard fought, but they lost the game 3-0.  Mitchell got the only two hits for the USA team.

“They dominated us with their pitching,” said Bell.

Even though they came up empty-handed in the championship game, they still formed valuable friendships with people from different places in the world.

“After every game, we would have a gift exchange.  We would give them American presents, and they would give us presents from their countries,” said Bell.

Mitchell and Bell also found themselves in a unique situation during the tournament.  On July 31st, the Australian team came in with no place to stay, so the Mitchell’s and the Bell’s invited them to stay with them for the entire tournament.  They found they had a lot in common, but also many differences.

“They were really polite, except they were really messy.  They would fall asleep and never wake up,” said Mitchell, “They say reckon all the time.  I even said it one time without realizing it.”

Even though they were facing teams and playing a style of baseball that might have been a little different than what they were used to, they still had a fun time playing the game.  They even made some new friendships with kids from all the way across the world.

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Westminster vs. the World