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This past weekend - through Wednesday of this week - Dodgeville hosted the Ohio Valley Regional 16-18 Year Old Babe Ruth Tournament with eight teams playing at Centennial Park. That brought people from Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin to the area. Due to a shortage of motels a good share of these people stayed out of the area a ways. Part of the reason was that there was also a 11 Year Old Cal Ripken Tournament going on at Harris Park with 15 teams from all over Wisconsin playing. A good share of those had too far to drive back and forth, so they too had to be put up in motels. i'm sure the restaurants, convenience stores and some of the retail stores had a boost in business during these days.
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Above, Maddie Olson sang the National Anthem at the opening ceremonies of the Ohio Valley games on Saturday. Maddie is accompanied by her father David. She was the winner for the second straight year in the Farmers Appreciation Day talent contest that was held a week earlier. Also in the photo are Jerry Whitford (left), announcer for the lions share of the games and Skip Harter, Tournament Director from the Ohio Valley Regional main office.
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We sure can't seem to get any rain. Friday night i think we "maybe" got some 100 sprinkles. Everybody i talked to that had a rain gauge said we didn't even get enough to measure in their gauge! Heard that Prairie du Chien had some 3/4 inch as did the Richland Center area. Highland (south) even came up with 1/2 inch or so.......but not Dodgeville. It's almost to the point of no return with our crops and maybe it's even past it in some areas.
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I heard that a fire was reported on Highway 18 west of Dodgeville Sunday. it started in three spots alongside of the highway when either a spark from friction on the roadway or the driver or passenger threw a cigarette out the window - which would be one of the most stupid acts to do in this kind of dry weather. Smokey the Bear would be certainly looking for the person who did that!
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At the Ohio Valley Regional, host team Dodgeville bowed out in two games, but played a very good opening game. They lost 4-0 with all of the runs being scored in an opening inning while they were getting the jitters out.
At the 11U tournament, the Dodgeville team was 1-2, playing a very good game they won and competing very well in the third game that they ran out of gas in!
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For the Ohio Valley games we procured the sandwich buns from my late buddy's place. I won't make any comments about them because everybody commented about how good they were. I just can't bring myself to say anything good about that place! It must've been something I ate somewhere along the way!