Northwoods All-Star game features Iowa ties

While the major leaguers played their all-star game last night, the Northwoods League plays its all-star game tonight (Wednesday). The Northwoods is a summer league for college players and includes several players from Iowa. Outfielder Scott Kaskie is an all-star representative for the Waterloo Bucks, and also a freshman at Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs. Kaskie says he’s impressed with the league as they reach the halfway point of the season. He says the pitching is “really, really good” compared to what he sees in junior college. He says the league is run very well and allows the players to just go out and play baseball. Kaskie says he didn’t expect to make the all-star team in his first year in the summer league. He says he didn’t expect to play very much, but has gotten to play every day and has done well. Kaskie talks about the biggest challenge in moving from the college game to the summer league. He says a lot of it is the mental aspect of being able to deal with changes in his swing, the crowds and things like that. Other Northwoods League all-stars with Iowa connections include Jake Hansen, a pitcher for Northern Iowa; Austin Seward and Casey O’Rourke, both pitchers for the University of Iowa. Hansen plays for the Northwoods team in Madison, Seward the Duluth franchise and O’Rourke for Thunder Bay. The all-star game is in Alexandria, Minnesota tonight at 7:05 p.m.