It is shaping up to be another outstanding season of high school baseball in Mason City. Both Mason City High and Mason City Newman are highly-ranked heading into their annual matchup on Sunday. The Mohawks are rated third in class 4A in the latest Radio Iowa/Coaches Poll after making it to the state tournament last year.
Mason City coach Troy Rood says they had a good core of players returning, and he says success breeds success as the new kids come in and want to be successful. He says the game with Newman is always one that both teams look forward to. Rood says it could be the biggest rivalry in the state between inter-city rivals. He says they have thousands of fans attend and the local media play up the game. Rood says he and Newman coach Tony Adams have a great respect for each other.
Rood says the game is almost like a circus atmosphere with brats and burgers. He says it’s probably one of the neatest atmospheres outside the state tournament.
Newman is rated third in class 2A after finishing as the runner-up in class 1A last year. Knights coach Tony Adams says the success of both programs is a credit to the youth program in town and the popularity of the sport. He says the tradition of baseball in Mason City goes way back into the 1960’s. He says part of it is a good little league organization and the parents take pride in that.
Adams says the matchup with Mason City is big with the fans. He says in some ways it’s almost too much of a carnival atmosphere. While the teams will do battle on Sunday Adams says after that the players will be rooting for each other. He says a lot of the kids have played on Little League and traveling teams together and they like to see each other do well.