HUMBOLDT — Cody Lassman saw a need and a way to fix it with the Neosho County Post 170 American Legion team.
Despite Chanute and Iola squads recruiting several Cub stars each year to supplement their Legion teams, many Cubs were left either without a team or taking bench spots for those teams.
“American Legion baseball has always been dear to my heart and I’ve coached a lot of these boys through travel-ball,” Lassman said. “They planned to try out for other Legion teams and it just didn’t work out, we decided that if we could get enough players, we would get a team and do what we can.”
Lassman gave those kids a place to play and formed his Neosho County team with the help of Chanute Post 170 — hence why it is named Neosho County, despite the team playing home games in Humboldt.
The only question is, how good will a team made up of primarily Cubs — but not containing stars like Daylon Splane, Lance Daniels and Rayce Hoepker — be?
So far, the answer is very good.
Neosho County is 2-2 to open the season with splits against Burlington and Garnett.
“I’m extremely satisfied,” Lassman said. “I’m confident that later in the season, we will be right where we need to be.”
After a tough 6-5 loss to Garnett in game one — despite a good performance from Josh Vanatta on the mound — Wyatt Seufert and Gunner Elder led their team to a 2-1 win in game two.
Seufert held Garnett to just one run in his five innings and in the bottom of the fifth, Elder drove in the game-winning run with a single for the 2-1 victory.
“It felt pretty good to win that game against a pretty good team,” Elder said. “We are getting a lot better.”
The season still has a long way to go for the new team, but so far Lassman’s experiment is looking like a smashing success.
“It feels great when everything works out like it did today,” Lassman said. “It is a great feeling for the boys and everyone involved.”
NEW TEAM IN TOWN: Brand-new team starts year at 2-2
