By Cripe Olson

Scores of youngsters participated in the annual free youth baseball clinic put on by Prescott High School players and coaches. Team members from all high school levels provided instruction on the basics of throwing, pitching, fielding and hitting at Firehall Field Field on Saturday.__ Although some of the excitement and luster of the trout opener has abated since the addition of the early season, anglers will hit area streams in search of brook and brown trout this weekend. _From the Trimbelle to the Kinnickinnic, to the Rush to the Willow, the banks of area streams will see plenty of foot traffic over the next few weekends._ Remember anglers, take your trash with you._ There are few things more unsightly than seeing empty Walt’s Crawlers containers along the banks of a pristine Wisconsin trout stream._ Speaking of trout fishing, the only species native to Wisconsin is the brook trout._The brown trout was brought to the United States in the late 19th Century and are native to Europe and Western Asia. The rainbow/steelhead is native to the Pacific Northwest and Russia and can also be found in some streams and other bodies of water around the state._ The Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association Preseason Poll has Sun Prairie as the top ranked team in Division 1, Catholic Memorial in Division 2, Viroqua in Division 3 and Boyceville in Division 4._There are no teams from the Middle Border Conference ranked in the top 20; however, Prescott was listed as honorable mention._ Peter Brookshaw homered for the second consecutive weekend at North Dakota State, who won the opener in a four-game series with South Dakota State._ The Bison split the four-game set at home and are now 14-9 in Summit League play and 25-12 overall. _NDSU is in second place in conference play trailing Oral Roberts University._ Brookshaw remains among the team leaders in hits, doubles, home runs, runs scored, and runs batted in.

The Prescott CAB Company will again present the Dallas Eggers Scholarship in the amount of $1,000 to a graduating high school baseball senior who plans to further his education after high school._Along with standard baseball participation information, applicants must write an essay on how playing Prescott baseball has helped prepare them for life beyond high school.__ The search begins to replace outgoing Athletic Director and Assistant Principal Matt Smith._A 1998 Prescott graduate, Smith seemingly did it all as a school district employee._ A jack of all trades, Smith taught business and marketing classes at the high school_and was a head coach during every athletic season. Smith served as head football coach, head girls basketball coach, and head softball coach during his Cardinal coaching career and enjoyed success in each sport. The affable Smith remains extremely popular among his peers both in and around Prescott and will be missed by the district._Smith has accepted a new position in the River Falls School District.__ Approximately two dozen Prescott eighth graders traveled to Lakeville to participate in a live baseball scrimmage. Volunteer coaches of the two teams include Shawn Bernick, Jason Bayer, Thad Magee, Chris Vesperman, and Dan Gergen. How wonderful it is to see kids playing baseball during baseball season._ This week will mark the first time in over a year high school athletes will be competing in track and field, golf, softball, baseball, and trap shooting. Youngsters, parents, and fans are chomping at the bit for the return of spring competition._ Headshaker of the week: There seems to be a new trend in uniforms._Baseball and softball uniform catalogues are sporting color combinations more closely associated with the overalls of NASCAR drivers and slow pitch and fastpitch softball teams._ The multi-colored neon uniforms do no favors to the eye._It’s a headshaker. _