`Mud Cats’ selected as name for new Chillicothe baseball team

Chillicothe Mud Cats

Chillicothe’s MINK League expansion team will be called the

Chillicothe Mud Cats after a name the team contest drew nearly 60

entries. The baseball team’s new name was announced at a press

conference Monday night at the Chillicothe Country Club.

Dennis Kepner of Chillicothe submitted the winning name and will

receive a pass to the inaugural season and a souvenir package. Also

getting special recognition as part of the contest were a

Chillicothe R-5 class and a Bishop Hogan elementary class. Each

class will receive a special prize of a free ticket for each class

member to the Mud Cats’ June opener against Nevada.

Shad Fish, presently the associate head coach at Porterville

Community College in Porterville, CA, was introduced as the new Mud

Cats head coach Monday night. Fish, 28, has previous coaching

experience with West Hills Community College in Coalinga, CA, and

at Graceland College in Lamoni, IA. He also served one season as

pitching coach for the Clarinda, IA A’s, a Chillicothe MINK League

conference opponent.

The new head coach has also seen time on the mound, playing college

ball for Iowa Western College in Clarinda, Graceland College and

MINK League teams in St. Joseph and Clarinda. He played for the

Meridian (MI) independent league team before being invited to the

Montreal Expos spring training in 1998.

“I’m very excited to have an opportunity to return to the MINK

League this season and to be the head coach for the new Chillicothe

team,” Fish told those attending the news conference. “There is

plenty of talent in the league and I am recruiting some very

talented players,” he added. “It is my hope that we will have

exciting games to watch every night.”

The Mud Cats roster will have between 25 and 27 players. At

present, 19 players have committed to the team, including four

players who were selected in the June 2001 Major League draft.

Among the group are six pre-season All-American selections from the

junior college ranks and players that are either playing for or who

have signed with such Division I schools as Arkansas, Cal-Poly, UC-

Irvine, Arizona, Northern Iowa and Missouri. Also in the mix of Mud

Cat commitments are some Division II players from Northwest

Missouri State, Central Missouri State and Iowa Western College in

Council Bluffs, IA.

Interest has been received from some local and area collegiate

players and a tryout will be held May 28-31 for these players to

earn a position on the Mud Cats team.