The start of this year's little league season brought some changes to some of the teams, namely the Minis softball teams. The little league consisting of towns in our school district joined the newly formed Western Valley Conference Youth Sports Little League. The big change, at least to this reporter with no kids or grandkids playing so observing from a distance, is the mainstreaming of the teams. Gone are the Minis, and in are the PeeWees softball teams. This aligns the softball and baseball teams; the PeeWee baseball teams were already in existence.
    The MVAO PeeWee Softball Team, playing out of Anthon, ended the regular season with an impressive 11-0-1 record. This outstanding record put them in the gold bracket semi final game in their tournament. On June 30th, they met up with Ridge View1 and showed why they were undefeated with an easy 3-0. The championship game pitted the ladies against Odebolt-Arthur2 on July 1st. As all championship games should be, it was a nailbiter. At the final out, the MVAO ladies found themselves as the champs with a 1-0 win.
    "This was a great group of girls to coach, and they had an outstanding season," said Coach Ross Baldwin. "They showed up, worked hard, and saw the rewards of their effort. They continued practicing all season long right up until the championship game, finishing 13-0-1 — a true testament to their dedication. We had several close games where they found a way to dig deep and fight until the end, and we couldn't be more proud of them all."
    Congratulations, ladies!
    Photo by Josie Berning. Thanks, Josie!

    Last week, drivers trying to get through Danbury found some obstacles which caused them to see different parts of Danbury than they planned. Not one, not two, but three road closures made people go around blocks to get around work.
    The most prominent closure, affecting anyone traveling through Danbury on Highway 175, included a detour onto Second Street and then down Main Street if coming from Battle Creek. A sink hole near Barry Motor's north building forced the DOT to close the highway and repair the problem. While most traffic took the detour and kept on going, the city was able to show passersby that Danbury is alive and well for a small town.
    Those taking East Street from the highway and north were also greeted by a road closed sign, forcing them to choose a different path. A sewer project for one of the homes along that road caused the short-term closure. A short jog to the left a block to Liston and then up a couple blocks to Fifth Street and then right back to East Street was all that was needed, approximately the same amount as the highway detour.
    Finally, those wanting to go east on Wilkins found yet another denial. Cones in front of newly poured concrete made people take the longest of all three detours. Drivers could either head north to Salisbury and across to Hawkeye and back down to Wilkins or take the East Street detour down Liston Street, left on Fourth and across to Peach Street to the highway. They they had to take a sharp left up Hawkeye and finally a left to Wilkins. The project was to fix a deteriorating start of Wilkins Street.
    While the last two projects were short-term and are re-opened, the highway remains closed as of Monday evening. The IA511.org map doesn't indicate an ending date for the project.

    Something will be amiss at Cord Memorial Library on Friday and Saturday, and they are asking for groups of 2-6 (suggested size) detectives to escape to Cord Memorial and solve the mystery. What happened? Where? Who? What? Well, we won't tell you all of that. We will tell you that the escape room, created by LyLo, will be held on Friday, July 31st and Saturday, August 1st.
    Groups must sign up for a one-hour time slot to participate. The first opening is 10:00 a.m. each day, and the last one begins at 3:00 p.m. While we allow an hour to solve the mystery, it may not take that long, depending on your sleuthing skills (and the hints you wish). There is no charge to participate in this escape room. While there is no age restriction, the escape room is intended for people aged upper elementary through older retired. This is a family friendly escape room.
    There are some openings yet. To sign up or if you have questions, please contact Lynn Buth at 712-840-0327.