Chaseburg Coon Valley Blues

Chaseburg and Coon Valley both had town baseball teams prior to 1980. Art Dahlke coached the Chaseburg town team until 1978, when Burt Ekern took over the coaching duties. The Coon Valley town team was discontinued in 1980, partially due to the death of their manager, Bruce Larson. Players that played for Coon Valley were welcomed on the Chaseburg team.

Chaseburg won the State Wisconsin Baseball Association Title in 1985 in Hayward, Wisconsin.

In 1986 the team name was officially changed to “Chaseburg – Coon Valley”, and the team began playing some of its games in Coon Valley because of the lighted field and the ability to play night games. Eventually all games were moved to Coon Valley due to the better facility and constant improvements to the field.

An interesting team highlight occurred in the 1993 WBA Tournament that was played in Haugen, Wisconsin. Bret Cavadini, on the mound, as CCV defeated Spooner 3-2. Pitching for Spooner was Jarrod Washburn, who became a major league pitcher with the California Angels

Red uniform tops were worn until 1999 when the team switched to blue tops and added “Blues” to their name.

Metal bats were used until the 2000 season when the Mississippi Valley League made the decision to go as a wood bat league. The CCV Blues homerun production went from 75 in 1999 to 20 in 2000 due to the change. But, the change to wood bats had the positive effect of making the game better and hits were now hits and not a “clink” off the metal bat handle.

Another change that took place in 2000 was that several older players on the CCV Blues left and formed a team called the Coulee Region Titans. But, the Blues continued on and compiled a season record of 33-17 with much younger players.

The 2007 season was one of the Blues most successful. CCV ended the MVL regular season tied for the league title with the La Crosse Athletics. In the MVL tournament, the Blues received a first round forfeit over Black River Falls, won their 2nd round game 15-0 over Bangor. CCV took the MVL tournament title with a 3-2 win over the Athletics. Blues success continued as they won the Hayward WBA District tournament by defeating Ashland 8-1 and with their 13-0 win over Iron City, advanced to the WBA State Final 8 Tournament in Osceola. For the first time since 1985, the CCV Blues won the WBA State Tournament with a 1st round victory over La Crosse Athletics (6-5), quarterfinal win over Brill Millers (9-4) and defeated the Prescott Pirates 16-0 in the championship game. The Blues finished the tournament with 44 hits, scoring 31 runs while holding their opponents to 9 runs. Adam Wershofen won the Best Offensive Player award and Andy Tolvstad won the Best Defensive Player award for the tournament.

In 2008, the Blues again finished in a tie for the MVL regular season title with the La Crescent Cardinals. In the MVL tournament, the Blues defeated Norwalk 11-2 in a semifinal game after receiving a first round bye. In the championship game, CCV defeated Bangor 13-2 to claim the 2008 MVL tournament title. Earlier in the season, the Blues advanced to the NBC “Final Four” with victories over the Menasha Macs (6-3) and the Appleton Legends (4-0). In the Final Four, CCV lost their first game 8-4 to the Kewaskum Athletics.