Ron Reifert

REIFERT

Posted By: June Brewer Welsch (email)
Date: 12/21/2007 at 14:15:12

Ron Reifert starred on 3 MHS championship teams
MUSCATINE, Iowa - It’s been a half-century, but Ron Reifert remembers it as if it was yesterday.

Reifert was a central figure as Muscatine High school began a then-unprecedented run of state baseball championships.

Monday is the 50th anniversary of the Muskies’ 1956 state championship that triggered three straight trips to the finals and three trophies for the school’s trophy case.

Although there was just one state champion back when Muscatine won three straight titles, no large school has won more than three consecutive years. West Des Moines Valley is trying to become the first with four straight.

Reifert was one of five Muskie players that were on all three state championship teams – Bill Reifert, Gary Grossklaus, Gary Grady and Jim Freese were the others.

Lefty Schnack was the coach of all three state championship teams, returning to the helm after sitting out the 1955 season following a mild heart attack.

Lefty ran the Little League program in town, so he knew all the players," said Reifert. "He pretty much just wrote down the lineup every game and let us go play. We all respected him so much; he made it fun for us.

Reifert, who is a member of the Muscatine and Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, posted a 36-1 record during the three years. He was 8-0 his sophomore season when he was the No. 2 hurler behind his senior brother, Ed.

Ron Reifert’s first varsity appearance, however, came the previous year when John McAreavy coached the team in Schnack’s absence. His debut showed the promise that would follow over the next three years.

I struck out 15 batters, but I also walked 15, Reifert recalled. Coach McAreavy finally took me out with the scored tied 8-8. Before I learned to throw a good fastball, I threw mostly curveballs.

Reifert said that a lot of the success that the Muskies had could be traced back to the 1955 season.

"We laid the groundwork in the last game of the 1995 season," Reifert said. "We were playing Calamus in the substate tournament in Wheatland. They were a powerhouse at that time and they beat us 2-1. From that point on, we knew that we could play with the best teams."

The Muskies lost two early season league contests before reeling off 15 straight wins, including seven straight in the tournament.

One of the memorable postseason games came in the sub-state opener when Schnack threw Ed Reifert, a hard-throwing left-hander, against state Legion champion Dysart in the game at Belle Plaine.

"Ed drilled the first batter he faced," said Ron Reifert, who caught when he wasn’t pitching. The Dysart player was laying on the ground, screaming in agony and had to be replaced.

After that they were bailing out on every pitch and Ed struck out 17 batters. Lefty let me call the pitches and I screwed up by calling for a changeup. The kid got a single and that was the only hit they got off Ed.

After beating Winthrop 3-1 to reach the state finals, the Muskies found themselves down 3-0 in the seventh inning against Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson.

"Nothing went right until the last inning and then it was like we were supposed to win," said Ron Reifert.

Muscatine finally broke through with its first run, but the Muskies were down to their final out after a botched squeeze bunt. A walk and an infield single by Ed Ware cut the deficit to 3-2.

An error on Ed Reifert’s grounder tied the score and

two-run singles by Ev White put the Muskies in front. Following a walk to Ron Reifert, Bill Carter singled home two more insurance runs.

Ed Reifert then finished off a five-hit complete game by striking out two batters in the bottom of the seventh.

That first one (state title) was special because it was like climbing a mountain,” said Reifert. After that, we just knew we were going to beat anybody we played.

Most of the guys on the team were from the same part of town (the south end), so we played together all the way up from Little League. I don’t remember us losing very many games.

With his brother (Ed) gone for the 1957 season, Ron Reifert because the ace of the Muskie pitching staff. He went 16-0 as Muscatine rolled by 21 straight opponents (schools played mostly single games in those days).

Muscatine again had to come from behind in the championship game. The Muskies trailed former major leaguer Denis Menke and his Bancroft team 2-0 after three innings.

Reifert, who struck out 12, settled down and his mates rallied with a single run in the fourth, four in the fifth and two in the sixth for a 7-2 triumph.

Muscatine opened the 1958 season with four more victories, running their winning streak over the three years to 40 before a 4-3 loss to Iowa City in the second game of a doubleheader.

The Muskies led 3-0 in that game, but three unearned runs tied it in the fourth inning and losing pitcher Jim Freese walked in the winning run.

The following game was another memorable one for two reasons – a 4-3 loss to Bettendorf was the only back-to-back losses over the three-year period and it was the only loss in Reifert’s pitching career.

We were ahead 3-0, but Jim Freese loaded the bases in the fifth inning and Lefty brought me in to pitch," recalled Reifert. " I didn’t have time to warm up and I wild-pitched in all three runners.

Reifert went on to strike out 17 batters, but the Muskies lost the game in the 11th inning when Freese made an error.

I blew the win for him, but he really felt bad that he made the error that let in the winning run, Reifert said.

That was the last time the Muskies lost as they reeled off eight straight wins to close the regular season and then added eight more in the postseason to claim their third straight state title.

Reifert, who ran his career record to 36-1 with a 12-1 mark in 1958, was nearly untouchable in the tournament. He struck out 13, 12, 10, 15, 11, 18 and 13 in winning seven of the postseason games.

During his senior year, Reifert struck out 197 batters in 95 innings of work. He allowed just 42 hits and walked 49, posted an ERA of under one run per game. Reifert, who went on to pitch for the University of Iowa, never allowed a home run during his high school career.

That first year, we had an outstanding offensive team,” said Reifert. “We had six guys that hit over .300, but the other two years we won mostly with pitching and defense. We were surrounded by good pitching wherever we went. We ran into guys like Tom Hilgendorf (Clinton), Ed Watt (Iowa City) and Jack Hamilton (Morning Sun) who all went on to pitch in the major leagues.

The biggest difference between then and now is the metal bats. The ball just jumps off the bat now. When I played, you tried to go inside and saw the bat off in their hands.

If someone can knock off West Des Moines Valley this weekend it will preserve Muscatine’s piece of history.