history

  The Rice Lake Orangemen men’s fastpitch softball team was organized in 1979.  The team has competed at both the NAFA class A, A-Major, and AA levels, often stepping out of their class to play clubs classified AAA and Major.

 From that opening 1979 season through the 2002 campaign the Orangemen played in the Pines Fastpitch League in Bloomer, claiming five league championships in those 24 campaigns.  Orangemen players helped found the Red Cedar Mens Fastpitch headquartered in Rice Lake in 1981, initially not playing as a team but splitting their roster among several Red Cedar squads to ensure competitive parity.  Since 1985, when a solid Red Cedar League allowed the Orangemen to compete as a unit, the team has annexed eight league titles.

 The Orangemen provided the impetus for the revival of the Barron County League in 1982, and were a dominant team until the league was absorbed by the Red Cedar League in 1987.  The Orangemen also compete in the Wisconsin NAFA Travel League, a league consisting of 18 teams from as far south as Kenosha and as far north as Rice Lake.  The Travel League uses the “big weekend” format in which all teams assemble at a single location on three separate weekends for round robin play.  The Orangemen have hosted two of those weekends, in 1998, and again in 2000.

 In addition to weekend travel play, the Orangemen play an extensive weekend tournament schedule.  At the invitational level, this schedule has included all 28 years of the Class AA Rice Lake Aquafest Invitational as well as frequent appearances in the Class AAA West Saint Paul Fastpitch Tourney and the Open Division Eau Claire Classic.

 At the state level, the Orangemen annually enter the North American Fastpitch Association state tournament and on occasion have competed in International Softball Congress and Amateur Softball Association state meets.   In NAFA (and predecessor NSA) play, the Orangemen have advanced to the North American championships for sixteen consecutive years, playing four times in Hutchinson, Kansas, twice each in Salt Lake City, Utah and Fargo, North Dakota and once each in Austin, Minnesota, Woodstock, Illinois, Olympia, Washington, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Salem, Oregon, Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, Mankato, Minnesota, and Appleton, Wisconsin. 

  The 1995 edition of the team compiled a record of four wins, two losses at Salt Lake City, placing them 17^th in the 64 team field, the 1997 squad won three of five games, good for 26^th in the field of 64, and the 1998 team won 4 games while losing two, (both by one run) good for a 9^th place finish in the 48 team field.  The 2004 squad fashioned a 5-2 mark, good for 5^th place in the 18-team A-Major division and in 2005 Orangemen were 2-2 in A-Major division competition, placing the team in a four way tie for 9^th among the 33 teams entered.  Last season brought another four way tie for 9th, this time in the 55 team A tournament.

 The 2002 edition of the Orangemen was the most successful to date,  winning six games and while losing two, placing them second in the field of 58 teams in the A division of play.