Minnetonka resident Steve Van Oss came up with a design for a baseball and softball pitching machine that was more durable and less costly than existing machines in the marketplace. He founded First Pitch, Inc., a Minnesota company that has been steadily growing since its inception. In 2010, its revenues were over $1 million and Van Oss is having a banner year in 2011, with sales expected to grow by fifty percent.

Crappie time. Jeffrey Barber, right, reels in a Crappie from a pond at Wayzata Beach Sunday, April 1, 2012. Barber, and his wife Shirlie, St. Louis Park, have been fishing in Lake Minnetonka for decades. In 1981, Jefferey Barber won the Holiday-Johnson Crappie Contest by pulling in a one-pound, four-ounce specimen, and went home with a 10 HP Johnson boat motor for his efforts.