There’s a unique connection between New Glarus and this year’s Major League Baseball playoffs. When the Los Angeles Dodgers face the Milwaukee Brewers, local mom Kim O’Leksy will be watching closely — her son, Ben Rortvedt, is the Dodgers’ catcher, going up against the very team their family grew up cheering for.

But the story of how a small-town Wisconsin kid made it to the big leagues is as much about family as it is about baseball.

After his parents divorced, Kim's kids split his time between homes in Verona and New Glarus, still attending school in Verona. “We’ve lived in New Glarus for 23 years,” said his mom, Kim O’Leksy. “The boys lived with me half the time here. When Ben and his brother were in middle school and high school, they weren’t thrilled about leaving their friends behind in Verona, but now they love where we live — the land and the small-town feel.”