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Mohawk 9-10 team rallies to finish unbeaten
By charles grove
David Hopper and the rest of the coaches of the Mohawk Warriors U10 baseball team thought they had a pretty good team before this season, but nobody expected this: a perfect season.
The New Castle-based team opened up the year with a sweep in the Early Bird Tournament, went 14-0 in the regular season and then swept the Tournament of Champions, consisting of the 21 best teams in Lawrence County.
“When we drafted the kids we did some indoor practices and when we saw how the kids were doing we all thought, ‘Well this is going to be a real good team,’” Hopper said.
The strength of the team was pitching. Jacob Warner was the team’s top ace, allowing only two runs all season, but the real surprise was the younger arms who helped carry the team.
“Our 9-year-old pitchers were really strong,” Hopper said. “You have to pitch a 9-year-old for six consecutive outs before the fourth inning and we had three good 9-year-olds who could pitch.
“We put them in not knowing how well they’d do and they’d just go out there and never give up.”
After racking up their first 21 victories before the championship game, the Warriors found themselves down 4-0 early in the title game.
But like the young pitchers, the team refused to back down.
“Usually when I’ve coached before, when we’ve gotten down after the other team goes up,” Hopper said. “I thought they would get down but they battled back and got a run here and there and ended up going ahead.”
The Warriors eventually won 6-5, capping off the undefeated season.
“We’re going to have a picnic in August when people get back from vacation,” Hopper said. “We’re going out to a lake with some jet skis and have some fun.”