COSHOCTON — The Eastside Warriors 14U baseball team needed to return to the diamond June 27 to see if a valuable lesson had been learned.
The Warriors previously hit a speed bump, dropping three games during last weekend’s tournament at Highland. The Warriors rebounded, winning twice during the first day of the Little Texas Shootout at Don Edwards Park in downtown Newark.
“Especially if games are going to one side or the other, whether you are winning or losing, it’s easy to get complacent and just go through the motions,” Eastside coach J.T. Starkey said. “Teams at this level usually are pretty good and pretty experienced, and they are going to take advantage of that. You need to be in it every pitch, every play.”
The six-team event was the idea of Phil Henthorn, who noticed several teams had an unexpected weekend opening on their schedule, and Henthorn had fields available.
The 14U teams are nearing the end of their seasons as players get a few more games under their belts before putting their bats and gloves away to pick up helmets and shoulder pads to try out for high school football teams.
“We just threw six teams together and have them playing on the main diamonds,” said Henthorn, youth sports director for the Buckeye Valley Family YMCA. “It’s a great group of teams. We are able to keep everyone local. We had local teams that went 1-2-3 in the Worthington Wood Bat [earlier in June].”
The Warriors beat the Central Ohio Smash 15U 18-0 and Licking County Crusaders 14U 12-0 on the tournament’s first day, avenging a recent loss to the latter.
“Get better is kind of our team motto every practice, every game. Try to take something away because our job is to prepare them for high school and hopefully have success at that level,” said Starkey, whose team’s core is made up of Watkins Memorial students, but he also has a few others from surrounding communities, including Licking Heights and Reynoldsburg.
Legends 14U Van Fossen, with a core of players looking to add to Northridge’s resurgence during the next couple of years, picked up a 14-2 victory against Athletics Baseball 14U before falling to the 7-2 Mount Vernon Orange Sox 14U on the tournament’s first day.
Coach Jeremy Van Fossen noted that coaching at this level can be a balancing act. Every player is looking for a few last chances to fine-tune their game before making a good first impression on their high school coaches next spring, but opportunities must be earned.
“I try to mix them around as best as I can while still playing to their strengths. We try to use a lot of different pitchers,” Van Fossen said. “If you are hot, you move up [in the batting order], and if you are not so hot, you get moved down a little bit.”
The Crusaders are a first-year team filled primarily with players from Heath, Granville and Newark. Assistant coach Ryan Morgan said they have developed good chemistry by staying increasingly local.
“The team is meshing well, so it’s a good opportunity to get kids from different schools together,” said Morgan, whose team opened the tournament with a 15-3 victory against the Smash, adding to a three-game winning streak built on the final day at Highland on June 21.
“School ball teaches them a lot,” Morgan continued, “but it gets them playing at that next level against a lot of really good talent, and they get more reps.”
While most travel teams have at least one out-of-state trip planned each summer, Henthorn said coaches are rediscovering how much can be accomplished within a 40-mile radius.
Don Edwards Park hosts several tournaments in June and early July, but Henthorn said several current 14U coaches have shown interest in developing a league next summer to play during the week.
“Licking County has always been really strong in baseball, and I see a lot of players staying home,” Van Fossen said. “Just at the 14U level, there are so many good teams. We get beat on, and sometimes we hand out a beating.”
The A’s rebounded to pick up a 16-6 victory against the Orange Sox. The A’s, coached by Granville varsity head coach Mike Seifert, have a core primarily of future Blue Aces who have played together for four years.
ksnyder@newarkadvocate.com
740-973-4541
Instagram: @newarkurt
This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Licking County 14U baseball teams developing emerging talent
Reporting by Kurt Snyder, Newark Advocate / Newark Advocate
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Kurt Snyder, Newark Advocate | USA TODAY Network
