Athletics

HEDGESVILLE ALL-STARS
2003 WEST VIRGINIA LITTLE LEAGUE

Hedgesville claims state crown

By ROBYN RISON - The Herald-Dispatch

CEREDO-KENOVA -- It’s official the Hedgesville Little League All-Stars will now been known as the team from West Virginia.

Hedgesville held off a pesky team from South Charleston’s Mountaineer Little League to get a 12-8 win Thursday in the championship game of the 2003 West Virginia Little League Baseball State Tournament at Mitch Stadium.

Hedgesville advances as the West Virginia state champ to the Southeastern Regional next week in St. Petersburg, Fla. Hedgesville will play South Carolina on Aug. 3 at 11 a.m.

Hedgesville jumped out to a seven-run lead only to see Mountaineer come back to make it a 7-6 game. After Hedgesville manager John Reed had a little discussion with his players between the fourth and fifth innings, they regrouped and pulled away again.

"I wouldn’t say we blew the lead. Mountaineer just made a great comeback," Reed said. "We jumped out on them early and set the tone, but (pitcher) Aaron (Price) fell apart and we had to bring in Jordan (Reed). I have a tendency to go off on them sometimes. I did and they responded."

Despite his struggles in third, Price was the winning pitcher. Mountaineer starter Caleb Burdette, who threw 116 pitches in five innings, took the loss.

"As I told the kids, I don’t have any regrets," Mountaineer manager Steve Frazer said. "We came a long way. We had a tough battle through our district (three) and then went 1-2 in pool play here and pulled it off. Somebody said there are 124 Little League teams in the state so number two is not too bad. We’re not going to Florida, but this has been MLB all week. My hat is off to the people here at C-K. This was top notch."

Hedgesville wasted no time in taking charge, scoring four runs in the top of the first. J.R. Mayles, Jordan Smith and Price each singled and Andrew Snyder drove in a run on a sacrifice.

Hedgesville added three more runs in the second to take a 7-0 advantage. Reed and Kevin Finfrock both singled and Snyder doubled and drove in another run. Jake Riner also drove in a run.

Mountaineer finally got its bats going in the third and scored five times. Blake Moore and Austin Hensley drew back-to-back walks to start the rally. Gavin Patton delivered an RBI single. Matt Frazer singled. Burdette drove in a run on a fielder’s choice and Dylan Midkiff doubled to drive in another run.

Mountaineer cut it to a run-one game with another run in the bottom of the fourth, but that proved to be a wake-up call for Hedgesville.

Hedgesville answered by scoring five runs in fifth to take a 12-6 lead. The inning was highlighted by doubles from Ricky Miller, Mayles and Riner as well as a single from Finfrock.

Mountaineer continued to chip into the lead when Mike McCormick came up with a pinch-hit single to drive in a run in the fifth. Patton finished the scoring with a solo home run to left in the bottom of the sixth.

The defense was suspect for both teams throughout the game. The two teams combined for 12 errors. Despite the errors, Reed will take the win.

"This was just a great victory for the kids," he said. "The bottom line is that these 12 kids got it done. What a thrill."

Reed said the win just capped off a fantastic experience for his team.

"I have to thank the guys at CK," he said. "This is the best we’ve ever seen and with all the work they put in they just did a fabulous job. This has just been really fun. We’ve gotten to know Huntington and I think we might have to become Marshall fans now. They (Marshall) let us practice over there one day and we got to meet their baseball coach (Dave Piepenbrink). This was really fun."

Southeastern Regional Tournament
St. Petersburg, Florida  August 3 - 9