By Dave Bryne
New Era Correspondent
The moment of truth came early for the Warwick Phillies and for
Mountville Indians starting pitcher Patrick Welsh.
Phillies pitcher Matt Ruhl led off the top of the second inning
with a hit, and pinchrunner Dylan Adams was soon standing on
third base, courtesy of a balk and a wild pitch.
The momentum of this scoreless baseball game was clearly with
the Phillies.
But Welsh, a two-year veteran of the Indians in his first year
as a starting pitcher, calmly reached back and struck out the
next three hitters.
That switched the momentum to Mountville's side of Kunkle Field.
The Indians rode it to a 10-2 victory in the Midget-Midget championship
game of the New Era Tournament.
In claiming its third consecutive Midget-Midget title, Mountville
(44-7) joins the 1994-96 Manheim Junior-Midgets and the 2001-03
Hempfield Midgets on the short list of programs that have 3-peated.
Mixing fastballs, knuckleballs and curves, Welsh had the Phillies
(20-13) beating the ball into the ground when they managed to
make contact.
He finished with seven strikeouts, didn't walk a batter and recorded
ten groundball outs.
Two other grounders were mishandled for errors and a third went
for an infield single,
Ruhl's shot to right in the second was the only ball hit by the
Phillies that reached the outfield.
"He was hitting his spots," noted Bob Sauders, Indians' coach
and architect of their long string of success.
"We haven't seen a curveball like that, a change of pace like
that, all year,'' said Phillies' coach Dave Erb. "He made some
quality pitches, no doubt."
Welsh's teammates made the task a little easier, banging out
13 hits, seven in a 6-run, fifth-inning uprising that salted
the game away.
Afterward, Welsh said he felt few jitters.
"I've been in situations like that before," he said. "I figured,
'Don't mess up. Just throw strikes.' That's all I could do."
Riding the wave generated by Welsh, the Indians took the lead
in the bottom of the inning on Mark Feiler's RBI hit and Aaron
Law's 2-run single.
Welsh helped himself in the third inning, stealing home after
getting his second hit if the game.
The Phillies halved Mountville's advantage in the fourth on some
uncharacteristic fielding misadventures by Mountville.
J.T. Garner reached base on an error on his bouncer up the thirdbase
line, then stole second.
Ruhl's infield single to short advanced Garner to third and he
scored on Deron Thompson's groundout to short.
Second baseman Cullen Wolf couldn't find the handle on Nate Lawrence's
grounder. It would've been the third out, and Adams, running
for Ruhl, scampered home with the second run.
Lawrence stole second, but was gunned down trying to steal third
to end the threat. He was Warwick's last baserunner.
After Mountville's early output, Ruhl settled in, needing only
eight pitches in the fourth inning to retire the side.
He got the first out of the fifth on one pitch, but then he ran
into a buzzsaw.
Law doubled loudly to centerfield. Wolf picked up an infield
hit to short. With runners on second and third, Welsh hit a grounder
to short.
Kyle Keener elected to come home to get Law, running on contact,
but Law slid under Deron Thompson's tag at home.
Thompson recovered to throw out Welsh, trying to take second,
but Wolf steamed home on the play.
Then Mountville strung five straight hits. Josh Longsderff singled.
Steve Remley hit an RBI double and, after Ruhl was replaced by
Darren Erb, pinch hitter Andrew Weitzel lobbed an RBI double
into center. That was followed by RBI singles by Brad Hoffman
and Brent Pickell.
What began with Welsh's momentum-grabber ended with Mountville
grabbing the champion's trophy.
"Momentum, especially in this age group, is everything,'' Sauders
said. "A team that can control that usually will win the game."
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(Click on photo to enlarge or see other photos)
Indians' battle cry: 'Pass it on'
By Jason Guarente
New Era Sports Writer
With three outs to go, the Mountville Indians gathered outside
their dugout for what they hoped was the final time.
Coach Bob Sauders was their ringleader, the center of the boys'
attention.
"Pass it on!" he said with a modest scream.
With that, the players hopped up and down for a second, then
charged onto the field so fast they nearly tripped over one another
along the way.
Pass it on? As motivational speeches go, this one seemed, well,
unusual.
Not for the Indians. They've been saying those words since the
beginning of the season. The phrase became their theme. They
wanted to be a link in the Mountville baseball chain.
Pass on the winning. Pass on the tradition. And, after Tuesday
night, pass on the trophy. All to next year's team.
Mountville continued its dynasty in the Midget-Midget Division
of the New Era Tournament at Kunkle Field. The Indians defeated
the Warwick Phillies 10-2 for their third straight championship.
"I didn't think we could do that in the beginning of the year
because it's so hard," Sauders said. "All season we've had a
target on our backs. Teams have gotten hyped up to play us."
The Indians' response to this pressure has been to get just as
hyped as everyone else.
It's part of the beauty of winning. As soon as you taste it,
you want some more. Two straight titles weren't enough for the
members of this year's team. They craved a three-peat.
The Indians play with boundless enthusiasm. The kids never sit
on the bench in the dugout. They're always propped up against
the fence, always encouraging their teammates. They're just hungry
to win.
"That's the sign of a champion," Warwick coach Dave Erb said
of his rivals. "They play hard and they expect a lot of themselves."
In Mountville's final two victories of this tournament, Sauders
never once had to get his team's energy level up.
Consider this scene from the fifth inning against the Phillies:
After catcher Steve Remley belted an RBI double, pitcher Patrick
Welsh jogged onto the field to pick up a stray helmet. With his
throwing arm wrapped in a sweatshirt, he scooped up the helmet
then trotted over to Remley for a quick high-five, then sprinted
back to the dugout.
Mountville's 4-2 lead had quickly blossomed to 10-2. That was
enough to get Welsh moving.
"I was psyched," he said. "It was a tight game and that hit opened
it up for us."
Welsh is one of the centerpieces of the Indians. He bats third
and routinely drills line drives. He's also the ace of the pitching
staff. Against Warwick, he allowed two runs on two hits. Of the
68 pitches he threw, just 13 were balls.
Still, he was the one racing across the diamond to congratulate
a teammate.
Where does all of this energy come from?
"Last year the veterans on this team had it," Welsh said. "I'm
trying to take the role of a veteran. I'm a second-year player
with all of the experience."
While listening to a 12-year-old use the term veteran to describe
himself is enough to bring a smile to one's face, Welsh had made
his point. He's a leader and the rest of the guys mirror his
boyish excitement.
That's why, as the Indians recorded those final three outs to
improve to 44-7, they were able to celebrate like it was their
first win. And their first championship.
That's why they passed it on.
"I don't like to lose," Welsh said, flashing a smile. "Winning
makes me happy,"
If that's the case, he's on the right team.
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