The Morgan Hill Colt All-Star Team’s performance during the
World Series in Lafayette, Ind., should make our city proud
Congratulations are in order for the Morgan Hill Colt All-Star team, which reached the medal round of the Colt World Series in Lafayette, Ind., before falling to now four-time defending champion Tampa, Fla.
While the 17 local baseball players, ranging in age from 15-16, didn’t win the title this past week, reaching this stage in the Colt division of PONY (Protecting Our Nations Youth) baseball, was a tremendous accomplishment. It was the first time any Morgan Hill team in any division had gone this far. They were competing against nine other teams from around the world.
The team’s core players have been playing together for about five years and has spent that time working to achieve the goal of making it to the World Series.
When it opened the Zone Tournament July 27-30 by beating arch-rival Santa Clara, a perennial powerhouse who is second all-time with four World Series titles including as recently as 2002, a confidence became evident in the team.
Starting pitcher Jon Hughes stated after the game that the team’s goal was to go to the World Series and it planned on winning the Zone Tournament so it could get there.
The confidence spilled over to manager David Newton, who made it clear after the team qualified for the Zone finals that it would take care of Southwest Bakersfield in the first game and gain its World Series berth.
Both were right.
Once the team arrived in Lafayette, it made sure the trip wasn’t a waste.
By making the medal round and competing against the top four teams in the world, Morgan Hill proved that it deserved to be playing on a world stage.
Its 5-3 win over the host Lafayette All-Stars was achieved before more than 3,500 fans, with the vast majority of them rooting against our local team. It was a big statement for them and helped add to their confidence.
The work done by these boys is plenty to make our city proud.
While most kids were relaxing over the summer, they were working to bring a world championship home to Morgan Hill.
Although that didn’t quite happen, their performance has certainly put Morgan Hill on the map and hopefully paved the way for future teams to follow in their footsteps.
For those who traveled to Indiana or even listened to the Internet broadcasts, it was an exciting time to hear the name Morgan Hill announced and even better to hear words such as “hard-hitting” as a typical descriptor.
It was a great experience for all who were apart of it, be it playing, coaching or simply listening to the Web cast. The players have a lot to be proud of.
