Good luck, Bad luck playing in Cooperstown for the Knighthawks
Bad luck – I’m the first
When it’s good, ain’t nothin’ better
When it’s bad, ain’t nothin’ worse
Those are some of the lyrics from Lynyrd Skynyrd’s 1994 song Good Luck, Bad Luck, off the Endangered Species album, and while the circumstances weren’t nearly as dire as those described in Skynyrd’s refrain, bad luck is the only way to explain how the Holmes County Knighthawks ended up in the same seeding pool as the two eventual finalists at the 104-team, 12-and-under Cooperstown Dreams Park and American Youth Baseball Hall of Fame Invitational Tournament near the hallowed grounds of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in east-central New York.
Dropping their first two games on opening day of pool play back on Sunday, June 5 – 6-3 to the South Florida Orphans and 15-3 to the Tennessee RBI Rangers – the Knighthawks would go on a four-game winning streak to wrap up the 25th seeding for the elimination rounds, beginning on Wednesday, June 8, when they beat the 40th seeded Rawlings Scottsdale (AZ) Toros 14-8 before getting bounced from the tournament 7-3, Wednesday night, by the eighth-seeded Riverside (CA) Riot Baseball Club.
“Talk about bad luck,” said Knighthawks head coach Jamie Horn after watching the Orphans, RBI Rangers and Riot all reach the semifinal round two games later, with the team from Tennessee continuing to live up to its nickname by racking up big RBI totals en route to an 8-5 championship-clinching win over South Florida on Thursday, June 9. “If you’re going to lose, you might as well lose to the best.”
But while bad luck can explain how the Knighthawks crossed paths with three of the four semifinalists in a 104-team tournament, the all-star contingent from West Holmes, East Holmes and Southeast local school districts showed themselves to be a bit of an Endangered Species near the mythical birthplace of baseball as well, finishing near the top of the final tournament standings despite playing the role of David amongst an endless pool of Goliaths.
“People couldn’t believe we were all from the same small area in Ohio. You just don’t see that anymore at this level,” explained Horn, after watching his team score nine of its 14 runs against Scottsdale via the long ball, as Brandon DeHass and Markus Schlabach each launched two-run and solo shots against the Toros, while Derek Miller added a two-run bomb and Mitch Massaro connected with the bases empty. “A team like that, sponsored by Rawlings, has an enormous budget – like $50,000 – while we only raise about $5,000 in local sponsorship, from about 20 local businesses.”
And that’s not the only advantage teams like Scottsdale and Riverside (CA) hold over traveling teams like the Knighthawks, which draws its talent from a limited pool of players in a small, rural geographic area encompassing Holmes County and parts of Wayne County.
“A lot of those teams from the south and the west play year-round,” said Horn. “Some of the teams here came in with records of like 75-20, they’ve lost more games than we’ve played. They also have kids from all over the place, coming from multiple states. They have 11 or 12 kids on a team and every one of them is a pitcher. If they can’t pass the pitching tryouts they don’t make the team.”
But the nine players who had seen any pitching action on the mound for the Knighthawks in 2011 brought a combined ERA of just 1.75 into Cooperstown, and had struck out 78 over 95 innings, continuing to impress during elimination play as Schlabach picked up the win against Rawlings Scottsdale (AZ), striking out four over two innings, without allowing a hit, before giving way to Massaro and Turner Horn, who combined to strike out two more over the next two innings, while allowing only one run on one base hit.
Pitching was the name of the game in the second round of elimination play as well, as Connor Roach went the first two innings against Riverside (CA), keeping things close enough for the Knighthawks to rally from a 2-1 deficit in the bottom of the second to take a 3-2 lead, as Massaro and Trenton Bridenthal hit back-to-back homers after Miller had given Holmes County its first run with a solo shot in the bottom of the first.
“Their coach told me afterward that they brought in their closer in the third inning,” explained Horn, after watching his team get shut out the rest of the way while the Riot managed to tack on four more runs to advance to the round of 16. “We had a somber moment coming off the field, for about 30 seconds, and then they were all 12-year-old kids again. We always tell ourselves, ‘What happens on the baseball field stays on the baseball field.’”
And what happened on the baseball fields in the wooded landscape of rural New York was that a group of kids from a rural part of Ohio took on the best-of-the-best and showed they belong.
“We played against the top 100 teams in the country and we were right there,” said Horn. “I’ve got a bunch of competitors. They don’t care if you’re sponsored by Rawlings, they just want to play baseball. They’re 12 kids who just love the game and would play it anywhere, anytime, on any field.
“I wouldn’t trade any one of them for any other player on any of those other teams. I love them all. We’re lucky to have a group of kids in a small area that are so talented.”
“When it’s good, ain’t nothin’ better,” sang Skynyrd about that kind of luck.
But, “When it’s bad, ain’t nothin’ worse.”
Horn and the Knighthawks couldn’t agree more.