The Milford Mavericks recently won the Class C Junior division title in the East Region Knothole Baseball tournament.
The Bethel Tigers recently won the Class C Senior Silver division in the East Region Knothole Baseball tournament.
The New Richmond Lions recently won the Class B Junior division in the East Region Knothole Baseball tournament.
The Milford Maniacs recently won the Class D Senior Gold division in the East Region Knothole Baseball tournament.
The Milford Mavericks are proof that chemistry, hard work and dedication can go a long way, even at the little-league baseball level.
That combination helped propel the Mavericks to the Class C Junior division title in the East Region Knothole Baseball tournament last month, one of four area Clermont County teams to win titles in the tourney.
“This team started together in 2022, and with the exception of a couple of players, has remained together building on that success this season,” Mavericks coach Erik Shifflett said. “We began training in mid-January with the goals of qualifying for the Knothole World Series and making it further than we did in 2022 and earning an opportunity to play in the East Region championship game, again an improvement over the previous year. We did both. The team placed third in the city Knothole World Series and we earned our way to the East Region Knothole championship (title). We’re planning to do it all again in 2024.”
Besides the Mavericks, other area county teams winning titles in the nearly month-long tournament at sites across the greater Cincinnati area were the Milford Maniacs, Class D Senior Gold division; the Bethel Tigers, Class C Senior Silver division; and the New Richmond Lions, Class B Junior division. The Mavericks, Maniacs and Tigers each won all four of their games in the tournament, while the Lions won five games in coming back through the loser’s bracket.
Another New Richmond Lions team finished second to the Mavericks in the Class C Junior division in Goshen, also winning five games after losing to the Mavericks early and coming back through the loser’s bracket.
Other area county teams finishing second included the Batavia Bulldogs, who finished runner-up to the Tigers in the Class C Senior Silver division; the Goshen Hurricanes, who finished behind the Class B Junior’s New Richmond Lions in Mt. Orab; and the Bethel Redlegs, second to the WT Warriors in Class A in Milford.
The Fayetteville Rockets had the best run among neighboring area Brown County teams, winning their first game, losing their second, then reeling off three consecutive victories before falling to the eventual Class B Junior champions, the New Richmond Lions, in Mt. Orab.
“I am super proud of this great group of young men for playing together as a team and showing up to play the baseball we know how to play,” Fayetteville coach Logan Hundley said.
In the Class B Senior division in Milford, the Mt. Orab Diamondbacks won their first game – over another Fayetteville Rockets team – then lost their second contest and won two loser’s bracket games before also falling to the eventual division champs, the Anderson Arsenal.
In the Class C Senior Silver division, the Georgetown Sluggers lost their opener to the eventual division champs, the Bethel Tigers, then won two in a row before falling another win short of earning a rematch with the Tigers for the title.
Also, the Georgetown Kings won a game in the Class D Junior Gold division, another Fayetteville Rockets team won a game in the Class D Senior Silver division, and in the Class C Junior division, the Mt. Orab Raptors won their opener before losing their next two.