Knighthawks flying north to the land of the Bowersox
Bowersox would probably be the most notable former resident of Sylvania if it weren’t for the movie star, Katie Holmes, who has been married to an even more famous star of the silver screen, Tom Cruise, since 2006.
When Jamie Horn’s 12-and-under (12U) traveling baseball team secured an invitation to play in the Continental Amateur Baseball Association (CABA) World Series at Pacesetter Park in Sylvania, July 23-28, CABA officials warned Horn about the kind of A-list talent the Holmes County Knighthawks would be running into up on the North coast.
“We just don’t want there to be any gray area,” Horn was told. “We want you to understand just how good the teams are that will be playing here so you’re not disappointed if you bring your team up here and don’t have a lot of success.”
After winning the Nations Baseball Select division Ohio State championship, the Nations Great Lakes Regional championship, and the Nations East Coast National Championship title as an 11U team in 2010 (there are three major sanctioning bodies for travel baseball in the United States, including CABA, Nations and United States Specialty Sports Association [USSSA]), the Knighthawks were set to make their CABA debut, Friday, July 1 through Monday, July 4, when they traveled to Sylvania for a World Series tune-up at the Fourth of July Mavericks Baseball Tournament, hosted by the Sylvania Mavericks at Pacesetter Park.
“It’s a great opportunity to play some teams we don’t normally get a chance to play,” said Horn, whose team was 22-7 this year, having finished as the runners-up at the Nations 12U Ohio State championship in mid-June – after being moved up to the more competitive Elite division – and finishing among the top 20 teams at the Cooperstown Dreams Park and American Youth Baseball Hall of Fame Invitational Tournament, June 4-10, featuring the top 104 teams in the country from the three major sanctioning bodies.
“We’re excited about playing a team from outside the country,” added Horn, referring to the Whitby Chiefs, playing out of Brooklin, Ontario, Canada and grouped in the White Division at the Mavericks Tournament, along with the host team, the Highland Heights (OH) Blue Stripes and the Downriver Demons out of the greater Detroit metropolitan area. “That will be the first time we’ve played a team from another country.”
But in order for the Knighthawks to move on to the elimination round after becoming international ambassadors of baseball when they take on Whitby, Sunday, July 3, they’ll have to finish in the top two of the Red Division during pool play, against the kind of A-List talent CABA officials boasted about to Horn.
Playing out of the greater Chicago area, Renegades Baseball is a travel program for 11 through 14-year-olds that has been around for 23 years and “prides itself on providing superior instruction by a coaching staff with a combined experience of over 50 years in youth, travel, high school and college baseball.”
The Wallen SandDawgs are 12-1 in the nine-team Northeast Baseball League, one of four regional leagues created by the event management group On Turf Sports, LLC in Fort Wayne, and “featuring the finest teams in Indiana.”
And the Oakland Reds of Oakland, Mich. are a part of Reds USA Baseball Club, which runs both the developmental program in Oakland along with the Encinitas Reds developmental travel team out in California.
Reds USA Baseball Club has won 14 National titles between its two teams while producing such notable alumni as longtime Texas Rangers infielder and current Tampa Bay Rays designated hitter Hank Blalock, Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Cole Hamels, and Cincinnati Reds pitcher Mike Leake.
It’s the kind of talent Sylvania is used to hosting and it’s the kind of talent that will make this experience a brand new kind of ballgame for a Knighthawks team made up of 12 players entirely from inside the borders of rural Holmes County.
To find out more about the history of the Knighthawks make sure to pick up a free copy of the July issue of GAME Magazine.
Published: June 29, 2011
