Randy Miller knew his team was capable of more.

All it took was a little pep talk.

The Zelienople-Harmony 11-under baseball tournament team began the season with an 0-2 record.

What followed still hasn't sunk in with the team's head coach - 23 consecutive wins and five tournament championships.

"Nothing like that ever happens in baseball," said Miller. "It's a game where, if you just finish above .500, you're doing something right."

The squad, made up of 10 11-year olds from the Zelienople-Harmony Little League, traveled to the Kennedy Township (Allegheny County) Tournament in late June to kick off its season.

It was greeted with two straight losses in the round-robin format, the second one via a 13-2 mercy-rule loss to the host team.

"It was after that game that I had a heart-to-heart talk with the kids," said Miller. "I just wasn't seeing a good effort from them. I told them that if they were out there just to have fun, that was one thing. But if they wanted to take the games seriously, I knew we could do better than (0-2)."

The turnaround began by winning two games to earn a rematch with Kennedy Township. This time, Zelie-Harmony walked away with a 7-4 win and a first-place finish.

Four other tournament titles followed - Union Twp. (Lawrence County), Mars, Ingomar/Franklin Park and finally the Zelie-Harmony tournament to close the season in late July.

"It's one thing to be lucky and it's another to be good," said Miller. "When those two come together, this is what happens … 23 straight wins."

Miller knew he had a solid team before the season even began. Nine of the 10 players on this year's squad won three tournaments on a 10-under team in 2004.

But for any team to win 23 consecutive games, a bit of the unexpected is needed.

"It seemed like there was a different player stepping up every game, doing something incredible to help us win." said Miller. "To win that many in a row, those are the kinds of things that have to happen.

The team hit at a .375 clip with 80 extra-base hits, including 17 home runs.

Miller saw improvement in the team's pitching from a season ago. "We really matured in that area of the game," he said, evidenced by the team giving up just three runs per game.

"Our defense also improved," he said. "I didn't move kids around a lot in the field. I wanted to stick them at a position where they could be most successful and let them get comfortable."

The team's performance is a tribute to the dedication the players have displayed.

"A lot of these kids work on their game 10 or 11 months out of the year," said Miller. "We were just hoping they'd progress from last year.

"At the beginning of this season, they were a little too confident, but I'm still amazed at the run they put together. It was a total team effort."