ADAMS TWP — Don't call them the Elite 11. The Mars 11-year-old traveling baseball team might take exception to it.

“No player on this team believes he's any better than anybody else,” Mars co-coach Jeff Reisinger said.

But together, this team is something else.

Mars' 11-year-old travel team — comprised of players strictly from the community's in-house league — won seven of the 11 tournaments it played in this season. Many of those tournaments involved AAU travel teams that draw players from all over.

“To me, that's what makles this team's accomplishments so special,” co-coach Dave Kuremskly said. “All of these kids live within two miles of each other.

“We played one team where the shortstop didn't even know who the left fielder was. Another team we beat had players on it from three states.”

This weekend, Mars will have tryouts for next year's travel teams. The 11 players on this year's team came from the 20 to 25 kids who tried out at this time last year.

The Mars in-house league had 30 11-year-olds this season and “these 11 kids were the best from that group.”

The 11 players were pitcher-first baseman Zach Rozman, pitcher-outfielder Bo Costanza, catcher Austin Kuremsky, shortstop Luke Goodworth, pitcher-third baseman Will Campbell, pitcher-outfielder Dylan Hall, pitcher-first baseman Charlie Bickel, second baseman Aiden Kuremsky, outfielder Vincent Gottschalk, pitcher-third baseman Hayden Reisinger and outfielder Wyatt Vingle.

The team's overall record was 53-6. It won two tournaments in Tarentum, two at the All-America Fields in Trafford, one at Pine-Richland, one at McKeesport and the Northeast Tournament in Beaver Falls.

Competing in a tournament at the Cal Ripken Complex in Aberdeen, Md., the team reached the semifinals before losing toeventual champion Quakertown, Pa.

“We were deep at the pitching position,” Kuremsky said. “That's important when you're playing two or three games in a day trying to win a championship.”

Reisinger said the roster has stayed fairly consistent the past three years. As 10-year-olds, the 12-player team won 47 games games a year ago. Two of those players opted for AAU ball and one new player moved in to the Mars area this year, accounting for the 11-player roster as 11-year-olds.

Travel teams can compete in open tournaments or Class A, B or C tourneys. Open tournamnents are the most competitive because AAU teams are permitted to join them. Class A tournaments are the next toughest.

“When these kids were 9, they struggled in the Class A tournaments,” Kuremsky said. “They felt like a local team wasn't good enough to beat an AAU program.

“They've grown out of that the past couple of years. Now they don't care who is in the other dugout. They believe they can beat anyone.”

This year, Mars did not play in anything below a Class A level tournament.

Mars chooses its travel teams at this time of year. They will play in a couple of September tournaments, practice indoors twice a week during the winter months, then resume outdoor tourney play in April.

“These kids are busy during the winter,” Reisinger said. “One kid, Dylan Hall, plays on the Penguins travel hockey team, but he comes to those indoor baseball practices if he's in town.

“Five or six of our kids play basketball, but come to the indoor workouts with us anyway. These are very committed kids.”

Kuremsky said the team, works on “the little details of the game” during the winter, such as pickoff plays, bunting, first and third plays, etc.

“When situations come up during games, these kids know what to do,” he said. “They're a special group of boys and we're proud of them.”