A pretty good story is blooming in Butler.

The Golden Tornado varsity baseball team won six of its first eight games this spring, including a 3-0 start in section play.

On the surface, no big deal. A lot of teams get off to good starts.

Dig below the surface and the play of this team becomes interesting.

Butler’s high school baseball team won two games all of last season. Coming off narrowly missing the WPIAL playoffs the year before, it appeared the program was headed in the wrong direction.

There were a lot of unhappy, disgruntled folks in the dugout and in the stands.

Suddenly ... almost magically ... all of that is gone.

Butler’s baseball team seems as tightly-knit as ever and its wins are coming in old-school fashion.

In an era when people love offense in all sports, the Tornado have not scored more than two runs in four of their six wins. Their section triumphs are by scores of 2-1 over New Castle, 1-0 in nine innings at Fox Chapel and 2-1 at North Allegheny.

A different pitcher has led the way in each of those section wins. Jesse Savisky worked six strong innings against New Castle. After getting the win in relief that day, Wyatt Daugherty returned to the mound two days later and tossed 8.2 scoreless innings at Fox Chapel.

Mark Gross tossed a three-hitter in quieting the North Allegheny bats.

Offensively, these guys have simply been finding ways to win.

Garrett Goslaw laid down two sacrifice bunts in the section opener, leading to a pair of clutch RBI singles by Logan Maxwell, the latter hit coming in walk-off fashion in the bottom of the seventh. Lake Sankey drew a walk to lead off the top of the ninth vs. Fox Chapel. Nick Patten doubles him to third and Kyle Campbell lofts a sacrifice fly to plate the game’s only run.

Butler managed only three hits at NA, but Ryan Denny gets hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the final inning to plate the go-ahead run.

Much of the Tornado’s run production so far this season has come through the execution of moving runners over and situational hitting.

Watching a high school team play baseball the way it’s supposed to be played is refreshing.

Most major league teams don’t play that way anymore. Many big league hitters couldn’t lay down a bunt even if the game situation screamed for it.

Goslaw’s bunts against New Castle last weekend could not have been done better.

Effective “small ball” play become games in the win column more often than not.

Where Butler’s season goes from here is anybody’s guess. But this early-season success has these kids brimming with confidence and believing they can win.

Good pitching, solid fundamentals and timely hitting can go a long way in this game. So can senior leadership and this team has it.

Last year seems like so long ago.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle