BUTLER TWP — Baseball talent exists in Butler. Just ask Rob Swartwout.

Swartwout is manager of the Butler Township 13-year-old Federation team that recently won the PONYSection tournament in New Castle.

Only four teams were in he tournament. The other three were league all-star teams. Swartwout, whose team plays in the North Hills Federation League, opted to enter his own team into the section competition.

Butler Township won all three games it played.

"The team we beat from Lawrence County was an all-star team from four different leagues,"Swartwout said. "I could have picked up players from other teams in our league, but decided not to do it.

"I like the chemistry on our team. I want to keep these kids playing together."

Assistant coach George Rader said the players' unselfish attitude enables them to succeed.

"Somebody makes an error, the other kids pick him up,"Rader said. "Somebody does something great, the other kids rejoice with him.

"To see these young men stay the course, overcome deficits because they stay with it ... it's a great feeling."

Because Swartwout's team plays in the 19-team North Hills circuit, against teams like North Hills, Hampton, Shaler., he could unify players from all over Butler.

While his team plays under the Butler Township banner, its players come from Meridian, East Butler, Center Township and Butler City as well.

"These kids have a chance to be teammates and get used to each other before high school,"Swartwout said. "Up until now, they've been playing against each other."

They've been playing pretty well together. With three games remaining, Butler Township is 16-2 and in first place in the North Hills league.

The squad opens PONYRegion play at 3:30 p.m. Friday in Boardman, Ohio. The six-team tournament is double-elimination.

Bobby Swartwout and Cody Wheeler have handled the bulk of the pitching for Butler Township. Wheeler has 54 strikeouts and six walks in 40X\c innings while Swartwout has 35 strikeouts and nine walks in 33Z\c innings.

"They've both been dominant, but we have eight pitchers on the team, so we watch their pitch and inning counts," manager Swartwout said. "Our job is to prepare these kids for high school ball, not burn their arms out."

Wheeler and Swartwout have been dominant at the plate as well. Both are hitting .561 (37-for-66) and Wheeler has the team's lone home run.

"Our fences are back pretty far,"manager Swartwout said.

Overall, the team carries a .381 team batting average with 57 extra-base hits.

Nathan Bresnahan is batting .441 and David Hohn is hitting .390. Chase Rogers — a .282 hitter during the regular season — had 10 hits in 11 at-bats during the Section tournament.

"A lot of our success is because of fundamentals,"Rader said. "Baseball's a tough game and you have to stay focused on those things. It's easy for a 13-year-old to stray from that stuff, but these guys just refocus."

Jordon Allen is the team's catcher. Bresnahan plays first base, Zach Rader plays second, Swartwout and Cody Herald play shortstop and Zach Dunkle plays third.

Grant Foley and Shane Peters split time in left field, Hohn plays center and Rogers is in right. Mike Dreher and Cody Bachman also are on the squad.

Ben Herald joins Rader as an assistant coach on the team.

"There's a lot of talent in Butler," Swartwout said. "It's up to us youth coaches to develop it for the high school team."

The winner of this weekend's region tournament advances to the sone tournament in Hagerstown, Md., July 21. The winner of that event moves on to the PONYWorld Series in Chino Hills, Calif.