Every youth all-star baseball team strives to separate itself from the competition.

Not losing a game will go a long way toward doing just that.

The Butler Township all-star baseball team of 8-year-olds won four tournaments over the last month, compiling a perfect 14-0 record in the process.

The team was put together from Butler Township's five 8-year old teams.

"After the regular season was finished, we contacted the five coaches and they nominated players to be on the team," said all-star coach Daryl Patten. "From there we held tryouts over two Saturdays. The final cut was made by a committee of the five coaches, Butler Township player agent Rod Dunkle and myself."

The squad was named two weeks before its first tournament, held June 11 and 12 at East Butler.

Butler Township dominated the competition in a four-game sweep to capture the championship, outscoring its opponents 40-6 along the way.

That was followed by tournament wins at Center Township (3-0), at Butler Township (4-0) and finally at Evans City (3-0), which was played last weekend.

"When we named the team, I knew that we could be competitive," said Patten. "Our pitching and fielding was going to hold us in most games. And I thought we could be a bit better than .500, but you never know until you get there."

As Patten expected, his pitching performed very well.

In 78 innings of play, Butler Township hurlers tallied 159 strikeouts and just 28 walks.

Mark Gross recorded the most innings pitched (34

) and strikeouts (82) on the team, Nick Patten walked just four batters in 30

innings and Luke Baranchak fanned 26 batters in just 13 innings of work.

"It's all about throwing strikes," said Daryl Patten. "That's true at any level of baseball, but especially on youth teams. Younger kids have a tendency to walk a lot of batters."

Patten is quick to point out that he received solid performances in the other areas of his team's game.

"As a team, we batted .410, and I can't overlook our defense, especially the play of our infielders," he said.

Nick Patten, who played shortstop when he wasn't pitching, led the team with a .738 batting average. Mark Gross hit .651 and third baseman Zach Seger hit at a .593 clip.

"One of our kids (Collin Piroch) was out with a broken arm," said Daryl Patten. "We had a few reserves, but for the most part, we played with 10 players."

Daryl Patten coached last year's 8-year-old all-star team, which finished around .500.

This year's squad featured two 6-year-olds: catcher Sam Gross and outfielder Cade Negley.

"They're both very talented young men," said Patten. "Sam is big for his age and also plays hockey."