"I still bump into people who congratulate myself and these kids for what happened," said John Baranchak, coach of last year's state championship Butler Township baseball team. "We had 12 solid ballplayers who got on a roll."

The team won three double-elimination tournaments to win the 12-year-old state championship, even coming out of the loser's bracket to defeat Grove City twice to win the section tournament.

It was those victories that earned the team a berth in the state competition at Plymouth Meeting last year. After defeating Lehigh Valley 7-5 in the finals, they earned the state crown.

"Our boys got along and they love playing baseball,"Baranchak said. "The biggest reason why they kept winning was they wanted to keep playing. We accomplished everything as a team. We didn't have one or two superstars like most teams have at this level."

This championship winning team emphasizes a point of Dess Schnur, former president of East Butler Baseball Association. The association's goal is to offer an opportunity to the maximum amount of players. Too often, he says, leagues will load teams with the best players so they can achieve success.