Published: June 14, 2007 10:43 pm            

Wildkats’ success seeded on youth fields

They’re all Kats now, but players have strong ties to youth leagues

Andrew Quinnette, Nick Sale and Evan Skiles lead the Southside six. Cameron Cunningham and T.J. Weir headline the large UCT contingent. And Corey Ringley and Bryce Robinson proudly represent Northside.

In all, the Kokomo baseball team has players from five different youth leagues. They bleed Red and Blue, but they are also proud of the modest diamonds where their hardball dreams began.

“They really take pride in where they are from,” Kokomo coach Steve Edwards said. “They kind of jab each other about some of the former city tournaments and home runs they hit or home runs they gave up. … We have a bunch of great kids on the team and I think they all realize that all those experiences they had in youth baseball have helped create this opportunity for them.”

No. 3-ranked Kokomo (28-3) will take on No. 5 Indianapolis Cathedral (28-4) in the Class 4A state championship game at 8 p.m. Saturday at Victory Field in Indianapolis.

The Wildkats are putting the final touches on their preparation for their first trip to the state finals since 1988. They had a productive practice Thursday at the school according to Edwards.

“It was no different than the practice we had to start off the season. The kids were joking around with each other, having fun and getting a lot of work done,” he said. “One of the keys to success is enjoying coming to the ballpark every day. And to be honest with you, no matter what happens on Saturday, the toughest part about this whole story is that we won’t be practicing on Monday.”

Edwards enjoys the friendly banter between his players in practice. He has heard tales of middle school battles between some combination of Bon Air, Central, Lafayette Park and Maple Crest. He also has heard about the youth league battles.

“Whenever we take batting practice, we’ll say, ‘That would be out at UCT’ or ‘That would be out at Southside.’ The kids rib each other all the time,” Edwards said.

Cunningham, Patrick Hopkins, Colton Hopwood, Phillip Kuhns, Nolan Sanburn, Colton Summers and Weir all played at UCT. Bryce Camp, Craig Dollens, Tyler Imbierowicz, Quinnette, Sale and Skiles are the Southside products.

Taylor Southeast is next in line with three players on the team — Andy Covey, Ryan Herr and Nathan Martin.

“I was at Nathan Martin’s graduation party and there were pictures of him playing youth baseball and I was at Andy Covey’s graduation party and he said [TSE] was where he met Nathan and Ryan Herr. Those are the kind of friendships that have created our team chemistry,” Edwards said.

Ringley and Robinson are Northside products and Josh Meyers is an Eastside representative.

“Corey Ringley and I like to brag about where we come from even though some of the other guys give us crap,” Robinson said with a smile. “We have to represent the northside.”

Robinson played on outstanding Martino’s teams at Northside, but the Kats’ ace pitcher doesn’t hold the trump card when players start bragging about their youth teams. Sale and Camp played on the Schwinn team that won the 2001 Kokomo Tribune City Tournament and Weir, Hopkins and Kuhns played on the Eriks Chevrolet team that won the 2003 tournament.

Edwards loves the baseball mentality that is prevalent locally.

“I think the cool thing about Kokomo is that there are very few diamonds that aren’t being used during late spring and summer by T-ball, youth leagues, travel ball or some other level of baseball,” he said. “The other thing that is great is that with Kokomo, Western, Northwestern, Eastern and Taylor, all of our kids play together or against each other. So in a way, everyone in the city is linked together.”

Ties to 1985

The Wildkats are searching for their first state championship since 1985. The present team has at least a pair of ties to that team.

One connection is the Weir family. Andy Weir was the designated hitter on the ’85 team. Now, his nephew T.J. is the Kats’ starting shortstop. T.J. is just a freshman.

The other connection is the Salinas family. Troy Salinas was one of the pitching aces on the ’85 team. His oldest son, Andrew, is an assistant coach for the current Kats. Andrew led the freshman squad during the regular season and has since moved up to help the varsity.

Edwards is happy the Kats’ state run has brought up memories of the ’85 championship team and the ’88 runner-up team. He has enjoyed hearing about other former Kokomo and Haworth teams and players too.

“I think a lot of [former players] will pop up at Victory Field on Saturday and hopefully we can get it done for all of those guys and everyone else that is part of our school and the community,” he said.



State finals:

The 41st annual IHSAA Baseball State Finals schedule. All games at Victory Field in Indianapolis.

Today

7:30 p.m — Class A, Shakamak (21-9) vs. Lafayette Catholic (29-5)

Saturday

1 p.m. — Class 2A, South Spencer (26-6) vs. Heritage (20-10)

4 p.m. — Class 3A, Ev. Mater Dei (22-12) vs. Norwell (34-0)

8 p.m. — Class 4A, Cathedral (28-4) vs. Kokomo (28-3)

        

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