The 8U Seymour Diamondbacks team that won the state championship was, front from left, Caleb Wheatley, Eli Hiten, Maverick Sama, Ryan Wetzel and Brody Allman; middle from left, Zac Pollert, Sawyer Sheldon, Grant Wheatley, Colt Coates, Colt Brough and Brantley Toppe; and back from left, Tommy Welch, Dusty Hiten, head coach Jacob Toppe and Josh Sheldon. Not pictured are coach Will Otte and player Carter Otte.
Submitted photo
The 8U Seymour Diamondbacks baseball team went into the 8U USSSA 2023 Coach Pitch State Championship as the No. 2 overall seed.
After dealing with early adversity, the Diamondbacks were able to storm back and win the state championship.
The tournament started June 23, and Seymour lost its opening game to the Sandlot Slammers 12-8.
“We dug ourselves a little bit of a hole,” head coach Jacob Toppe said.
From that point forward, Seymour couldn’t afford to lose or else it would be out of the tournament.
The Diamondbacks entered bracket play as the No. 13 seed, and they won 12-2 in the first game on June 24 and then played the Midwest Astros and beat them 14-6.
They came back June 25 and had a rematch with the Slammers, and the game delivered.
The Diamondbacks were ahead 13-8 heading into the final inning, but the Slammers’ bats got hot. They scored seven runs to take a 15-13 lead, but Seymour battled back.
They scored three more runs to win the game 16-15 and stay alive in the tournament.
“I couldn’t be more proud of our boys. That team was really good,” Toppe said. “We dug ourselves that hole, and they never quit. We always say you just have to believe, and they believed.”
After taking out the Slammers, the Diamondbacks beat Indiana Octane 13-2, and then beat Clay County in the championship 7-1.
The police shut the park down due to tornadoes looming, but since it was already the fifth inning, it was deemed a completed game, which gave Seymour the championship.
“It was a team effort,” Toppe said. “Our fans, our coaches and our players giving it all they had. The Sandlot Slammers were the toughest team we had played all weekend. Their coaches, fans and players were all phenomenal.”
Members of the state championship team were Caleb Wheatley, Eli Hiten, Maverick Sama, Ryan Wetzel, Brody Allman, Zac Pollert, Sawyer Sheldon, Grant Wheatley, Colt Coates, Colt Brough, Brantley Toppe and Carter Otte. Helping Toppe coach were Tommy Welch, Dusty Hiten, Josh Sheldon and Will Otte.
Each player on the team received a WWE-style championship belt for winning state.
“Colt Coates said his older brother and cousin had one, so he wanted one,” Toppe said. “I had never seen them before. It was pretty sweet and awesome.”
The Diamondbacks have one more kid-pitch tournament next weekend, and then a lot of the players on the team will be competing in the Noblesville All-Star game.
After this season, they will all move up to 9U next year.
“Just from when we first started this team, it’s an unbelievable amount of growth,” Toppe said. “Whenever you see them out there, smiling, goofing around and coming up with their own chants, it’s pretty exciting.”