Connie Mack baseball exceeds expectations

This year Connie Mack replaced America Legion baseball in Pahrump as the summer league of choice for the Trojans baseball team and it was a positive experience for the team.

Trojans Coach Brian Hayes switched the team over to Connie Mack mainly because of the scheduling. He said American Legion was not giving PVHS hardly any home games and his team spent too much time on the road.

“We feel as though playing in the Connie Mack summer league has been a good experience and we are glad we made the switch from American Legion,” he said. “Our 16u team finished the season at 4-17 (with one game left today), while our 14u finished at 8-11 and have a good shot at making the playoffs July 20-24.”

Hayes went on to add that although his team records may not be great, the teams had close to 30 kids playing 20+ games in the summer, which is the ultimate goal of the summer program.

The goal being to give players in the Pahrump Valley an opportunity to play baseball and improve their skills over the summer.

The summer in his mind is all about experiences and learning the fine points of the game.

“I would say the biggest learning experience for the boys is that no matter how good you are, or how good you think you are, there is always someone better,” Hayes said. “This is especially true when we are competing with kids in Las Vegas.”

Hayes and his coaches expected his 16u team to do a little better, and the 14u to go through a little more growing pains.

“The opposite was true,” he said. “Our 16u underachieved all summer, while our 14u team exceeded our expectations. We had some kids, who we expected to play well struggle and vice versa.”

For the coaches, having the same coaches who run the varsity team coach the summer program gives those coaches a good idea of where to put the kids in the upcoming season.

“Going into next high school season, we have a good idea of who will be where in our JV program, but we still have quite a few holes to fill on our varsity team.”

According to Hayes, the biggest accomplishment for his team this summer was getting the summer program going.

He said two summers ago, he had maybe 10 kids playing organized summer baseball.

This summer he had close to 30.

Despite the poor record some of the 16 U players earned honors.

The following three players were selected to the elite team, scheduled to play in Las Vegas July 1 to 4: Parker Hart, Garrett Lucas, and Willie Lucas.

Willie Lucas is an incoming freshman, who impressed Hayes behind the plate as a catcher and at the plate.

Hayes said he was also excited by all the upcoming talent at the 14 U level.

Hayes thanked the following coaches for working hard and dedicating long hours to the team: Roy Uyeno, Tom Walker, Sam Charles and Jeff Koenig.

He also thanked the parents, Lou Banuelos and the Pahrump Little League for working with his team during the Little League season and helping provide umpires.

A thanks was also given to the Town of Pahrump for providing a top-rate facility for them to play their home games on, and all of the sponsors who chipped in to help alleviate the costs for our kids, Valleys Edge Country Store and Noah Jubinsky.

Hayes gave special thanks to Annette Fuentes, who helped raise funds for the program, and Charlotte Uyeno, who helped organize the Maroon and Gold fundraiser game in the spring.