Ninety degree heat couldn’t slow down Hopedale Youth Baseballs 10U Team from capturing their second consecutive Medway Tondorf Tournament Championship. The team went undefeated during tournament play at 10-0, then beat Ashland in the semi Finals, and went on to beat Medway 2 game to 0 to complete a perfect season at 13-0.

Hopedale relied heavily on their defense, pitching, and timely hitting throughout the tournament to beat all other teams from surrounding communities.

During the Championship series against Medway, Hopedale leaned heavily on the hitting and strong pitching by Colin Johns, Calvin Mandeville, Nolan Vaillette, and Griffin Dalpe. Matthew Goldman provided the power, with a laser-show triple to the fence along with three RBI’s. Trey Holterhoff provided amazing plays at second base throughout the Championship. Cam LaPointe with an incredible throw from centerfield to home to knock down a potential critical run for Medway.  Team contributions made by Jaxen Whyte (scored winning run in game 1), Owen Worthington, Teddy Hodgdon, Sam Catalogna, & Mitchell Daelhousen throughout the tournament to round out the team.

Coaches Marc Goldman, Scott Mandeville, and Russ Dalpe asked a lot from the players during their practice sessions, all geared to make them better ball players and better kids. 

“We emphasized the same fundamentals every practice, so when it was time for the games, they knew exactly what to do for each baseball situation, and it paid off.” said Marc Goldman, “We also spent time talking about how to act on the field, that you represent yourself, your parents, and Hopedale – so team rules included no throwing of bats/helmets, no complaining to the umpire, and no comments about the other team – tried to make it all positive thoughts on the field and off  – if you fail, which you do in baseball, what can you do better next time.”

The Team also implemented what they deemed to be their favorite play – named the ‘bacon play’ -  The catcher, Matty G, would fire to first base (Dalpe) to try and pick off a player leading too far – it worked several times during the tournament – no team took big leads once they played Hopedale again, they not only feared the bacon, but the Team. Lets go Hopedale.