It’s been 13 years since West Point Little League baseball state championship, the only one in league history.

But if the 2023 West Point Major squad has anything to say about it, they hope to bring home a second state title.

West Point opens the state tournament at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Newtown against the host team, Media.

The team advanced to the state tournament by defeating Latrobe (5-1 and 7-3) to win the District 26 title and then claimed the Section 2 title at Bullskin by defeating Ingomar, 5-3.

West Point’s wins in the double-elimination tournament were against Ingomar, 6-4, and Bullskin, 10-6. Its lone loss was to Ingomar, 4-2, on a grand slam.

Adam Wilfong said he’s been coaching this group since they were 7 years old. What impresses him the most about the team is their togetherness.

“They are a close-knit group,” Wilfong said. “They are friends, schoolmates and are close on and off the field.”

The majority of the team attends Mt. View Elementary in the Greater Latrobe School District. There are 12 players on the roster, and only Cohen Bittner (Hempfield) and Chase Schlesman (Greensburg Salem) do not attend Mt. View.

“I would say the strength of the team is the way they play defense,” Wilfong said. “We have a solid pitching staff, and we’ve been getting timely hitting. Our hitting feeds off our defense.”

The pitchers Wilfong is counting on are Connor Donahue, Santino Facciani, Grant Gardiner and JoJo Manios.

Donahue is one of the top hitters on the squad. He was entered in a home-run hitting contest Tuesday before the tournament began.

“This is the first time that this group has qualified for the state tournament,” Wilfong said. “Win or loss, I want them to enjoy themselves and give it their best.”

Other key players on the squad are third baseman Aiden Wilfong, Carson Linhart, Mark Firment, Dante Durigon, Garrett Repak and Zach Krall.

West Point 11U team falls

It was tough sledding for the West Point 11U team in the state tournament at East Side Little League in West Chester.

West Point fell to Morrisville, 10-0, to open the tournament and then lost a heartbreaker to Keystone, 2-1.

The team advanced to states by defeating Latrobe in the District 26 tournament.

“Even though we lost, it was good that the players got to play at a high level,” West Point coach Billy Shine said. “Our biggest issues were the little mistakes we made and we didn’t hit well. I thought our starting pitcher did well.”

11U softball eyes crown

The last time the West Point softball program won a state title was in 2019.

Jen Bova was the coach of the 11-year-old team, and Riley Miller and Maggie Howard, star players for Hempfield, were the top players.

The West Point 11U girls head to Wellsboro on Friday in hopes of adding another state title at the West Point complex. West Point faces Cambridge/Conneaut Lake/French Creek Valley/Saegertown at 11 a.m.

Tina Madison, who coaches the Hempfield team, likes what this team brings to the field.

“We have good pitching and defense,” Madison said, “and we have speed on offense. It’s a good combination.”

West Point played in-house games against Bullskin, West Point’s second team and Shaler finished 10-0.

Madison said seven of the 10 players on the roster played travel ball at a high level. Her twin daughters — Jayelyn and Jocelyn Luft — played in more than 100 games this summer while other girls on the team played in as many as 75 games. Jayelyn is a pitcher like her mother.

There are six girls from the Hempfield school district and four from Latrobe on the team.

The other Hempfield players are Braylyn Graft, Piper Hoppel, Sophia Porreca and Peyton Reamer. Latrobe players are Morgan Maier, Caitlyn Leach, Camryn Ecker and Lily Carroll.

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