Winning 37 games this summer was quite an accomplishment for the 12 players on the Catonsville Cubs 13-and-under baseball team.
But finishing 23-3 in the Piedmont Division during the Mid-Atlantic Baseball Association regular season was even more remarkable for a handful of players who started travel ball together in the 10-and-under age group.
"Five kids were on the first Cubs 10U team and that squad finished 3-23," general manager Chad Doran said. "We actually flipped our record around in a few years. It just takes time and coaches that are patient."
Head coach Dan Bruno, who coached the team all four years, had that patience, but the core of kids provided the stability.
"They just stuck together and learned to play it out through hard work," said Bruno, who was assisted this season by John Krebs, Scott McElroy, Guy Williams, Joe Coates, Troy Stover and Matt Lubacheski.
In addition to winning the MABA regular season title, the 13U squad captured the Mid-Atlantic Baseball Association Tournament. So what did they do for an encore?
The Cubs celebrated the Independence Day holiday with a trip July 2-9 to Disney World.
The 37-11 Cubs played five games at the same ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex where the Atlanta Braves hold spring training and won one against teams from cities across the United States, as well as from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
They defeated the Northwest Vipers (Illinois), 14-1, and came close in a 4-2 loss to Puerto Rico.
"Some of the competition was very good," Cubs general manager Chad Doran said. "It was good experience."
Losing four games to teams that play all year long didn't diminish a 37-11 season that included separate winning streaks of 14 and eight games.
Following the MABA regular-season title they embarked on a tough task of playing eight games in four days and they prevailed as MABA tournament champions.
In pool play, the Cubs went undefeated (4-0) and outscored their foes 37-13.
In the first of four games of single-elimination play all in one day, the Cubs blanked the Columbia Sun Devils, 2-0, as Justin Bouchard tossed a shutout.
Bouchard was 5-0 with a 2.71 earned run average and 44 strikeouts in 48 2/3 innings for the Cubs.
In the second round of the tournament, Ben McElroy blasted a grand slam in a 12-7 triumph over Howard County Youth Program Black.
McElroy, who led the Cubs with three home runs, also belted a round-tripper in a 9-6 win over HCYP Black in pool play.
McElroy, who will attend Mount St. Joseph in the fall, led the Cubs all season in nearly every offensive category, including batting average (.533), runs batted in (49), runs (56), hits (56), on base percentage (.613), slugging percentage (.924), triples (8) and doubles (16).
"He is absolutely incredible," Cubs head coach Dan Bruno said. "He's got speed, power, arm, you name it."
The win over rival HCYP Black eliminated them and left only Catonsville and the Westminster Vipers in the championship series.
Westminster had to beat the Cubs twice to win the title and won the first game 1-0 to force a winner-take-all championship game.
Austin Witcher was the hard-luck loser on the mound as he only allowed three hits while fanning five.
"He pitched a gem that game," Doran said. "At that point we had kind of lost a little steam."
But in the final game, the Cubs rode a strong pitching effort from southpaw Ryan Williams to a 12-0 victory.
Williams allowed only one hit in the four-inning game called early because of the 10-run slaughter rule.
Williams was 8-1 during the regular season with a 3.05 ERA.
Witcher was also 8-1 and led the squad with a 1.95 ERA and 59 strikeouts in 61 innings pitched.
Bouchard (5-0, 2.71 ERA), Paul Krebs (4-1), Jalen Williams (3-1), Ryan Bruno (2-0) and James Doran (2-0) contributed with multiple wins on the mound.
Starting catcher Jackson Coates only recorded one win on the mound, but it came at a crucial time during the four-game stretch on the final day against HCYP Black.
He got the win in the 12-7 victory by allowing two runs in 3 1/3 innings.
It was the first time he pitched all season.
While McElroy was the lone hitter who batted over .500, Bouchard (.476) and Witcher (.467) neared the mark and Coates (.353), Krebs (.333), James Doran (.317), Ryan Williams (.313) and Jalen Williams (.304) hit over .300.
Shortstop Bruno (.277) and second baseman Dylan Hager (.276) also combined for 41 RBIs and 51 runs scored. Hager will attend Catonsville High in the fall.
All 12 players on the team scored over 20 runs with Jack Stover contributing 25 and Jack Youngblood adding 24 runs to go along with 23 RBIs.
In the Cubs first tournament of the season Memorial Day weekend they were second with a 4-1 mark in the Maryland Stars and Strikes Tournament.
They also went 2-2 in a tournament at Lakeshore.
The Catonsville Cubs 14U baseball squad will hold tryouts on Friday, July 29 at 6 p.m. and Saturday, Aug. 6 at 12 p.m. at Catonsville High School.