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closeKnights readying for baseball trip to the Dominican Republic
Local Puyallup 13-year-old baseball team is dominating its foes on the diamond
Shaun Scott
The Puyallup Knights have proved themselves to be one of the most dominant 13-year-old baseball programs in Washington.
The Knights own a 51-2 overall record thus far in the 2008 season. This August, the Knights will take their baseball diamond talents to the Dominican Republic where they will put their formidable record on the line competing against some of the most powerful teams in North America. The six-team tournament will feature teams from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and the United States. The Knights will also be in charge of putting on a clinic for underprivileged children in the country.
Players on the roster include Garrett Anderson, Zach Larsen, Alex Hardy, Jarad Schraeder, Jacob Winn, Madison Alder, Nathan Horne, Landon Packard, Kort Skoda, Brennon Pitigliano, Scott Ohashi and Marcus Micheles.
“We have been in eight tournaments this year and we’ve won seven of them,” Knights head coach Larry Marshall said. “We started in January and have had a pretty good run this year.”
Marshall said competing overseas will give his team a unique opportunity to see a different brand of baseball and a different culture at the same time.
“It’s going to be a combination playing baseball against top level competition and giving our players an opportunity to be immersed in a different culture,” Marshall said. “We’ll be doing a lot of sightseeing in addition to playing baseball.”
Marshall is confident his team will play well during the tourney.
“We don’t play our opponents, we play against ourselves,” Marshall said. “If we play the game the right way and correctly the way we know how, the scores of the games will take care of themselves. This tournament is a tremendous opportunity to for our team.”
Marshall praised not only his players but parents of players dedicating themselves to a lengthy time commitment for the past eight months. The Knights practice four times a week.
“Before we got this team started we interviewed players and their mom and dad,” Marshall said. “Everyone on this team put in the commitment to play. We run this team like a college program but we still take into account that they are 13 years old. The parents and players know what we expect on and off the field.”