HB Vikings bring home title

Mike Sciacca

The HB Vikings, a 13-and-under travel baseball team, returned to Surf

City with a national championship trophy after winning its division

at the United States Specialty Sports Assn. Elite 24 World Series.

The eight-day tournament was held at Disney’s Wide World of Sports

Complex in Orlando, Fla.

The Vikings went 7-0 in a tournament that featured the top

13-and-under teams from around the nation. Each team had to win

qualifying tournaments in order to advance to Orlando.

The Vikings are under the direction of manager Mark Ward, a

varsity baseball assistant coach at Marina High School, and coaches

Mike Filia and Wes Etheridge.

The team finished second at last year’s tournament. But the

Vikings gained a measure of revenge by defeating the reigning

division champion, Texas Express of Fort Worth, 9-5, in the division

final.

In last year’s title game, Texas Express rallied from two runs

down in the seventh inning to edge the HB Vikings, 9-8.

Callan Dawson got the victory in the title game and went 2-0 in

the tournament. Dawson also went 8 for 11, with 8 RBIs on offense in

the Vikings’ final two tournament games.

He was named the division’s Offensive Player of the Tournament.

Shortstop Robert Chavarria was named the division’s tournament

MVP. Chavarria hit .578 and had 15 stolen bases, Ward said.

“Both Robert and Callan were unbelievable,” Ward said. “Robert

sparked us in every game and Callan was outstanding on the mound and

at the plate, especially in those final two games.”

In addition to the title-clinching win over Texas Express, the

Vikings defeated Team Kelley of Texas, 5-1; scored four runs in the

seventh inning in their second game to edge Greensboro Elite of North

Carolina, 9-8; beat the Richmond Reds of Virginia, 5-1; twice

defeated Team Mizuno of Florida by scores of 4-2 and 5-2; and scored

a mercy rule victory over the No. 1-ranked Mississippi Bandits, 9-1,

in the semifinal round.

In addition to the honors bestowed on Chavarria and Dawson, six

other Vikings made the division’s All World team. The players were

Pablo Contreras, a pitcher, center fielder and second baseman, who

hit .400; Kyle Kirby, 2-0 as a pitcher and a second baseman; Michael

Lopez, a pitcher and outfielder who hit .433; catcher Vincent Ponce,

who didn’t allow a stolen base and only gave up one passed ball in

seven games; Josh Sabourin, a first baseman who hit .383 and had nine

RBIs; and Eric Snyder, an outfielder who had three unassisted put

outs at the plate and who played “flawless” defense, Ward said.

Also making strong contributions to the Vikings’ championship run

were Jordan Geiger, Victor Gomez, James Herron, Chad Lewis, Eric

Rodriguez and Jed Vandernaald.

“There are a few outstanding things about this team, and one is

that they know how to play under pressure,” Ward said. “When they go

out on that field, they have a very deep will in their hearts to win.

“What’s also special is that they show a lot of respect to other

teams, to the umpires. These kids had an uncanny way about them in

how to pull for each other, which was incredible to see. This team

really is special. They were a true team.”

As 12-year-olds last year, the Vikings had a record-setting run in

winning their division over 87 other teams at the National American

Tournament of Champions in Cooperstown, N.Y.