The Levin Hustle celebrates victory in the 13U National Club Championship Game.
The Levin Hustle celebrates victory in the 13U National Club Championship Game.
Once upon a time baseball existed only in the movies.
But the sport has taken seed in New Zealand - no more evident than in Levin - and the blooming Levin Hustle club has now produced a champion age grade club team.
And just like a good baseball movie, the Levin Hustle 13-and-under side were massive underdogs and beat big city teams at the tournament in Nelson last week.
Major centres like Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch, and Nelson had teams there. Levin Hustle was the only "small town" team involved. There were jubilant scenes after their 12-4 final win against the Howick-Pakuranga Hawks from Auckland.
Pitcher Fletcher Warren delivers the final pitch of the championship game and seal the club's first ever national championship.
Levin Hustle president Hendrix Warren said he was excited for the players to win a New Zealand title and the celebration that followed.
"It's something these kids will never forget," he said.
"They should be really proud of how far they have come since the start of the season. They've put in extra training and hard work to develop their individual skillset, which has contributed to the success of the team."
Warren said most of the team were relative newcomers to baseball at the start of the season, and nine were still young enough to play in the same grade next year. There was no national tournament last year due to Covid-19.
Levin Hustle Baseball under-13 team won the New Zealand Championship at the weekend.
The victory was made even more sweet when the Hustle's right-hand pitcher Fletcher Warren, 12, and left-hand pitcher Eliza Vincent, 11, both made the All Tournament team.
Warren was also named top pitcher of the tournament.
Meanwhile, the recent growth of baseball in Levin was huge. Levin Hustle had just 12 teams when it began just four years ago in 2017.
Now there are 175 players on the books.
Horowhenua had a rich and proud softball heritage and could lay claim to some of the greats of the game, like Black Sox legends Chubb Tangaroa, Dave Workman and Thomas Makea.
Warren himself played softball and grew up in a softball-mad family. But when sons Flynn and Fletcher both wanted to play baseball after coming home from a family trip to the US, he couldn't stand in their way.
He put the feelers out for other youngsters that might be interested in baseball. The rest is history.
There was a good management committee and group of parents at Levin Hustle that worked hard behind the scenes.
Warren said there was an opportunity for baseball to further increase player numbers in all grades and they wanted to have an increased presence in local schools.
"We want to leverage off this success because there is plenty of room to grow and achievements like this will help us quite a bit," he said.
"We want to introduce more players to the game in an inclusive and positive way."
The Levin Hustle celebrates victory in the 13U National Club Championship Game.
He said opportunities in baseball were limitless. The chance to one day play professionally in the US was not beyond the realms of possibility.
Baseball New Zealand chief executive Dan Tan said there were currently 20 young players from New Zealand in the US on college scholarships after attracting the attention of scouts.
"We haven't had our Steven Adams moment yet, but it's only a matter of time," he said.
Two ex-New Zealand players were involved in the AAA league in the US, while having Auckland Tuatara in the Australian Baseball League gave promising players another pathway to the top.
Baseball New Zealand was founded in 1989. It was still considered a minority sport here, although player numbers were growing.
Levin Hustle's home base was a diamond at Western Park behind the petanque piste. There was a domestic grade feeding into club teams that played against Wellington, Porirua, and Hutt Valley clubs.
Levin Hustle: Nikora Greening, Oscar Bland, Morgan Swartbooi, Campbell Mackintosh, Ronan Kjestrup, Breeze Jensen, Alrich Hoffmann, Fletcher Warren, Liam Stoliker, Lachlan McKay, Ryder Morris, Eliza Vincent. Coaching Team: Hendrix Warren, Iain McKay, Jordan Jensen.
