Last night the Indian Hills High School Junior Varsity Baseball team ended a drought, they won the Tri-Conference County Championship for the first time ever. It is also the first time in the history of the tournament that a play-in team won the title. The team made up of junior, sophomore and freshman players represent the three FLOW towns.
This Indian Hills team began their season as underachievers, barely qualifying for the tournament. They and three other teams had to participate in what is known as a “play-in game”, in order to join the multi-level bracket competition. In their play-in game they beat Bergen Tech HS with a 5 – 1 score. Next up was the number one seeded team in the tournament, Ridgewood HS. In an exciting nip and tuck battle Indian Hills shocked the JV baseball world with a 6-5 victory. Moving on to the next round, it didn’t get any easier as their inter-district rivals, Ramapo HS awaited. On a hot Saturday morning, the two teams battled into extra innings. After one additional inning IHHS won its third playoff game in a row and headed into the semi-final round vs. Paramus HS. As the tournament went on Indian Hills got stronger and secured a convincing 7-4 victory over the 4th ranked Paramus team.
The championship game was played in Montville against the high school of the same name. After the Indian Hills team completed their pre-game warm-ups they walked passed the crowd; it was very evident that this team was locked into their game as the look in their eyes, expression in their face and move to their walk, they were letting everyone know about their iron determination. The two teams were evenly matched and traded runs for the first part of the game. With one of the largest crowds to ever attend a JV baseball game, the two teams were tied going into the last inning. Not to be denied, the Indian Hills Braves pushed 2 runs across, and it would have been three if not for a great catch by the Montville center fielder. The bottom of the last inning saw Montville load the bases, and score one run. With two out Montville now had the tying run on third base, and winning run on second; they were a base-hit away from stealing a victory from the Braves. As tension was filling the air, the final batter swung and missed for strike three giving the Indian Hills JV the school’s first Tri-Conference County Championship.
Many times the Junior Varsity teams are overlooked, but this great feat needs to be recognized. The Indian Hills team played as one unit. No one person stood-out during the tournament, every player contributed and every player deserves to be called Champion.
Nice article! Having a son on the team and being at the games, some nail biters, I can honestly say they played so well together and I am very proud of all of them!