Hawks finish second in YSCC Conference Tournament

In their inaugural baseball season, the York County Hawks reached the championship game in the YSCC Conference Tournament. 

To kick off the day, the 3-seed Hawks took on the 2-seed CMCC Mustangs in the first semifinal game. Maksim Masse took the ball for the Hawks, facing off against YSCC Pitcher of the Year Levi Tibbetts. 

The Hawks jumped on Tibbetts early when Ashton Smith hit a bases-loaded double, scoring two runs. James Erickson followed up with a two out single to left field, scoring Caden Fontaine and making it 3-0 Hawks.

That was all the run support Masse needed… Masse, who had only allowed 5 earned runs all spring, was absolutely dominant in a complete game performance, allowing 0 earned runs and striking out 7 batters. The Hawks added a couple of late runs and finished the game with a 5-2 victory. 

In the second semifinal game of the night, 1-seed SMCC defeated 5-seed NHTI by a score of 12-9 to set up a Championship matchup of YCCC vs. SMCC.

In a game that saw the Hawks pick up 12 hits and pitcher James Erickson throw 6 innings of one-run baseball, it came down to the final pitch, as the Seawolves walked off the tournament with a 7-6 win. 

Caden Petit and Maksim Masse were named to the YSCC All-Conference team, while Ashton Smith received an honorable mention. Maksim Masse was named defensive player of the tournament for his efforts on the mound -  logging 10.1 innings without allowing an earned run. 

Coach Robinson had this to say about his team’s performance this weekend:

"I'm so incredibly proud of this team. Everyone keeps telling us this was a Cinderella run to the finals, and that's just not the case. Anyone who was surprised that we got there wasn't paying attention to what we've been doing. This team has an incredible wealth of talent and the culture they've created is second to none. You don't win games in this conference by accident. The work that our guys put in this season earned them the right to be in the spot they were in. 

When you’re starting a program, you can only hope to have the type of leaders on the field that we have. What they've done here is just the very beginning for Hawks baseball."

The Hawks ended the season with a record of 15-15.