Hopewell’s Youngest Vikings Finish Season with Grit, Growth, and Heartfelt Highlights

In the world of youth baseball, it’s easy to look at the scoreboard and forget what really matters. But for the Kessler 8U Coach Pitch squad, the story of this season goes far beyond the final score.

Let’s break it down simply: This team showed major improvement from their earliest practices in the freezing cold of winter to grinding it out under a blazing 90-degree sun in their final game. Yes, the scoreboard didn’t go their way—but the real highlights were written in the team’s growth, heart, and hustle.

This was the youngest Hopewell team in their age group to make it this deep in the playoffs—cracking the top four out of 26 teams in the league. That’s no small feat.

Among the most memorable moments? Big Sheamus ripping a hit in his final at-bat, beating it down the line for a single. For a young player who’s been working all season, that single was the loudest hit of the day—not for its impact on the game, but for what it meant to his teammates. They roared like they’d just walked it off. That’s development. That’s youth baseball. It’s not about the shiny plastic rings. It’s about the progress, the joy, and the unforgettable memories.

Game Recap:

Ultimately Hopewell fell 23–10 in a high-scoring contest. While the offense showed promise—racking up 12 hits—it wasn’t quite enough to overcome Kokoski’s red-hot bats.

Kokoski came out strong with an early inside-the-park home run by Keegan K in the first inning, setting the tone with a quick 3–0 lead. They continued to pour on the offense in every inning, stringing together multi-hit rallies and capitalizing on fielding opportunities.

Despite the lopsided score, Kessler never folded. Every inning, they fought to stay in it—playing with energy, encouragement, and determination from the entire lineup.

Offensively, Lincoln Zurenko was a standout, going 2-for-3 with two RBIs from the seven-spot in the lineup. Lincoln a was a quiet leader to this team always there and never giving up also making huge strides from day one to today. Tanner Kessler and Hayes Singletary also contributed with two hits apiece, part of a 12-hit effort that kept the Team Kessler bench fired up throughout.

Final Thoughts

While the season may have ended with a loss on the stat sheet, this team walked away with something far more valuable: the pride of knowing they got better, stuck together, and pushed further than any other Hopewell team their age.

Head coach Chris Kessler wrapped the season with a few words after the game and told HSN: “I hope the kids & parents had as much fun as I did this spring. It was great seeing each kid improve from the first practice — I couldn’t be more proud.”

Coach Singletary also provided HSN some final words to wrap the season,

“I had a lot of fun coaching this group of kids. Starting in the winter we worked a lot on fundamentals in the field and at the plate. I was really impressed with the amount of growth each player on our team showed. By the end of the season we were able to get hits all the way through our order. We were making catches and throwing runners out on the bases consistently. And our base running was outstanding. I already said it but I can’t express how much fun I had coaching this team and watching them grow throughout the season.”

From snowy practices to sweltering playoff games, Kessler 8U CP ‘HSN’ showed what youth sports are all about—heart, hustle, and the joy of the game.

For this writer/father and coach it’s been a heck of season with so much to be grateful for. I have coached some of these kids for the past three years from the first time they stepped foot onto the Tball field. Now many of these young players are on the cusp of moving  up in the Fall to kids pitch baseball! I want to thank all of the parents, coaches, Sponsors and of course the Hopewell Youth Baseball League for making the last three years so memorable we couldn’t have done it without all of you. To the kids thank you for making the season so much fun, for working so hard and good luck as you move up next season, we will see you all soon! – Coach Santamaria