DYER —  New Albany will attempt to win back-to-back state championships in the 9-10-year-old Little League division, starting today when it faces Zionsville at 3:30 p.m. at Dyer Little League, just south of Gary.

While only two players — Cooper Biven and Andrew Ricketts — from last year’s team return, along with manager Josh Biven, New Albany appears to be in prime position.

“I told the kids at the beginning of the year that we were out here to win a state championship,” Coach Biven said. “If we do, great. If not, we’re going to have a fun time trying to do it.”

New Albany ripped through the District V en route to consecutive state appearances. It outscored its six district opponents, 98-9.

Biven said that dominating the district — something New Albany didn’t do a year ago — could be a sign that his team is really good, or it could mean that this year’s team won’t be as prepared for the tough battles that state competition promises to provide.

“It does worry you,” Biven admitted. “But I expect our kids to come out and play. I think the kids will be fine. They’re going to get up there and hit the ball and pitch the ball and field the ball the same way they did [in district]. They’ll be ready to go.”

New Albany batted .571 as a team with a slugging percentage of .863 in scoring 16.3 runs per game in district. Seven New Albany players batted over .500 — led by Kevin Smith’s .765 and Hayden Krebs’ .706 — and none hit worse than .357.

“I can’t do anything but praise [the hitters],” Biven said. “From top to bottom, even the platoon players, I have confidence in every one of them. One through nine, even when the subs come in, we’re tough. It’s nice to have 11 kids who can hit and who can bunt. We have pop, too, and that doesn’t hurt.”

The New Albany pitching has been nearly as impressive, yielding just nine runs, six of which were earned and striking out 46 batters to just 14 walks.

“Hitting is what most people would say is our strength,” Biven said. “But compared to last year, we have a lot more depth. I think we have six or seven deep. That’s a big advantage with our pitch counts and six games in six days.”

Biven will be expecting a lot from his son, Cooper Biven, who hit .600 with seven RBIs and 12 runs, and Ricketts, who was .579 with 10 runs and eight knocked in. As much as he’s expecting from their bats, gloves and arms, he’s counting more on their state tournament experience and their leadership.

“We told them from the beginning that they need to be vocal leaders,” Coach Biven said. “They needed to take the leadership role and I think they have both done a really good job at that.”

As for the other nine New Albany All-Stars, Coach Biven hopes that they get to experience what he, his coaching staff and his two state finals veterans did at the end of last season.

“It’s a pretty neat feeling when you win your last game,” he said.



NEW ALBANY 9-10 ROSTER

No.    Player    Pos.

1    Kevin Smith    P-LF

3    Levi Baxter    OF-P

4    Aidan Clemons    OF-1B

5     Austin Oppel    1B

7    Andrew Ricketts    2B-P

8    Landon Deweese    OF

13    David Newbanks    OF-C

14    Cooper Biven    SS-P

15    Cody Medley    3B

16    Carson Gentry    C-P-OF

19    Hayden Krebs    SS-P