Future Stars of the Panhandle
West Virginia State Champs
The future stars page is dedicated to covering the young athletes in the Gameday Magazine area. Any child or team that has excelled in his or her sport or has demonstrated great work ethic and sportsmanship could be a possible Gameday Magazine future star! It didn't take long to find our first story that deserved local recognition.
When summer is here that means one thing, Little League Baseball!
Gameday Magazine would like recognize a very talented group of 10 and 11 year old boys who have been a very dominate baseball team this summer. Welcome to the Martinsburg Major League 11 year old all star team. These group of 13 boys demonstrated great athleticism and skill by winning the 11 year old West Virginia State Championship! The team consisted of Spencer Blanchfield, Cedric Brown, Justin Clinton, Ryan Dougall, Bryan Farmer, Q.J. Peterson, Clement Powell, Caleb Shupe, Shane Shirley, Chris Sims, Chad Skye, Jarod Snow and Trey Thompson. The team was coached by David Zombro, Kevin Jenkins, Tim Ross and the Manager was Eddie Zombro.
Becoming a state champion is not an easy task! To do so a team must advance through the local area tournament, the district tournament and then a state tournament berth is awarded. The Martinsburg team recorded 10 wins and one loss over the month long tournament. In area play Martinsburg won 3 games while receiving its lone loss to the traditionally dominant Jefferson Major League team. Martinsburg then moved on to play its district tournament held at Moorefield, West Virginia. After winning two games at districts the Martinsburg team advanced to Elkins for the West Virginia State Tournament. Once in Elkins Martinsburg recorded 3 wins in pool play which sent them into the single elimination 4 team tournament. After beating Vincon 8-2 the title game was set between the Bridgeport Major League All stars versus the Martinsburg All Stars. In a very close game the boys from Martinsburg won the game 1-0. The games only score came in the first inning when Q.J Peterson reached first base on an error. Peterson then stole second base and later scored on a Caleb Shupe single to right field. Bryan Farmer continued his dominance on the mound by throwing a complete game three hit shutout.
After the game the players did the little league tradition of lining up to shake the opposing teams hands before making there victory lap to celebrate with family and fans!
Once the high fives from teammates and hugs from family members were done
Manager Eddie Zombro reflected on his teams achievements. "I have coached little league baseball for 28 years and to finally win a state championship with such a great group of kids is something I will never forget." stated Zombro.
The entire Martinsburg Major League team contributed to the team's success this all star season. After speaking with the teams Manager Eddie Zombro Gameday learned just how special some of his players were. Pitchers Bryan Farmer and Caleb Shupe were simply dominating. Shupe gave up one run in three games while Farmer has not lost an all star game that he was pitching in two seasons. Outfielder Justin Clinton was clutch at the plate while leading the team with 4 home runs. The leader of the team was Q.J. Peterson. Q.J. is an amazing athlete who used his blazing speed and dominant hitting to help the Martinsburg Major League win the state title. "I have been around the Martinsburg Major League Baseball program for many years and I will say that Q.J. Peterson is the best hitter I have seen probably since Jamie Connor who played 20 some year's ago. " says Zombro.
With all the talent on this team you can be sure that Gameday Magazine will be covering these kids once they reach the high school level in 4 years!
