Three Inside-The-Park Home Runs. A Port Dover Team That Cheers For Everything.

The U9 Axemen hosted the Simcoe Giants Brody's Mechanical squad and put on a hitting clinic. Final: 21-6. But the best moments of the day weren't the home runs.

By Hometown Sports Network // Port Dover, Ontario

At U9 baseball, the game moves fast.

Kids get a hit and forget which base they're rounding. Coaches shout instructions from the third-base line. Parents in the bleachers cheer at plays that were technically over three seconds ago. Somebody's little brother is throwing a ball against a fence somewhere.

It's chaotic, joyful, and every once in a while, a kid does something that stops everybody in their tracks.

On Saturday afternoon in Port Dover, three of those moments happened in a single game.

The U9 Port Dover Axemen hosted the Simcoe Giants Brody's Mechanical squad and put up three inside-the-park home runs on their way to a 21-6 win.

But if you ask the coach of that Axemen team, the home runs weren't even the best part of the day.

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The 8 AM practices. The tournament weekends that eat up your Saturdays and Sundays for four months straight. The batting cages. The uniform fees. The bat that costs $200 for a kid who's going to grow four inches before next season.

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The Axemen didn't waste any time.

Bottom of the first inning, one runner on base, Dex Davidson stepped into the box.

Davidson ripped a ball into deep right field that skipped past the outfielder and just kept rolling. Around first. Around second. Around third. All the way home.

An inside-the-park two-run home run to open the scoring.

2-0 Axemen.

The Port Dover dugout was already at the fence, hollering. And they weren't done.

A couple batters later, still no outs in the inning, Emmett Styles walked up to the plate.

Emmett is the son of Axemen head coach Adam Styles. He heard about hitting from his dad long before he was old enough to swing a bat. And when he stepped in on Saturday, he did exactly what a coach's kid does.

He crushed it.

Emmett drove a ball into deep center field and started running. All the way around. Inside-the-park home run number two.

4-0 Axemen.

Two home runs in one inning. From two different kids. The Axemen dugout was losing its mind.

The bottom of the second inning brought the third home run of the day.

With two Port Dover runners already on base, another Axemen bat found a ground ball that got past the Simcoe infield and just kept going. All three runners scored. Three RBIs on one at-bat.

9-1 Axemen.

The Simcoe Giants dugout was working to keep their heads up. And to their credit, they never stopped playing.

In the top of the third, Caleb ripped a ball into deep right field for the Giants. Oak, running from first base, came all the way around to score. The Simcoe dugout got their first big cheer of the afternoon.

9-2.

The Axemen kept hitting. In the bottom of the fourth, Emmett Styles was up to bat again, this time with a runner on base. He crushed another ball past the pitcher that skipped into the outfield for an RBI. Emmett's second big at-bat of the day for the coach's kid.

The Giants kept scratching. In the top of the fifth, Braden lifted a pop fly that dropped in the infield, and Liam came home from third to score another Simcoe run.

Then Braden turned around in the bottom of the fifth and made a nice catch on a pop fly to give the Simcoe defense a moment of their own.

Because that's the other thing about U9 baseball. Even when the scoreboard runs away from you, the individual moments still matter. A kid making a catch. A kid crossing home plate. A kid getting a big cheer from their dugout.

Final score: Port Dover Axemen 21, Simcoe Giants Brody's Mechanical 6.

But the score wasn't the story.

We caught up with Hunter and Emmett after the game.

The first question was easy. Favourite part of today's game?

Emmett didn't hesitate.

EMMETT STYLES

"When I hit my home Run."

Hunter had a different favourite moment. And it might be the best U9 quote we've ever gotten on this network.

HUNTER

"Probably when we maxed the inning with five runs."

Max the inning with five runs.

That's a phrase every baseball coach in Southern Ontario should be putting on a t-shirt. It's what nine-year-olds call it when the innings just keep going and the runs just keep scoring and the dugout won't stop cheering.

You max the inning. That's what you do.

We asked both kids who taught them to play baseball.

Hunter told us his mom and his dad taught him how to throw the ball. How to swing the bat "good." How to run.

Emmett gave us the shortest answer we've gotten yet.

EMMETT STYLES

"Hit, run, bat, everything."

That's a kid whose dad coaches the team. That's a kid who's been at the ballpark since he was in a stroller. That's a kid who's going to be somebody's John Axford in fifteen years.

Then we caught up with Coach Adam Styles for a real conversation about the team.

We asked him what his team did that won't show up on the scoreboard.

He didn't say the home runs.

COACH ADAM STYLES, PORT DOVER AXEMEN U9

"Our team just has a great team atmosphere, energy. They really cheer each other on. They energize each other. When you get kind of down on yourself, they get each other up. They're just always ready, letting each other know where the play's going, how many outs, keeping aware. That's the biggest part in baseball. Just paying attention."

That's a U9 coach who understands exactly what he's building.

He's not measuring the season by wins. He's measuring it by whether his kids are picking each other up when somebody strikes out. Whether they're calling out plays for each other. Whether they're paying attention.

When we asked him about a kid who doesn't get enough credit, his answer came fast.

LUKE, PORT DOVER AXEMEN

"Luke, He comes to the game and he's serious. He's, it's game time. He gets to work. He means business. He doesn't really goof around. It's all business when he gets here to the time he finishes."

Every team needs a Luke.

The kid who doesn't get all the headlines. The kid who comes to work every day. The kid the coach can point at and say that kid is the reason this team stays sharp.

Luke K, from Hometown Sports Network, you were seen today.

But the answer that hit hardest came when we asked Coach Adam about a volunteer who keeps the team running.

JOHN GATES

"John Gates. He's another coach, volunteer, and he helps lots of kids on the team. He comes, sets up the diamond with us, comes to practices, makes sure his things are ready. We have a group chat, always making sure we're ready and prepared for whatever we have, game, practice, whatever it may be. We're on the same page."

The group chat.

Every parent who's ever coached a U9 team knows exactly what that group chat means. The 6 AM texts about equipment. The last-minute swaps when a kid can't make practice. The reminders about photo day. The scramble to find a fill-in coach when someone's on vacation.

John Gates runs that group chat. John Gates sets up the diamond. John Gates makes sure his stuff is ready.

Multiply John Gates by every U9 team in Norfolk and Haldimand and you start to see what's holding this whole thing together. And it's not the head coaches.

It's the John Gates. The Joe Fenys. The moms behind the Bulls dugout. The volunteers who don't ask for a thank you.

We're giving them one anyway.

Thanks, John.

Here's what this game was really about.

Yes, Dex Davidson hit an inside-the-park home run to start the game.

Yes, Emmett Styles hit two big shots for his dad and his team.

Yes, another Axemen kid drove in three runs on a ball that just kept rolling.

Yes, the Axemen U9 put up 21 runs on Saturday afternoon in Port Dover.

But the story of this team, according to the guy who knows them best, isn't the runs. It's the way they pick each other up. It's Luke getting to work every day. It's John Gates making sure the diamond is ready.

It's a U9 team learning what makes a team a team.

Twelve years from now, when Emmett Styles is standing on a baseball diamond somewhere in Ontario putting on a jersey that says Team Canada across the chest, he's going to remember his dad. He's going to remember the first time he hit a home run.

He'll probably remember when he maxed the inning with five runs, too.

Got a kid playing? A coach making a difference? A volunteer holding it all together? Reach out at hometownsportsnetwork.ca. We want to hear about it.HOMETOWN SPORTS NETWORK

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