“This last game was great competition. I think we all needed that,” said Powell. “I think it’s really special for some of these girls. We may not all get the ability to play on these fields every day, so when we do, it’s a real blessing. The win was just icing on the cake.”
all of the winning teams during the DTHC were honored at the August 15th Tigers game at Comerica Park, in a special on-field ceremony before the game.
The final game of the 2013 Detroit Tigers Hometown Championship resided in the baseball diamond at WSU on August 7, between the Motor City Prospects and the Detroit A’s. In the contest, the M.C. Prospects, who Coach Ward Elliott said are a collection of scouted players from Detroit and surrounding area, ultimately were too much for the A’s to handle, as the Prospects claimed the High School division.
Even in the defeat, Detroit A’s head Coach Ray Stephen had nothing but kind words for the DTHC, calling it “a well-planned, well-organized championship”. Also, Coach Stephen expressed his gratefulness to the Detroit Tigers Foundation’s initiative, ‘Gloves for Kids’, for helping his program by supplying them with baseball equipment for the season.
“The Tigers have been real good to us in that respect,” Stephen said. “I call Sam, I tell him what I need and he tells me to come on down.”
After the game, 17-year-old Motor City Prospects pitcher Damon Ellis (from Detroit) said, “It helps just getting better every day so colleges can notice me. I hope to play college baseball one day so every day I got to put in my work so I can get better.”
The showcases, competitions, and the tournaments allowed the players the chance to get better, in addition to the opening for exposure, which is something that Prospects coach and Chicago Cubs Associate Scout Ward Elliott found was crucial to discovering the underrated talent in the city. Ward, who trains some of the state’s best players at the Redford Cage (12592 Inkster Rd.) in Redford, MI, mentioned that showcases like the Hometown Championship were important because, “it allows scouts to really get to know the inner-city players. It allows them to get out there and really judge the talent.” “There’s a lot of talent in Detroit, especially for baseball,” said Elliot. “We only have like 4-6 get drafted per year, but we have outstanding talent in the City of Detroit.”
Above everything else that the Detroit Tigers Hometown Championship had to offer, it offered the players the chance to be better, by doing more and seeing more. The Pitch, Hit, and Run Competitions, H.S. Showcases, and the tournaments themselves gave the players added repetition along with the chance to be coached by coaches that take time out of their schedules to be there and teach players the game of baseball, on top of life through baseball, because as Coach Ray Stephen so insightfully indicated it, “the way you live should be the way you play the game.”
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