Sitting among the top teams in the Lehigh Valley Connie Mack League standings are some of the normal powerhouses you find in just about any sports league throughout the area.

A closer look finds Moore Township in that group of teams, sitting at 11-1 and in second place, just a game back of unbeaten Northwest Bethlehem and a game-and-a-half ahead of South Parkland at 9-2.

The feat comes as no surprise to head coach Jarad Haupt, however.

“We have a great group of kids here at Moore Township who have bought into our team-first mentality,” said Haupt. “We ask the boys for two things - hustle and be a good teammate. Most of this group has played for me at Moore Township over the last four years and have moved up together through the years. We were Lehigh Valley League Knee-Hi champs two years ago.”

Haupt is also a varsity assistant coach at Northampton so he’s been fortunate to work with the boys during the school year as well since they are all 9th and 10th graders.

“All these boys will back their teammate and say we are all equal in our success so far,” Haupt said.

Haupt pointed to the pitching staff as a big part of the team’s success. Owen Laury, Sam Erschen, Ian Onuschak, Mason Haupt, Dylan Fosko and Jacob Nothstein have combined for a 0.804 era through 12 games. Owen Laury and Sam Erschen have nine combined wins.

The team is batting .356, led by Jed Colyer, Mason Haupt, Ian Onuschak and Owen Laury.

“This team doesn’t worry about stats, though,” Haupt said. “We bunt, steal, and run the bases well to help produce runs. From 1-12 these kids do what is best for the team to get a win. Whether it’s chasing foul balls or cleaning the field and dugout after a game, we do it all well from player 1 to player 12. They are a blast to be around and great kids on the field and in the classroom.”

Haupt admitted Moore has had a few games where they didn’t play their best baseball, but did enough to earn a win.

“That’s what is so great about these guys, they keep battling,” Haupt said.

Moore will be tested as they close out the season and get ready for the playoffs. They have games remaining with South Parkland, Northwest Bethlehem, and Bangor.

“We are hoping to finish strong over the next two weeks in our final 6 games and qualify for both league and state playoffs at the end of July,” Haupt said.

Lehigh Valley

Connie Mack

standings

NW Bethlehem 12 0 0

Moore Twp 11 1 0

S. Parkland 9 2 0

Franklin Twp 11 3 0

Northern Vy 7 2 0

Bangor 9 3 1

Becahi 7 3 0

Nazareth 8 4 0

Central 5 3 0

So. Lehigh 7 5 1

Northampton 5 4 0

Jim Thorpe 6 5 0

Palmerton 7 6 0

Wilson 6 6 0

Hellertown 4 6 0

Coplay 3 5 0

Stroudsburg 3 7 0

N. Parkland 3 9 0

Emmaus 3 10 0

Freemansburg 2 7 0

Salisbury 2 12 0

East Strouds 1 10 0

Palmer Twp 0 8 0

Easton 0 10 0