By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
For head coach Ryan Unger and his North Adams Green Devils baseball squad, the end of their 2026 season came far too soon. Coach Unger and his troops were in district quarterfinal action on May 19, a #9 seed in Division VI making the long haul to Symmes Valley to face the #8 seeded Vikings. Maybe it was the long bus ride or as Coach Unger termed it, “we just didn’t show up”, and their season came to a halting stop with a 7-0 road loss.
The Green Devils were in a hole right from the start as The Vikes got to starter Trace Evans for a two-spot in the bottom of the first. In the bottom of the third, the home team struck for three more to drive Evans from the game. The Devils got their first hit of the game in the top half of the third, a two-out single by Maverick Winkler, but he was left stranded. Cooper Roush singled with one out in the top of the fourth, but he too was left right there as Evans lined out to center and Carsyn Raines went down swinging.
Roush came on in relief in the bottom half of the fourth, retiring the Vikings in order. In the top of the fifth, North Adams got a pair of base runners, a single by Cash Hupp and Winkler being hit by a pitch, but again they were left stranded as Colin Tolle struck out looking.
Symmes Valley touched up Roush for a pair of runs in their half of the fifth to take a commanding 7-0 advantage. With two at-bats left to somehow salvage their season, the Devils went down in order in the top of the sixth and then got two on base in the seventh, a single by Jaxon Krchmar and Kyser Swayne on an error, but the game and the season ended with a Winkler fly ball to center, sending the Vikings on to the district semifinals.
“We finished 10-16, 8-5 in conference games,” said Coach Unger. “That’s the first season of double digit wins in a number of years. We beat Whiteoak and Eastern Brown in the same season for the first time in years and overall had a lot of good moments this year. Two seniors set state records, we got three kids on First Team All-District and All-Conference.”
Out seniors, Colin Tolle and Cooper Roush, were tremendous kids to coach and were great leaders for the rest of our younger kids.”
Freshman third baseman Maverick WInkler was the team’s leading hitter, batting .382, driving in 14 runs, and topping the team with an impressive 25 stolen bases. Roush had a great senior year, hitting .357, drivingin 18 and scoring 15 times. On the mound, Roush was 3-3 with an earned run average of 3.63, with 60 strikeouts in 46.1 innings of work.
North Adams
000 000 0 —0
Symmes Valley
202 020 x —7
N. Adams Hitting (AB-R-H-RBI): D’Ambra 1-0-0-0, Dean 2-0-0-0, Evans 3-0-0-0, Hupp 2-0-1-0, Krchmar 1-0-1-0, Raines 3-0-0-0, Roush 2-0-1-0, Shiveley 3-0-0-0, Swayne 3-0-0-0, Tolle 3-0-0-0, Winkler 3-0-1-0, Team 26-0-4-0.
S. Valley Hitting (AB-R-H-RBI): Strow 3-1-1-0, Thompson 3-2-2-0, Corn 2-3-2-0, Bramlett 3-0-0-2, Campton 2-1-1-1, Holland 3-0-0-0, Adkins 3-0-0-0, freeman 2-0-0-0, Stevenson 2-0-0-0, Team 23-7-6-3.
Extra-Base Hits: Thompson 2B, Corn 2B, Campbell 2B
N. Adams Pitching
Evans (L) 3 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
Roush 3 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
S. Valley Pitching
Corn (W) 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 12 K
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