Any time a high school baseball team wins a state championship, there are plenty of stories to tell. Last year, New Life Academy, a small private school in Woodbury, won the class A state baseball championship, with an impressive run of victories.
Going into the season, coach Dave Darr and his players had high expectations. The team had a great group of seniors, and most of the players on the team had been playing together for years. “I knew we had a lot of talent going into the season,” Darr says. “My only concern was how the team would perform when games got tight.” Close games would become a theme for New Life. After losing the first game of the season, the team won the next 13 in a row and finished the season with a 25–4 record.
During the year, one of the few teams they struggled with was Heritage Christian Academy out of Maple Grove, who beat New Life in one regular season meeting. New Life in one regular season meeting. Aside from Heritage, New Life seemed unstoppable. They won their conference and headed into the section tournament as a two seed.
Much like the regular season, they rolled through their first couple of games. They struggled to an extra-inning win in their third game, before meeting up with Heritage. A victory would send them to the state tournament. Again, Heritage beat them. New Life would have to rattle off two straight victories against their nemesis to make it to the state tournament.
New Life won the first game 7–4. In the second game, they were down 6–4 in the bottom of the 7th inning (the final inning in high school baseball). New Life loaded the bases with nobody out. The next batter walked, pulling them within one run with the bases still loaded and nobody out. That’s about the best-case scenario for a team down a run in the bottom of the final inning.
The next batter lined out to the second basemen, who stepped on second for a double play. They were down to their final out with the tying run on third, and the winning run on first. John Horner, a team leader and one of New Life’s best players, crushed a triple off the left field wall, bringing home both runs and sending the team to the state tournament. “We were very fortunate,” Darr says of his team’s success. “It just seemed like we were supposed to have this run.”
A berth in the state tournament meant the team got to play at Target Field in downtown Minneapolis. The players were in awe of the big-league park. “It’s just crazy how big the field is,” says Thomas Gunderson, a junior this year. “We got to hit in the batting cage that guys like Derek Jeter have hit in.”
Once the games started, Gunderson says, the guys forgot they were in a big league park, and just focused on playing baseball. It took a few more close games, including a one-run victory in the championship, but New Life completed their dream season.
Bringing home the state championship was a huge accomplishment for such a small school, and it seemed like everyone got involved. “Pretty much everyone who went to the school went to the games and was following us,” Sam Horner says. Horner is heading into his senior season on the team, and added that for as much fun as the championship was, he is going to remember hanging out with the guys on the team more than anything. “You can’t put your joy into words,” he says. “I would go back to last spring and replay it any time.”
That’s the goal heading into this year. A few key seniors graduated, including Sam’s brother John, but there are plenty of guys returning. With one state championship under their belts, they have every intention of winning another.
