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West End hopes to bring home World Series title at 13-16-year-old level

By Jon Gerardi 4 min read

This is far from unfamiliar territory for West End 13-16-year-old all-star manager Marc Hess.

In 2022, Hess was the manager of West End's 13-16-year-old team which reached Branson, Missouri for the World Series. Last year, he guided a team of Babe Ruth Baseball all-stars to Branson, Missouri for the World Series at this age division once again.

And 2025 is more of the same.

Hess and the World Series are becoming synonymous with one another and he proved it after he helped manage this year's all-star team to a Mid-Atlantic Regional championship in mid-July. Why not give it another go and make another run?

"It's nice. It was a lot of fun last year. Hopefully we can go back and win it this time," West End's Trey Damschroder won after winning the Mid-Atlantic Regional title.

This team has a lot of talent, especially offensively. West End's lineup top to bottom can produce, and they did just that throughout both the Pennsylvania state tournament and the Mid-Atlantic Regional tournament.

"Most teams only bat nine. I bat 10 just because we have so much (talent). We have guys on the bench who are ready to come in and hit well and we have two guys that aren't even here today (Jahvon LaRosa and Deshaun White) who are really good players," Hess said after regionals. "It's a very good problem to have."

That it is.

This team has players who are more than experienced. West End has a team that consists of Mason Hess, Damschroder, LJ Hill and Jaxson March, a foursome that has won four consecutive state championships alongside one another. Those four, in addition to Briar Persing, are all three-time World Series participants as well.

Persing, Camden March, Jaxson March, Hill, Hess, Damschroder and Jaymes Carpenter were in last year's World Series. All but one player on the roster have been to the World Series at least twice. And six players on the roster have won three state championships in the past four years.

That's outstanding big-time experience that very few teams can say they have. This group knows what it takes to not only get to the World Series, but compete against some of the world's best.

When the team was assembled, Hess was asked "could we be better?" referring to last year's team compared to 2025. West End had an outstanding team last year and took fifth place in the recently expanded Babe Ruth World Series which featured 20 teams -- 10 US teams and 10 International.

"I think we're just as good, if not better, than last year," Hess said. "You never know what kind of competition you're going to run into, but when you have pitchers, that's a big plus. When you can go deep, that helps a lot."

It's not arrogance either, it's simply confidence by a group of players who know how good they are in all facets. West End's 13-16-year-old all-star team has plenty of studs on the mound who can shut down an offense. The defense can back up their pitchers and offensively, they can break a game open at any moment.

"We can all feel confident in each other," Damschroder said. "We can all produce in big spots or just when we need it."

Numerous players on this West End team competed together since they were Little Leaguers and made a run under Hess in the Little League major division in the summer of 2021 to get to the state tournament with Hepburn Lycoming Little League.

Now, they're once again competing at one of the highest levels in Branson, Missouri.

"We have played together since we were younger. It's nice to stick together," Damschroder said. "We all get along really well, and it's nice to stick together and keep succeeding."

The expectations in Missouri are quite simple as well. Just ask the team.

"It (the Series experience) lets us stay composed," Damschroder said. "We can go back there and get at it this time and just play and hopefully win it this time."

West End begins the tournament with a game against the Native Nations on Friday at 11:30 a.m. On Saturday, West End faces Puerto Rico at 2 p.m. West End will play the Southwest champion (Gulf Shores) on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. and will then play Aruba at 5 p.m. on Sunday.

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