MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Montoursville’s Brody Aldenderfer (1) is safe at third base on a triple in the second inning of an earlier game against Danville.

Warriors have done it quite well.

Despite losing four excellent senior starters, Montoursville (19-4) repeated as district champions, routed highly-touted Wyoming Area in the opening round a week ago and won a tight battle against Boiling Springs.

It has not been one or two players doing the heavy lifting, but all the Warriors doing so equally. So, while others have doubted it, Montoursville has quietly gone about its business and again has proven itself as one of the state’s top four teams.

“It feels great,” second baseman Kane Moore said. “We had a lot of people doubting us with the kids we lost, but we knew we’d be back.”

They believed that because they know each other; trust each other and push each other. Montoursville reached this point not just because of what it has done the last few weeks, but why what it did before the games even started.

That is where this foundation was built and the Warriors have continued adding more layers each step of the way.

“A lot of people doubted us after last season and losing four seniors, but we always believed that we can compete with anybody,” Aldenderfer said. “We knew in the winter that we had a chance to go back and to make it back to the Final 4 is something special.”

Each season features different challenges and can lead teams down different paths. This year was no different. Montoursville hit some turbulence at times, but smoothed things out following the regular season and again has played its best baseball at the perfect time.

Coach Jeremy Eck guaranteed a district championship early in the season but making a state tournament run was another story. So much has to go right to reach this point and the Warriors faced some early-season questions. Since then, they have provided some answers and steered the ship back to the state semifinals.

“If you would have told me early, we were going to be back here, I don’t know if I would have believed you. It’s hard,” Eck said. “It’s not flashy baseball. You just do what you have to do. You field the ball, you make routine plays, you get some timely hits and move guys over and it’s just baseball. You just play it and see what happens.”

Montoursville has embraced that philosophy well during Eck’s eight seasons at Montoursville, winning five district championships and advancing to at least the state quarterfinals five times. Along the way, Montoursville has played teams which might have possessed more star power; ones that featured multiple Division I recruits.

And Montoursville has never paid attention. It has focused on itself and performing its job. Others might not always believe, but the Warriors do and that sure has helped them achieve a lot.

“I think when I sit back in a few years and think about what we’ve been able to accomplish with these kids, it’s special,” Eck said. “We’ve had a great group of assistant coaches; a great group of players and it just seems like we figure it out. These kids have been in big games all their lives, so it’s nothing new.”

Neither is Montoursville feeling slighted at times. From the Sun-Gazette picking Athens to defeat it in the district championship, to not being listed as a serious state title contender, Montoursville has confirmed that others might overlook and/or doubt it.

But the Warriors do not fire back written responses. They just play. And they play really well.

That is the goal again today. Let others make predictions and label who the favorites are each year. Montoursville will just lace them up, play hard and see what happens.

Others may try putting limits on what they can do, but the Warriors, will keep working and asking the same question.

“Most of the time we try and block out the noise but most of the time it does light that flame within us,” Aldenderfer said. “We had a thing last year of, ‘Why not us?’ So, we’re keeping that same mentality this year.”