PERKINS TWP.
In the spring, they were All-Ohioans for two teams in two different divisions.
For Sandusky's Post 83 Legion teams, they're part of the best battery in the state of Ohio.
Following a convincing 10-0 win in seven innings Saturday in the Ohio State Legion Tournament final against Napoleon, Post 83 spent Monday preparing for its second consecutive trip to the Great Lakes Regional.
Hamann (Danbury) said the difference from the 2008 regional in Chillicothe shouldn't be completely distinct from the 2009 trip to Appleton, Wisc.
"The experience is probably going to be the same even though it's a whole new environment," he said. "We have a majority of players coming back. We're pretty comfortable going down and showing what we have in Wisconsin. Probably the only new thing is the new stadium, and trying to adjust with the time difference."
Post 83 (27-12) faces Midland, Mich. Post 165 (44-7) in the tournament opener 10 a.m. Thursday.
The Sandusky Legion team enters having won every tournament game of the postseason so far, and hasn't lost since July 8 in an 8-3 setback to the Ohio Trojans.
The key, Consolo said, came when the team changed it's hitting philosophy, which became contagious when the whole lineup was swinging with success.
"It's easy to hit when everybody else is hitting," said Consolo, a recent Bellevue gradaute.
"I told myself I was going to focus on my defense, but it's so much easier to hit when you're not focused on hitting," he said.
Then sprinkle in an assortment of pitches from Hamann and Krumlauf.
In the state championship game, Hamann set down 16 straight batters and threw all seven innings, striking out nine batters.
And he allowed just one hit.
"He stepped it up. Each time he just gets better and better," said Consolo, who caught Hamann in the final. "He and Ryan (Krumlauf) have just carried us through the tournament."
Hamann and Krumlauf were both 2-0 in their starts, and they benefited from the hot bats of their teammates as Post 83 scored 47 runs in five games in Athens.
As good as Hamann was in the final, he's become a player who expects a solid outing each time he toes the mound.
"Every time I go out I feel like I give my team of being in every game, and it's better with the guys behind me producing a lot of runs and playing good defense," Hamann said.
The turnaround from a midseason slump, Hamann said, was consistent hitting and defense.
"We had struggled when we were in our little funk," he said. "Coach (Ray Neill) put a challenge to the hitters to swing at the first fastball that we saw was a strike, and since we've done that we've produced a lot of runs, which has taken a lot of the stress and pressure off the pitchers."
