By any measurement, Franklin Township had a great Connie Mack season.

The Mud Dawgs finished the summer 18-7 with a deep run in the Connie Mack State Tournament at Limeport Stadium, which proved to be a grueling battle.

Even with a good regular season and league tournament behind them, Franklin Township didn’t come into the state tournament as one of the favorites.

In fact, it was thought that they would likely be bounced from the double-elimination tournament a few days earlier than they were.

What people didn’t count on was that the team had some depth on the mound and the team chemistry was as good as any in either the Lehigh Valley or Bux-Mont League.

“We played six games in nine days, and I don’t think there were too many people who thought we would have the opportunity to play that many games,” said coach J.C. Dietz, who is also the varsity coach at Lehighton High School.

“These kids just wanted to keep going, and every game someone stepped up when we needed them to.”

Luke Haydt, who was one of the top pitchers for Franklin Township throughout the season, had already thrown a lot of pitches with Lehighton during the campaign and was called upon to throw as many more as he could with the Mud Dawgs.

Parker Rodgers found himself in some big spots on the mound and came through with outings that gave the team just what they needed.

Dietz had a dilemma with one of his best players in that Cash White was one of his top pitchers, but he also needed him to play at other spots, primarily at shortstop. White came up big in some key spots on the mound and also had a good series offensively in states to help his team.

One of the players who developed not just during the Connie Mack season, but during the varsity season as well, was Brayden Ulshafer. The top two hitters in the lineup, Braylon Hunsicker and Brock Atwood, provided a lot of table setting for the big bats like White, Ulshafer, Rodgers and Grant Birnbaum.

“One of the things that we did well was to get guys on base and then just do some of the fundamental things to move them around,” said Dietz. “Our team was one of the best fundamental teams around and part of that is because nobody worried about who was going to get the credit or anything like that.

“They just wanted to win, and I was proud of them because they were so selfless.”

In both league play and in the state tournament the teams that hurt the Dawgs were Southern Lehigh and Northampton.

The Spartans were regular season champions, and the Konkrete Kids were the tournament champions in the Lehigh Valley Senior Connie Mack League.

Southern Lehigh handed Franklin two of its losses this season while Northampton beat the Mud Dawgs three times, including both of their losses in the state tournament.

Southern Lehigh went on to win the state championship by beating Plymouth Whitemarsh in the championship game.

“They were the two best teams in the league all season, and we knew they were both going to play well at Limeport, so it’s not surprising that they both went as far as they did,” said Dietz. “We were down four starting players in the final game against Northampton, and it made it tough for us there, but you also have to credit them because Northampton and Southern Lehigh were both really strong all season.

“In the end though, this group of guys showed me a lot and they have become better ballplayers from the start of the season through the tournament, and that’s what you look forward to seeing.”