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Almost four years have passed since that sunny August day, and yet it's as if time has stood still.
On August 4, 1999, Warsaw's District 14 14-under All-Star baseball team paraded through downtown on a fire truck with a full police escort, having just finished as state runner-up.
In a ceremony to honor the talented teenagers for their magical run through the little league state tournament, Mayor Ernie Wiggins said "On behalf of the city of Warsaw, I would like to congratulate you and thank you for being good ambassadors to our city. We are very proud of what you have done."
Hundreds of games and hours and hours of practice later, many of those same players are again making a run through the state tournament, this time as Will Shepherd's varsity team at Warsaw Community High School.
The roster is filled every year with players, but truly special players and special teams are few and far between.
This year's Tiger team is truly that - special.
The kind of team that will be talked about at places like Breading's Cigar Store and Dig's Diner for years to come.
Names like Ryan DeGeeter, William "Hoss" Knepper, Berto Nunez, Zack Smith and Josh Stork will be tossed around as often as a special order of Bill DeGaetano's chili.
Yeah, this Warsaw baseball team is special.
Saturday the Tigers won the school's first sectional championship since 1996, led by yet another pitching gem from DeGeeter, who threw 10 innings over the two games and gave up just one hit and no runs.
Saturday at 11 a.m. the Tigers will call upon DeGeeter again, as well as the bats of Knepper, Nunez, Stork, Smith, Sean Alderfer, Brandon LaFollette and Jeremy Sharp, as No. 8 Warsaw battles No. 4 McCutcheon in the Kokomo Regional.
For a high school baseball fan, this is as good as it gets.
The 6-foot-5 DeGeeter, a sparkling 24-1 in high school and headed for Ball State University when his storied prep career comes to an end, will use his near-90 mph fastball and wicked curve to try and tame the McCutcheon batters.
Warsaw's hitters will have to deal with the 90 mph fastball of 6-5 lefty and University of Michigan-bound Clayton Richard, this year's Indiana Mr. Football.
DeGeeter enters with a 0.59 ERA, an 11-1 record and 78 strikeouts in 71 2/3 innings of work.
Richard takes a 9-0 record into Saturday after tossing a three-hitter in the sectional championship game and sports a more-than-impressive 0.00 ERA. He's not allowed a run in 66 innings on the mound and has struck out 114 batters.
Call it a high school matchup of Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson.
Yeah, I'd say for a mere $5, fans will get their money's worth Saturday.
With DeGeeter and Richard on the mound, hits and runs will likely be few and far between, making each and every trip to the plate a clutch situation for batters.
The Tigers enter the regional with a team batting average of .349.
LaFollette leads the way at .434, while DeGeeter is at .419 with six homers and a team-high 34 RBIs.
Knepper, whom many didn't believe would get to play this year after tearing his ACL late in the football season, bats .347 with seven home runs.
Smith bats .351, while Nunez is at .333 and Sharp at .316.
Whatever happens Saturday, win or lose, this team will go down in Warsaw history as a special one, as a group of winners.
They'll be remembered as good ambassadors to our city, just like Wiggins said nearly four years ago.
Look out the window, I think I see that firetruck carrying them boys down the street again.
