York entering second season leading Whitko Wildcats

By STEVE KRAH
http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Cody York, who is going into his second year as head baseball coach at Whitko Junior/Senior High School in South Whitley, Ind., in 2023, has been around the sport in northeast Indiana most of his life.
Born in Fort Wayne, he played in Holy Cross and Hamilton Park youth leagues and four years at North Side High School, where he graduated in 2008.
His head coaches were Bruce Miller as a freshman and then Randy Moss for the next three years.
“(Moss) had a huge impact on my life,” says York, 33. “He showed me how to compete on the baseball field and what it takes to be good at it.”
North Side head football coach Casey Kolkman (now at Heritage) showed York what consistency looks like.
“No matter what happened — good or bad — he stayed even-keeled,” says York of Kolkman. “His demeanor never wavered one way or another.
“I take my style from (Moss and Kolkman).”
York also played basketball for the North Side Redskins (now Legends).
After high school, York played one season each at Glen Oaks Community College in Centreville, Mich., for head coach Keith Schreiber and Indiana Tech in Fort Wayne for Kip McWilliams and now is a heavy equipment operator for the City of Fort Wayne.
York’s first season of baseball coaching was 2021 as Whitko assistant.
Whitko (enrollment around 415) is a member of the Three Rivers Conference (with Maconaquah, Manchester, Northfield, North Miami, Peru, Rochester, Southwood, Tipppecanoe Valley and Wabash).
The Wildcats are part of an IHSAA Class 2A sectional grouping in 2023 with Central Noble, Churubusco, Eastside, Prairie Heights and Westview. Whitko won its lone sectional title in 2017.
York’s 2023 coaching staff features varsity assistant Andrew Shepherd, junior varsity assistant Michael Ianucilli and volunteers Jacob Gable and Austin Roberson. The head coach got acquainted with his assistants through two Fort Wayne-based summer adult circuits (Carrington League and Men’s Senior Baseball League).
Pitching coach Shepherd played at Wabash High School (Class of 2012), Ianucilli at Fort Wayne Concordia (Class of 2017), Gable at North Side (Class of 2015) and Roberson at Fort Wayne Snider (Class of 2012). York is also looking to hire a JV head coach.
York helped coach middle school football at Whitko in the fall while his assistants ran IHSAA Limited Contact Period sessions. This winter, Limited Contact Period practices have been from 6 to 8 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays and dedicated to throwing, hitting and weight training.
With nine starters being freshmen or sophomores, the Wildcats went 9-18 in 2022.
Shortstop David Ousley (Class of 2023) is scheduled to sign with the University of Saint Francis (Ind.) Thursday. Ousley was a team captain in ’22 along with Isaiah Cripe (Class of 2024).
Ousley and Cripe are expected back along with Class of 2023’s Brent Bowers, Jaxon Harper and Cody Adkins, 2024’s Logan Hoffman and Max Platt and 2025’s Easton Grable, Riley Harman and Breyden Kirkdorffer.
The Wildcats play home games on-campus. A year ago, Whitko got a new scoreboard. New dugouts and batting cages are being installed.
York is also the program’s hitting coach and wants his players to get more repetitions while staying mechanically sound.
“I’m very meticulous when I’m in the cage with them,” says York.
Plans also call for replacing infield dirt and outfield warning tracks with red brick dust.
As a feeder system for the high school, York has established a middle school team that will play games Monday through Wednesday in the spring of 2023 so it does not interfere with travel ball schedules.
Cody York is engaged to Alisha Withered. The couple each have 10-year-olds from previous relationships.

Cody York.

Cody York and the Whitko Wildcats.

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Dellinger, Fort Wayne South Side Archers rise to occasion

BY STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

The 2019 regular season for the Fort Wayne (Ind.) South Side High School baseball team was one of many defeats while they went through and discovery and dealing with ailments.

When the Archers took aim at the Huntington North Sectional title, they hit the target.

South Side earned one win in Summit Athletic Conference play and finished last in that loop.

“We were struggling with injuries,” says first-year head coach Ryan Dellinger. “(Ace left-hander Xavier) Croxton had arm soreness most of the season and we shut him down then built him up the last couple weeks.

“Once we got healthy, we were in pretty good shape. We had to fill a lot of different positions and it took us forever to figure that out.”

But the Archers beat Huntington North 6-4 and Homestead 4-0 at Huntington University to win the program’s second straight sectional title and earned a spot in the IHSAA Class 4A Lafayette Jeff Regional at Loeb Stadium.

South Side takes on Hamilton Southeastern in the first game at 11 a.m. The HSE Royals are coached by Dellinger’s best friend, Jeremy Sassanella. The two played met and played together in the Fort Wayne men’s senior leagues.

The second regional semifinal pits Fort Wayne Carroll against Logansport. The final is slated for 8 p.m.

Fort Wayne South Side (enrollment around 1,400) is a member of the Summit Athletic Conference (with Fort Wayne Carroll, Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger, Fort Wayne Bishop Luers, Fort Wayne Concordia Lutheran, Fort Wayne North Side, Fort Wayne Northrop, Fort Wayne Snider, Fort Wayne Wayne and Homestead).

The Archers are part of an IHSAA Class 4A sectional grouping with North Side, Wayne, Homestead and Huntington North. South Side has won three sectional titles — 2012, 2018 and 2019.

Dellinger joined Sheldon Van Pelt’s South Side coaching staff for the 2018 season and the Archers won the Huntington North Sectional and lost to Carroll in the regional semifinals.

This season, Van Pelt is an assistant to Dellinger and 32 players were kept after tryouts to fill varsity and junior varsity squads. The South Side staff also features Will Coursen-Carr, who was 2012’s Indiana Mr. Baseball and the Indiana Gatorade Player of the Year while playing for the Archers and went on to pitch at Indiana University.

Dellinger credits Coursen-Carr for his role in helping South Side pitchers.

“He gets them to throw strikes,” says Dellinger. “He can relate well to the kids since he’s so young.”

Besides senior Croxton (a University of Saint Francis commit), the Archers are armed with senior right-hander Elias Perez (the winning pitcher vs. Homestead), junior right-hander Blaine McCrae and freshman left-hander Logan Weber.

The catalyst for South Side’s offense is senior shortstop and lead-off hitter Cole Hapner (an Ivy Tech Northeast commit).

The Archers play their home games at Bill Derbyshire Field, located at the old Elmhurst High School. Van Pelt got the idle facility back in playing condition during his time as head coach.

Dellinger is employed by the City of Fort Wayne taking care of athletic facilities, but much of the work at Derbyshire Field is handled by a Fort Wayne Community Schools worker assigned to the task.

A 1990 Concordia graduate, Dellinger played two years of baseball and then basketball for the Cadets.

Dellinger came to South Side from the world of travel baseball and he still coaches it in the summer. He was with the Strike Zone Spiders and AWP (Athletes With Purpose) and now the independent Summit City Spiders 15U team.

Ryan and Josie Dellinger have a daughter (Calah) and three sons (Addison, Zenden and Simon). Father and son got to compete against each other when South Side took on Snider, where Simon Dellinger is on the baseball team. A talented football player, he scheduled to play tight end next fall at West Point.

Fort Wayne (Ind.) South Side High School baseball coaches Ryan Dellinger, Sheldon Van Pelt and Will Coursen-Carr celebrate with the 2019 IHSAA Huntington North Sectional trophy.

The Fort Wayne (Ind.) South Side High School Archers won their second straight Huntington North Sectional baseball tournament and qualified for the Lafayette Jeff Regional.