OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — A 14U baseball team that had its season unexpectedly canceled earlier this year found a new home, a new name, and a season worth remembering.
Josiah Hollibaugh, coach of what was then the 14U Omaha Nighthawks team, said he never saw it coming when an email from the organization canceled the season with no word about refunding the thousands of dollars families had already spent.
"I was completely blindsided," Hollibaugh said.
The organization never responded to the team or to me when I reached out for comment. Parents launched a GoFundMe and contacted multiple leagues in the area looking for a path forward.
Along the way, the team's story resonated with others who had faced similar situations.
"People would come up and be like hey you're the team that we saw in the news and we'd be like yeah yeah and they'd tell us their horror story about a coach or organization doing the same thing to them," Hollibaugh said.
The pattern raised a larger question about youth sports.
"Is there something about baseball or youth sports in general? Why is this happening?" I asked.
"I think it's just the amount of money that's involved. If you look at it just our team alone with the 11 players we lost about $13,000 dollars," Hollibaugh said.
The team regrouped and rebranded.
"We settled on the Omaha Phoenix just because the Phoenix rises from the ashes right," Hollibaugh said.
Hollibaugh told me the Omaha baseball community shocked him with generosity, for example, Keystone Little League giving them a "home field" of sorts to play at, Omaha Force providing a practice facility, and Soldier Sports donating team uniforms.
The fresh start came at a cost. Hollibaugh said the second go-around cost the team another $7,000, but more than half was covered by the GoFundMe, which raised over $4,000. Allowing the team to play about 30 games.
When I first spoke with player Hudson Hollibaugh in February, he had one simple wish.
"My biggest hope is just to be able to go out and play and have a great time," Hudson said.
He got exactly that.
"I did have a good time a couple good hits a lot of great plays," Hudson said.
As the players move on to high school, Hudson reflected on a season that followed one of the lowest points in his baseball career.
"I've been playing baseball for about 6 years and all of those years I ended off on a high note so it just felt familiar to what it used to be even after the lows," Hudson said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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