{"id":32591,"date":"2023-08-01T02:42:13","date_gmt":"2023-08-01T08:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/bergman-enjoying-moment-as-coach-of-connie-mack-champions\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:00:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:00:30","slug":"bergman-enjoying-moment-as-coach-of-connie-mack-champions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/bergman-enjoying-moment-as-coach-of-connie-mack-champions\/","title":{"rendered":"Bergman enjoying moment as coach of Connie Mack champions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Dallas
Dallas Tigers' head coach Brett Bergman accepts the 2023 Connie Mack World Series championship trophy from Richard Neely, president of the American Amateur Baseball Congress on Saturday after the Tigers defeated the Midland Redskins in extra innings at Ricketts Park. (Curtis Ray Benally\/Turkeyboy Photography)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

FARMINGTON \u2013 Brett Bergman, an executive who represents Google as a member of the Cloud Sales division, doesn\u2019t appear on the surface to be the head coach of a championship baseball team.<\/p>\n

Less than 48 hours after his team raised a trophy and claimed the 2023 Connie Mack World Series championship, Bergman was back at his \u201cother job,\u201d meeting with sales associates and dealing with the always-changing world of internet business.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a whole different kind of reward for doing this job as opposed to being a coach, that\u2019s for sure,\u201d Bergman said between meetings just two days after he guided the Dallas Tigers through an improbable series of events at the tournament, which eventually led to their 3-2, nine-inning victory over the defending champion Midland Redskins.<\/p>\n

The Tigers road to claiming the CMWS championship, which required winning seven out of nine games over the span of eight days, was marked by three one-run victories, including an opening round 2-1 win in bracket play over the NOLA Cardinals.<\/p>\n

The Tigers also had a flair for the dramatic, winning three games in walk-off fashion including the championship game over Midland. Down 2-0 with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, Dallas drew even with the Redskins after Sawyer Farr drove in a couple of runs before Colton Moore scored the winning run on a passed ball in the bottom of the ninth inning.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think you ever get used to winning games that way, but I think we did see these situations as something we\u2019d been through before,\u201d Bergman said. \u201cI told all those kids in all those moments that I had the confidence in them to find a way to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dallas
Dallas Tigers' Sawyer Farr hits the ball up the middle against Midland Redskins and brings two runners in to tie the game at the bottom of the seventh inning during the Connie Mack World Series championship game on Saturday at Ricketts Park. (Curtis Ray Benally\/Turkeyboy Photography)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Bergman, who coached the Tigers to the team\u2019s first Connie Mack World Series title, was quick to praise several of the key components of the team, particularly the efforts of the tournament\u2019s Most Valuable Player Caleb Hoover.<\/p>\n

Not only did Hoover bat .479 during the summer season prior to the Connie Mack World Series, Hoover went on to record a .562 batting average during the CMWS and also threw 2 1\/3 innings of relief, striking out four batters in the championship game.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been such a great leader for this team,\u201d Bergman said. \u201cHe\u2019s been with this team for quite a few years now and it doesn\u2019t surprise me at all that he earned that award.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brady Gray, who played a vital role in each of the team\u2019s walk-off victories in the Connie Mack World Series, also received praise from Bergman at the conclusion of the tournament. Gray was named to the all-tournament team for his work as a catcher as well as his performance at the plate, in which he had an on-base percentage of .625.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou couldn\u2019t have chosen a better representative for the team or player to be in those high-pressure situations,\u201d Bergman said. \u201cHe\u2019s been a part of this team for a long time and for him to get that honor is not a surprise to me at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to guiding the team through its run to the Connie Mack World Series championship, Bergman was also very proud of the way the team represented itself on and off the field, and the way the city of Farmington represented itself to the team and its members.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t say enough about the reception we got from fans and committee members and the community,\u201d Bergman said. \u201cThe people in Farmington welcomed all of us and their love of baseball and these kids was out of this league.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dallas
Dallas Tigers pitcher Jack Hickerson makes a pitch to NOLA Cardinals Tanner Hornback in the top of the first inning during Game 1 of Connie Mack World Series bracket play on Sunday at Ricketts Park. (Curtis Ray Benally\/Turkeyboy Photography)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Tigers earned their trip to Farmington and the Connie Mack World Series by winning a regional qualifying tournament in Melissa, Texas. Bergman believes that the incentive of winning a qualifying event played a role in the team\u2019s readiness in winning the CMWS.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that when a team goes through something like that, it brings them together. It teaches them how to overcome situations which will come up,\u201d Bergman said. \u201cEvery one of the teams that made it to the tournament overcomes something or other along the way, and that\u2019s part of the excitement of being there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of the players on the Tigers team will be headed off to other and other commitments, including collegiate baseball and for some returning players, the beginning of the fall season. There will be some activity for the team during the fall season, but for the most part, Bergman will be looking to get the team ready for another run next summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get to get back to work a little bit during the offseason, but I\u2019ve really enjoyed the ride this summer,\u201d Bergman said. \u201cAnd it will hopefully be another fun ride to get back to Farmington next year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

rallied to win Connie Mack title, earning team\u2019s first title<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[2129,470,2127,799,28,2428,2128,346],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-32591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-american-amatuer-baseball-congress","tag-baseball","tag-connie-mack-world-series","tag-farmington","tag-headlines","tag-high-school-baseball","tag-ricketts-park","tag-sports"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32591"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81854,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32591\/revisions\/81854"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32591"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=32591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}