14U TOURNAMENT

The 14U team played well this past weekend, earning a #1 seed in the Majors division.  After playing stellar baseball on Saturday in all phases of the game, the team did not perform as well on Sunday.  By no means did they play terrible, they ran into a pretty good pitcher and the Sting did not make any mistakes to let us back in the game.  It was a close contest throughout as the Sting took a 2-1 lead into the 5th inning.  We had a couple of small breakdowns that led to a couple of runs.
Gabe Hamilton pitched an outstanding game striking out 7 in 6 strong innings.  The 14U team will take a short break until the second week of January and then we will be back at it again.

Have a Merry Christmas!

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!

The 14U team battled hard all weekend and their efforts were rewarded with a championship.  We played a VERY strong team that walked through the tournament with an undefeated record including beating us 4-1 on Saturday.  The boys were out for revenge on Sunday and brought home the hardware after an 8-7 extra innings conquest.  We had to use the whole bench as players were dropping like flies after putting all they had into their game.  It was a total team effort.  We had 3 lead changes as the last 3 inning provided the excitement.  Congratulations 14U  You earned this SWEET victory.

CONGRATULATIONS 13U TEAM

Congratulations go out to the 13U team for their effort this past weekend.  They finished up 4-1 in the tourney losing in the championship game.  In all, they have competed in 4 tournaments and have played for the Championship EVERY TIME!  Keep up the great work

Currently they are ranked #4 in the state (which is a bunch of hoooey) they are #2 in the power rankings.
They are ranked #70 in the country.  All of this is good but as you know it is predicated on how much you play in their tournaments.  Teams that play a lot of tournaments but have poor records can jump quality teams like ours.  All this to say that WE WERE ROBBED!
Way to go guys, keep up the good work!

CONGRATULATIONS 14U TEAM!

The 14U team battled LONG and hard and made it to the Championship game.  We lost a nail biter in the last inning and were defeated 6-5.  Great pitching and timely hitting enabled us to play for the Championship.
It was a very tough weekend as we drew 8:00 starts in PEORIA.  This meant there were 5:00 a.m. wake up calls.  On Sunday we played from 8-5:45, and we were spent.  UGGGh that was a tough one for the ones that didn't play as well.  Great job fellas and let's keep it going!

Congratulations to 13U and 14U in the Halloween Scream Tournament!

I want to congratulate both of our teams this last weekend.  They earned the #1 and #2 seeds with the 13's making it all the way to the finals before losing to the Vandals.
The 14's played solid baseball all weekend and lst a close contest 4-2 to the eventual champion Extreme.
I couldn't be more proud of the teams as they competed hard to the last out. 

I AM SO PROUD OF ALL OF YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!......Again

That's right, the 13U team won their second championship in 2 tries.  It was a combination of quality pitching, solid defense and timely hitting that enabled us to perform such a feat.  There were major contributors in each game:

Cramer-solid pitching
Coop- upset stomach =clutch hitting and great defense
Isbell- solid in every area and versatile
O'connor- clutch pitching performance
Great base running by all
Hessel-clutch pitching and hitting (when he swung the bat)
Weller-outstanding outfield and baserunning
Riggs-Mr. versatile
Lawson-solid D
Grossman-excelled in all areas
Laney-Nice job on D
Segal-Clutch hit/catch in championship game
Armstrong-Clearly the MVP of the tournament!

Schedule Changes

We will begin changing our practice times NEXT WEEK, Oct. 27.  The 14U times will be 5-7 and the 13Utimes will be 6-8.  We will scrimmage and create game situations from 6-7. 

STARTING OCT. 27
14U: 5-7
13U: 6-8

Grass for Greatness Fund Raiser

Thanks for your support that was shown over the weekend!   It was good to have all the players and parents present.  A special thank you goes out to William Walker and Ken Reaser for brainstorming and executing the Grass for Greatness campaign.  As you will see, the field will be immaculate in about 2 weeks when the sod and planted seed have had a chance to mature.  As soon as it settles in I will try and schedule some scrimmages for both teams.

2009 Spin Doctors---A Good Read

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!

Congratulations to a hard fought tournament championship.  The Spin Doctors came out fast winning their first game only to lose in the last inning the following game.  The Spin Doctors returned the favor the next game by scoring 4 in their last at bat and performing a clutch DP in the last inning to seal the victory.  All together the 13U Spin Doctors turned 5 DOUBLE PLAYS OVER THE WEEKEND.  3 OF THEM IN THE TIGHTLY CONTESTED FIRST GAME ON SUNDAY! 

In the semifinal game they faced the #1 seed, AZ Wildfire, and cruised to a 15-3 pasting.  Alex Segal went the distance and he was so efficient that he was the starting pitcher in the final game.  Alex went 3 strong innings and gave way to Michael O'Connor who finished up the game as the Spin Doctor RUN-RULED yet another team.  Each player contributed greatly in this championship run.  A special congrats is thrown out to the catching group.  After a dismal first day with their signs they "manned up" and nailed all of the signs that allowed me to manage the game covertly and efficiently.  Way to go Spin Doctors!