Sheer Disappointment

District Tournament
Wills Park
Alpharetta, GA

Game 1: Lost 13-9 against the Sandy Plains Cougars who we beat to win the Hobgood Showdown
Game 2: Won 21-4 in three and a half innings agains the Midway Wolverines
Game 3: Lost 11-8 against the Buckhead Braves

In the District Tournament only 10 players bat which means four players get rotated in. We found out that Jayson made it as one of the 8 starters and that he'd be batting lead off as well. Good to know that his performance has landed him a solid spot on the team.

We headed up to Alpharetta on a Thursday night fighting the traffic for over an hour. The boys seemed lethargic and unfocused. Seems to be the same story for most Thursday evening games this season. It was hot and sticky to top it off. We played the Sandy Plains Cougars who we had defeated to win the Hobgood Showdown. They were definitely out to set the record straight and they beat us pretty confidently. We made a lot of mistakes in the field and our boys weren't able to pull it together. Jayson played well at pitcher getting 8 out of 18 outs but no one man alone can win a baseball game.

Friday night was a different story and a different opponent. The Midway team struggled throughout and we railroaded them. The boys were hitting consistently and the Midway team's fielding was weak. Jayson played pitcher again and we held them to only 4 runs. It felt good to win one but we knew the road to making it to A State was a tough one.

Saturday put us up against the Buckhead Braves whom we lost to in the first tournament of the season. It was a close game early one but once the boys thought they were behind, it just fell apart. We weren't hitting as well (Jayson included) and we made mistakes in the field -- costly ones. The game ended in a heart-breaking loss which meant that we wouldn't qualify for the A State Meet in Rome. The coaches were devastated. The boys rallied around the thought that this meant they might be able to win the B State tournament and that Chattanooga would be a lot more fun than Rome.

When you face a tough loss like this the best thing for all is to look for the positive and hold on to it.

Extra Innings

All Tournament Players Park

Marietta, GA

Game 1: Lost 3-2 to the Powder Springs Indians in 7 innings

Game 2: Won 11-9 against the Wills Park Eagles in 7 innings

Game 3: Won 11-10 against the Dunwoody Dragons in 7 innings

Game 4: Won 20-10 against the Canton Stingers in 5 innings

Game 5 (Semi-Finals): Lost 20-14 to the Wills Park Eagles who went on to win the tournament

This tournament was filled with close games that ended up in extra innings. It makes you realize that in baseball no lead is ever big enough. The first game was a defensive duel. The Indians didn't expect to be held to two runs until the bottom of the 7th inning where they scored a walk off single to take the game.

The team wasn't deterred and came back strong on Saturday to win both games -- even though both ended up in extra innings. With their wins they earned a second seed, with Powder Springs in first. Sunday's first game was against the Canton Stingers and the boys dominated the game to win in only five innings. Of course we ended up waiting around in the heat trying to keep the boys entertained and focus until the semi-final later that afternoon.

The Wills Park Eagles won their game so we were up against them again. The game was dead even with both teams holding strong defensively and offensively. The Eagles inched ahead but in the bottom of the fifth we took the lead 14-13. The umpires said that we still had one minute left and we continued on to the sixth inning. Unfortunately, the Eagles rallied and our boys were worn out and defeated. They gave up seven runs and weren't able to earn any in return. The game ended with the Eagles winning 20-14.

Throughout the tournament Jayson's hitting was much improved. He was one of the top players in terms of run productivity -- runs and RBIs. He held his own as clean up hitter. In the field, he played pitcher and right center. He continues to play well and pitcher and is improving his skills in the outfield. All in all, even though we didn't come home with a trophy, the team continues to shine!

We are the Champions!

2010 Hobgood Showdown

Woodstock, GA

Game 1: Lost 20-5 to the Oregon Park Sharks

Game 2: Won 22-14 against the East Side Bombers

Game 3: Won 14-12 against the Rome Braves

Game 4: Won 9-6 against the Rome Braves

Game 5: Won 17-12 against the Hobgood Thunder

Game 6 (Championship Game): Won 17-2 against the Sandy Plains Cougars

What a weekend! We started out with a terrible loss on Thursday night against the Oregon Park Sharks. Most of us had battled traffic to get to Woodstock and the boys weren't hitting and were making mistakes in the field. We were afraid that this might be a repeat of our terrible losses here last year.

We played a double-header on Saturday and the boys were in top form. They were hitting and fielding and everything just felt right. One of our key players was out of town so Jayson filled in for him at right center. He played well and held his own. His wasn't hitting as well as he could have been but somehow through various acts of luck, he consistently made it on base. We won two games and earned our place in the "silver" tournament, the second top 8 teams out of 24 to start.

On Sunday, we faced the Rome Braves for the second time. We were seeded third and were the home team. We pulled out another win and then headed on to face the top seed and the home team -- the Hobgood Thunder. They were very confident and expected to win this league. They were taken back by our team who were on fire hitting and made very few mistakes in the field. Jayson rotated from pitcher to left field. We beat them to fight our way into the championship game.

The boys were on a huge adrenaline rush. They were so excited to have made it to the final game against all odds and anybody's expectations. We were up against the 7th seed Sandy Plains Cougars who had played the tournament with only 9 players. Our team was on a high and simply over-powered the other team to dominate the game and earn the championship title and trophies!

Neighborhood Ball

Buckhead Classic
Buckhead Baseball
Frankie Allen Park

Game 1: Won 13-5 against the Buckhead Bucks (B Team)
Game 2: Won xx-xx against Ocee Park
Game 3: Lost 12-13 against the Druid Hills Vipers
Game 4: Lost 4-5 in 7 innings against the Buckhead Braves (A Team)

The first tournament of the 8U A League A Team All-Stars was right next door at Buckhead Baseball. Natural rivals for us. In a scrimmage the night before our team clobbered the Midway team so they started the tournament on a high, feeling very confident.

Jayson started out batting 9th and was a consistent hitter. In the second game, he hit the fence in centerfield with a hard line drive. He played pitcher most innings and rotated to left field where he was starting to get comfortable making plays in the outfield.

Unfortunately some of our key players were off their game during game 3 and we lost a game we should have won. This put us against the number one seed in the semi-finals. To our surprise, Jayson was moved up in the batting order to second. He continued to hit consistently and in a really tough defensive game, we came up short at the end to the Buckhead Braves team and lost by one run in extra innings. The boys picked themselves up but the coaches were really disappointed. They had high expectations for this tournament and unfortunately we weren't able to bring home a much coveted trophy.