With a bye week, the Jays did not return to the field until a week after the disappointing loss to the Cubs.  The bye seemed to help, however, as Cincinnati lost the Saturday before to put the Jays back into control of their own destiny.  Win 2 of the next 3 and the Jays are in the play offs.  The Jays would not disappoint as they came through with a nearly flawless game to win their first night game of the season and drop their magic number to 1. 

As the visiting team again, the Jays grabbed their sticks and plated 2 quick runs thanks to a single by Colin and a 2 RBO single by Brooks with the additional help of Jack getting drilled and Boki drawing a walk.  Colin then took the ball to the hill for his second consecutive start – like I said, the Jays are going to their hogs to get into the play offs, and although he got himself into a little trouble with yet more walks, he was able to record all three outs by strike out to keep Minnesota off the board and preserve the 2-0 lead.  Thanks to his ability to set the tone of the game with an over powering fastball and effective change up, Colin took home a player of the game award. 

The Jays could not get anything going in the top of the second and Brooks took the ball to the hill for the bottom half of the inning.  Brooks was as cool as the other side of the pillow striking out the side in order. 

The Jays plated 5 in the top of the third to take a commanding 7-0 lead.  Hey did so the pinball way, with 6 straight hits:  singles by Jack, Robbie and Colin, a double by Boki and Brooks and a single by Grant.  Thanks to his 2 for 3 performances, Grant took home a player of the game award. 

Minnesota went down quietly in the bottom of the third, and the Jays returned the favor in the top of the 4^th.  Minnesoata plated 2 in the bottom half of the inning to make it 7-2, and at that point, the Jays went back for the final kid-pitch inning in the top of the 5^th.  The Jays plated 1 to stretch their lead to 6, and Jack mowed Minnesota down in the bottom of the inning to keep the score 8-2.  In the top of the 6^th, the Jays plated 4 more with the help of back-to-back-to-back doubles by Colin, Boki and Brooks, and  a scalded single by Grant down the third base line.  While Minnesota scored 3 in the bottom half of the inning to make the score 12-5, the Jays defense secured the lead.

In the final 4 games of the season, the Jays need to win 2 to clinch a play-off spot.  First up is the Cubs, a team that struggled early in the season but with the help of very dedicated and good coaches, has quickly become a force to contend with in the pee wee league.    

As the visiting team, the Jays grabbed their sticks, and despite a single by Colin, they were not able to get anything going.  Colin took the ball to the hill for the bottom half of the inning (the Jays are going to rely heavily on their innings eaters to get into the playoffs) and proceeded to make quick work of the Cubs hitters, striking out 3 of the 4 hitters he faced. 

The Jays went down in order in the top of the second, and Colin went back to the mound for the bottom half.  He lost his focus and got himself into trouble by walking batters and hitting one.  With the bases loaded and one run in, Bailey came on to get the Jays out of the inning, but the Cubs proved capable of plating 3 more to open an 4-0 lead after 2 complete.  The Jays got one back in the top of the 3^rd thanks to a lead off single by Oliver and an RBI single by CY, but that was all the hits the Jays could muscle. 

The Cubs went down almost in order in the bottom of the third, and to the 4^th inning the teams went with the Cubs ahead 4-1.  The Jays were able to plate 6 to take a 7-4 lead thanks to back-to-back-to-back singles by Jack, Robbie and Colin.  RBI doubles by Bailey and Oliver and RBI singles by Tommy and Daniel closed out the scoring. 

In one of the biggest games of the ever shortening season, the Jays squared off against Cincinnati on a clear and hot Saturday afternoon.  Cincinnati was a full game behind the Jays at the start of the game, and the Jays were tied with Milwaukee and Colorado for 2d place.  Lose this game, and the Jays could go from tied for second with a great shot at the playoffs to tied for 4^th and relying on other teams to open up the Jays’ playoff chances.  Although the Jays pitching staff did not have their best performance during the game, the team showed tremendous heart to battle back from multiple deficits to finally take the lead in the top of the 6^th inning.  Cincinnati was able to tie it in the bottom of the 6^th, but great defensive work by the Jays kept the tie at 11 safe and sound. 

As the visitors the Jays grabbed their sticks first and quickly plated 3 runs to take the lead – all of which the Jays scored with 2 outs, which would be a rather common occurrence foe them in the game.  Robbie got things rolling by drawing a one-out walk.  Brooks and Ryan drew two-out walks to lad the bases and then Bailey smacked a bases clearing double to plate the runs. 

In the bottom of the first, however, Cincinnati was able to push across 5 of their own to take the lead.  They did all that damage without a single hit as the Jays pitching staff had some control issues to work out. 

Down 5-3 after 1, the Jays were able to score 3 in the top of the 2d to take a 6-5 lead.  Tommy lead off with a walk and Oliver followed with the innings’ only hit to put runners on first and second.  Zach then drew a walk to load the bases and Daniel forced in the inning’s first run by drawing another walk.  Grant and Jack closed out the scoring by hitting fielder’s choice grounders that scored the runners from third. 

In the bottom of the second, however, the Jays gave the lead right back, thanks again to control issues on the mound.  This time, however, Cincinnati scored only 3 to take an 8-6 lead thanks to a couple of hits on their part. 

The Jays got one of those runs back in the top of the 3^rd thanks to a lead off single by Colin.  Although he was forced out at second on Brooks fielder’s choice grounder, Ryan laced a blast to right field that scored Brooks from first.  The Jays put Cincinnati down in order in the bottom of the third, and after three complete innings, the score was 8-7 for Cincinnati. 

The teams traded scoreless innings in the 4^th (which is ironic since that was a coach pitch inning – 14 of the game’s first 15 runs had been scored in kid-pitch, mostly because of walks).  The Jays went down in order in the top of the 5^th, and Cincinnati was able to score 2 in the bottom (16 of the games 17 runs had now been scored in kid-pitch).  In the top of the 6^th, however, they Jays got themselves another 2 out rally to score 3 and take a 11-10 lead.  Jack started the rally with a big double, and back-to-back singles by Robbie and Colin had scored a run and left 2 runs on base.  Brooks then jacked a 3 run homer to center field to give the Jays their third lead of the game. 

Although Cincinnati lead off the bottom of the 6^th with a game-tying homer, the Jays defense stiffened, and plays by Olin and short, Mary on the bump and Bailey at first kept Cincinnati from scoring the game winner. 

After a week of rain in which the Jays had a game washed out not once, but twice, the Jays had high hopes for getting back on the field and back to their winning ways.  Mostly they wanted to play 6 complete innings because when they do that, they are hard to beat.  Facing the Jays on a humid Saturday afternoon were the White Sox, a young but talented team that has played well during the season. 

As the home team, the Jays took to the field, and Jack took the ball to the mound.  The Sox were able to get 2 off Jack, thanks to two walks and two timely hits, but Jack was up to the challenge and got himself out of the inning by striking out 3 of the 5 batters he faced after the lead off walk and follow on single.   In the bottom of the first,  the Jays got one of the runs back to make it 2-1.  Jack got on base by drawing a walk, and Colin moved him into scoring position with his first hit of the day.  Bailey loaded the bases by drawing another walk, and Robbie forced in the Jays’ first run with a walk of his own. 

In the top of the second, Bailey came in to pitch.  He got himself into a little trouble by walking and hitting the first 2 batters he faced, and after striking out a batter, walking two more to load the bases and force in a run.  But Bailey showed tremendous heart and determination by battling to strike out the next two batters with the bases loaded to end the inning.  Down 3-1, the Jays were unable to get anything going in the bottom of the second.

I fact, the Jays were not able to get much going at all in either the third, fourth or 5^th innings as Mary’s single and Colin’s triple accounted for the Jays only hits during those innings.  The Sox were able to plate 5 in the top of the 4^th to take a commanding 8-2 lead (Ryan drove Colin in to score in the 4^th inning for his first RBI of the game), and with the score 8-2, the game headed to the 6^th inning.  Excellent fielding by Tommy at second and Mary on the hill kept the Sox off the board in the top of the 6^th, and with only 3 outs to give, the Jays were about to stage the best come back of the season. 

Jack and Daniel lead off the bottom of the 6^th with back-to-back singles.  Colin drove in the first run of the inning with a single, and Ryan followed suit to drive in the second run of the inning (and his second RBI of the game) with yet another single.  Thanks to his 2-3 performance with 2 RBIs in a game in which Ryan was asked to carry a large offensive load on his shoulders (because of the absence of two of the Jays’ bigger sticks), Ryan took home a player of the game award.  Bailey followed Ryan with an run scoring single to make it 8-5, and Robbie followed with a double to drive in two more and make the score 8-7.  Tommy then tied the game with a ground out, and with nobody on base, down to their last 2 outs and still down a run, Oliver stepped to the plate and ripped a single to keep the Jays hopes alive.  Zach moved Oliver into scoring position with a fielder’s choice, and Grant moved him to third with a laser of a shot to second that the fielder bobbled.  Bobbling a ball with Grant running is a big mistake because Grant was able to beat out the throw with relative ease once the fielder got control of the ball.  Sean then stepped to the plate and came up with the biggest single of the year, to score Oliver from third and secure the win for the Jays.  As a result of his GWRBI, Sean took home the other player of the game award. 

In their second night game of the year, the Jays wanted to prove that their first night game loss was simply a fluke.  Milwaukee, however, had other ideas and easily handled the Jays to the tune of 10-4.  The Jays simply are too tired from either school or camp or being 7 and 8, and these night games just are not kind to us. 

Colin got the start, and while he pitched well, Milwaukee was able to do something no other team had done this year – score on Colin.  Down 2-0 after the top of the first, the Jays had hopes of plating a few quick runs.  Other than a walk by Tommy, however, the Jays could not get anything going. 

In the top of the second, Colin was able to breeze through the Milwaukee hitters on 16 pitches.  IN the bottom of the second, the Jays were able to get a run back to make it 2-1 as Jack got hit by a pitch to lead things off.  Colin advanced Jack into scoring position with a fielder’s choice and Brooks brought him in with a single. 

The Jays put Milwaukee down in order in the first coach pitch inning with the help of 2 outstanding plays by Mary at the pitcher’s mound.  Despite a single by CJ in the bottom of the third, however, the Jays were not able to score any runs, and end the end of three complete innings, the Jays were trailing 2-1. 

Milwaukee opened things up in the top of the 4^th by plating 5 runs to take a commanding 7-1 lead.  Once again, despite a single by Daniel, the Jays were not able to push across a single run.  In the top of the 5^th, Brooks was able to set Milwaukee down almost in order, striking out 3 of the 5 batters he faced, but in the bottom of the 5^th, the Jays themselves went down in order. 

Milwaukee plated another three runs in the top of the 6^th to take an overwhelming 10-1 lead.  In the bottom of the 6^th, the Jays were able to plate 3 to make the score slightly more respectable, but the game was well out of reach.

There is nothing to be ashamed of in that game, Jays.  I would like to make sure that we play as hard for the whole game as we did in the last inning.  We are a very good ball club, but we still have a way to go in this season before we start congratulating ourselves.  Milwaukee, Seattle and Colorado are not going to give us the league championship.  We are going to have to earn it. 

Entering their Saturday afternoon tilt against Colorado, the Jays found themselves in a tie atop the standings with a whole host of other teams, including their opponent for the day -- Colorado.  One thing was for certain, at the end of the day, one of the teams would be a full game out of first with half of the season to go.  As it turned out, the Jays came through with a resounding win over Colorado and, with the help of some other teams, the Jays had moved back into sole possession of first place. 

In the top of the first, the Jays grabbed a quick 3 runs to open the scoring.  Jack got things started by drawing a walk and Bailey got drilled in the back to put men on first and second.  Boki then brought everybody home with his first home run of the game. 

Jack, who has been one of the best pitchers for the Jays this season got the nod as the starter for the biggest game of the year.  Jack came through with a classic “Jack Hansen inning.” (That is actually Coach Bryan’s phrase from last year, not mine…)  A strike out, a walk, a hit, a strike out another walk to load the bases and a strike out to end the inning. 

Up 3-1, the Jays were unable to get anything going in the top of the second, and after one and a half the score remained 3-1.  Excellent defense by Bailey at first and Colin at short, however, kept the score at 3-1 after the top of the third (the first coach pitch inning). 

Jack trotted (if you know who was pitching for Colorado, you will get the pun with the use of the word trotted…) to the mound for the bottom of the second.  And the inning started to look eerily similar to the first: strike out, walk, hit, strike out and another walk.  Only this time Colorado pushed across a run with a walk and then Jack struck out the next batter for the third out of the inning. 

The Jays were able to open the flood gates a bit in their first coach pitch inning by plating 5 runs in the top of the third.  Oliver got things going with his first single of the game (but it would not be his last).  Jack followed with a double that moved Oliver to third, and Colin drove in the first run with a ground out to first.  Boki then drove in 2 more with his second home run of the game.  Ryan and Tommy followed with back-to-back singles and then Zach laced a triple to right to score the final two runs of the inning.  As a result of his key extra base hit, Zach took home one of the players of the game awards. 

In the bottom of the 3^rd and 4th, the Jays came up with huge defensive plays to hold Colorado to zero runs for the first two coach pitch innings of the game.  The bottom of the 4^th saw the finest defensive performance of the past two years that can best be described as “plain’ baseball.”  Colin turned a grounder to short into an out.  The next hitter laced a ball to left center (the other team is going to hit the ball), but Tommy kept it front of him, cleanly fielded it and hit his cut off to hold the hitter to a single.  That would prove to be a crucial play of the inning.  The next hitter smacked a grounder to Bailey at second.  Bailey cleanly fielded the ball and tossed it to Colin for the force out at second.  Those three hitters represent the finest baseball we have played in two years.  We gave up a hit, but with outstanding outfield play, the hit was only a single.  Then, two grounders were easily turned into outs!!  How many times in the last two years have you heard me say, “we have got to be able to turn a grounder into an out.”  Well, guess what Jays, we are now so good at turning grounders into outs that I am surprised when we do not. 

In the top of the 4^th, the Jays plated another run thanks to single by Daniel and Oliver (his second of the game) and an RBI single by Jack.  In the top of the 5^th, the Jays pushed the lead thanks to a lead-off Hamlin-home run by Colin.  Despite another single by Tommy in the inning, the Jays were unable to score any more.  Heading into the bottom of the 5^th inning, the Jays had a commanding 9-1 lead.  Boki took over on the hill in the 5^th and proceeded to strike out the first two batters he faced.  He got himself into a little bit of a pickle by walking the next two batters, but he was able to induce the Colorado clean-up hitter into a weaker grounder back to himself which Boki fielded for the out at first (that’s yet another grounder that we have turned into an out – 5 in a row through the 5^th inning!!)

So, to the 6^th and final inning they went.  The Jays plated 2 more insurance runs on the 6^th to push the score to 12-1.  Oliver hit his third single of the game (thanks to his 3 for 3 performance at the plate), Oliver took home a player of the game award.  After a couple of singles by Jack ad Bailey, Colin pushed across the first run of the inning with a fielder’s choice and Boki drove in the next run of the inning with a double.  Thanks to his 3-4 performance with 2 homers, a double and 6 RBI, Boki took home the third player of the game award. 

Although Colorado was able to score 2 in the bottom of the 6^th (the one inning where the Jays had some issues turning grounders into outs), the commanding lead was safe.  That was just another example of excellent baseball, guys (and gal).  You all contributed to this win against a very good opponent that we beat quite easily.  We have another tough game on Wednesday against Milwaukee, but I think if we play hard with a lot of hustle, we will be very proud of ourselves no matter what the scoreboard says. 

After their less than inspired play, the Jays’ only goal for their weekend tilt against Baltimore was to play hard from the first pitch to the last pitch and see what the scoreboard says at the end of the game.  And play hard they did!  The Jays came from behind to tie or take the lead three separate times to prevail 6-5 and improve to 4-1 on the year. 

As the home team, Colin took the ball to the hill.   Although he hit the first batter with the first pitch (and coach Mike thinks he did it on purpose to, if I may quote Nuke LaLouche from Bull DUrham, "announce [his] presence with authoirty..."). Colin easily handled the Baltimore hitters, striking out 3 of the five batters he faced in the inning. 

In the bottom of the second, CJ and Robbie were able to get on base thanks to a walk and hit batsman, respectively, but the Jays were unable to plate any runners, and Brooks headed to the mound to pitch the top of the second.  Brooks got himself into a little trouble by loading the bases on 2 walks and a hit batsman, but he soon settled down and struck out 3 of the next 4 hitters to allow only 1 run. 

In the bottom of the second, the Jays were able to tie the score thanks to a crushing home run by Boki that made it all the way to the infield of Diamond 4.  Although Brooks drew a walk immediately after Boki’s blast, the Jays were not able to score any more. 

Baltimore scored two in their first coach pitch inning, but the Jays were not able to get much going despite consecutive singles by Oliver and Sean.  At the end of 3 complete innings, Baltomore had a 3-1 lead.  Baltomire scored 2 more in the top of the 4^th to take a 5-1 lead, but in the bottom of the 4^th, the Jays were able to tie the game at 5 thanks to back-to-back-to-back singles by Robbie, Colin and Boki before Brooks cleared the bases with a triple.  Grant then scored Brooks with a fielder’s choice, and at the end of 4 innings, the score was 5-5. 

Bailey came on to pitch the top of the 5^th and proceeded to make quick work of the Baltimore hitters, retiring them in order (including 2 strikes outs).  The Jays, however did not get much going in the bottom of the 5^th and with the score tied at 5, the teams headed to the 6^th and final inning.  Baltimore went down in order thanks to stellar play by Mary at third.  In fact, Mary was personally responsible for 5 of the 18 put outs on the day.  As a result, Mary took home the Player of the Game Award.  T the end of 5 and a half innings, the score was still tied 5-5. 

In the bottom of the 6^th, CJ put the ball in play to star things off, but an excellent play by the pitcher, brought the Jays down to their final two outs of the day.  Robbie then laced a single up the middle to give the Jays a base runner.  Colin followed Robbie with a “Hamlin” double to score Robbie from first and end the game 6-5 for the Jays.

After securing sole possession of first place, the Jays faced the first stiff test of the season by squaring off against Seattle – one of the few teams in the league that can match the Jays on the mound and at the plate.  The Jays, however, encountered the same problem that many pee wee teams face for 5:30 games: uninspired play.  Playing a game at 5:30 after a full day of school is not easy for young ball players.  It is why coach Mike wishes the league would not schedule these night games until after school is out. 

Things started promising for the Jays with Jack getting the nod on the hill.  Jack picked up right where he left off, pitching 2 scoreless innings, recording 5 strike out sin the process, including setting down Seattle in order by way of the K in the first.  As a result of his impressive play in the first two innings (and coach Mike’s assessment that Jack was the only Jay that came ready to play in the first inning), Jack took home the player of the game award. 

There really is not much to describe to this game.  Seattle’s pitching matched Jack in the first two innings – Seattle has very good pitching.  And the Jays were not able to hit during the first two coach pitch innings except an infield single by Tommy in the third.  In fact, Tommy’s single was the Jays’ second hit of the game (Boki had a single in the second inning), and was their last hit until the 6^th inning when Boki, Brooks, Bailey, Ryan, Zach and Daniel came up with singles to help the Jays score 3 runs in the 6^th.  BY that time, however, the Jays were already down 9-0, so while the final score was 9-3, the result is the same.  The Jays are now in a tie for first place with 4 other teams. 

Entering the third game of the young season, the Jays had shown tremendous promise in the first 2 games.  As a result, the Jays sat atop the pee wee standing in a tie with Milwaukee at 2-0.  To keep the pressure on Milwaukee, however, the Jays had to square off against Minnesota – a young team with tremendous talent (that coach Dan called, the best team we have faced so far).  At the end of the day, however, the Jays had secured first place all by themselves with a rather impressive 8-4 win against Minnesota and Milwaukee’s loss to Colorado.

As the home team, the Jays took the leather to the field first, and Colin got his second start of the season.  Although Minnesota was able to load the bases thanks to 2 hits and a walk, those hits and walks were sandwiched by strikeouts, and Colin was able to slam the door on any hopes Minnesota had for opening the game with some runs.  The bottom of the first, however, the Jays had an acute case of the strikeouts themselves, as they went down in order to leave the game tied at zero after one complete inning.

In the top of the second, Minnesota was able to work another hit off Colin, but Colin struck out 3 of the 4 batters he faced to end any threat.  In their half of the second, the Jays were able to push across a run to take a 1-0 lead thanks to lead off walk by Boki.  After Boki, Brooks got drilled in the head (but he never even flinched and easily jogged to first.  Bailey followed with a single to load the bases, and Tommy got the game’s first RBI by drawing a walk. 

In the top of the third, Minnesota plated their only 4 runs of the game to take a 4-1 lead (it was coach pitch after all).  The Jays got one of those runs back in the bottom of the third to make the game 4-2 after 3.  Zach lead off the inning with a blazing double up the middle.  Thanks to his performance at the plate that would include 2 RBI latter in the game, Zach took home  a player of the game award.   Daniel advanced Zach into scoring position with a fielder’s choice, and CJ moved him to third with a single.  Jack then picked up the games second RBI with his own single. 

Minnesota went down quietly in order in the top of the 4^th (thanks to great plays by Boki, Robbie and Brooks), and the Jays grabbed their sticks again.  Colin lead off with a crushing triple to left and Boki drove him in with a triple of his own (also to left).  Brooks followed Boki with his own triple – this time to right – to score Boki, tie the game and present a rare back-to-back-to-back triples.  Grant, Bailey and Mary scorched single of their own to help the Jays take the lead and then Zach ripped another single to score the last 2 runs of the inning.  At the end of 4 innings, the Jay had a commanding 8-4 lead.

That is how the game would end as Boki took over on the hill in the top of the 5^th and proceeded to strike out the side in order on 11 pitches.  CJ was able to get on base in the bottom of the 5^th by drawing a walk, but the Jays did not bring him in (or move him over for that matter).  In the top of the 6^th, Minnesota was able to get a runner on and move that runner to third, but thanks to amazing plays by Jack at third, including a hard grounder that he threw to first for the out (that is a very long throw) and a foul pop up to end the game, Minnesoat was not able to score and Jack took home the other player of the game award.

After their thrilling last inning win over Cincinnati, the Jays looked to keep the ball rolling against the Cubs.  And boy, did the ball roll – all the way to field 3, in fact, as the Jays pitching, defense, and bats were more than alive in their crushing 21-4 victory over the Cubs.

As the visiting team, the Jays were able to plate 4 runs in the top of the first.  The Jays loaded the bases thanks to a walk by Tommy, a single by Colin and a hit by pitch by Boki.  At that point, Brooks laced a bases-clearing double to right.  Walks by grant and Robbie re loaded the bases, ad then Zach drove in the 4^th and final run of the inning with a walk of his own.

Jack got the nod on the hill for his first start on the season.  Jack picked up right where he left off last season and the Jays left off last week by striking out the side in order. 

The Jays plated 5 more runs in the top of the second to take a commanding 9-0 lead.  CJ got the ball rolling by drawing a walk.  After Ryan got plunked, Oliver drew another walk to load the bases.  Consecutive RBI walks by Jack and Tommy left the bases loaded while also pushing in two runs.  Colin then hit a single to left to plate two more runs and consecutive walks by Boki and Books closed out the scoring on the inning. 

Brooks took over on the mound in the bottom of the second.  Brooks showed his inexperience on the mound by walking the bases loaded, but then quickly settled down to strike out 3 of the next 5 batters he faced while only giving up 2 runs. Thanks to his blistering double in the first, his pitching in the second and, as you will see, his homes in the 5^th, Brooks took home a player of the game award. 

Entering their first coach-pitch inning of the game, the Jays bats decided to go a little cold.  In fact, despite singles by Robbie and Mary in the top of the third, and a double by Ryan in the top of the 4^th, the Jays were not able to get much going offensively in their first two coach pitch inning.

The Cubs’ bats, however, we just as cold in their coach pitch innings, thanks to the Jays outstanding defensive efforts, that included a double play by Bailey on a ground ball to second.   

In the top of the 5^th, the Jays went back to kid-pitch, and their bats came alive again.  Tommy started with a walk and Colin followed with a single.  Boki then crushed a 3-run homer to right and Brooks followed suit with another homer run to right.  The back-to-back homers gave the Jays a commanding 13-2 lead.  A single by Bailey and a walk by Robbie made sure that Mary’s single would produce 2 more runs for the Jays in the inning. 

Bailey took over on the hill in the top of the 5^th and, after a quick walk in which Bailey was trying out new pitching mechanics that drew a quick visit from coach Mike, Bailey settled down and struck out the next three batters on 9 pitches.  Thanks to his outstanding pitching, his “unassisted” double play and a blazing single in the top of the 5^th, player took home a player of the game award. 

In the top of the 6^th, the Jays decided to hit coach pitch as well as they had hit kid-pitch, and plated another 6 runs to bring their total to 21 on the day.  Sean, CJ and Oliver got things started by back-to-back-to-back singles.  Tommy and Colin followed with RBU singles of their own and Boki lasered another home run to right.  Thanks to his 2 home run performance, Boki took home the third player of the game award. 

After a rain-filled pre season in which the Jays had over half of their outdoor practices washed out, the team (aka the head coach) was a little on edge as to how the team would perform in an actual game.  The calendar, however, does not care how many practices the Jays could get in, and as the page turned to May 2, the Jays found themselves facing Opening Day against the Reds.  After a very festive Opening Day ceremony, the Jays showed that they have not only come a long way since last season, but that they will be a serious force in the pee wee league this year.  In the words of Johnny Drama, the Jays came out with a VICTORY!! – to the tune of 7-6 over the Reds.

As the home team, Colin got the nod as the Opening Day starter and he showed he was more than up to the task, striking out 3 of the 5 batters he faced (the other two were walks courtesy of Opening Day jitters).  Entering the bottom of the first, Jack got the ball rolling on a promising season with a blazing lead-off triple.  Daniel followed suit with an RBI single (his first, but not his last, of the day), and Colin followed with a single of his own.  Boki then drew a walk, and the Jays had the bases juiced with only 1 out.  While the strike out reared its head, the Jays punched Mr. K in the face all day to the tune of only 5 for the game – about 10 less than their average last season!!

With the score 1-0 heading into the second, Colin grabbed the ball for his second inning of the game.  10 pitches later (all strikes – one was fouled off), and Colin had struck out the side in order. 

In the bottom of the second, Brooks was able to blast a single to left.  Grant poked a single to right, and the Jays had 2 one with only 1 out.  Mary put the ball in play to move the runners to second and third, but the Jays stranded the runners to leave the score 1-0 after 2.

In the top of the third, the Jays entered their first coach-pitch inning of the season.  The Reds proved up to the task plating 5 runs in the inning to take a 5-1 lead despite fine plays by the Jays defense, including Jack at second, Colin at short, and Daniel in left.

The Jays were not able to put any runs across in the bottom of the third, despite the fact that Ryan, CJ and Sean all had quality at bats, each putting the ball into play. 

In the top of the 4^th, Mary single handedly kept the game within reach, making 3 excellent plays at pitchers, recording all 3 outs of the inning by way of the 1-3 – in order. 

The bottom of the 4^th saw the Jays bats explode to life for 5 runs of their own.  Jack and Daniel lead off with consecutive singles.  Colin then ripped a three-run homer to right center to make the score 5-4.  Thanks to his 2-2 performance at the plate, his performance on the mound, and his performance in the infield, Colin took home one of the Players of the Game Award.  The Jays, however, were not satisfied with plating only 3 runs.  Boki followed Colin with a line shot that would have been extra bases but for the diving attempt by the Reds’ first basemen that kept the ball in the infield and held Boki to a single.  Bailey then poked a single to put runners on first and second with no out.  Oliver advanced the runners to second and third with a hard ground ball that the Reds were able to turn into the inning’s first out, and Tommy was able to plate a run with a fielder’s choice.  Brooks rapped a single that almost took off Coach Bryan’s head, and Robbie capped the scoring with a run scoring single of his own. 

In the top of the 5^th inning, Boki took over on the mound for the last kid-pitch inning of the game.  With a total of 11 pitches, Boki struck out the side in order, showing excellent poise and command on the hill.  The Reds, however, had some arms of their own, and in the bottom of the 5^th, the Jays would go down in order leaving the score 6-5 in favor of the good guys. 

In the top of the 6^th, the Reds were able to plate a run to ttie the game despite excellent fielding by the Jays, including a diving stop by Colin at short who , from his knees, flipped the ball to Jack at second for the force out.  Thus, heading into the bottom f the 6^th, the Jays found themselves in a dog fight with the Reds.  Ryan lead off the most important inning of the young season with a blazing double down the line at third.  Ryan crucial hit in the game earned him a player of the game award.  (But for coach Mike’s terrible base coaching, Ryan would have scored the game winning run).  So, following a terrible coaching job in which coach Mike got Ryan thrown out at third (the only real cardinal rule of base running is never make the first or third out at third base…), on a fielder’s choice to short, the Jays had one out with CJ standing all the way over at first.  Sean was able to move CJ to scoring position – Sean, playing in his first real baseball game ever showed tremendous poise making contact in every single at-bat he had!!  Jack then moved CJ to third by blasting a single to right.  Daniel calmly picked up his bat and ended the game by hitting a single to score CJ.  Thanks to Daniel’s GWRBI, Daniel too took home a player of the game award!