ASE Pee Wee Baseball: 2007 Season

ASE downs Cardinals 6-1 in "Mud-fest"
Well our kids survived the water, mud and pitching machine to pull out a 6-1 win tonight over the Cardinals. The field had standing water everywhere and where there wasn't water there was mud. The pitching machine seemed to be more affected by the conditions than our kids did. The wet and muddy ball coming out of the machine at eye level on most of the kids all night. Even our bigger players were having to chop at the ball just to hit it. Despite the conditions, our kids battled through for the win.
       The Cardinals first two batters of the game struck-out and a ground ball to Garrett McMahan at 2nd base would get us out of the top of the 1st without any damage being done. Our players on the other hand came out hitting. Weston Phillips led off the bottom of the 1st inning with a base hit to the right side. After a Garrett strike-out, Zack Sudar doubled in Weston to give us a 1-0 lead. Justin Shelly then singled in Zack and just like that it was 2-0. Jacob Beam kept the rally going with a single to right field that would score Justin from 2nd. After a Thomas Geurian strike-out, Alex Matlock singled up the middle to score Jacob and give us a 4-0 lead. Katie Harrison would then knock in our 5th and final run of the inning with a single to left that would score Alex. After one full inning of play, we held a 5-0 lead.
       The Cardinals would start off the top of the 2nd with back-to-back singles, but then their next three batters would all go down swinging. We would follow that up with three straight strike-outs of our own in the bottom half of the inning. Matthew Appleyard, Aaron Dalton and Paul Parr would all battle at the plate but go down swinging at those high balls from the muddy machine. After two full innings of play, the score remained 5-0.
       The strike-out bug kept biting the Cardinals as all three batters they would send to the plate in the top of the 3rd would all go down swinging. In the bottom of the 3rd, our fist two batters, Weston and Garrett would also go down on strikes. Finally someone ended the string of 11 straight strikeouts between both teams, as Zack Sudar singled up the middle. Zack would advance to 2nd on a throwing error by the Cardinals. Justin Shelly wasted no time knocking in his second run of the game with a single to left and all of a sudden we had a 6-0 lead. Coach Johnny got a litte greedy on the play and got Justin tagged out at home for the final out of the inning.
       The Cardinals were able to get a rally going in the top of the 4th and it looked as if they would cut into our lead big time. After their first batter grounded out to Weston Phillips, their next three batters would all single to load
the bases with only one out. After a strike-out, their next batter would single to left field to score their first run of the game. Matthew Appleyard did a good job of getting the ball in quickly to Justin, stopping anymore runs from scoring on the play. With the bases loaded, the Cardinals next batter would hit a small roller to Weston, who scooped up the ball and tagged out the runner for the final out of the inning. Whew, we really dodged the bullet that inning. It could have been much worse if our defense didn't make a couple of good plays to bail us out.
       The bottom of the 4th we would come out hitting the ball, but the Cardinals defense was up to the challenge. Jacob grounded out to the pitcher and Thomas would hit a very hard ball that the shortstop made a good play on. Just like that there were two outs in our half of the inning. After a single by Alex Matlock, Katie Harrison would groundout to the pitcher to end the inning with us still holding a 6-1 lead.
       With the hour time limit almost up, I knew all we had to do was hold them and the game was over. The Cardinals made it very easy on our defense this time, as all three batters they sent to the plate struck-out and the game ended with us holding on for the 6-1 win.
       All in all it was a pretty good first game for our very young team. The pitching machine made it difficult on both teams tonight. We have some things to work on Sunday in practice and I want all the kids to get a bunch of time hitting off the machine. See you all Sunday @ 2pm.

Great job tonight ASE. The coaches are very proud of you all.




         

ASE takes care of McDonalds, 7-1
          First of all I would like to thank several people for filling in for me on Saturday. I started a 9 & under traveling team with a lot of our players from last years ASE team and we had a tournament game on Saturday at noon in Van Buren. I sure hated to miss our ASE game, but it couldn't be helped. Anyway, thanks to my wife Jodie, Doug Sudar and Don Phillips for coaching the team on Saturday. Maybe I should stay gone more often, because sounds like to me they made it just fine.
          Our top 6 batters, Weston, Garrett, Zack, Justin, Jacob and Alex went a combined 13 out of 14 at the plate in leading us to the 7-1 victory. Now we just got to get our bottom half of the order hitting the ball and we will be tough to beat. Mrs. Jodie said the kids did a great job paying attention and listening to her and the other coaches. Good job ASE! Our next game is Monday evening at 5:30 versus Forsgren. See you all there for pictures at 4:30.







ASE stays un-defeated with 11-0 win over Forsgren!
Well, for the first time all season, the pitching machine was throwing the ball pretty well and we took advantage. We pounded out 16 hits on our way to a 11-0 pounding over an out-matched Forsgren team. After we held Forsgren scoreless in the top of the 1st, Weston Phillips wasted no time getting us rolling in the bottom half of the inning. Garrett McMahan then doubled to score Weston and just like that it was 1-0. After a Zack Sudar single, Justin Shelly went down on strikes, as he was swinging for the fence. Jacob Beam quickly picked up Justin with a 2-run scoring single to give us a 3-0 lead. Back-to-back strikeouts from Aex Matlock and Katie Harrison would end out half of the inning with us holding a 3-0 lead. After a scoreless top of the 2nd inning by Forsgren, our bats went back to work. Thomas Geurian and Matthew Appleyard both went down swinging and it looked as if we wouldn't score, but Aaron Dalton and Paul Parr both came through with singles to put us back in business. Weston would drive both of them in with a triple to right field and just like that we had a 5-0 lead. We weren't done, as Garrett would single to score Weston to build our lead to 6-0. Zack would then go down on strikes to end the inning, but it was nice to see the kids rally with two outs. The 3rd inning both teams failed to score and after three full innings of play, the score remained 6-0. We made couple of nice plays in the field in the top of the 4th to keep Forsgren off the scoreboard. Weston threw a runner out at 1st and Zack would tag a runner out at 3rd to end any hope Forsgren had of scoring. The bottom of the 4th our offense would explode. After Matthew struck-out to begin the inning, Aaron and Paul went back to work and produced back-to-back singles to get our offense rolling. Weston would single in Aaron and Garrett would single to score Weston and suddenly this one was a blow-out at 8-0. Zack would come through with another single that scored Garrett and Justin had the hit of the night, as he drove the ball to deep left field for an inside the park home run. After the smoke had cleared it was an 11-0 rout. In the top of the 5th, Forsgren still wasn't able to get anything going and the game was called due to the time limit. The win moves us to 3-0 on the season and sets up a game between two un-defeated teams on Friday night @ 8:30. We face a very good Phillip Taylor team in a non-conference game that should be exciting. They will test our defense for sure. Their last game they pounded out 22 hits and had only 2 strikeouts. They have 9 returners from last season and look to be the team to beat in their half of the league. Please have your child there by 8:00 and have them at practice on Wednesday night @ 6:00.




ASE takes two over the weekend, moves to 5-0!
After an incredible win against Phillip Taylor on Friday night, the kids came right back the next morning and destroyed a Cooper Coin team 10-1 to remain un-defeated on the young season. We stand all alone in 1st place in the league with a record of 4-0, with a record of 5-0 overall. We came right out at Phillip Taylor on Friday night and jumped on them early. We were hitting the ball all over the field, while playing great defense in holding them down. After two innings of play we held a comfortable 7-1 lead. Phillip Taylor would not go away quietly as they stormed back to pull to within 8-5 going into the last inning of play. We had the top of our order up to bat and honestly I was sure we could score three runs and put this one away. But once again Phillip Taylor stepped up and made a couple of great plays in the inning to hold us to just one run. Going into their last bat, we had a 9-5 lead. After a nice heads up play from Jacob Beam to record the first out of the inning, Phillip Taylor got a runner on with a base hit. Then the play of the game occurred. Their next batter popped one up right behind home plate and Alex Matlock made a big time grab as he caught the ball for the second out of the inning. Once again, Phillip Taylor would not quit. They put together back-to-back hits and we helped them out by throwing the ball all over the field and suddenly it was a 9-8 ballgame. Their next batter would then hit a line drive that Justin Shelly was there to snag and the game ended with us squeaking out the 9-8 victory over a very good Phillip Taylor team. It was a great game between the two best teams in the league. Their kids played well and so did ours. There was really no losers in this one. After playing until almost 10pm on Friday night, I was afraid we would be a little tired for Saturday mornings game. It didn't take long for our kids to put those fears to rest. We came right out at Cooper Coin and knocked the ball all over the field. We scored 5 runs in the top of the first inning without recording a single out. Cooper Coin was not able to get anything going in their half of the inning and the score remained 5-0. Neither team was able to score in the 2nd inning, but our bats came to life again in the top of the 3rd. Six straight hits would score 5 runs in the inning and suddenly this one was a blow-out at 10-0. Cooper managed a single run in their half of the inning and the game ended with us notching the 10-1 win. The win moves us to 5-0 on the season and 4-0 in league play. I told the kids after the game that we must continue to play hard and have fun. We are a marked team that everyone wants to beat. Going back to last year, we are 21-1 in our last 22 games. We have two tough games this week. We play Ink Spot at 7:30 on Monday night and YMA at 7:30 on thursday. See you all at the games this week!




ASE stays perfect - buries Ink Spot 7-0!
I once again told the kids before the game to not get the "big head" and keep playing hard like they have been doing thru the first 5 games. Tonight we weren't as sharp as normal but we did enough to win the game with ease. We had 9 strikeouts, which is way too many, but we did a lot of good things out there tonight. Weston Phillips started off the game with a base hit and Garrett McMahan followed that up with a single of his own. Zack Sudar then knocked both runners in with a double to the outfield. Justin Shelly added to our lead as he singled to right field, scoring Zack for a 3-0 lead. We weren't done, as Jacob Beam doubled and Justin crossed the plate to give us a 4-0 lead. After a strikeout from Alex Matlock, Aaron Dalton singled to score Jacob for our 5th run of the inning. Poor Ink Spot must have felt like they had just been hit b a train. Ink Spot came right out hitting the ball, but our defense was up to the challenge. Their first batter grounded to Garrett at 2nd base, who snagged the ball and tossed to Jacob for the out. Their next batter singled but was tagged out at 2nd by Garrett when he tried to stretch his hit into a double. After another single, their next batter would also groundout to Garrett and the inning would end with us holding a 5-0 lead. Katie Harrison battled hard at the plate but struck-out to begin the top of the 2nd inning. Thomas Geurian picked up his teammate with a triple to right field. Paul Parr then grounded out to the shortstop, but Thomas scored on the play to extend our lead to 6-0. Matthew Appleyard would then go down swinging to end our half of the inning. All three Ink Spot batters would strikeout in the bottom half of the inning, so after two full innings of play we held a 6-0 lead. Weston led off the top of the 3rd with a base hit and we looked to be back in business. After a rare Garrett strikeout, Zack singled in Weston to extend our lead to 7-0. Justin and Jacob then both hit infield singles to load the bases with only one out. Alex and Aaron both went down on strikes and the inning would end with us holding a 7-0 lead. The rest of the game the strikeout bug would hit both teams and the final inning was pretty ugly. The time limit would expire after the 4th inning and the game would end at 7-0. Our defense didn't get a whole lot of work in this one as Ink Spot struggled to hit the ball. But when they did hit the ball, we made the plays we needed to to keep them from scoring. Great job once again ASE. The win tonight moves us to 6-0 overall and 5-0 in League play. We return to action on Thursday night at 7:30 versus YMA. See you all there at 7:00.




ASE delivers knock-out punch to Cardinals, 10-2!
       I was a little worried about the 10-day lay-off going into this game. It was good to see most of the kids hit the ball well last night in practice and it carried over to the game tonight. The key to the game tonight was we had a season-low 4 strikeouts and that carried us to the 10-2 victory.
       Weston Phillips led off the game for us with an infield single and Garrett McMahan followed that up with an inside-the-park home run and just like that it was 2-0. Zack Sudar kept the rally going with a double up the middle and Justin Shelly singled to score Zack for a 3-0 lead. Jacob Beam then doubled to right field to bring Justin home and the Cardinals defense was reeling. Thomas Geurian went down swinging for our first out of the inning and Aaron Dalton grounded out to 1st. Katie Harrison then fouled off several balls before striking out to end our half of the inning with a 4-0 lead.
       The Cardinals got their first batter of the game on base with an infield single but then their next three batters all went down on strikes. After one full inning of play, we held a 4-0 lead. After a Paul Parr strikeout to begin the top of the 2nd, Matthew Appleyard got his first hit of the season with an infield single. Weston then singled to put runners on 1st and 2nd with only one out. Garrett then doubled to right field and it looked as if Matthew had scored on the play. The coach from the Cardinals appealed that Matthew had missed 3rd base and he was called out. Zack quickly picked up his teammate with a double up the middle to score Weston and Garrett. After back-to back run scoring singles by Justin and Jacob, we held an 8-0 lead. Thomas would then knock in our final run of the inning, with a single that would score Jacob and give us a 9-0 lead.
       The Cardinals got their offense going a bit in the bottom half of the inning with a single. After a strikeout, they would single to score their first run of the game and it was 9-1. Back-to-back strikeouts would then end their rally and the score remained 9-1.
       Aaron would begin the top of the 3rd with a strikeout, but Katie would pick him up with an infield single. Paul would then come through with a single of his own and we were back in business. Matthew then hit a very hard ball to the shortstop, who made a great play to get Paul out at 2nd base. Katie scored on the play to extend our lead to 10-1. After a Weston single, Garrett then hit into a forceout to end our half of the inning, but the game was well in hand.
       The Cardinals started off the bottom of the 3rd with back-to-back singles. Their next batter would fly out to Jacob at 1st for the first out of the inning. After a strikeout, their next batter singled to score their second run of the game and the score was 10-2. A strikeout by their next batter would end the game as the time limit expired on this one. The win moved us to 7-0 overall and 6-0 in league play.
       We had several good performances in this one. Only 4 strikeouts by the entire team is awesome! Also, with Alex Matlock out tonight sick, it was good to see Thomas really step up and do a good job for us at catcher. Great job tonight Thomas! How about Matthew Appleyard going 2 for 2 for his first hits of the season. Our top 5 batters went a whopping 11 for 12 in the game and drove in 8 of our 10 runs. Great job guys! All in all this was a good win and will help us get ready for a showdown with 2nd place McDonalds on Saturday morning. See you all there at 10:00am.






No "Happy Meal" for McDonalds today - ASE wins 9-0!
       It was a battle for 1st place in the League standings this morning and it turned out to be no contest. We hit early and often in putting McDonalds in their place with a 9-0 win that put us 2 games ahead of everyone in the FSBGC Pee Wee National League race.
       After McDonalds failed to score in the top of the 1st inning, our bats went to work. Weston Phillips started off the game with a double to left field and Garrett McMahan quickly knocked him in with a single up the middle. After a Zack Sudar single, Justin Shelly belted a base hit to left to score Garrett for a 2-0 lead. With runners on 2nd and 3rd, Jacob Beam grounded out to the first baseman, but two runs scored on the play and suddenly it was 4-0. After a Thomas Geurian single, Katie Harrison and Aaron Dalton both battled at the plate but went down swinging to end the inning.
       McDonalds once again failed to score in the top of the 2nd inning, due to a few good plays by our defense. In the bottom of the 2nd, our bats came alive once again. After a Paul Parr strikeout, Matthew Appleyard got the rally started with a hard hit single to left field. Alex Matlock then followed that up with a single of his own. An infield single by Weston would load the bases with only one out. Garrett would then come through with a big time hit to right field to score Matthew and Alex to extend our lead to 6-0. Zack would then hit a hard shot up the middle to score Weston. Justin then put the game out of reach with a 2-run scoring double to left field that made the score 9-0. 
       Neither team would score in the 3rd inning and the game would be called due to the time limit. What was thought to be a close game between the 1st and 2nd place teams in the league turned into a rout. Right now the way our kids are hitting the ball and playing defense, it's gonna be tough for anyone to beat us. Keep up the good work ASE. You guys are playing great and are having fun along the way. That's what it's all about after all! See you all at the Cooper Coin game on Monday @ 5:30.







ASE puts on show tonight, destroys Cooper Coin 15-0!
       Well, I thought I would never say this, but tonights game reminded me of last years team. Last year we had what was called the best team to come through Goldtrap in 10 years and tonight our kids played a complete game that made me have flashbacks to that team. This team is really clicking on all cyclinders now, with every kid hitting the ball and playing good defense. Poor Cooper Coin must have felt they had been hit by a train. It was a dominating performance by a bunch of players who have improved each and every game and remain un-defeated on the season. You want to hear something incredible. In league games we have outscored our opponents 75-5. Counting the non-conference game versus Phillip Taylor, it is 84-13. That is impressive. Let's see how tonights game went down.
       Cooper Coin came right out hitting the ball, but our defense was ready. Their lead-off hitter hit a shot to Justin Shelly who made a great play, scooping the ball up and throwing it to Jacob Beam at first base for the out. Their next batter would groundout to Garrett McMahan for the second out. After a strikeout for the final out, it was our turn to bat.
       Weston Phillips started out our half of the inning with a hard hit ball down the left field line for a double. Garrett McMahan then hit the ball to the right field fence for an inside-the-park home run, making the score 2-0. Zack Sudar and Justin Shelly would not let Garrett have all the fun as both of them also hit inside-the-park home runs to make the score 4-0. After Jacob Beam doubled up the middle, Alex Matlock would bring him in with an infield hit. Just like that it was 5-0 and we were rolling.
       Cooper Coin was not able to get anything going in the top of the 2nd. A couple of their batter struckout and then Zack Sudar would make a good play at 3rd to record the final out of the inning. Our bats then went back to work in the bottom of the inning. Thomas Geurian got things started with a single up the middle. After a Matthew Appleyard strikeout, Katie Harrison singled up the middle and took advantage of a Cooper Coin throwing error to come all the way around for an inside-the-park home run. After an Aaron Dalton strikeout, Paul Parr singled to get the rally started again. Weston then doubled to left field and runners were suddenly at 2nd and 3rd with two outs. Garrett would take advantage with a 2-run scoring double to left field and this game was suddenly a blow-out at 9-0. Zack would then single to score Garrett for our final run of the inning.
       The top of the 3rd would see Cooper's first batter groundout to Garrett for the first out. Back-to-back singles would put Cooper in business, but then their next two batters would strikeout to end their half of the inning. Justin would start the bottom of the 3rd off right for us. He hit a hard line drive to left field and took advantage of a Cooper throwing error to come all the way around for his second home run of the game. Jacob kept the rally going with a single down the left field line. After an Alex strikeout, Thomas would single up the middle to put runners on the corners with one out. Matthew then hit a ball to the fence in left field and when a throw got away from Cooper's 2nd baseman, Matthew came around to score for yet another home run. Katie then came through with her second hit of the night and the rally continued. After an Aaron strikeout, Paul singled to left field and the pressure was back on Cooper's defense. Weston then knocked in our 5th and final run of the inning with a hard hit ball to right field to make the score 15-0. The umpires mercifully called the game and Cooper's coaches had to be glad of that. It was a dominating performance by our team tonight. Most complete game we have played all season and poor Cooper Coin was the victim. The win moves us to 8-0 in the league and 9-0 overall. We will return to action on Thursday night @ 5:30 versus Forsgren. See you all there @ 5:00. Great game tonight ASE. Keep playing this way and another City Championship may be in your furture!





ASE pounds out 19 hits in 12-3 win over Forsgren - Extends win streak to 21 games!
       The streak continues and keeps growing, as we won our 21st game in a row tonight. Of coarse the streak started last year and lives on. Our last loss came way back on May 25, 2006. Well, in this one it's a good thing our bats were hot because our defense was a little sluggish. In the kids defense, it is hard to stand out there and watch kid after kid strikeout and then be ready when the ball is hit. But it's like I told them before the game, now is the time to be playing our best baseball of the season with the City Tournament right around the corner.
       We came out in the top of the 1st and our bats were "red hot." Weston Phillips and Garrett McMahan led off the game with back-to-back singles. Zack Sudar then singled in Weston for a 1-0 lead. Justin Shelly then hit a hard shot to left field to score Garrett. Jacob Beam kept the rally going with a single of his own to score Zack and give us a 3-0 lead. Alex Matlock continued his hot hitting with a double to left field and suddenly it was 4-0. Thomas Geurian then knocked in our 5th and final run of the inning with a line drive to right field to make the score 5-0.
       Forsgren's first two batters of the bottom of the 1st struck-out and then their next batter grounded out to Garrett at 2nd base. Just like that the 1st inning came to a close with us holding a 5-0 lead. The 2nd inning our bats came right back to life. Matthew Appleyard started the rally with a hard hit ball to shortstop. Katie Harrison would then single to put runners on the corners with no outs. Aaron Dalton would then score Katie with a single up the middle to give us a 6-0 lead. After a Paul Parr strikeout, Weston would come through with a 2-run scoring double to left field. Garrett kept the rally alive with a single to right field and Zack would knock in Weston with a single of his own. Justin would put the final touches on the inning with a run scoring double to left field and this one was a blowout at 10-0.
       Forsgren was able to get a little going in the bottom of the 2nd inning. I moved a few people around on defense and that put us a little out of sync. After a strikeout, they had back-to-back singles and took advantage of a couple of throwing errors to score their first run of the game. Zack Sudar would then tag out a runner at 3rd base after a perfect throw from Alex and a strikeout would end their half of the inning. After two full innings of play, the score was 10-1.
       Jacob led off the top of the 3rd with a single up the middle, but was tagged out at 2nd base trying to stretch his hit into a double. Alex quickly picked up his teammate with a single up the middle. Thomas would then put the game away with an inside-the-park home run to put this one out of reach at 12-1. Matthew and Katie would keep the rally alive with back-to-back singles, but a couple of strikeouts would end the inning with no more damage being done.
       Forsgren managed a couple of hits in the bottom of the 3rd and once again took advantage of a couple of throwing errors by our defense. But in the end it wasn't enough as this one would end with us notching the 12-3 win.
       At times it wasn't pretty, but we'll take it. Now our hitting was right on tonight. We pounded out 19 hits in the game, while only striking out 3 times all night. That is awesome. We keep hitting like that, it's gonna be tough to beat this team. The win tonight moves us to 10-0 overall and 9-0 in league games and actually clinched us a share of the League Championship. Now a win Saturday will clinch it outright and that was one of our goals at the beginning of the season. We are one win away from that right now. What a great job by a bunch of great kids. Keep up the good work ASE and lets win the League title on Saturday.





ASE clinches League Title with win over YMA!
       At the beginning of the season we set several goals as a team. The main goal was to have fun and learn about the game of baseball. Our second goal was to win the League Championship and today we did just that. With a record of 11-0, we have a 3-game lead over the 2nd place team with only 2 league games remaining. That makes us League Champs for the 3rd year in a row. During that span, our teams have a combined record of 37-3. As you can tell we have been blessed to have some good ball players but even better kids. This bunch is right there with those teams and I couldn't be prouder of the year we've had.
       Today's game was a little rougher than expected, but I was proud of the way the kids stepped up and made plays when they had to. Let's see how it all went down. YMA led off the top of the 1st with a strikeout and their next batter grounded out to Weston at pitcher. Their next batter hit a hard shot to Justin at shortstop, who scooped the ball up and threw to Jacob at 1st for the third out.
       I told the kids that we better be ready to run the bases and pay attention, because this YMA team could play some defense. It didn't take long for them to see I was right. Weston Phillips led off our half of the inning with a hard hit ball to 3rd base. YMA's 3rd baseman scopped up the ball and threw to first base for the out and poor Weston had a look of disbelief on his face. That was only the second out he has made all season. Weston's teammates quickly picked him up as Garrett McMahan and Zack Sudar both singled to put runners on the corners with one out. Justin Shelly then came through with a hard hit ball to the left field fence to score both runners and give us a 2-0 lead. Jacob Beam then doubled to score Justin and after Alex Matlock singled to score Jacob, we had a 4-0 lead. Thomas Geurian then singled but Matthew Appleyard popped up for an out. Thomas was running on the play and was doubled off for the third out of the inning. After one full inning of play, we held a 4-0 lead.
       YMA's first batter of the 2nd inning popped a ball up behind home plate and the best catcher in the league, Alex Matlock, caught the ball for an easy out. YMA managed a couple of infield singles and after a strikeout, they had runners at 2nd and 3rd with two outs. A hard hit ball up the middle would score two runs and suddenly this was a game again at 4-2. Their runner was tagged out at 2nd on the play, trying to stretch their hit into a double and we escaped without any further damage being done.
       Aaron Dalton led off the bottom of the 2nd hitting a hard shot up the middle, but he was called out for throwing his bat. After an infield single by Paul Parr the rally was on again. Weston then forced Paul out at 2nd base and suddenly there were two outs. Garrett then picked us up a bit with a nice hit up the middle to score Weston and give us a 5-2 lead. Zack popped out to YMA's 3rd baseman to end the inning and this one was too close for comfort at 5-2.
       YMA led off the top of the 3rd grounding out to Garrett at 2nd base but then their rally began and this game got real interesting, real fast! Three straight singles would score a run and pull them to within 5-3. Another single would load the bases with only one out and YMA's best hitter at the plate. He would then hit a hard ball to Justin at shortstop, who tagged the runner out going to 3rd and threw to Garrett covering 2nd for the double play. It was a great play and really saved the game for us. If there's a better combination at short and second than Justin and Garrett, I haven't seen them. What a great play by two awesome players! Great job guys. Way to get us out of a huge jam!
       Not only did Justin make a great play to end YMA's threat, but he started off the bottom of the 3rd with a double to left field and we were suddenly back in business. Jacob would then come through with a big time hit to left field to score Justin and extend our lead to 6-3. After an Alex Matlock infield single, Thomas would force him out at 2nd base for the first out of the inning, but Jacob scored on the play to extend our lead to 7-3. Matthew would then force Thomas out at 2nd and Aaron would groundout to 1st for the final out of the inning. Going into the top of the 4th, we held a 7-3 lead with the middle of their batting order due to bat.
       YMA's first batter of the 4th inning would single and this one looked to go down to the wire. Their next batter would pop out to Weston at pitcher and the runner on 1st was running on the play, so Weston tossed to Jacob for the double play. What another huge play by our defense! Great job guys! YMA's next batter struckout and the game ended with us notching the 7-3 victory and the League Championship!
       Despite the fact that this one made me sweat a bit, I was glad to see us play a close game and come out on the winning side. I think the kids may have been getting the "big head" lately and it was good to see them brought back to earth a bit. The City Tournament will be full of challenges and todays game will help us know how to react when we're in a close game. Great job ASE, 2007 Pee Wee National League Champs! See you all at practice on Wednesday night @ 6:00.



 

ASE slips by Ink Spot to remain un-defeated!
       I warned the kids before the game that every team was shooting for us and we better be ready for every teams best effort. We got exactly that tonight! Two nights ago this same Ink Spot team, lost 5-4 to the Cardinals and looked terrible doing it. But tonight was a different story. Ink Spot hit the ball all over the field and took advantage of some sloppy defense by us to make this one very exciting. In the end our kids showed a lot of heart in fighting back and pulling out the 10-9 victory that moves us to 12-0 overall and 11-0 in League play. The win extends our winning streak to 23 games, dating back to last year.
       Ink Spot came right out hitting the ball in this one. Their first two batters reached on base hits and then was knocked in with another base hit. Suddenly we were behind for the first time all season long. Not bad that we played 11 games and tonight was the first time that we had been behind. What a tribute to our kids. Well, back to the game. Ink Spots next batter would pop up to Jacob Beam at 1st base, who made a nice catch and doubled an Ink Spot runner off 1st base for a double play. Their next batter would strikeout and their half of the inning would end with them holding a 2-0 lead.
       Our kids would not let their lead last long. Weston Phillips started off our half of the inning with an infield single and Garrett McMahan quickly pulled us within one with a double to right field, scoring Weston. Zack Sudar would then double to score Garrett and just like that the game was tied. Justin Shelly kept the rally alive with a single to left field and Jacob Beam would single to score Zack and give us a 3-2 lead. Alex Matlock reached base on a fielders choice, forcing Justin out at 3rd for the first out of the inning. After a Thomas Geurian strikeout, Matthew Appleyard doubled to put runners at 2nd and 3rd with two outs. Katie Harrison then came through with her biggest hit of the season with a 2-run scoring single up the middle to give us a 5-2 lead.
       Ink Spot didn't manage any runs in the top of the 2nd, thanks to a good play by Justin and Zack. A couple of strikeouts later, their half of the inning was over and our bats went back to work. Aaron Dalton singled up the middle but was tagged out at 2nd base trying to hustle his way to a double. After a Paul Parr strikeout, the rally begin. Weston singled to right field and Garrett would hit a deep fly ball to centerfield to score Weston. Garrett was helped out by an Ink Spot throwing error on the play and came all the way around for an inside-the-park home run, making the score 7-2. Zack and Justin would then come through with back-to-back singles, but Jacob was thrown out at 1st on the next at bat. The score remained 7-2 after two full innings of play.
       Ink Spot refused to go away quietly. After a groundout to Jacob to begin the inning, they would rattle off 5 straight hits and used a couple of mistakes by our defense to score 4 runs, making this one a game again at 7-6. Their next two batters grounded out and their half of the inning would end with us clinging to a 1-run lead.
       Going into the bottom of the 3rd inning, we had scored in 11 straight innings and it looked as if that streak would continue. Alex and Thomas both singled to put runners on the corners with no outs to begin the inning. Matthew and Katie would both strikeout and the pressure was on Aaron to come through with a hit. Aaron would hit the ball, but the 2nd baseman made a nice play to throw Aaron out and the inning would end without us scoring a run. So much for that 11 inning in a row streak. Oh well, we'll just start a new streak now!
       Ink Spot took advantage of us not scoring to take the lead in the top of the 4th. After their first batter struckout, their next hitter grounded out to Weston at 2nd base. Then their rally begin. Four straight hits would score 3 runs to give them a 9-7 lead and this one was a nail-bitter! A strikeout would end the inning and our kids hustled in ready to bat.
       With the top of our order due up to bat, I was not that worried. Paul led off our half of the inning with an infield single and Weston followed that up with one of his own. After a Garrett infield single, the bases were loaded with one of our hottest hitters at the plate in Zack Sudar. Zack hit a hard shot up the middle but was called out for throwing his bat. Never fear as Justin was there to pick-up his teammate. Justin doubled to left field scoring two runs to tie the game at 9. Jacob Beam then ended the game as he knocked in the winning run with a single up the middle and our kids celebrated the hard fought 10-9 victory.
       While I was not proud of our defense at times, I was very proud of the way our kids refused to quit and fought back for this win. This was good for us going into the tournament next week. Some of our kids seem to have the idea that we can't be beat and tonight hopefully showed them that we are human and can lose at any time. Great job tonight ASE and let's get back to playing defense like we can next Monday against YMA. See you all there at 6:00pm on Monday. Have a great weekend!





2007 ASE Batting Average Stats

Justin Shelly             .937
Weston Phillips          .857
Garrett McMahan       .806
Zack Sudar               .800
Jacob Beam               .793
Alex Matlock             .577
Thomas Geurian         .565
Paul Parr                   .417
Katie Harrison          .375
Aaron Dalton             .357
Matthew Appleyard    .240




2007 ASE Runs Batted In Stats

Justin Shelly                26
Zack Sudar                  24
Garrett McMahan         21
Jacob Beam                  17
Alex Matlock                10
Weston Phillips             9
Thomas Geurian             6
Katie Harrison               6
Paul Parr                        5
Matthew Appleyard         4
Aaron Dalton                  3               







FINAL 2007 - Pee Wee National League Standings

                                                 League             Overall
ASE                                            11-0                 12-0
McDonalds                                  8-3                   8-4
Ink Spot                                    5-4-2                5-5-2
Y.M.A.                                        5-4-2                5-5-2
                            Cardinals                                     4-7                   5-7
                            Cooper Coin                                 4-7                   4-7
                            Forsgren                                     0-12                  0-12

FINAL 2007 - Pee Wee American League Standings

                                                League             Overall
Phillip Taylor                              10-1                 10-2
Midwest                                     7-2-2               8-2-2
Burton Pools                               6-1-3               6-2-3
Cricket                                       5-5-1               5-5-1
Monty's TV                                4-6-1               5-6-1
Shoe Carnival                             2-8-1               3-8-1
                            Nellum-Roberts                            0-11                0-11






ASE Advances to City Tourney Semi-Finals with win over Monty's!

       With all the rain over the last few days I knew the game today versus Monty's was going to be a tough one. When the ball is wet and muddy, you never know where the pitching machine is going to throw the ball. Just ask poor Matthew, who got hit in the head today by a pitch from the machine. We scored a season-low 6 runs today, but honestly was lucky to do that. Our 6 runs in this mornings game was the most runs scored by a team in all 4 of todays games. So I guess we adjusted to the wet conditions better than most.
       Todays game started out with Monty's hitting a hard line drive that Justin dove and almost caught. Justin had the ball, but when he hit the ground, the ball came loose. Back-to-back singles would then score Monty's one and only run of the game. Their next batter would hit into a forceout on a good play by Justin Shelly and Zack Sudar. After a strikeout, their final batter of the inning would groundout to Garrett at pitcher. After one half inning of play, Monty's held a 1-0 lead.
       Thomas Geurian started off our half of the inning grounding out to the pitcher. Garrett McMahan quickly picked him up with a double to right field. Zack Sudar would then tie the game with a single up the middle. After a Justin Shelly infield single, Jacob Beam would double to right field to score two runs and give us a 3-1 lead. Two straight strikeouts from Alex Matlock and Matthew Appleyard would then end our half of the inning with a 3-1 lead.
       Monty's led off the top of the 2nd with a strikeout. Their next batter would groundout to Zack Sudar at 2nd and just like that there were two outs. Garrett McMahan would then make a great play on a slow hit ball to record the third out.
       Katie Harrison would lead off the bottom of the 2nd with a strikeout but Aaron Dalton picked her up with a single up the middle. Paul Parr would then groundout to first but Aaron used a Monty's throwing error to come all the way around from 1st to score on the play. Thomas would keep the rally going with an infield single and Garrett would double to score Thoams for a 5-1 lead. Zack ended the inning hitting into a forceout and the score remained 5-1.
       Monty's was at the bottom of their line-up to begin the top of the 3rd and couldn't manage to get anything going at all. Two strikeouts and a groundout to Garrett would end any hope the had of scoring in the 3rd.
       We really wanted to put the game away in the bottom half of the inning, but that wouldn't be so easy. I knew the time limit was close to running out and all we really needed was 2 runs to end the game. Justin led off the inning with a double to left field and Jacob would knock him in as he grounded out to 1st. After an Alex strikeout, Matthew would groundout to the pitcher to end the inning with us up 6-1. The umpires called the game and the "mudfest" was over. I guess you could describe this game as, "It wasn't pretty, but it was a win." I have learned over the years coaching in this league, that when the tournament starts, the key is to survive and move on. We did that today. We will have to really step up and bring our "A" game against a very good Midwest team on Monday night. Midwest hits the ball well and they play really good defense. We better be ready for a battle. See you all there at 5:30 on Monday.







ASE advances to City Championship with shutout of Midwest!

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    It was one year ago that we defeated Midwest 13-3 in the City Championship game and believe me that wanted to pay us back for that loss. But tonight was not pay back time, as our defense refused to fold. This one was a defensive battle between two very good defensive teams. Both teams hit the ball pretty well, but both defenses were up to the challange. Lets quickly see how this one unfolded.
    Midwest started off the game reaching on an infield single, but their next batter would hit into a forceout on a great play by Justin Shelly and Garrett McMahan. Then something you don't see very often in a Pee Wee game occurred. A ground ball was hit to Zack Sudar at 3rd who threw to 2nd for the forceout and Garrett then relayed a throw to Jacob at 1st for the inning ending double play. Just like that our defense showed Midwest what they were up against on this night.
    We came right out hitting the ball in the bottom half of the inning. Weston Phillips picked right back up where he left off before his vacation, with a base hit to start the inning. Garrett then singled to put runners on the corners with no outs. Zack Sudar flew out to left field but Weston tagged up and scored on the play to give us a 1-0 lead. Justin and Jacob would then come through with back-to-back RBI singles to extend our lead to 3-0. Thomas would then groundout to 2nd, but a run would score on the play to give us a 4-0 lead. Alex ended the inning hitting a hard line drive that Midwest's very good 3rd baseman, Tanner Cross, snagged for the final out of the inning. Little did I know at the time but we had more than enough runs to win the game thanks to our defense.
    The rest of the game would be a defensive battle between two good defensive teams. Our defense would not allow Midwest a single run. They got close a few times, but our defense would always make a play to get us out of trouble. We did manage another run in the bottom of the 3rd, when Justin singled Weston in for a 5-0 lead and that would be all the scoring in this one. The game ended with us notching the 5-0 victory, moving us into the City Championship for the second straight year. Our win streak is up to 25 games in a row, with an incredible 30-1 record over the past two seasons.
    We will need another good defensive effort tomorrow night when we face Phillip Taylor for the City Championship. They defeated McDonalds 14-3 tonight in the other half of the Semi-Finals. Phillip Taylor is hitting the ball as well as anyone and we better have our heads in the game. This is the way the season should end, the two best teams facing off for the City Championship! It should be a lot of fun. See you all there at 5:30!








ASE celebrates another City Championship with win over Phillip Taylor!

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       They say the second one's sweeter than the first and after tonights win in the City Championship over Phillip Taylor, I would have to agree! As great as last season was, this one may have been even better. Last season we were expected to win it all and dominate the league, but this year was different. With only 4 returners, I thought this may be sort of a rebuilding year, but our kids would not stand for that. They played hard every game and got better as the season progressed. They were a great group of kids to coach and be around and I couldn't be prouder of them! Going un-defeated at any level in sports is tough, but our kids were determined not to be stopped and tonights game was a perfect ending to an incredible season that I will never forget. Let's see how it all went down tonight!
       Phillip Taylor came right out hitting the ball like I knew they would. Going into the game, they had only one strikeout the entire tournament, so I told the kids our defense had to be ready to work tonight. The first batter of the game reached on a close play at 1st, but would then be forced out at 2nd on a good play by Justin Shelly and Garrett McMahan. Their next batter would hit the ball to Zack Sudar at 3rd base, who scooped it up and threw to Garrett for a forceout. Suddenly,
it looked as if we would get out of the inning withoout any damage being done. A couple of throwing errors on the next two batters would allow Phillip Taylor to score 3 runs and for the first time in a while our defense looked a little shaky. Weston Phillips made a good play on the next hit ball to get us out of the inning only down 3-0.
       While our defense struggled a bit in the 1st inning, Phillip Taylor's was better than it had been in a while. Weston opened the game popping up to the pitcher but Garrett quickly picked him up with an infield single. Zack Sudar then hit a groundball to 2nd base and Garrett was forced out. Justin then made his first out since the third game of the season as he would force Zack out at 2nd base and our half of the inning was over.
       After an inspiring speech in the dugout, our defense came out ready to play in the top of the 2nd inning. Phillip Taylor's first two batters grounded out to Weston at pitcher and quickly there were two outs. After a hit by their lead-off batter, their next batter would hit the ball to Justin, who threw to Garrett for the forceout and we were out of the inning, still only down 3-0.
       Jacob Beam led off the bottom of the 2nd with a base hit and we looked to be in business. But a couple of strikeouts by Thomas Geurian and Matthew Appleyard would put the pressure back on. Alex Matlock came through with a hit to put runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs, but Aaron Dalton would groundout to 2nd and the inning would end with the score still 3-0.
       Phillip Taylor's bats came back alive in the top of the 3rd and once again used an error by our defense to extend their lead. They put two runners on base with two outs and hit the ball to Weston, who scooped it up and threw too high for Jacob to grab. The ball went into right field and two runs came around to score on the play. Suddenly it was 5-0 and things weren't looking so good for us. Alex was able to tag a runner out at home on the play, to stop their rally and keep the score at 5-0. That turned out to be a huge play in the game. Great job Alex!
       I gathered the kids in the dugout and told them we must get a few runs to get ourself back in the game. But after a Katie Harrison groundout and a Paul Parr strikeout it didn't look so good. The top of our order got things going with two outs as Weston and Garrett both hit singles up the middle and we were finally in business. Zack and Justin both came through with run scoring singles and suddenly it was 5-2 with runners on 1st and 3rd and the "red hot" hitting Jacob Beam at the plate. Jacob popped out to the 1st baseman for the final out and Phillip Taylor escaped without any further damage being done.
       Phillip Taylor came right back out hitting in the top of the 4th inning but our defense was up to the challenge this time. After a couple of hits, Garrett and Justin both made good plays to put a squash to their rally. A run did score on one of the outs and their lead was 6-2. they had runners at 2nd and 3rd with two outs and their biggest hitter on deck. I told Coach Greg we had to make a play here or the game might be over. the ball was hit to Justin who flipped to Garrett and we escaped with only one run being scored and our deficit remained at 4.
    The bottom of the 4th would turn out to be our most important and biggest inning of the entire season but it didn't start out that way! After Thomas reached on an infield single, Alex forced him out at 2nd base. Matthew then went down swinging as he battled hard at the plate and just like that there were two outs. I kept thinking that something had to go our way eventually and maybe it would light a spark to get us going. That spark would come in the form of Aaron, Katie and Paul. Aaron singled to put runners on the corners and Katie would come through with a big time hit to score Alex. Paul Parr then had his biggest at bat of the season as he singled to score both Aaron and Katie and we were right back in the game at 6-5. Weston kept the rally going with a single and we used a Phillip Taylor throwing error to score Paul and tie the game at 6. Garrett then kept his "hot bat" going as he singled in Weston for the go ahead run and just like that we went from being down 4, to up 7-6. What an incredible 2-out rally by these kids who refused to lose this game! Yes, we did get a little help from Phillip Taylor in the rally, but it was about time they made a mistake or two. Their defense had been awesome all night but we got them a little shook up in this inning. After 4 full innings of play we somehow held a 7-6 lead. WOW, what a turnaround in this game!!!
       I gathered the kids up for one last huddle this season and told them our defense had carried us all season and now it was time for our defense to win us the City Championship! they were all so excited, I don't think they ran onto the field, they floated. I knew Phillip Taylor would not go away quietly and we would have to make a couple of plays to win this one. Their first batter hit to Justin who scooped the ball up and threw to Jacob for the first out. Justin's throw was low and Jacob did a great job of scooping it up for the out. The next batter would also hit to Justin who fielded the ball and this time made a perfect throw to Jacob for the 2nd out. By this time I was on my knees by our dugout. How ironic it was for a team that don't hardly ever strikeout for the final out of the game to be a strikeout. The umpires called "BALLGAME" and our fans and kids went nuts! What an incredible comeback by this group of kids! Everyone in the place thought we were beat but those group of kids and they refused to quit! I am so proud of them all. They are truly CHAMPIONS and boy do they deserve it! We ended the season on a 26-game win streak dating back to last season and finished this season at 15-0. We are an incredible 31-1 the last two seasons and have back-to-back City and League championships to show for it.
       As happy as I was for our kids after the game, I felt really bad for Coach Kenny Snow and his team. Kenny is a class act and a great coach. He is a friend of mine and I wish there were more like him at the Boys & Girls Club. His kids had a great year and they are also champions in my book.
       Again to our kids, I can't tell you how proud I am of you all. I can't wait to see all of you at our team party and present you with some awesome awards we have for you all. I'll be in touch with the date and time of our party. See you all then! Oh by the way, did you know ASE is City Champs............again!