Huge tournament this weekend in Phoenix. 40+ 13U teams alone. Anybody coming out? It is at Gilbert Dream Park and Dman JR is playing.

Son is there too D-man. He is playing at Red Mtn. today. Won their first and 2nd is just starting. This is the first time he is at a tournament without a family member and it is killing me. To top it all off, I think he is getting that flu and Mom is now 700 miles away

BBFAM,
It must be tough!! I have had a few offers for my son to play out of town without us, but it always makes me nervous. We went 2-0 on Friday but the real games start today. We got the number 3 seed so it is a little easier, only 2 games today and tomorrow if we can keep it up. We shall see. Good luck. Too bad your son isn't playing 13U or I could be your spy.

Thanks Doughnutman but trust me, I got lots of spies keeping an eye on him . He's actually a very responsible person so I am not too worried and I know he is in good hands. It is very good for him and will help him learn independence skills. And, he is feeling better so I am not as bad as I was. Good luck to you as well!

We made the final four. JR closed out a tough Seattle Select team. Hoping for two more games today. The Heat from AZ, The Chandler Reds from AZ, the OC Stars from Cali and the Chino Hills Patriots from Cali. It is kinda nice that two AZ teams made it this far from a field of 40. We shall see if we can keep it up. Pitching is getting a bit thin so we are going to go for a football score today. Go HEAT!!

How is your son doing BBFam?

We are in the same boat D-man. It will most likely be we play (hopefully) 2 teams that we beat in the SuperNIT in Jan. They will be out for us. Son pitched 1 inning last night and has the rest for today. Not sure which game he will throw today though. At one point, he was being saved for the championship but he's thrown more semi games than not. Doesn't matter though, he just loves to be on the hill. Fortunately, we are in great shape for pitching. Our top 2-3 still have at least 6 innings ea. Good luck to you guys. This would be a fun tourney to win. Son came last year with the 14's and they lost the championship to the Socal Redwings. Great team with lots of standout players.

Dang! Lost in the Semi's 10-5. Combination of 2 outfield error's = 6 unearned runs. It also didn't help that they threw a couple of curve only guys and we threw a fastball/change up guy(my son and another) and the umpire REALLY liked curveballs. He called about 20 cb's that bounced behind the plate for strikes so our kids had to swing at anything that had a bend in it. Unfortunately he didn't feel the same way about fastballs. The kids played very well except the two mistakes and we had a great time. We also got a lot of work hitting low cb's. by the 5th we were getting very good at hitting balls at our shoes and rallied back. The kids showed a lot of heart and were able to adjust eventually. It was a blast.

3rd place isn't bad considering the amount of teams and some of the talent out there but it's no good to lose because of some errors. Our guys had a great time and fortunately we made it through to the end. My son got called to pitch the championship in the 2nd with 1 out and bases loaded. I was nervous even though I was 700 miles away. I had a great parent call and give me updates every inning. I was pacing a hole in my carpet!! We prevailed in the end though against a really tough team and it was uncertain until the last out of the game. A real nail biter!!

Congrats BBFAM,
They brought my son into the game in the fourth with bases loaded and nobody out and we were down by four. Coach was trying to stretch out the pitcher, we were running low. Struck out the first, pop out the second, lazy fly ball to left with the third. Unfortunately the left fielder miss played it with the wind helping out and they got two runs. The next guy hits it up the middle for two more. Two innings later after a lead off HBP and a single, JR struck out the next two, then the new leftfielder had a chance at a can o' corn and decided that he would rather not catch it. Oh well. We did very well. I am still irritated about that ump. You have to give the other pitcher credit. He saw that the ump was calling everything low with a bend a strike and he milked it until the fifth when we put up 5 on him. How in the heck do you call a pitch a strike when it hits the ground less than a foot from the plate? We had to swing at everything. But even with the bad calls we shot ourselves in the foot with those two big errors. The best thing about it is that our kids never gave up. Gotta credit the coaches and the kids for a great tournament.

BBfam's son did a wonderful job in a pressure situation in the championship game. He is the ace of a team that has national championship aspirations at the Elite 24, Battle in the South, and Perfect Game WWBA this summer. What I would mention is that he's even a better teammate than he is a player.