Game Night: Scoresheet

 

[Click to enlarge.]
[Thanks, Coach Rick, for providing the scoresheet scans.]

Game Night: Braves 5, White Sox 4

The parents of our Braves players practice a variety of noble professions: professor, lawyer, veterinarian, architect, journalist, pharmacist. But if the Braves' recent trend of 1-run games continues, we may have to recruit a cardiologist.
The Braves defeated the well-coached White Sox 5-4 in a rematch of two teams that played just a few nights ago. It must have been one of the fastest 6-inning games of the season. Both teams made excellent defensive plays. Both teams also made errors or mistakes that cost them runs. No fan could feel cheated by the intensity level of the action.
This was the Braves' third 1-run victory. That's "testimony to good teamwork and good pitching," Coach Ross told the Braves in his postgame remarks.
Braves player Jack was ill and couldn't make the game. Coach Dave said he told Jack's mom that the Braves were going to try to win the game for Jack Kivley, and they did so.
Chris proved in striking and dramatic fashion that he is the Braves' counterpart to both Prince Fielder (fearsome lefty slugger) and Trevor Hoffman (efficient closer).
The Braves came to bat in the top of the last inning, trailing 4-3. Jason ripped a ground-rule double to left field (had it not bounded out of the field of play, he might have gotten more), and went to third on a passed ball when Scott walked. Then, with one out, Chris smoked a huge double to right field, scoring both Jason and Scott, and giving the Braves a 5-4 lead.
On the mound in the bottom of the last inning, Chris faced the White Sox's best hitters. Chris struck out the first batter looking, and struck out the second batter swinging when catcher Anthony hung on to a foul tip. After a walk, Chris struck out the White Sox's slugger to end the game.
The Braves swing right back into action Saturday morning June 13, with Picture Day at 10 a.m. followed by a game against the Phillies at 11 a.m.
More highlights and notes:
BATTING & BASERUNNING: In the top of the first inning Connor and Chris worked a double steal, with Connor swiping home for the Braves' first run. In the second inning, Matt singled, and hustled all the way to third on fielder misplays. Then, with 2 outs and 2 strikes, Nick ripped a hard single through the infield to drive Matt home with the Braves' second run. Alec tripled to right field in the 4th, and scored by stealing home on a passed ball.
FIELDING: Jason continued his excellence at shortstop, vacuuming two hard grounders in the third inning and throwing the runners out.
PITCHING: Alec, with his distinctive neo-submariner motion, pitched three innings and struck out six batters. He grabbed a pop-up to snuff out a White Sox rally in the 4th inning.

Updates: Games, Picture Day

Braves,
Excellent practice today! The weather was perfect, the guys fielded beautifully, and they pounded the ball against my best pitching in scrimmage! Jason popped a walk-off single to left to win it for his team.
Two items:
FRIDAY June 12, please have your Brave at Water Tower by 5 p.m. so that we can have on-field batting practice. We did this before Tuesday's game and our bats came alive, so I'd like to do it again.
SATURDAY June 13 is Picture Day. Please have your freshly scrubbed Brave at Water Tower no later than 10 a.m. The picture-taking area is at the south end of Water Tower. Please fill out your order forms before you get to Water Tower -- everything's easier that way.
See at Water Tower tomorrow for our rematch against the White Sox.
Dave

Game Story: Braves 8, White Sox 1

The Braves put it all together Tuesday night, scoring seven runs in their last two at bats to break open a close game and defeat the White Sox, 8-1. The victory moves the Braves into a tie for second place in the Majors. Both the Braves and the powerful Phillies have six wins in eight games.
Tuesday’s victory featured power pitching, superb defense when it counted, and timely hitting. The pitching was especially impressive because the White Sox had been one of the highest-scoring teams in the league, averaging 10 runs a game.
Connor allowed no runs in the first two innings, fanning four White Sox. Alec took over in the third inning; the top of the White Sox order was coming to the plate. With one out and White Sox runners on first and third in the scoreless game, first baseman Chris made a diving stab of a soft line drive to get the second out and prevent the runners from advancing. The next batter smoked a line drive toward left-center field. It had two RBIs written all over it, but shortstop Jason leaped high – very high – and snared the ball in the webbing of his glove to end the inning with no White Sox player having crossed the plate.
The game was still scoreless in the bottom of the third. Matt led off with a single and advanced to third base on two groundouts. Then came a wild pitch, and Matt dashed for home plate, scoring standing up for the game’s first run.
Jason took over pitching in the fourth inning, holding the White Sox scoreless. When the Braves came to bat in the fourth, Connor led off with a booming triple over the right fielder’s head. Chris walked and stole second, and Alec rifled a single to the outfield to score both of them. Alec stole second and third, which enabled Ryan to drive him in with an infield single. Braves ahead, 4-0, after four innings.
The White Sox got a harmless unearned run in the fifth inning, and then the Braves’ bats got really hot. Jason and Scott hit singles; they both advanced on a passed ball. Connor lined a single to the outfield, driving in two runs, and then kept on running himself, scoring as the White Sox booted the ball all over the field. Chris lined a double to the fence in right center, stole third, and then trotted home when Alec got his second RBI hit. Four runs on five consecutive hits.
Chris strode to the hill in the final inning with a seven-run lead. The first White Sox batter got on base via an infield error, but Chris struck out the next three hitters to seal the victory.
A complete team victory – the best kind.
The Braves have a rematch against the White Sox Friday, followed by a tussle with the Phillies Saturday at 11 a.m. You won’t want to miss those games!
-- Dave

Game Night: Scoresheet (Braves vs. White Sox)

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Game afternoon (Tues June 9), other updates

Everyone,
We play the White Sox today (Tues June 9) at 4:30 p.m. Please have your Brave at Water Tower no later than 3:45 p.m.
If both teams have all their players ready to go at 4:15 p.m., our game might begin early because a second Majors game is scheduled for 6 p.m. and rain is supposed to drift in this evening.
FYI-1: We may try for a practice Thursday from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at Atwater School in Shorewood. E-mail tomorrow letting you know for sure.
FYI-2: The WFB Little League board has its monthly meeting tomorrow (Wednesday) at 8 p.m. in the warming house at Cahill Square. The big topic of discussion will be all stars. The agenda sent out by board prez Scott Deakin is appended.
Dave
* * *
Board Meeting Agenda – June 10, 2009
Ø Review and Approval of Prior Month’s Board Meeting Minutes
Ø Discussion regarding All Stars
o Players selection
o Coaches selection
o Coaches meeting June 11 Cahill 8pm
o List of players
o Team composition – ages
o Eligibility
Ø Ladies game /EOS Party
o When
o Uniforms
Ø Playoffs
o When
o All Star hold
Ø Safety
o Nets
Ø Other
o All Star hold
Ø Safety
o Nets
Ø Other
o Items raised by WFBLL Membership or WFBLL BOD
If you have questions or comments about All stars please come and voice your opinion.
I have a correction to the ages on the team should be as follows
U13/U14 – born between May 1, 1994 and April 30, 1996
U11/U12 – born between May 1, 1996 and April 30, 1998
U10/U11 – born between May 1, 1997 and April 30, 1999
U9/U10 – born between May 1, 1998 and April 30, 2000

Practice updates, makeup game discussion

Braves,
(1) Practice as usual Friday (May 1) from 4 to 5:30 p.m. The weather forecast looks fine. If the high-school softball field is in use we will practice at Cumberland (not at Cahill). It will be good for the guys to have one more practice before our game Saturday.
(2) From now at least until the end of May we will have practices every Friday and Sunday from 4 to 5:30 p.m., with days off on Sunday May 10 (Mothers Day), Friday May 22 (beginning of holiday weekend), and Sunday May 24 (holiday weekend). Our preference is always to practice at the softball field on the high-school grounds, with Cahill and Cumberland being backup locations if the high-school field is in use.
(3) Scratch the May 22 make-up game possibility. Too many of our guys will be out of town.
(4) Right now we have two games to make up (Phillies and White Sox). Because the Majors field is so tightly scheduled (lots of Minors games are being played there), there are very few available game slots. I have suggested to the Majors commish that the first two Tuesdays in June (June 2 and 9) at 4:30 p.m. would be times when we probably could field a team. If players have conflicts with those days, I hope five weeks' notice would enable us to minimize them. Games at 4:30 p.m. cause lots of problems for adult fans and coaches, but the most important thing is to get the games in so that the kids can play.
The Majors schedule is a mess, obviously. The coaches of the teams and Majors commissioner Darren Miller are working hard to find times when we can get postponed games played.
Thanks for bearing with us in this less-than-ideal situation.
Dave

No game Thurs April 30; possible game Fri May 22

The Braves will not be playing a game Thursday evening, even if the rains hold off. This is disappointing, but circumstances make it unavoidable.
If you are interested in an explanation for the postponing of Thursday's game, read on. If not, don't bother.
Thursday evening the White Sox will have five players and two coaches at a church function. In theory they could have filled out their team with a few players called up from the Minors, but the Majors commissioner told the White Sox several weeks ago that the game would be rescheduled so they were not planning to play Thursday. (You may remember that I sent out e-mails exploring our players' availability for May 23 and July 2, dates that turned out not to work for us.)
The Thursday game was never taken off the official schedule, however, so we naturally assumed that the White Sox had arranged to play. This evening the Majors commissioner gave me the option of winning by forfeit Thursday or continuing to work to reschedule the game. A forfeit wouldn't help our players get the game experience they need and want, and in any case I simply didn't want a cheap win at another team's expense.
The Majors commissioner is proposing that we play the White Sox May 22 at 6 p.m. I hope we can make that happen. If not, June 2 is a possibility.
I tried to see if the Phillies would be available Thursday to make up our rained-out April 25 game, but five of their players had conflicts.
So we look forward. The early forecast for our new season opener Saturday morning (MAY 2) is good. Let's keep our fingers crossed that we will actually play ball!
Dave

Sunday practice cancelled, schedule updates

Braves,
With standing water on all of the practice fields Saturday evening, a 90% chance of more rain overnight, and a 70% chance of thundershowers Sunday, we are canceling the practice we had hoped to have at 4 p.m. Sunday.
Meanwhile, we have been trying to reschedule our April 30 game to accommodate the White Sox, but so far it has been impossible to find a date that works any better. Lots of our guys would have had to miss a game July 2. So, barring further word from the Majors commissioner, we are planning to play that game as scheduled on Thursday.
It would be really useful to have one more practice before Thursday, so please check e-mail early in the day Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. The first day that practice fields are dry enough, we will call a practice.
No word yet on when Saturday's rain-out will be made up.
Dave, Ross, Rick

Proposed game change

Everyone,
The Majors commissioner has just sent me a proposal for moving the April 30 game against the White Sox to Thursday, July 2, at either 4:30 or 6:30 p.m.
If enough of the players could be there on July 2, I'd favor a 6:30 p.m. game so that more parents could attend.
Please let me know ASAP if your son could NOT make a 6:30 p.m. game on July 2.
Thanks!
Dave

Schedule update: No Memorial Day weekend game

Braves,
We will NOT be playing on Memorial Day weekend -- too many of our players will be out of town.
We continue to explore ways to help out the White Sox, who will have trouble fielding a team for the game scheduled for April 30. One suggestion was to play the game on May 10, but that's Mothers Day and none of the brutish, insensitive men who are working on this problem wanted to propose a Mothers Day game to the families of their players.
Updates as they become available.
Dave