Saturday party, Home Run Derby

Braves,
Party time at Water Tower! See the appended message from Majors commissioner Darren Miller.
Unfortunately, only the players who hit homers during the regular season or the WFB little league tournament are eligible for the home-run derby this year so the only guys who can represent the Braves are Nick and Chris. Come and cheer them on at 2 p.m. Saturday, and then watch the moms' game at 3 p.m.
Dave
---
Coaches,
Just a few reminders:
Don't forget about the weekend party at Water Tower this weekend. The championship games for both the Minors and Majors begin at 10:00a, followed by the party until about 4:00p. Please make sure your teams are aware of the schedule:

Playoff Game Report: Cubs 10, Braves 8

The Braves’ season ended Thursday evening with a 10-8 loss to the Cubs, but our guys went down fighting. They can hold their heads high.
The Cubs, who had a very rough time winning during the regular season, played extremely well Thursday. Their coaches were amazed at their team’s flawless performance.
The Braves played well, too, with several solid hits and some sparkling defense. Our fielding was simply great.
In the first inning, for example, with a bright sun burning into his eyeballs, second baseman Ryan somehow caught a pop-up in short right field. In the third inning first baseman Tyler saved several runs by s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g ever so far to catch three less-than-perfect throws for outs. Everyone marveled at how he was able to keep his toe in contact with the base on those plays.
The Cubs started to make a move in the fourth, but the Braves cut them short with two nice plays. The first came with a runner on third, Jason pitching, and Ryan catching. A pitch got past Ryan, and the runner sprinted for home. Ryan scrambled back to the fence to retrieve the ball and made a perfect toss to Jason covering the plate for the out. The second play came with two outs and runners on the bases. The batter smoked a line drive toward center field. Chris, at shortstop, dove to his left and somehow snared the ball in the webbing of his glove for the out.
The Braves had lots of success at the plate, too, slamming seven extra base hits. In the first inning Chris bombed a three-run homer to right-center field. Later in the first, Ryan laced a triple down the right-field line, scoring on Alec’s RBI single.
In the second Scott led off with a line shot to the left-center-field fence for a double. Then Matt drove in Scott with a double of his own, this one to right-center. Not to be outdone, Jason blasted a double to left-center, driving in Matt.
The Braves had runners on base in the fourth and fifth innings, but could not get them home. Then the sixth, with the Braves down 10-6. Chris led off with a solo homer over the center-field fence. Jack followed with a double, and after two outs Alec drove him in with a single. Now the score was 10-8, with a good base runner on first. We wanted to stay aggressive and maintain pressure on a flustered defense. We gave Alec the sign to steal. Sadly (for us), the Cubs’ catcher made his best throw of the season to nip Alec at second, and the game was over. The good feelings about the season, however, were not over – and never will be. The evening ended with perfect weather and a wonderful team party at Liam’s house. All of the Braves were there, and everyone had a ball.
Thanks to all of you.
Dave

Braves Party at Liam's House

Out of the Deep She Rises...

 

Team Meeting

 

The Bash Brothers: Jason & Chris

 

Team Party following our Thursday July 9 game

An invite from the gracious Scobey-Polacheck family (that's Liam's people):
Hi Braves,
Our family will host a team/family party to celebrate a great season this coming Thursday (July 9) from after the game til about 8:30 or whenever it seems kind of dusky. We've been fortunate to have such great coaches who stay positive and have taught our boys so much. THANK YOU!! Siblings are welcome, too.
We live on a tiny inland lake/pond in Glendale and kids can bring swimsuits, towels and floaties. There's a quick drop-off, so non-swimmers need to wear life jackets. We have life jackets in all sizes. We may also have our son Jacob's team there. Before kids go in the water, we'll meet at the top of the backyard for a quick safety talk.
Bill and I will provide brats and hot dogs, paper products, etc. for everyone, but if the team could help out with side dishes and drinks, that would be great.
To make it easier, how about if we do this (but if it's not convenient for you, don't worry about it; I'm sure we'll have plenty of everything):
Last names A-L: Side dish, appetizer or dessert
Last names M-Z: Drinks for kids or adults
Our address: 6821 N. Neil Place. From Water Tower, go west on Green Tree until you cross Green Bay Ave. The first street after Green Bay is Neil Place. Take a right. We are second house on left, white with black shutters. Park on street in front of house in case kids want to use driveway for basketball.
In case of rain or cold, event will be rescheduled.
Hope to see you there. If you can let me know the count for your family, that would be helpful.
Annemarie and Bill (Liam's parents)

Fyi: Annemarie's e-mail is ascobey ATSIGN hotmail.com

Thursday Practice, Pizza Party, Friday Practice, Schedule Changes

Braves Parents & Friends:

Lots of Braves news in emails from Coach Dave this week. I'll try to summarize the key items here.

Thursday April 23 practice and party: Practice at 4 p.m. at lovely WATER TOWER PARK. Then, following practice, pizza party for players and their families at the CAHILL PARK WARMING HOUSE, hosted by the lovely and talented Karen Higgins (kwhiggy@hotmail.com).

Friday April 24 practice, post-practice field trip: 4 p.m. practice at Cahill/Cumberland/wherever the coaches can find a field. Coach Dave notes that practice may end a little early Friday (a) to keep the guys fresh for their first game of the season the next day and (b) field trip.
After practice, some folks are planning to head for Miller Park to watch the so-called "Border Battle," featuring a Midwest League matchup between the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (Brewers farm team) and the Peoria Chiefs (Cubs farm team).
For this game, any seat in Miller Park costs only $10. The game begins at 7:05 p.m. Let Coach Dave know if you are interested and want to talk about transportation.

Uniforms: Dave says, "The LL board does not know when uniforms will arrive. A call is in to the supplier, and the board HOPES that the uniforms get here before the season opens Saturday. If the uniforms don't show up in time, then kids will play the way they've played through most of history since Abner Doubleday walked the earth -- wearing t-shirts and battered hats from random teams or farm-implement manufacturers."

Schedule changes, issues: First, six players on the White Sox have a church function at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 30, which is when we are scheduled to play them. The White Sox coach has asked whether we'd be willing to move the game to Saturday, May 23, at 11 a.m.
Dave says, "I wouldn't want to make the switch if a lot of you will be away that day, which is the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. If we had enough guys to play, however, the benefits of the switch would include (a) the likelihood of better weather, (b) having one less game on a school night, (c) giving us a game in the 16-day gap between May 14 and May 30, and (d) helping out White Sox coach Carl Fuda, who doesn't have too many other options."
If your player would NOT be able to make a game on May 23, please let Dave know as soon as possible.
Second, Dave has received good news from our league commissioner about our request to change the game we were scheduled to play on Saturday, May 30. The game (against the Dodgers) has been moved to 3 p.m. on Sunday, May 17. This change is good for the Braves because it gets us out of a back-to-back game situation on May 30-31, and because it gives us another game in mid-May.

Pizza Party, Post-practice Baseball Game

Little League baseball is more than boring drills and screaming coaches. It's also about getting to know people and fun.

So please consider the following two events:

This week, THURSDAY after practice, we will have a pizza party in the warming house at Cahill Square for all of the guys on the team, their siblings and their parents. Our practice at Water Tower will end around 5:30 p.m., and we have rented the warming house beginning at 6 p.m.

This will be a great opportunity for Braves parents to get to know each other while the kids play. The pizza party is a rain-or-shine event, so we hope you come even if practice is canceled because of bad weather.

Please let Karen Higgins (kwhiggy@hotmail.com) know how many people from your family will be attending so that she can know how much pizza and soda to have. We will ask each family to contribute a few dollars toward the cost of the food and the rental of the warming house. In addition, it would be great if each family could bring some uncomplicated snacks like cookies, chips, carrot sticks, etc.

FRIDAY we practice at 4 p.m. After practice at least a few of us are planning to head for Miller Park to watch the so-called "Border Battle," featuring a Midwest League matchup between the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (Brewers farm team) and the Peoria Chiefs (Cubs farm team).

For this game, any seat in Miller Park costs only $10. The game begins at 7:05 p.m., and it would be great if lots of Braves (and some of their parents) wanted to go. Let me know if you're interested and I'll organize transportation.

We may end practice a little early Friday (a) to keep the guys fresh for their first game of the season the next day and (b) to be able to get to Miller Park in time to get great seats to see future Brewers and Cubs.

Coach Dave

Practice Thursday (April 16) and updates

Hello Braves,

Just a reminder about practice tomorrow (Thursday), for those of you chose to stay in sunny Whitefish Bay over the kids' spring break.

Practice will begin at 4:30 p.m. on the high-school softball field along Ardmore. We plan to finish at 6 p.m. Chris and I will be over there around 4 p.m. to stake claim to the field. If anyone wants to joins us at 4:00, I'll be glad to throw batting practice.

From now on, please have your Brave wear cup, sliding shorts, and baseball pants to practice. We will be starting to run the bases as we would in a close game. We also will be having the players face live pitching from kids instead of from coaches. All part of the strategy to gear up for the beginning of the season.

Meanwhile, if you go to the WhitefishBayNow site, you'll see that Braves photographer Jim Higgins has posted a photo of the guys who showed up at last week's chilly practice.

Also, be sure to reserve next Thursday (April 23) not only for our practice at Water Tower from 4 to 5:30 p.m., but for our pre-season pizza party at the Cahill Square warming house. Festivities will officially begin at 6 p.m., but I suspect that the doors will be open shortly after 5:30 p.m. This will be a low-cost way for Braves families to get to know each other before the season begins.

Many thanks to Karen Higgins for organizing this event, which will be held even if the practice is rained (or snowed) out. Whatever the weather outside, it will be warm and cozy inside the Cahill Square warming house.

In addition to Thursday's practice, we will practice Friday (4 to 5:30 p.m.) and Sunday (4 to 5:30 p.m.). Lots of baseball, but our season begins in 10 days and there's lots of work to do to get our guys ready.

Dave, Ross, Rick

Braves family pizza party, 6 p.m. Thurs April 23

Greetings from the Social Chairwoman:
In conferring with Coach Dave, we are designating a Pizza night on (Thursday) April 23rd at Cahill Square (from 6-7p.m.) for all team members and their families. While it's a school night, it will give us a chance to hang out a bit before the season opener.

This is the plan. Practice is up at the Water Tower Little League fields from 4 - 5:30 p.m. We will plan to eat at 6 over at Cahill Lodge. Parents can get to know each other and siblings can play! We realize this is a school night, but this is our initial social event to break the ice, and fire up for the new season.

We will estimate costs of pizza,soda, and rental of Cahill and ask families to pitch in a few dollars to help out with the cost.

What I need to know:
Can you make it?
How many family members can attend?
Tell me any easy snack like chips, cookies, carrot sticks (had to put something healthy in there!) you can bring.

[Send your party-related emails to kwhiggy[ATSIGN]hotmail.com.]

We look forward to seeing if we can get almost everyone there! And I cannot wait to hear the magic words in a few weeks at our season opener of "play ball"!

Karen W. Higgins
Social Chairwoman