Draw The Curtains On 2010

Turn out the lights... the party's over. And it's been a great one. In fact.. 86 games worth! This has been a baseball season unlike any other for the FiveKelleyBoys. With one playing in every level --- 'D', 'C', 'B', 'A' & 'AA' --- we have logged some serious hours at a lot of parks in a lot of parts of the tri-state area.. It's been a privilege and an honor to be part of the whole thing.

The season, while starting off very slowly, really picked up mid-stream and things panned-out well for each of the boys. Griffin enjoyed his first year of kid-pitch. Paxton was named to his first AllStar team. And Duncan, Holden & Cameron all qualified for the City Tournament with their respective teams.

As of this evening, the two 'fkb' teams remaining in 'City' took their final bow. Duncan's Heat & Holden's Highlanders each hung up their second losses of the tourney. And with that, the 2010 Season ends. A couple pre-season tourney games (back in early April), a whole ton of regular season games, an AllStar game, and 8 post-season games... for a grand total of 86 games.

Thanks, boys! It's been fantastic to be along for the ride this season. We're very proud of each of you.

City Tournament - Week 1 UPDATE

With 1 week of the City Tournament under their belts... Cameron, Holden & Duncan have each had varying experiences. The tourney is a '2&out' sort of affair. Very straight-forward... lose 2, and you're out. And here's how the boys have faired thus far.

Cameron's Heat - Playing 2 games in less than 24 hours, the Heat travelled to Northern Kentucky and to Blue Ash (OH) last night and this afternoon. The Heat had a pretty fantastic season in general, and Cameron really came into his own as he managed the move to 'AA' with confidence and success. Last night's game was tough to handle... the Heat got through 6 innings trailing 3-2, and then, with their gloves apparently taking an early exit, the Heat watched 4 runs get hung on them. Batting last in the 7th, there wasn't enough Heat to come back from 5-down. And then today we travelled north to ol' Crosley Field in Blue Ash (see picture) to take on a team from Goshen. All even at 4-apiece going into the 7th inning, Goshen managed to sneak 2 across in their half of the frame. And that was the difference. So there ya have it... 2 losses, in less than 24 hours. And so the Heat's 2010 season comes to a close. I thanked Cameron this afternoon for having us along for a very enjoyable season. Proud of you, dude! Can't wait until next year.

Holden's Highlanders - the Highlanders drew the Bridgetown Sparks to open the week's play. And much to a lot of our collective surprise... we watched the Highlanders go down to the tune of 4-0. However, the Highlanders rebounded in their 2nd game... and for the 2nd year in a row they got to personally punch the ticket of their arch-rivals, the Westside Bulldogs. Bye-bye Buldogs, Highlanders move on. And then today, the Highlanders played the Eastside Cats. Highlanders 7, Cats 4. Congratulations, Holden (and Heat). Good luck as your tournament continues.

Duncan's Heat - similar to Holden's hated Bulldogs, Duncan's Heat has the Covedale Storm. And guess who the Duncan's Heat drew in their first tourney game. Yep... the Storm. Unfortunately, while this match-up is almost always a knock-down fistfight often decided by a margin of only 1 or 2 runs, the Storm that showed up this morning THROTTLED the Heat that came to the park. This one was actually kind of difficult to watch. But hey... this is a '2&out' tournament. And Duncan's Heat will live to play again in a couple days. Hopefully they return to their form. Good luck, Duncan. And step-up Heat... let's get things back on track in this next game.

The KelleyFive!

The Second Act... Movin' On To POSTSEASON!!!

Congratulations to the boys on closing a very long and (as you'll read here) SUCCESSFUL season. Great news to share here.

First... big 'CONGRATS' to Cameron's Heat who handed the Delhi Eagles only their 2nd loss in 22 games last night. Cameron had a great game... and in what would require 2 extra innings before it was all done, his RBI was critical in the Heat's win, FINAL SCORE: 2-1.

Second... (for any of you who've been following since the beginning of the season, this is AMAZING...) after a very sluggish start to things, 3 (THREE!!!) of the boys' teams have qualified for the City Tournament. Cameron's Heat, Holden's Highlanders & Duncan's Heat will all be moving on to the big show -- games start next week.

Third... another round of 'CONGRATS' to Holden's Highlanders, who closed the season by winning their Division OUTRIGHT! Way to go, Holden. More hardware for the collection.

So, looking back... it's been a pretty fantastic season (and it's not over yet!). The boys logged somewhere between 80-100 games (I'll have a more specific idea when I get around to doing the exact tally). And after what proved to be a really tough start to things... congratulations to each of the boys for not getting too frustrated, and never giving up. I always tell them... keep working at it, give it your best, good things will happen. Well... that applies here. 3 out of the 5 of them are moving on to the City Tournament (and one of them, by virtue of winning their Division). A fourth (Paxton) was selected to his AllStar game. And even Griffin had a fantastic season --- very much enjoying his first season of 'kid pitch' baseball. Always fun to see that time come after a couple years of t-ball, and then another couple years of 'coach pitch'. Great job, Griffin!

There will be more posted about the City Tournament. But I want to say right now... OUTSTANDING JOB, BOYS!!! Thanks for a terrific and entertaining season. It's been a joy and you each have a LOT to feel great about. I'm so proud of you all!

AllStar Action

The Hidden Valley Lake All-Star Game was played yesterday (shown in pic, Paxton and a Rockets co-rep for the Ohio AllStars). And even with some pretty impressive storms making their way through the complex (causing a few delays)... it was a great day. This is the 5th or 6th year we've been treated to having at least one KelleyBoy chosen to represent his respective level of AllStars. And It was a great day.

Given the make-up of this year's new 'mega league' (including teams from ALL OVER), the teams were split into the 'Indiana AllStars' vs. the 'Ohio AllStars'. These events are always great... team / player introductions, National Anthem (complete with VERY dramatic rolling thunder from the approaching storms), lots of 'production'.

The Ohio AllStars scored first. And over the next 4 innings, the teams would leapfrog one another... 1-0, 1-2, 3-2... until it was all tied up at 4-apiece. The Indiana AllStars had the final say based on the merit of a pretty amazing (and LEGITIMATE) grand slam. Final score: Indiana 8, Ohio 4.

The game was followed by a HomeRun Derby. And with a twist of pretty delicious irony (given how the game itself was ultimately decided by a longball), the Ohio AllStars would walk-away victors in the HR Derby. Awesome!

Again... it was a very entertaining day. Congratulations to Paxton for his first-ever selection to an AllStar team --- goodness knows you earned it). Proud of you, buddy! Thanks for a great afternoon at the park.

Regular Season Wrap-Up

Beautiful, sunny & HOT day for baseball this past Saturday. Four games to report on.

Griffin's Dodgers: Going up against the Westside Bulldogs, the Dodgers traded blows throughout the game. The lead changed more times than I could tell you. In the end, the Bulldogs came out on top. But it was truly a great game. Griffin caught a super game, walked, scored a run, and took a pitch to the head (but the best place to hit a KelleyBoy and NOT hurt them is in fact the skull).

Paxton's Rockets: The unfortunate task of drawing the league-leading Harris Motors BBA to close the season was at the hands of the Rockets today. The outcome was not in favor of the Rockets. But Paxton had an awesome hit and delivered his usual stellar performance in the field.

Duncan's Heat: The season started with the Harrison Hawks, and that's how it would close. The first match between these two teams would not be the Heat's proudest moment of a very long season. But with a sense of poetic revenge... the Heat trailed the vast majority of this season-closing game, only to come back in the end and grab victory! Woooo! Fantastic fielding by Duncan!

Holden's Highlanders: One of the Hidden Valley Lake teams (not sure which one, to be honest) came to town today. And while the game remained competitive throughout the first 3 frames... HVL tore it open later in the game and went home to Indiana the victors. Holden was the Highlanders first player to get on base, and scored their first run too. Great fielding on his part as well.

Winding It Down

As the regular season nears completion (things are supposedly required to be wrapped up by end of this weekend - although with all the rainouts thru-out the season still needing to be made up, hard to imagine), another couple games to report on from last night.

Holden's Highlanders faced-off against the Sparx. This one got off to a rough start. With Holden struggling mightily on the mound (see pic) --- he just couldn't seem to find his stuff --- the Highlanders found themselves down 8-3 by end of the 4th inning. Holden, just as he seemed to be hitting his groove, had to be pulled from the game because of reaching his pitch-count. However, the Highlanders bats came to life and by the middle of the 7th inning everything was tied at 10-apiece. Holden had one of the nicest hits I've seen him get all season. And all the boys seemed to 'find it' as they fought their way back into the game. Unfortunately, the Sparx plated one final run during their last at bat. Final score: Sparx 11, Highlanders 10. Tough break, guys.

Cameron is out of town this week. I'm only aware his Heat played twice in the past few days. I'm not even sure who they played against. The Heat won 7-0 this past Sunday. And they came up short last night, 6-5. Hurry back, Cameron. Miss ya, bud.