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.

Take The Good w/ The Bad

Three games last night. Each came with their own highlights.

Griffin's Dodgers fell short to the crew from Jaeger. However... CONGRATULATIONS to the Dodgers for being the first team all season to score more than 10 runs on the undefeated Jaeger boys. Quite the feat! Griffin caught the game. Also, while at bat... he got one walk and then got on base again for his troubles --- taking a shot to the ribs that's bound to leave a mark. Way to take one for the team, buddy!

Paxton's Rockets resumed a game (started last week, only to be halted thanks to weather) against the Sunman (IN) Indians. Losing in the end, the Rockets really did play a very good game. And the boys all actually walked away heads held high, knowing they had given a VERY good team a run for their money. And Paxton is still riding pretty high on the recent announcement of his selection to this year's AllStar Team. Way to go, Pax!

Holden's Highlanders fell to the Mack Fire team. This Mack team totally obliterated the Highlanders earlier in the season. But last night's game was MUCH more competitive, with a final score differential of only 8 runs. The really good news of the evening for the Highlanders... they learned prior to the start of the game they had already qualified for this year's City Tournament. Excellent work, Holden! Hard work pays off. Really. Proud of you, dude.

AllStar News (and.. more rain)

Congratulations to Paxton for being named to his first AllStar Team!!! It's been a rough season for Paxton and the Rockets. But true to how he goes about anything he puts his mind to... he's gone out there every time and given it his all (which has been consistently terrific). Paxton keeps alive the now 5-year-running stretch of having at least one KelleyBoy named to his respective AllStar Team. Way to go, Pax! We're all very proud of you.

As for the weather... UGH! We're coming into the final week of the season. And hard as that is to believe, we've still got a LOT of games to get in. This morning's 'rogue' showers that made their way through the area have now put us ANOTHER 4 games in the hole. It's gonna be a VERY hectic / busy next 7 or 8 days.

Double Ouch

Duncan's Heat took two shots to the chin this evening (at the hands of the Westside Sharks, complete with a few players who looked old enough to drive home from the game themselves --- and in 'B' ball when the players aren't supposed to be older than 13, certain things just kinda stand out).

Game #1: This one was anybody's game in the bottom of the 6th inning. While at bat in the final part of the game, the Heat plated their first run of the evening to draw within 1 of the Sharks. Unfortunately, that's how the game ended. Final score: Sharks 2, Heat 1. Duncan went 1 for 2 and got a base on balls too. Also... he handed in a steady defensive performance at 2nd base.

'Game #2': Picking up a game that had been stopped in progress earlier this season... after 5 innings, the Heat was knotted up with the Sharks, 6-all. So, following tonight's first game, both teams took the field with all elements as they had been that earlier night (however many weeks ago). The Heat came to the plate first and were unable to push any runs across. And then, just like that (if you blinked, you maybe even missed it)... the Sharks got one run in. Final score: Sharks 7, Heat 6.

Heads up high, Heat. Look at it this way, boys... you held your own in a couple of games against several kids who are very possibly pondering entering their Freshman year in high school this coming fall. Be proud.