All Star Highlights

Great game all around! First off congrats to the NCYBA Blue team. You guys absolutely never gave up! The NCYBA Red team played hard and also never gave up. Down 5 runs after the 2nd, the "Nacho Cheese" red team fought back and put up 5 runs in in the top of the third. As has been throughout the entire tournament, the RED team played very solid defense, timely hitting, and smart baserunning. The pitching by James Oberting, Luke McLoughlin, and Kevin Sweeney was solid against the "Juggernaut" offense of the NCYBA Blue team. One play out of many that illustrates the character and the "never give up" attitude of the Red team was highlighted in the bottom of the 5th inning. Even after the BLUE team put up 4 runs, the REDs never gave up. Jack Bush chased down a fly ball down the left field line, caught it on the run, quickly turned and threw a bullet to Jimmy Rohenaz who was covering second base to double up the runner. A perfect execution of a defensive play that is becoming a common occurrence for the RED team game after each game -heads up defense.

I want to thank all the parents of the RED team for the tremendous support you gave the team during the game. The players greatly appreciated it.

The Red team would like to congratulate the NCYBA Blue team on an excellent tournament. We want to wish Victor Medici, his coaching staff and all the players of the Blue team for a great tournament in Wilton in the coming weeks. The RED team will be cheering for you guys. Bring home the trophy to NCYBA!!

This was truly a game that the North Colonie team "never gave up". Congrats to the Pine Bush Nationals for a very hard fought game who also never gave up. In total, the NC team collected 18 hits, including 6 doubles and 2 triples. Offensively, Aidan Booker went 3-4 with a walk, 2 doubles, and scored 3 runs. Jack Bush could not be stopped on the base paths scoring 4 times. Jonah Booker went 2-3 with a team leading 5 RBIs. Brendan "Big Papi" Morrison swung a big bat collecting 4 RBIs. And John Sweeney went 3-5 with 4 RBIs, including a bases clearing triple in the 4th inning. Defensively, our team was once again excellent. There were too many well executed defensive plays to mentioned, each one helping slow the Pine Bush offensive juggernaut. One play in particular helped killed a Pine Bush rally. Steve Pardo, playing third base, reached around his body and snagged a "bullet" grounder down the third base line, turned and threw a laser to Brendan Morrison at first base, getting the speedy runner by a step. Our pitchers pitched with a lot of "gusto" today. James Oberting and Luke McLoughlin combined to keep the NC team ahead going into the 5th inning. In the 5th and 6th, Michael "ROCKY" Ferris, fought through the heart of the Pine Bush lineup, giving up just one run to close out the game for the NC "Nacho Cheese"! Great game to all!

Our next game is Monday July 7th 6PM against North Colonie Blue at North Colonie.

"The North Colonie All Stars played an excellent all around game today. The pitching was solid, the hitting was consistent, the baserunning was aggressive, and the defense was exceptional. Jonah Booker, playing outfield, fielded a hard hit line drive on one bounce, quickly turned and threw the baserunner from first base out at second. Jimmy Rohenaz, playing second, dove to his left (horizontal - completely off the ground), snagged the hard hit ball in one bounce, got back on his knees, and threw the batter out at first base in time to save two runs. The pitching was excellent. Kevin Sweeney, Michael Ferris, Luke McLoughlin, and Stone Murray combined for the shutout, giving just one hit while striking out 12. Aidan Booker, Jack Bush, Brendan Morrison, and Luke McLoughlin collected two hits each in the game. Great game today North Colonie 2! "

NC Red v. NC Blue doesn't get any better than that! WOW, back and forth scoring by both teams made this an interesting inter-league game which much excitement. First off nice job Blue fighting the good fight and refusing to let up.Nice bats some good fielding and base on balls made this interesting for both teams. Lets move off this win and gain the necessary momentum to move on!!! Nice job Coach Booker and squad. When I looked over and saw your dugout and your coaches I realized and reaffirmed my belief ...that that is what its all about.... quality time with the kids and teaching them a GAME as well as learning to win and lose but importantly it's about the QUALITY TIME! OK Big Blue lets get it going and nice job Coach Booker and NC Red.

Good game tonight NC Blue although we fell short we have two more games to look forward to. Hats off to Spring boys for a game well played.

Mike Stiso double and single
Patrick McCaffery single
Will Fazzone single
George Enright single
Dino Ferrgrese two singles
Trent ROgers two singles
Danny Birthday boy Iveson two singles
Maki Medici single and double

Derek Becker two singles and a double. 17 total hits so nice job gentlemen swinging those bats. Great job boys keep up your hard work!!! One game left in our three day trip.

Derek Becker double + 2 scores
Joseph Delollo triple +2 scores
Mike Stiso single + 3 scores
Trent Rogers double +2 scores
Maki Medici single +1 score and a nice catch at 1b
Will Koonz single
Patrick McCaffery single + 1 score
Dino Ferrgreze single +1 score
Danny Iveson Double and + 2 scores

Improvement opportunties: Run as fast as you can to the base and listen to your coaches on 1st base and third base. Don't look for the ball in the field. Great game gentlemen.

Nice game boys and very solid pitching in todays game/. All players contributed in many different ways. Some notables:

Derrick Becker 2 singles
Maki Medici single
George Enright 2 singles
Joseph Delollo single
Will Fazzone 3 singles
Patrick McCaffery single
Will Koonz double

Nice playing boys and thanks to Pine Bush for hosting. Good luck PB in future games.

Great game guys. Awesome pitching tonight by our 4 pitchers. Bats were solid as always and base running as well. Boys please remember to stay focused and be smart.

Great game tonight for NC2. Bats were on fire, some nice hard hits by everyone. Solid pitching held PB at rest. We are really starting to come alive. Keep things going and remember to have fun.

Well I said we would learn from our last lose and we did. Much better job at the plate as everyone had hits and scored. Solid pitching for the third straight game. This team is looking more focused and starting to put it all together. Much better job cheering your team on.

Every time we play Nisky it is a battle. This was no difference as Nisky prevailed with some timely hits and smart base running. NC2 played a very close game with good pitching and defense. Bats were a little slow. We had some nice hits, unfortunately they were right at a Nisky player. Over all good game we will learn from this.

First off great game played by our NC1 team. I knew this was going to be a tough game. NC2 started off slow but got things going in the 3rd. Good pitching backed by great defense held NC1. We had some great hits that fell for hits along with some great hits that were played very well by NC1. Good luck NC1 we wish you the best of luck with your remaining games.

7/7/2008, Field: North Colonie 5
	1	2	3	4	5	6	Tot	Hits	Errors
Spring 1	2	1	0	0	0	0	3	0	0
North Colonie 1	0	0	6	0	5	0	11	13	0

North Colonie 1

Outstanding comeback by the NC blue team. After falling behind 3 -0 after 2 innings the team overcame a shaky start to comeback with a vengence and win 11-3. Great pitchig and hitting was the key to tonights game as everyone contributed to the comeback. The team got 13 hits led by Ryan Marsh with a double and 2 singles. Jack Murray and Nick Pascazio each had 2 singles and Nick Hinkle, Matt Paulsen, Jonathon Busch, Justin Methe and Thomas Seeburger each had a single. Overall a great win. Good Luck to Spring the rest of the way and in the State Tournament. Keep up the good work boys for our next game on Wednesday aganinst Spring 2.

7/1/2008, Field: Pine Bush 2
	1	2	3	4	5	6	Tot	Hits	Errors
North Colonie 1	4	1	0	3	0	1	9	0	0
Pine Bush Na.	3	0	0	0	0	1	4	0	0

	North Colonie 1 : Matt Paulsen (1), Nick Pascazio (2), Conner Leach (3)
	Pine Bush Na. : Nick Shah (4), Dalton Esposito (2)

North Colonie 1

A very good game by NC Blue. A complete game with everyone contributing. Led by Conner Leach with 3 solid innings pitching and some solid plays in the field on hard hit balls back to the pitcher. Matt Paulsen had 2 good catches in center fiield rounded out a great fielding job by all. NC Blue was led at the plate by Nick Hinkle and Conner Leach with 2 hits each. Ryan Marsh, Matt paulsen Nick Pascazio and Justin Methe all had 1 hit each. Good Luck to Pine Bush National the rest of the way.

6/29/2008, Field: North Colonie 5
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Tot	Hits	Errors
Pine Bush Am.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
North Colonie 1	4	3	12	0	0	0	0	19	0	0

7/15 State Semi-finals- Queensbury 13, North Colonie 3

This was a tough loss for our team to end the season but the boys had a good run this year and Queensbury demonstrated why they are the defending state champions. It started out as a typical game for us, 5-3 going into the bottom of the 4th and unfortunately one tough inning in the field and very hot bats by Queensbury ended our chances. Ryan had a very nice catch in right field early on and all of the boys showed good sportsmanship. As a coaching staff we always stress the team concept; team's win and lose as a team. I have seen this team truly come together as a team. The boys all treated each other with respect, held each other accountable for their play, praised each other for exceptional play, and helped those who made a mistake move on to the next play. Each game there was a different name at the top of the hitting results or a different pitcher who needed to come in to get us out of a tough spot. This is truly the definition of a functional sports team, for this they should be very proud of themselves. After the game several of the boys were already talking about winning the Superbowl in football and soccer this fall so to all of those moving on to the next sport shortly, I hope you take some lessons in teamwork from this experience.

7/13, Game 3 of NY State tournament: North Colonie 11, Clifton Park 6

Well we needed this win to get into the semi-finals and the boys delivered against a strong Clifton Park team. There was contributions from every single member of our team to win this game. Our stong bats were back today with Garrett leading the way 4 for 4 at the plate. Very stong fielding- 2 great plays from Max at 1st base, a couple of nice catches and great throws from Garrett in center field, a great catch by David at 2nd base and a nice double play by Sean at 3rd to end the game. At the plate:

Garrett: double, 3 singles, 1 RBI
Nick: 3 singles, 2 RBI's
Sal: double, single, 2 RBI's
Sean: double, single, 1 RBI
David: 2 singles, 1 RBI
Max: 2 singles, 1 RBI
Brogan: double, 2 RBI's
Brendan: single, 1 RBI
Dan: single

We will be back to Beekman in 2 days to face Queensbury in the semi-final so let's stay focused and leave it all on the field. The boys (and the parents) really came together this weekend with our 2 night road trip to the Hilton Garden Inn. Thank you to all the parents for your continued support of the boys.

Next Game: State Semi-final 7/15 at 5:30 against Queensbury at Beekman

Game 2 of NY State tournament: Spring 3, North Colonie 2

Our team's first loss was a tough battle against a very good Spring team. Strong pitching by Dan, Brogan and Nick kept Spring to only 3 runs but we just couldn't get it done at the plate. Our team has been strong hitters throughout the line up consistently but today wasn't our day against strong pitching by Spring. Brendan and Max led the way with 2 hits each but we did not capitalize on opportunities in the bottom of the 5th and 6th with runners on base. At the plate:

Brendan: 2 singles
Max: 2 singles
Sal: single
Brogan: single
Sean: 1 RBI

They say what makes a strong team is how they rebound from a tough loss so our team needs to be ready to face Clifton Park tomorrow- you can do it boys.

Next game: 7/13 at 1:30 against Clifton Park at Beekman

Game 1 of NY State tournament- North Colonie 13, Marlboro 2 The boys came out really strong in their first game of the State tournament. Great pitching by Nick, Brogan and Brendan only allowing 2 hits in the whole game. Nice job catching by Sal. The entire team contributed at the plate:

Sal: double, single, 1 RBI
Garrett: 2 singles, 1 RBI
Brendan: Double, sac fly, 2 RBI's
David: Single, sac fly, 1 RBI
Ryan: Double
Nick: single
Brogan: single
Max: 1 RBI

Let's keep up the strong teamwork and continue to play error free defense.

Championship Game, Central Division: North Colonie 19, Niskayuna 6

The boys played a great tournament sweeping the competition with a 4-0 record and coming home with the trophy. Solid pitching by Brendan, Brogan and Nick and great hitting again by our whole team tonight. 2 more homeruns over the fence tonight- one from Brogan and the other from Sean (yes, this is 3 games in a row for him!) At the plate:

Sean: HR, double, 4 RBI's
Brogan: HR, single, 3 RBI's
Sal: 2 doubles, 4 RBI's
David: double, single, 2 RBI's
Brendan: double, single, 1 RBI
Dan: 2 singles, 1 RBI
Nick: double, 1 RBI
Garrett: single, 1 RBI
Jeff: single
Ryan: 2 RBI's
Max: 1 RBI

Congratulations to Sean who was also given the MVP trophy for the tournament. It is on to Beekman for the NY State tournament and I am confident this team will be ready for the competition. Good luck to Niskayuna.

Next Game: 7/11 in Beekman, 1st round of State tournament

Game 3: North Colonie 13, Niskayuna 3

Strong pitching from Dan and Nick kept Niskayuna to only 3 runs and our team continues to understand the importance of solid defense. We got to see another home run over the fence today by Sean (back to back games- he is on fire!) At the plate:

Nick: Double, 2 singles (3/3- way to go)
Sean: HR, single
Garrett: single
Sal: single
Brogan: single
Jeff: single

Let's stay focused and finish out a strong showing in the Central Division tournament in the Championship game on Tuesday.

Next game: 7/1 at 6:00 at Westland Hills (against winner of other bracket)

The boys came out with a little bit of tournament jitters in the first inning or 2 but quickly settled in and the bats came alive. Both Sal and Brogan came close to hitting one over the fence. Dan, Brendan, Garrett and Sean all pitched well with Brendan getting us out of a little jam early on. Spring played hard and hats off to their pitcher who pitched well for 5 innings. At the plate:

Sal: triple, single
Dan: 2 singles
Ryan: 2 singles (2/2- nice job!)
Brogan: double
Chris: double
Garrett: single
Nick: single
Jeff: single
Sean: single

Let's keep up the solid teamwork- best of luck to Spring in the rest of the tournament.

What a good game all the way to the end. We took an early lead and a tough Nisky team kept threatening and keeping it close. Good team effort today. The boys picked each other up whenever necessary and kept battling to win the Area Championship!

Next game: 11 Year Old State Tournament - starts this Friday, July 25th hosted at North Colonie. Our first game is Friday, July 25 at 10am vs. Wilton on Field 3

Well, the gloves didn't show up until the 2nd, digging ourselves a little hole early. The true test of character of an athlete is not getting down on themselves, just getting down to business and playing hard regardless of score. That's what this group did after being in a 7 run deficit in the 1st inning. It was a very impressive display, capped off by not one, but 2 A-Bomb's from A-Kosh. However, the entire team contributed to this win. The boys picked up any team mate that was struggling and made it happen. Mitch and BC came in as relief and shut down SGF to stop the bleeding. Nice job boys!

A little rough start, but I was glad to see team mates picking each other up and working out of some jams in the 1st half of the game. Nice relief effort by Moose and Alex today. Very nice heads up triple play to get Alex out of a jam in the 3rd. That was the YES turning point of the game today. As string of very exciting clutch hits followed to take the lead. Nice closeout work by Matt with 3 K's.

Tonight our bats were cracking from the start, putting up 5 quick runs. Our pitchers and defense held Wilton off to get the win. Nice job tonight boys. Way to play hard for 6 innings! Web gems of the night came in the 2nd and last inning. Nate put on the turbo boosters to run down a fly ball in left to save a double with Jordan pitching. Jordan returned the favor in the 6th with Nate pitching where a hard shot to short took a bad hop, hit him in the stomach but somehow went inside his jersey where he quickly pulled it out and fired to get the out at 1st. I can't say that I have ever seen that happen before!

Another late start for our bats but we got the job done in exciting fashion. A very good defensive effort tonight by the team. Solid outings by the pitchers kept the Queensbury lumber at bay. Great job boys!

Well, we started out with our bats a bit sluggish and tentative tonight digging ourselves a 6-0 hole before erupting into a total team hit parade along with great base running in the 5th to go up 7-6. Very exciting stuff! We kept the foot on the pedal and put another 6 pack on the board to go up 13-6 and then brought Woodsie in to close it out. All the coaches are very proud of the team effort and positive attitudes that helped us get a "W" tonight. Great job boys!

Witlon 8 - NC Blue 6 (7/2/08)

Tough loss for the boys in BLUE . We had a couple of chances to rally in the last 2 innings and could not hit the right spots in the defense of Wilton . We had strong pitching from Thomas K. & Matt M. but , a few errors in the field cost us some runs . Overall , the sticks were good with some nice hits from the whole TEAM , no individual stats are needed . This is the type of game that you can learn from & make adjustments for the next game .
Best of luck to Wilton the rest of the way as you are a first class Team with great talent . NC Blue , learn from the mistakes , enjoy the holiday weekend & come back ready to play next week !

Game: 7/7/08 @ Niskayuna
Loss: 4-3

Tough loss tonight for NC as we fought and battled the whole game. With a 3-1 lead late in 6th a tough Nisky team came from behind to win on a pass ball. North Colonie boys turned 4 double plays (unheard of) not much offensively. Highlights: Tyler Oppelt single 2rbi, Dean Maloney, Sam Derico and Billy Neumister added singles. Tyler Oppelt pitched a solid 5 innings. Great effort NC lets keep it going for wednesday, Coach Beck.

Overall record: 1-2

game played 7/1/08 at NC field 4 vs. Westland Hills

Win: 10-1
Nice win tonight for the NC boys.Tyler Oppellt led offense with 2 hits and Brian Smith also added 2 hits. Justin Rappold and Sam Derico just missed HRs tonight. Defensively played great baseball and Tyler Becker kept Westland Hills off balance with a good curveball. 4 innings pitched 7ks 2 hits and Casey Ogden and Mike Mainella closed it out. Great game NC lets get ready for Nisky, Coach Beck.

Next game: 7/7/08 6pm @ Niskayuna

We advanced to the Championship Round based on some tie-breakers in the Pool Play part of the tourney. We went into the semi final game feeling confident and ready to go against a team from the Philadelphia area.

The unfortunate part is that we had one rough inning and it happened to be the first inning as Central Perk was up 5-0 after one. The kids settled down and battled all night. Had a couple of big opportunities but some nice defense by C.P. killed a few rallies.

These kids have been together for the last 5-6 years. They've improved each and every year and have done some things that no other North Colonie teams have ever done. They are a true 'town' team that has competed toe to toe against some very good 'state' and 'regional' teams. They have held their own and should be proud of everything they have endured and accomplished over the last few years.

I guess the sad part about this last loss is not that we fell short of our goal but that the kids' Little League careers are over. It's been a great ride and now it's on to a new challenge and stage in their lives. The little kids we knew and started with at 5/6 years old have become a solid group of players and friends. They have competed at a high level that will only help them down the road. They have all become better ball players and will continue to get better in the years ahead and although Little League has come to an end for them, the memories and experiences will be with them forever!

Game 4 of the Mid Atlantic Regionals found us in a position where if we win, we're pretty much guaranteed a semi-final berth. If we lose, we have to rely on others for help.

Unfortunately, for whatever reason, we just couldn't get our offense going. We had our lead-off hitter on base in 4 of the six innings. We had runners in scoring position in all 6 innings. Just could not get that one big hit to put a crooked number on the scoreboard until the 6th inning.

We now have to wait until Monday night to find out our fate. Metro, NY has to come up big (like they did against us in Game 3).

Z: 4 innings, 4 hits, 3 runs
Bone: 1 inning, 0 hits, 0 runs
B-Saf: 1 inning, 0 hits, 0 runs

Game 3 of the Mid Atlantic Regionals found us matched against a team we scouted the night before. We knew they could hit. That was an understatement. 4 HR's and 14 hits later, we lost 13-3 in 4 innings. They are a very tough team.

Game 2 of the Mid Atlantic regionals found us matched against a familar foe. Audobon, PA knocked us out of last year's Regionals as 11's. Different year, different results. Nick got us started in the 2nd with a HR and Sean hit a SF later in the same inning to give us a 2-0 lead. As it turned out, that's all Bone needed as Tyler threw 5.2 innings of two-hit ball.

We're in a good position as far as Pool Play goes. We have a DH on Sunday that will determine whether or not we advance to the semis.

Sean: SF
Stevie: single
Nick: HR
KB: Sac. Bunt, single
B-Saf: single
J-Saf: Sac. Bunt, single
Pos: single
Keegan: single

Game 1 of the Mid Atlantic regionals found us matched against a familar foe. We played Western NY in last year's Mid Atlantic Regionals as 11's. We won 2-1 last year in a pitcher's duel and this year's match up wasn't much different. Ryan started on the hill and threw a nice 4 innings only giving up one earned run. The offense got on the board in the bottom of the 2nd when Justin (yes - J-Saf) hit a 3 run bomb!! Stevie connected in the 3rd to give us a 4-0 lead. Western NY had a couple of mild threats but some nice defense - in particular by Sean at SS prevented anything serious!

On Saturday we play the runner up from last year's Mid Atlantic Regional - a team that beat us 8-7 in the semifinals - Audobon, PA.

What a ballgame! If you were at the game and were rooting for either team, you'd have no fingernails left. The ENY State Championship game. We were the defending champions. We had a bullseye on our back the entire tourney. We faced a very tough Beacon team that had it all - great pitching and big bats at the plate. We had beaten them 10-3 in the opening game of Pool Play but we weren't fooled into thinking we were that much better than them. But we may have been fooled after the 1st inning of last night's game.

Back to back doubles by Sean and Z to start the game against Beacon's ace got us off to a great start! There was a quick pitching change and after our half of the 1st inning, we were up 4-0. Sean started on the hill and threwa nice 3 innings. I have to talk about our pitching now because our bats went completely silent in innings 2-6 as we only sent 17 batters to the plate in those 5 innings. Beacon led off the 4th with back to back HR's to cut the lead to 4-2. Z came in to put out the fire allowing only 1 more run to the middle of Beacon's potent line up striking out the last batter with 2 runners on. Bone was brought in in the bottom of the 5th as we clung to a 4-3 lead. 1,2,3 in the 5th. Heading into the bottom of the 6th, we held a 4-3 lead only needing 3 more outs. The first 2 hitters had singles but JSaf gunned one of them down trying to steal 2B. Beacon still managed to scratch across the tying run. Extra innings 4-4.....not what we expected after the quick 4 spot in the top of the first.

BSaf (not to be confused with JSaf) led off the top of the 7th with a single. JSaf (not to be confused with BSaf) laid down a nice sac. bunt. After advancing to 3B, BSaf scored on possibly the only passed ball of the game! NC was up 5-4 heading into the bottom of the 7th. Bone struck out the 8th and 9th batters but hit their lead off batter. 2 outs, kid on 1B, and the meat of Beacon's lineup was in front of us. Bone's blood pressure was at an all time high as the big lefty at the plate stroked a single to put runners on 1st & 3rd. Beacon's #3 hiiter was up who already had 3 hits and a HR against us in 2 games. The pitch....the swing....the ball hit very high and far.....Matty Pos at the fence in RF.....Matty's knees knocking......what seemed like an hour and a half later, the ball landed in Pos's glove to end the game!!!! Padres win...aaaaaahhhhhhhhhh...Padres win!!!

We came to win 5 games. We did what we set out to do! Repeat...back to back championships!!

Sean: 4 innings, 2 hits, 2 runs, 3 K's
Z: 1 inning, 1 hit, 1 run, 1 K
Bone: 3 innings, 4 hits, 1 run, 5 K's

Sean: double Z: double, single Stevie: single, single Nick: sac. fly
BSaf: single
JSaf: single, single, sac. bunt

We've played Nisky more than any other team out there. We've played them since we were 8 years old. We know them. They know us. Usually a 1 or 2 run game is in order. Very rarely is there a one-sided game. Tonight was one of those rarities! It started with a home run by Stevie and it ended with Ryan throwing a no-hitter (only walking 1 batter). In between we had some great defense by the left side of our infield (Stevie & Sean). In the third inning, only up 1-0, Nick connected on a huge 3-run homer. The icing on the cake was Z going yard in the 4th!

We came to win 5 games. We did what we wanted in the first 4. Now it's on to the Championship Game.

Z: HR, single Bone: single, single Stevie: HR, single Nick: HR
Keegan: single KB: single J-Saf: single

Next Game: 7/16 vs. Beacon @ 6:00 - Championship Game @ Clifton Park - Ripken State Championship

Baseball is a funny game. Sometimes you lose and play so well that you feel OK about the loss. Sometimes you win, but play so poorly that you have a bad taste in your mouth. You won't believe it by some of the stats that follow, but today's game was not a perfect game by any means. We mercied B-Spa in 5 innings. It should have been 3 innings. At least 4 mental base running errors that cost us bigger innings was not what we were expecting. Those kind of mistakes in a tight game will turn the tide the other way.

The pitching was outstanding as Bone and Stevie combined to throw a no-hitter, only facing 1 more batter than the minimum. We were 1 batter away from a perfect game. The bats did a nice job as well with 4 home runs: Ryan (2), KB, and B-Saf (not a typo)! As a matter of fact, our first 4 hits were homers.

We came to win 5 games. We did what we wanted in the first 3. Now it's on to the Championship Round.

Arms:
Bone: 3 innings, 0 hits, 0 runs, 6 K's
Stevie: 2 innings, 0 hits, 0 runs, 5 K's

Next Game: 7/15 vs. Nisky @ 6:00 semifinals @ Clifton Park - Ripken State Championship

Wow - what a game! We were up against a Spring team that had mercied B-Spa a day earlier. We were both 1-0. The winner was in the driver's seat to make the semi's. Sean led off our half of the 1st with a HR again! Unlike our game against Beacon where the opposing pitcher was very shaken, Spring shrugged it off and gave us a battle to the end. Matt threw a masterpiece (see stats below) in going the distance. Through 4 innings, Z threw to only 13 hitters. The winning run in the bottom of the 6th was not your typical ending. Nick led off the inning with a shot to left field that somehow fell in. He stole 2B. Spring had their 3B playing in against the bunt. Nick and Coach Egan knowing the third baseman couldn't possibly get back to cover the bag, put on the steal. Nick (who's nickname is Big Papi) easily steals third. But the catcher, trying to thow Nick out, chucks the ball into left field because no one was covering the bag. Nick gets up from his slide and 'motors' home to just beat the the throw from LF. Coach Gavin pointed out that Nick had won a few games in his career with his bat but NEVER with his wheels!! B-Saf is still wondering if he gets an RBI because he was up when all this happened.

The NC 12's really hadn't found their stride. We kinda stumbled into the State Tourney with an uncharacteristic 3-3 record after the Round Robin. Our first opponent within a very tough Pool B bracket was Beacon. Beacon hadn't lost in their Round Robin down South and had quite a few 'mercies' under their belt. On paper, this could have been a mismatch. We saw fight in our kids for a full 6 innings tonight! Sean led off the game with a home run that obviously rattled the Beacon starter. The kids fed off each other and didn't stop until the final out of the game.

Arms:
Ryan: 3 innings, 3 hits, 3 runs, 2 K's
Sean: 3 innings, 1 hit, 0 runs, 3 K's

Sticks:
Sean: HR, HR, single
Z: single
Bone: single
Ryan: single
Stevie: single, single
Papi: double
J-Saf: double

Crazy game. We took a 5-0 lead into the 5th inning allowing only 1 hit and 4 total baserunners. The 5th and 6th inning saw us give up 5 walks (1 IBB), 6 hits, and 12 baserunners combined. It's like someone flipped a switch. The winning run scored on the craziest infield fly rule (that wasn't called) that you'll ever see. Bottom line is that we didn't get the job done by playing a full 6 innings. The ENY State Tourney begins on Friday 7/11 in Clifton Park. We are the defending 11 year old State Champs but have not really found our stride yet this year. It's now or never.....

Sticks:
Z: single
Sean: single, double
Ryan: single
Nick: single
Bone: HR
J-Saf: double, single

Next Game: 7/11 Beacon 5:30
12 year old 50/70 ENY Cal Ripken State Tourney in Clifton Park

The pitching was fine today but the sticks were quiet. We left a runner on 3B in every inning. In 4 of the innings we had runners on 2B and 3B. Just couldn't get the clutch hit when we needed it. The kids stuck to and had to grind for everything they got. Sometimes a good battle pays dividends down the road. Time will tell.

Stevie: 2 innings, 0 hits, 1 run, 3 K's B-Saf: 2 innings, 0 hits, 2 runs, 3 K's Ryan: 3 innings, 2 hits, 1 run, 3 K's

Z: double, single
Ryan: single
Nick: single
B-Saf: single
Keegan: single
Pos: single

Took us awhile to get going but once we did, we didn't stop. We got contribution from just about every kid which was a good sign. Still not as crisp and solid as we need to be but hopefully we're building towards next weekend's State Tourney.

Sean: 2 innings, 0 hits, 0 runs, 3 K's
Ryan: 2 innings, 0 hits, 0 runs, 1 K
Nick: 1 inning, 1 hit, 0 runs

Sean: 2B
KB: 1B
Stevie:1B Ryan: 1B, 1B Nick: 1B, 1B
B-Saf: 1B
J-Saf: 1B
Keegan: 1B

Finally got a 'W' in the Area Round Robin. Still not alot of hits but the kids were hitting the ball hard which resulted in a bunch of errors. Kevin Egan did a nice job on the hill.

It's hard to believe we played in a 14-12 ballgame. Not hard to believe we can score 12 runs in a game but it is hard to believe we gave up 14 runs. Don't know if this group of kids has ever done that. Clifton Park hit 6 home runs. We battled back from 3 different deficits but could not hang on for the W when it was all said and done.

Z: single
Sean: HR, HR single
Stevie: single, double
Ryan: double, double
Papi: single
B-Saf: double
J-Saf: single, double

The first game of the Ripken Area Round Robin had the NC 12's up against Nisky (a.k.a. Rotterdam). Our Padres team just played them 3 times in the past 6 days and here we are again. As with the case this post season, one inning seems to do us in. A Nisky 4 run 3rd inning put us in a hole that we weren't able to get out of. Our bats and defense were lifeless and we paid the price.

The 2nd game of our tourney had us getting off to a terrible start again. 4 walks and 1 single gave Clarkstown a quick 2-0 lead. In the 2nd inning, a K, K, and a ground out should have given us a 1, 2, 3 inning, but the grounder was booted and Clarktown scored 5 unearned run to take a 7-0 lead.

It was an uphill battle from there as we never really mounted any serious threat until the 6th inning but by then a torrential downpour had us looking for rafts to stay afloat in the dugout. Apparently, whoever built the field had it slope towards the home dugout.

We didn't get back to our hotel until about 11:00 PM. Remember that the night before we didn't get back until alomost midnight. It was a crazy schedule to say the least.

It's the end of our travel season. Our kids played well and we got to see some outstanding teams here. They are true travel teams who pull kids from large areas. We are a town team. It was a good experience for the kids!

Our first trip to an ENYTB/AABC Regional Tournament. We are seeing some very good baseball teams from all over the northeast - including the team we played in Game #1.

Someone told us that the Naturals were one of the favorites. We were also told that they were 82-3 in their last 85 games. After playing them, both statements were probably true.

We were visitors and in the top of the first Bone hit a shot to give us a 1-0 lead. That lead lasted as long as it took you to read the last sentence as the Naturals hit 2 HR's in the bottom of the 1st to take a 3-1 lead after 1 inning. Ryan hit a HR in the top of the 2nd to make it a 3-2 ballgame but that's when the dam broke. All but 2 kids from Conn. had hits and even their outs were hit on the nose.

As a side note, there is only one field so it's back to back to back, etc. games. 1 early game went 10 innings and another went 9 innings. We were the last game of the day and didn't start until almost 9:30 PM. Didn't get done until about 11:45 PM!

We were visitors again (coin toss) and wanted to make a statement in the top of the first. Didn't happen. We did make somewhat of a statement in the bottom as Bone was tough on the hill. Up 2-0 in the 3rd, we didn't feel comfortable after what we saw in the earlier game. Sure enough, Rotterdam chipped away and a 2-0 score quickly turned into a 3-2 deficit. We had our chances but could not catch any breaks as we ran ourselves out of a couple of innings. We were still down 3-2 in the 7th when Brandan, Keegan, & Justin jumped started us. Hard hit balls by Sean and Z and a nice coaching move by Coach Z pushed across 3 runs and we held on for a dramatic 5-4 victory!

We hadn't played in 4 days and Rotterdam was low on available pitching. We were undefeated and sitting pretty with Rotterdam needing to beat us twice to win the championship.

We were visitors. Sean led off the game with HR and 4 batters later, Ryan hit a 3-run HR to give the Padres a quick 4-0 lead. After 2 innings we were up 7-1 and apparently thought the game was over. Our defense forgot to take the field in the 3rd and a seemingly safe lead was gone in a matter of minutes. The bats went cold as well as we only managed 2 hits after the 2nd inning. A very disappointing loss. We had no time to sulk as we had to play Game Two 20 minutes later.

Sean: HR
Z: single, triple
T: single
Ryan: HR, single
Stevie: single, single
KEgan: single

We had never beaten Halfmoon and they were a team that only lost 3 games during the Spring season.

Hate to be redundant but.....Continuing a trend for our team, we came out sluggish - don't know why. We were down 2-0 after the top the 1st inning. Also continuing a trend for our team, we didn't quit. In the bottom of the 1st inning, Bone hit a ball harder and farther than I have ever seen a Little League player hit one. Use any cliche you want, but it was absolutely smoked. Just ask Tyler about it - he got a very good view of it! The bats stayed hot with HR's by Kevin Egan and a grand slam by Stevie Cox. Defense was tight. A solid outing by Ryan Callister on the hill rounded out a nice complete game by the boys.

Bone: HR, single
Steve Cox: Grand Slam, single
Ryan: single
Nick Gavin: single
Kevin Egan: HR, single
Brandan Safford: single
Russ Bird: single

The NC Padres 12's are playing both ENYTB 50/70 and Cal Ripken 50/70 this summer. Our first tournament happens to be a dually sanctioned AABC/PONY State tourney (double elimination) that we qualified for based on our Spring regular season 1st place finish.

Out first game had us up against our 'friends' from Rotterdam. Rotterdam isn't really Rotterdam - it's the Niskayuna team that we've played countless times in the past 4 years. They know us, we know them.

Continuing a trend for our team, we came out sluggish - don't know why. We were down 6-0 in the 2nd inning. Also continuing a trend for our team, we didn't quit. A grand slam by Tyler Hoffman in the 3rd inning brought the team back to life. Not only did Bone pick us up at the plate, he relieved in the 3rd inning and only allowed 1 run in the next 4 innings. Ryan Callister came in and got the final 2 outs in the 7th to stop a mini Nisky rally.

Bone: Grand Slam
Steve Cox: single
Ryan: single, double
Nick Gavin: single, single
Kevin Egan: single
Kevin Bilynsky: single

	Spring 1 : Hughes (3), Rivers (2)
	North Colonie 1 : Nick Pascazio (2/2), Matt Paulsen (2/2), Nick Hinkle (2/2)

	Pine Bush Am. :
	North Colonie 1 : Matt P (2), Nick H (1), Brian N (1)