KC Cards

The K.C. 13 year old All-Star team used a balanced hitting attack, good fielding, aggressive base running, and excellent pitching to defeat Toros Baseball 9-3 in the opening game of the Westbury Summer Tournament at Schaffer & Schaffer field in the Westbury Little League complex on Thursday night. K.C. managed to score in every inning, while holding the Toros to 2 unearned runs in the 3rd inning. In the top of the first, K.C. capitalized on some soft Toro defense by converting errors by the third baseman, the first baseman and the pitcher into the first run of the game. Pat Brosch then singled, and Trey Hibbert drove him home with an RBI double to make it 2-0 K.C. after one. K.C. added a run in the 2nd inning on a lined double down the left field line by Jared Rothenberg. Jared was balked to third, and scored on a Jeremy Schaffer sacrifice fly to center field. K.C. led 3-0 after 2 innings. K.C. doubled its lead in the third, scoring runs on a walk to Pat Brosch, an error by the pitcher, a 2 base error by the third baseman on a Jeffrey Rohrbach grounder, a walk to Trey Hibbert who then stole second, and a neat double to the outfield by Grant Haynes to drive in Jeffrey and Trey. The Toros cut the lead to 6-2 in the bottom of the third on a one out walk, an infield error, and a pair of two out singles. Ross Chan pitched the first 2 2/3 innings of the game, giving up only 2 unearned runs on three hits, striking out 5 and walking only 2. A very nice effort for Ross. K.C. bumped the score to 7-2 in the 4th inning on a two out single by Pat Brosch, a wild pitch advancing Pat to second, and a hard ground ball single down the right field line by Jeffrey Rohrbach to score Pat. The score went to 8-2 in the K.C. 5th inning on a leadoff walk to Grant Haynes, a grounder to third which resulted in Jeremy Schaffer reaching first base and Grant going to second, Grant's steal of third base, and Ross Chan's pretty single just over the infielders to score Grant. K.C. scored its final run of the game in the 6th inning on a 1 out single by Jeffrey Rohrbach, a stolen base and Grant Haynes' RBI hit (his second hit and third RBI of the game). The Toros added a meaningless run in the bottom of the 6th on a double, a fielder's choice, and an infield error, to close out the scoring and give K.C. the win by the score of 9-3. Colin Bear relieved Ross Chan with two outs in the third inning. All Colin was able to manage was shutting out the Toros over the last 3 1/3 innings, scattering 3 hits, striking out 7 batters and walking none. Truly one of the best relief efforts that the K.C. 13's have seen all year. After leaving the field around 11pm, the K.C. 13's will have to sleep fast and recharge for their 6pm game against Westbury at Schaffer & Schaffer field in the Westbury Little League complex on Friday night. For those in attendance at Friday's game, you will notice at least 4 familiar faces, as Westbury has added four K.C. players for this tournament. Meanwhile, the K.C. 14's practiced for 2 hours at K.C. field in anticipation of their opening game of the Pony Sectionals in Port Neches tomorrow (Friday) night at 6pm. For those in attendance at either game, frequent score updates will be given by Scott Rothenberg in Port Neches for the 14 year olds game and Lisa Rothenberg at Westbury Field for the 13 year olds. That way, no matter where you are, you'll know what is going on at both fields. This is Scott Rothenberg saying, see you at the ballpark tomorrow. Goooooo K.C.!!!!

Here's the revised Westbury tournament schedule hot off their web site. www.westburyll.org Thu, Jul 17 6:00PM KC American All Stars (Jr) vs. Westbury (Jr) Thu, Jul 17 8:30PM KC AllStars (Jr) vs. Toros Baseball (Jr) Fri, Jul 18 6:00PM KC AllStars (Jr) vs. Westbury (Jr) Fri, Jul 18 8:30PM Friendswood Sliders (Jr) vs. Outlaw Baseball (Jr) Sat, Jul 19 10:00AM KC AllStars (Jr) vs. Outlaw Baseball (Jr) Sat, Jul 19 12:30PM KC American All Stars (Jr) vs. Outlaw Baseball (Jr) Sat, Jul 19 3:00PM KC American All Stars (Jr) vs. Toros Baseball (Jr) Sat, Jul 19 5:30PM Toros Baseball (Jr) vs. Friendswood Sliders (Jr) Sat, Jul 19 8:00PM Friendswood Sliders (Jr) vs. Westbury (Jr) Sun, Jul 20 12:00PM 4th Place vs. 5th Place Sun, Jul 20 2:30PM 1st Place vs. Winner (4th vs 5th) Sun, Jul 20 5:00PM 6th Place vs. 3rd Place Sun, Jul 20 7:30PM 2nd Place vs. Winner (6th vs 3rd) Mon, Jul 21 7:00PM CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

The Kyle Chapman 14 year old All Star team rode the strong right arm of Brett Gibson and a relentless 15 hit offensive bombardment to the District 5 Texas Pony League championship Monday night, defeating a tired but talented Brazos Valley squad by the score of 12-1 in 5 innings. Brazos Valley drew first blood, tallying their first-- indeed only-- run of the game in the opening frame on a walk, a fielder's choice, and a two out roller to the left side that leaked into short left field, scoring the runner from second. Did Kyle Chapman have an answer in the bottom of the 1st? Yep. How about six of 'em. Brian Borski walked, reached second on a passed ball, moved to third on a Mark Robichau single, and scored on a Matt West double. Credit a young lady named Claudette with an assist on Matt's double. He hit a blast high and deep to centerfield that would have been a three run home run if Claudette had not reached out her vaporous hand and slapped it back into the field of play. After Mark Robichau and Matt West were balked home by Brazos Valley pitcher Kyle Dzunkiewicz, Joe Silver continued the offensive outburst with a single, but was erased on the front half of a very close double play. Daniel Rothenberg recharged the K.C. offense with a line drive single to left-centerfield, and George Murphy added one of his own. Brett Gibson stared the Brazos Valley pitcher and Claudette straight in the eye and defied them both, launching a long, high deep blast to the outfield. This time, both Dzunkiewicz and Claudette were powerless to contain the mighty blast. K.C. led 6-1 after one inning of play. After a scoreless second inning, K.C. added an insurance run in the bottom of the third. Karl Pringle singled, Daniel Rothenberg singled, and Karl scored on George Murphy's second hit of the evening. After 3, it was K.C. 7, B.V. 1. K.C. held Brazos Valley scoreless in the fourth, but K.C. exploded for 5 big runs in the bottom of the 4th to put the game away. Brian Borski singled and was balked to second. Matt West drove Brian home with his second hit of the game. Joe Silver reached 1st on an error by the B.V. 3rd baseman. After Andrew Espinosa went in to run for Joe Silver, Karl Pringle launched the second K.C. home run of the evening to make the score 11-1. K.C. closed out the scoring adding one more run on a single by George Murphy, a stolen base, a balk and a single by Brett Gibson. At the end of 4, it was K.C. 12, B.V. 1. In the top of the 5th, Brett Gibson got the first batter to ground out to third, the second to fly out to third, and the Brazos Valley cleanup hitter to foul fly to Beau Faulk near first base to end the game. And just like that, the K.C. 14's were the District Champions. What can one say about Brett Gibson's pitching performance? 5 innnings. One unearned run on four scattered singles. Two walks compared to three strikeouts. Eighty-seven pitches worth of awesomeness. And how about the K.C. defense? A single error compared to 11 workmanlike defensive outs, including a nifty 6-4-3 double play, Matt West to Alex Cernoch to George Murphy to snuff out a Brazos Valley attempt at a rally in the third inning. And the coaching? Jay Dushkin, Mike Winner and Nick Ozuna virtually replicated Joe Torre, Sparky Anderson and Bobby Cox in the dugout and in the coaching boxes. In a phrase, it was a team effort through and through. Congratulations to the District Champion Kyle Chapman 14 year old All Stars. And congratulations to each member of the winning team on putting away an average of three pounds of pizza each at CiCi's during the post-game celebration. Next on tap is a Sectional Game on Friday, July 18, 2003 at 6:00 p.m., at the Port Neches Pony Field against Bridge-City. Thanks to all of K.C.'s tireless supporters, and everyone who contributed to a very successful District Tournament. Special thanks to Bill Lamont for his Above the Call of Duty Efforts to insure a smoothly run tournament and Fred Chan for his excellent team photography. On to Port Neches. Congratulations K.C..... Go K.C.!!!!!!!!!!! This is Scott Rothenberg saying, see you in Jefferson County!!!!

To the K.C. Families, Players and Allstars, The KC 14 Year Old All Star Team continue their long road to the Pony World Series Monday, July 14, 6:00 pm. In support of our senior class, the K.C. organization would like for our team members and parents to attend this game at the K.C. Pony field. Allstar players, please wear your All Star Caps and T Shirts. The winner will play again ... to be announced later. I will keep you posted with game times as this weekend progresses, so please check your emails or the K.C. web site. See you all at the ballpark. K.C. Pony League Organization

It has been said that the strongest steel results from placing the right raw materials under the greatest pressures at the highest temperatures. If that is true, then the Kyle Chapman 14 year old All-Star team showed its mettle (pun intended) in gutting out a gritty 7-6 win over a very tough Deer Park opponent at K.C. Field on Sunday afternoon. Deer Park got to the district semi-final game by routing its first opponent, then beating Brazos Valley 1-0 on Saturday night. K.C. got there by beating an overmatched Katy Freeway team into submission 22-1 in 2 1/2 innings on Saturday afternoon. That set up the third game of the K.C. - Deer Park series this year. K.C. beat Deer Park in the championship game of Deer Park's own tournament a few months back. Deer Park returned the favor in the finals of the Pony Director's Tournament by a score of 5-2. Everyone suspected this would be a good game, but it wasn't. It was a terrific game. Deer Park broke on top 2-0 in the top of the first inning on a walk and a two-out two run home run by Deer Park's cleanup hitter. K.C. answered with four runs of its own in the bottom of the first, courtesy of walks to Brian Borski and Karl Pringle and a three run blast by Matt West to give K.C. a 3-2 advantage. Sean Lamont walked, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a high fly fielder's choice by Beau Faulk to make the score 4-2 in favor of K.C. after 1 inning of play. Karl Pringle held Deer Park scoreless in the second inning, notching his third and fourth strikeouts of the game. K.C. stretched its lead to 5-2 in the second inning courtesy of a single by Matt West, a stolen base by Matt West, a single by Sean Lamont, advancing Matt to third, and a wild pitch, allowing Matt to make the score 5-2 in favor of K.C. after 2 innings of play. In the top of the third inning, the Deer Park first baseman hit his first of two home runs on the day (and third in two days), a solo shot, to close the K.C. advantage to 5-3. Mark Robichau (fresh off the D.L.), gave K.C. back its (temporary) three run cushion with a solo blast in the bottom of the 3rd. Score: K.C. 6 - Deer Park 3. In the top of the 4th, Deer Park converted a single over the second baseman and its third home run of the day into 2 big runs to make the score K.C. 6, Deer Park 5. K.C. could not answer in its half of the 4th inning. Deer Park tied the game in the 5th inning on their fourth home run of the game, this time by their first baseman (his second of the game). Alex Cernoch pitched the fifth inning and stranded a potential go ahead run for Deer Park at second base by inducing a grounder to the pitcher and a called strike three for the third out. In the bottom of the 5th inning, K.C. manufactured a go ahead run on a clutch leadoff single by Joe Silver, and an even more clutch two out run scoring single by Mark Robichau. The score after 5 innings of play: K.C. 7, Deer Park 6. K.C. defense and Alex Cernoch's pitching were enough to make that score stand over the last inning and a half. In the top of the 6th, Joe Silver made an awesome defensive play when the leadoff batter chopped the ball right in front of home plate. Joe pounced on the ball and fired it to George Murphy at first for the first big out of the inning. Alex hit the next batter, but with one out, the Deer Park pinch hitter hit a pop fly bunt that Joe Silver gathered in for the second out of the inning. Alex induced the Deer Park leadoff batter to ground to short for the last out of the inning. In the top of the 7th, Alex got the Deer Park 2 hole hitter to ground to short for the first out, and proceeded to strike out the next two batters (both of whom combined for three out of four of Deer Park's home runs earlier in the game). And just like that, K.C. is one win away from the District Championship. As this article goes to press, Deer Park and Brazos Valley are squaring off for the right to play K.C. in the championship game. The loser goes home. The winner plays K.C. at 6pm tomorrow (Monday) evening at Kyle Chapman field in beautiful Bayland Park. If K.C. wins, they are district champs. If they lose, they play the second game of a doubleheader against the same opponent for all the marbles at 8:30 pm tomorrow (Monday) night. Kudos to the Deer Park pitcher, who, though his team lost the game, pitched his heart out, throwing 126 pitches over 6 innings of work against a very good hitting K.C. team. That's all for now. Congrats to the K.C. players, parents, coaches, and supporters on a hard fought victory. See you at the ballpark tomorrow evening. That's all for now. This is Scott Rothenberg signing off.