KC Dodgers

For the second game in a row, the Kyle Chapman 13 year old All-Star team roared back from a late inning deficit to beat a very worthy opponent. Monday night, K.C. rallied back from being down 3-0 in the middle of the 6th inning to post an impressive 8-4 victory over a very tough Deer Park team in the semifinals of the PONY Director's Tournament. As a result of their efforts, Kyle Chapman will face a heavily favored NASA team in the finals of the PONY Director's Tournament on Tuesday night at 7pm in Pasadena. Grant Haynes took the mound for K.C. He held Deer Park scoreless through three innings. Unfortunately, Deer Park erupted for 2 unearned runs in the 4th inning on a back-to-back one out singles, and a throwing error by the K.C. shortstop. Deer Park added another unearned run in the 5th inning on a one out single, a stolen base, a throwing error by the catcher, and two out single just out of the reach of a diving Ross Chan at shortstop. Jeremy Schaffer relieved Grant in the fifth inning with two outs. The inning ended when Pat Brosch gunned down a Deer Park runner attempting to steal second base. Meanwhile, things were mighty quiet on the K.C. side of the scoreboard. Through five innings of play, K.C. could only manage a leadoff walk by Andrew Burns in the 4th inning, followed by a one out single by Paul Knowlton later that inning. However, neither player crossed the plate in the 4th. Then, in the bottom of the 6th inning, down 3-0, with precious time ticking away, our K.C. All-Stars finally figured out what those expensive aluminum doorstops should be used for. Jeremy Schaffer led off with a walk, Charles Mann walked, and Ross Chan drove them both in with a beautiful double to right-centerfield. Ross ended up on third base due to a fielding error by the Deer Park right fielder. Paul Knowlton singled in Ross Chan to tie the game at 3. After back-to-back groundouts to shortstop, Colin Bear drove in Paul Knowlton with a beautiful pinch hit. Dylan Hickey drove in Colin Bear with a sensational pinch hit double into the right field corner. Brandon Mulder drew a pinch hit walk, and Jeremy Schaffer walked for the second time in the inning. Charles Mann was hit in the leg with a hard fastball to load the bases. Ross Chan drove in his third and fourth runs of the inning with a single, before Paul Knowlton was finally retired on a tough grounder to short for the third out of the inning. Also in the 6th inning, Jared Rothenberg pinch ran for Dylan Hickey and got to third on a wild pitch and scored on another wild pitch. When the smoke cleared, K.C. had posted 8 huge 6th inning runs to lead 8-3 going into the 7th and final inning. Jeremy Schaffer struck out the leadoff batter on a 2-2 fastball. The next batter walked, stole second, advanced to third on a single by the three-slot hitter, and scored on a sac fly to centerfield by the cleanup hitter. Jeremy Schaffer then induced the five-hole hitter to ground to third, and after a long throw to Jared Rothenberg at first, K.C. had earned its way into the finals of the 2003 Pony Director's Tournament. For those of you who wish to attend tomorrow (Tuesday) night's final game, the best route will be the Sam Houston Tollway east to the Red Bluff exit, make a left on Red Bluff and go down about 3/4 of a mile. The field will be on your left side and you can't miss it. Admission is $3 for people over 13, and coolers, food and outside beverages are not permitted. Congratulations to the 13's on another thrilling come-from-behind victory!!! See you at the ballpark on Tuesday evening. That's all for now. This is Scott Rothenberg signing off.