KC Dodgers

According to the old country tune, "sometimes, you're the windshield, and sometimes you're the bug." Today (Saturday 6/28) the K.C. 14's did their best windshield impression, while the 13's were every bit the bug. First the good news. The K.C. 14 All-Stars obliterated the South Post Oak team, by a score of 15-1 after 5 innings. South Post Oak broke out in front 1-0 in the first inning, but their bats melted in the late morning sun as though they were made of chocolate. Nary another run would be tallied by South Post Oak. It was a different story on the K.C. side of the ledger. After a 1-2-3 first inning, the K.C. 14's posted 5 runs in the 2nd, 1 more in the 3rd inning, and 9 more in the 4th inning to put the game away. You want singles? Brett Gibson, Brian Borski, Matt West, Mark Robichau, Brian again, Andrew Espinosa and Daniel Rothenberg were happy to oblige. How about doubles? Beau Faulk, Jamie Reingold, Mark Robichau, Joe Silver, Matt West and Patrick Morris are the men with the plan. Bases on balls? Look to Beau Faulk, Sean Lamont, and George Murphy. Sacrifice flies? Joe Silver is your guy. When the smoke cleared, the K.C. 14's had run ruled South Post Oak in a big way. Apparently, home plate needed to be replaced after the game due to all the K.C. spike marks on it. In a related matter, the South Post Oak 14 year old pitching staff agreed to a 1 year contract to pitch batting practice for K.C. Apparently, they did not realize that the contract began AFTER this tournament. Brett Gibson pitched four very good innings to earn the win, and Patrick Morris earned a hold with a 1-2-3 fifth inning on the mound. Now for the 13's. To be blunt, it wasn't pretty. K.C. Titan 13 year old batters went down 1-2-3 in the first and second innings. For a chnnge of pace, a K.C. batter got on base due to a third inning error by the Scorpions shortstop. Unfortunately, he was promptly gunned down by the Scorpion's catcher while attempting to steal second base. Rancho Viejo scored 4 unearned runs in their half of the 3rd inning on a throwing error by the pitcher, a 6-4 fielder's choice at second base, a 4-6 fielder's choice at second base, a single to score a run, a walk, a double to left field to score two more runs, and a single to right field. The inning ended mercifully when Paul Knowlton, the K.C. pitcher, faked a pickoff at first base, then threw to third, who threw home for the tagout of the runner from third. The K.C. 13's tried to mount an attack in the top of the 4th. Ross Chan started the inning with a single but was (does this sound familiar) gunned down at second trying to steal. Charles Mann stroked a sweet single to right field (just one of four hits by the K.C. 13's all game) and was promptly rewarded by being pulled from the game. Paul Knowlton made it runners on first and second on an error by the R.V. second baseman. However, the K.C. 13's remained scoreless with one out fielder's choice and a flyout to left field. In the fifth inning, Jeffrey Rohrbach led off with a single, but was promply erased in a pinch hit double play. The inning ended with a strikeout. With time running out, K.C. led off the sixth inning with the bases loaded on a single by Miles Mendeloff, a walk by Ross Chan and a bunt hit by Colin Bear. The game ended with successive outs on a strikeout, a popout to second base, and a strikeout. To their credit, Paul Knowlton (who unfairly got the loss with 4 unearned runs in 3 innings) and Colin Bear (who allowed no runs in 3 innings) pitched very well, holding R.V. to 6 hits over 6 innings. However, their efforts were wasted with subpar hitting, subpar fieding, and subpar running games by the K.C. 13 Titans. The coming attractions for the K.C. 14's are simple and straightforward. They are in a single elimination situation. Their next game is 2pm on Sunday, followed by another game at 4pm on Sunday if they win. The coming attractions for the K.C. Titan 13's is not so clear. They are in a "pool" situation, waiting until the end of the 6pm games tonight (Saturday) to see when they play next. It could be at 8:30pm tonight (Saturday), or 8am or 10am or noon on Sunday, depending on how the other teams in the pool play. The K.C. 13's adopted an interesting preparation for their possible 8:30pm game tonight. After awaking around 6am for the 8am game this morning, and after losing 4-0 in a lackluster effort (except for the pitching), most of the K.C. Titan 13's spent the afternoon exerting themselves in 93 degree heat and 50% humidity in the hot sun at Fiesta Texas. That's all from Boerne, Texas. Many thanks to my local correspondent, Lisa Rothenberg, for her excellent note-taking during the 14's game, allowing me to provide you with this update. This is Scott Rothenberg signing off.

The K.C. Titans 13 year old team beat the Mission Texas Longhorns by a score of 10-2 in five innings in the opening game of the USSSA Texas World Series Qualifier in Boerne, Texas on Friday afternoon. Mission opened the scoring with 2 unearned runs in the first inning courtesy of a highly uncharacteristic error by Jared Rothenberg at first base. It would be the first and last runs that pitcher Grant Haynes would allow. K.C.'s hitting attack was paced by Ross Chan's 2 RBI double and later single, Paul Knowlton's single and double, and Pat Brosch's two singles. The K.C. Titan 13's play again at the hideous hour of 8:00 a.m., tomorrow (Saturday) against the Rancho Viejo Jr. Scorpions. If the Titans win, they will certainly advance to the championship bracket, where it will take 4 more wins in a row to take the tournament. The Titans could advance to the championship bracket with a loss, depending on several tie breakers. Congratulations to the Titans on taking care of business in the opener of this tournament. Meanwhile, the K.C. 14's open the Pony Director's Tournament in Spring Branch at Westview near Campbell at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow (Saturday) morning. Anyone wanting directions to Boerne or Spring Branch to cheer on our 13's and 14's should respond to this email. Go K.C. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's all for now. This is Scott Rothenberg signing off.

Last night (Monday night), the K.C. 13 year old All-Stars rallied back from a 3-0 deficit to take a thrilling 8-4 come from behind victory against a tough Deer Park team. Tonight (Tuesday night), a disciplined, tough, very talented NASA team gave K.C. a taste of its own medicine, turning a 3-1 1st inning K.C. lead into a 15-3 drubbing in the finals of the PONY Directors Tournament. First, five items of good news about tonight's game. #1 - Nothing that occurred on the field contributed to the depletion of the Earth's ozone layer. #2 - None of our K.C. players ended up in the hospital. #3 - We got to see Coaches Glenn, Bob and Jack dressed up in their spiffy uniforms once again. #4 - The mosquitos weren't biting too badly and a refreshing breeze was blowing in from center field. #5 - We don't have to go back to the far east side of Houston anytime soon. Now for the not-quite-so-good news. NASA scored lots and lots and lots of runs. Some of them were due to the fact that several K.C. pitchers who threw on Saturday, Sunday and Monday were not available to pitch on Tuesday. Some of them were due to disappointing execution by K.C.'s usually steady defense in the field (six unearned NASA runs resulted from six K.C. errors). Three of them were due to the fact that the NASA pitcher, who was somewhere between the Hulk and a solid rocket booster in size, launched a high inside fastball over the left-centerfield fence INTO a fairly nice breeze. NASA scored one in the first, four in the fourth, seven in the 5th, and 3 in the 6th. Defensively, NASA committed only 2 errors the whole game. Their right fielder threw out 2 K.C. runners at first base on what would ordinarily have been hard line drive hits. K.C.'s runs all came in the first inning. Ross Chan got an infield hit . Colin Bear walked. Paul Knowlton was hit by a pitch. Pat Brosch drove in 2 runs with an RBI single. Grant Haynes drove in a run with a fielder's choice. And that was about it for the K.C. offense, which could muster only 2 other walks and 2 scattered singles throughout the remaining 5 innings of the game. Next on tap for the K.C. 13 year old All-Stars is the USSSA Tournament in Boerne, Texas, this coming weekend. Everyone who knows anything about this team knows that the K.C. 13's will learn from tonight's experience and emerge a better, tougher, more confident team as a result of it. Congratulations to the K.C. 13's on achieving FINALIST status in the 2003 PONY Directors Tournament. We are all very proud of the fact that K.C. finished second out of 28 teams in the district. We look forward to the opportunity to show NASA how we have improved when (or if) we meet them in the upcoming playoffs. That's all for now. This is Scott Rothenberg signing off.

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.

Those of you old enough to remember the old "Wide World of Sports" are well-familiar with "the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat." Kyle Chapman's 13 and 14 year old All-Star Teams experienced both, respectively, in tournament action on Sunday (6/22). The two games were as close and exciting as any played by any K.C. teams in recent memory. First the 14's. They played in quarterfinal action of the CABA tournament at Baseball USA on Sunday morning. The opponent-- Red Dogs VI. The Red Dogs drew first blood in the bottom of the first inning. With Daniel Rothenberg on the mound, the Dogs converted a walk, a single to center, and an error by the centerfielder to post an unearned run. K.C. came right back to tie it up in the top of the 2nd on a single by Mark Robichau, a walk to Bo Faulk, a wild pitch and an RBI single by Joe Silver. The Dogs nudged ahead in the bottom of the 3rd with another unearned run. An error at 2nd base, a stolen base, and a single put the Dogs up 2-1. Daniel Rothenberg had to leave the game in the middle of the 4th inning after straining his back while poking an outside pitch to left field for a hit. Karl Pringle came in to pitch in the 4th, and held the Dogs scoreless in the 4th and 5th innings. K.C. tied the game in the top of the 6th inning on a single by Cameron Brown, a single by Joe Silver, and an RBI single by Corey Triche. Thus, the score was tied 2-2 in the middle of 6. Karl held the Dogs scoreless in the 6th and 7th innings. Meanwhile, K.C. could not score in the 7th and 8th innings. That brings us to the bottom of the 8th inning. The Red Dogs leadoff batter hit a double to right center field. The next batter was out on a sacrifice bunt. Karl gave intentional walks to the next two Dog batters to load the bases with one out. The final Red Dogs batter hit a routine ground ball to shortstop. The Dog runner from second to third stopped in front of the ball and shook his leg, distracting the K.C. shortstop just enough to make him miss the grounder. Just like that, the 14's were knocked out of the tournament after a gutsy 3-2 loss in 8 innings. Daniel Rothenberg pitched well, allowing only 2 unearned runs in 3 innings, while Karl Pringle pitched magnificently, holding the Red Dogs to the final unearned run in the 8th over 5 brilliant innings of work. One bright side to the 14's CABA showing is that up to 5 starters on the spring K.C. 14 year old Titans were not present for the tournament. Thus, it would not be appropriate to draw any conclusions about the 14's chances in the upcoming PONY tournament. Turning to the K.C. 13's, they played in their third game of the Director's Tournament on Sunday evening at the Katy Freeway field (Campbell @ Westview in Spring Branch). The 13's run-ruled their first two competitors on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Sunday night found them facing a very tough Dickinson Gator team that had just finished beating the host team by a score of 19-5. Paul Knowlton got the ball for K.C. and proceeded to put Dickinson down on three straight ground balls in the first inning. K.C. struck for two big runs in their half of the stanza. Andrew Burns singled, stole second, Paul Knowlton earned a walk. Both runners advanced a base on a wild pitch. Pat Brosch drove them both in, drilling a 3-1 fastball into the outfield. At the end of 1, K.C. led 2-0. Dickinson halved the K.C. lead in the top of the 2nd on a leadoff double, a passed ball and a fielder's choice grounder to the pitcher. K.C. didn't score in the bottom of the 2nd, but Dickinson managed to tie the game in the top of the 3rd on a leadoff walk, a balk, and an error by the shortstop. The score remained deadlocked in the bottom of the 3rd inning, the 4th, and the 5th. In the top of the 6th inning, Dickinson seized the lead on an error by the second baseman, a wild pitch, a single to left field, and a fielder's choice groundout to first base. Down 3-2 in the bottom of the 6th inning, the fireworks finally began. Paul Knowlton led off with a sharp single to right center field. He advanced to second on a steal and then to third on a balk. With an 0-1 count, and one out, Grant Haynes attempted to lay a bunt down the first base line. As he left the batter's box, the ball bounced up and hit Grant on the leg. The umpire called, "FOUL," then called Grant out for making contact with the ground ball bunt. Coach Glenn Haynes reminded the umpires that once the foul call was made, the ball was dead, even if the foul call was an error. The umpire agreed and Grant was sent back to bat. He promptly drilled a 1-2 pitch to the gap for a double to tie the game 3-3. With 2 outs, Dylan Hickey pinch hitted for Jared Rothenberg. He poked a 1-0 high fastball to the fence for an RBI single, scoring Grant from second. K.C. led 4-3 going into the top of the final inning. Even though he threw 99 pitches through 6 innings, Paul Knowlton asked for the ball in the 7th inning. He promptly struck out the Gators' pinch hitter on a 2-2 breaking ball. The next batter lined a hard grounder to 3rd base. The ball glanced off Jeffrey Rohrbach's glove and went right to an alert Ross Chan at shortstop. With the Gators' batter flying toward first, Ross fired a strike to Jared Rothenberg at first, who stretched the full extent that his 100% polyester baseball pants would allow. He needed every bit of that stretch, since the Gators' batter was out by a fraction of a second. The final Dickinson batter flied out to centerfield, and just like that, the 13 year old Kyle Chapman team earned a birth in the Pony Directors Tournament semifinals tomorrow (Monday) night at 8:30pm in Pasadena. The author of this article would be remiss for not pointing out two acts of heroism. First, even though he was exhausted and ringing wet with sweat, Paul Knowlton wanted to pitch the 7th inning to lock down the win. His 109 pitch effort in high heat and humidity was nothing short of magnificent. Second, mere days after knee surgery, coach Bob Rohrbach shuffled into the 3rd base coaching box, inning after inning. What a splendid example of intensity and determination on the part of both of these young men. We'll see you at the ballpark. That's all for now. Signing off ..... Scott Rothenberg