KC Dodgers

The 14 year old K.C. Allstars had mixed results on Friday & Saturday. Friday night, they trounced a team from Spring-Klein by a score of 12-2. Saturday morning, they were on the short end of a 9-4 decision to a scrappy, tough team from McAllen, Texas. The combined results were enough to propel the 14's into the championship bracket of the tournament, which is now reduced from 16 to 8 teams. The tournament format now shifts to single elimination format-- winner advances and loser goes home. The 14's play at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday at Baseball USA (Sam Houston Tollway two exits north of I-10). If they win, they advance to the tournament semifinals at 3:30pm Sunday, and then to the finals at 6pm, all at the Baseball USA complex. Meanwhile, the 13's won the first game of the Pony 13 Director's Tournament on Saturday afternoon. They beat the Katy Tigers by a score of 12-2 in six innings (run rule). The 13's continue tournament play later today (Sunday) at 1:00pm at the Spring Branch Education Center (Campbell near Westview, about 1/2 mile north of I-10, just east of Campbell). If they win, they advance to the next round at 6pm on Sunday evening. Hey, it's going to be too hot to do anything else on Sunday. Come on out and support your 13's and 14's. With a little timing luck, you can catch 5 great games of Kyle Chapman All-Star action!!!! Admission at both parks is $3 per person over the age of 13, with the exception of players and coaches. See you at the ballpark. Scott Rothenberg

What a wonderful several days it has been for Kyle Chapman All Star baseball. The 14 year old team split into two different teams and comprised two out of the 12 entries in the Deer Park 14 Year Old Invitational Tournament. When the smoke cleared (and believe me, in Deer Park, there was plenty of that), the two K.C. teams had earned their way into the finals against each other with a combined record of 7-1. Many of the seven wins were lopsided run-rule victories. Congratulations to the 19 members of the two Kyle Chapman All Star teams entered in the Deer Park tournament for bringing home the first place trophies. Plans are under consideration to allow the two teams to play each other in the near future to determine which is the "true" first place finisher. Thankfully, considering the price of gas and tolls on the Sam Houston Tollway, the deciding game will probably be played on K.C.'s own home field. Meanwhile, 14 miles to the southeast of Deer Park, the 13 year old K.C. All Stars have gone 3-0 to advance to the semi-final round of the 13 year old League City Invitational Tournament. The 13's spotted NASA 5 runs on 7 errors in the first inning of the first game, but managed to regain their poise and composure (not to mention their fielder's mitts) to win the game 5-5 on penetrations to third base (8-7). The next two games were run-rule victories by a combined score of 31-2 against Pasadena 3 and Post Oak (who looked resplendent in their expensive gleeming uniforms but apparently did not want to get them dirty). As a result of their success, the 13's won Division 4 of the 16 team tournament. They advance to tonight's (Tuesday night) semifinal game against an undefeated Pasadena Blue Team at the League City Sportsplex at 8pm. All of the four teams that remain in this tournament are undefeated, so the level of competition should be exciting. That's all for now. Congratulations to the victorious 14's and good luck to the tenacious 13's!!! KC SUMMER 2003 NATIONAL LEAGUE 14Y/O & 13Y/O ALL STAR PLAYERS AND THE AMERICAN LEAGUE 13Y/O ALL STAR PLAYERS HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED. FOLKS .... GET READY FOR ANOTHER SUMMER SEASON OF HIGHLY COMPETITIVE TOURNAMENT GAMES. Refer to All Star Pics.

In order to win their respective tournaments this weekend (May 2nd to May 4th), the 13 year old Titans had to win at least 3 out of 4 games and the 14 year old Titans had to win 4 out of 5 games. That is precisely what they did. In what must be the most incredible weekend of Kyle Chapman Titan baseball history, the 14 year old Titans won the Kyle Chapman 14 Year Old Invitational Tournament, and the 13 year old Titans won the La Porte USSSA State Qualifying Tournament. First, let's review what the Tiny Titans accomplished this past weekend. On Saturday afternoon at 1pm, the Tiny Titans (hereinafter "13T's"), beat the Texas Lonestars from Sugarland 10-3. The game was close (1-1 after 1 inning, 2-2 after three innings) until the 13T's broke it open with 7 big runs in the 4th inning. Highlighting the 13T attack were an RBI single by Ross Chan, an RBI double by Grant Haynes, an RBI single by Dylan Hickey, and a 2 RBI double by Charles Mann. Grant Haynes and Ross Chan were both 2-2 with a walk in the game. Ross Chan got the win by pitching 4 effective innings, and Jeremy Schaffer closed the door with an effective 5th to take the first game of the weekend. The second game was not quite so much fun. The Titans lost 5-1 to the Beaumont Raiders. The game was much closer than the score indicated. The Titans got plenty of baserunners, but stranded 14 of them on base, failing to get the clutch hits inning after inning. Grant Haynes reached base on three successive errors by the Raider shortstop, but was unable to score. Ross Chan reached base on a hit-by-pitch, a fielder's choice and a walk, but was unable to score. Jared Rothenberg reached base on two walks and a hit-by-pitch but.... you guessed it. It was just that kind of game. Titans lose 5-1 to the Raiders. The third game was a brilliant pitcher's duel. The 13T's beat, you got it, the Texas Lonestars, 2-1 in an 8 inning thriller. Each team scored a run in the 4th inning. The Lonestars got theirs on a two singles, a stolen base, and a sacrifice bunt. The Titans scored their run when Paul Knowlton reached first base on an error by the Lonestar third-baseman, advanced to second on a Grant Haynes single, moved to third base on a double play, and then the fun began. With a 2-0 count on Jeremy Schaffer, Paul Knowlton tore down the third base line, screaming, "TAKE IT, JEREMY, TAKE IT... DON'T SWING!!!" And it's a good thing he did. When Paul touched home ahead of the catcher's tag, the game was tied at 1-1. If Jeremy had swung, we might still be at the La Porte baseball field looking for the remainder of Paul's teeth. Grant Haynes pitched 6 magnificent innings, holding the Lonestars to one run on 5 hits, 1 walk and 5 strikeouts. His counterpart, Ryan Smith, held the Titans to 1 run in 7 innings of work. Paul Knowlton pitched scoreless 7th and 8th innings to earn the win when the 13T's scored the winning run in the bottom of the 8th inning. Jared Rothenberg opened the 8th inning with a booming double to right-centerfield. After Dylan Hickey fouled out to the first baseman, Charles Mann hit a grounder to shortstop. Jared proceeded to third, and when the throw to first went wide of the mark, he stormed home. Unfortunately, the thrown ball from near first base struck Jared in the ankle just as he touched home plate with the winning run. Only by the grace of Motrin and 2 hours rest was he able to even play in the championship game later Sunday evening. By the championship game, both the 13T's and the Woodlands Bucks had exhausted their respective pitching staffs. That fact was reflected in the following scores of the game: After one inning, the Woodlands led 4-3. After two innings, the score was tied 5-5. After three innings, K.C. led by a score of 7-6. After four innings, K.C. led by a score of 8-6. After five innings, K.C. led by a score of 10-7. After six innings, Woodlands led by a score of 11-10. This brings us to the top of the 7th inning. Pat Brosch led off with a single, stole two bases, and scored on a wild pitch to tie the game. Trey Hibbert singled, stole a base, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and scored what proved to be the winning run on a Jared Rothenberg RBI single between third and short. Jared Rothenberg reached 1st on his single, advanced to second on Charles Mann's single, advanced to third on a throwing error, and scored on an error on a ball hit by Grant Haynes to second base. Charles Mann scored the 4th Titan run of the inning on that same error. Thus, the Titans led the Bucks 14-11 heading to the bottom of the 7th inning. Ross Chan pitched masterfully, striking out the first Buck batter, getting the second to fly out to Charles Mann in centerfield, walking the third batter, and inducing the last Buck batter to hit into a force play from third base to second base. And just like that, the 13T's were the champions of the La Porte USSSA State Qualifying Tournament. Offensive kudos to Paul Knowlton for a 3-5 game with 2 singles, a triple, an RBI and a run scored, Jeffrey Rohrbach with a 2-4 and a walk, 2 runs scored and one batted in, Pat Brosch with 3-4, 3 runs scored and an RBI, and Trey Hibbert for going 3-4 with a double, 2 runs scored and 2 runs batted in. Jeremy Schaffer, Paul Knowlton, Charles Mann and Ross Chan were the Titans' pitching staff by committee in the championship game. The Titans received their trophies approximately 10:03 p.m., about 4 minutes before every light in the park and the parking lot was shut down. Congratulations to the 13 year old K.C. Titans, and coaches Glenn Haynes, Tim Mann, Jack Schaffer, and Bob Rohrbach, for a job very well done. Turning to the Towering Titans, a/k/a 14 year old K.C. Titans (hereinafter "14T's"), they opened their tournament on Friday night at Westbury field with a 15-10 spanking of the Sugarland Mad Dogs. The Titans held a 10-0 lead before playing uglyball to hang onto a 15-10 win in the tournament opener. Offensive highlights included a pair of line drive home runs by Daniel Rothenberg, with 5 runs batted in and three runs scored, Brian Borski's 3 runs scored, 2 runs batted in, on a triple, a walk and a fielder's choice, and Beau Faulk's 3 doubles in three at bats, with 3 runs scored. Pitching highlights included umm.... well... nevermind. On Saturday afternoon, the Titans lost to the Raiders by a score of 10-7. After a leadoff Brian Borski home run, the Titans put up a lot of offense, but were never quite able to catch the tough Raiders. In fact, the Titans loaded the bases in the last inning with one out, but could not bring home the tying run from first base. C'est la vie. On Sunday morning, the 14T's dispatched the Sugarland Mad Dogs for the second time in the tournament, this time by a score of 10-4. Karl Pringle and Patrick Morris combined to hold the Mad Dogs to 4 runs on 6 hits in 6 innings. Offensively, the 14T's were led by Brian Borski's leadoff homerun, George Murphy's 2 RBI double, Karl Pringle's 3 run home run, and Beau Faulk and George Murphy's respective 3-4 hitting games. This brought the 14T's to the tournament semifinal game against the Texas Magic, which they won by a score of 9-6. Daniel Rothenberg held the Magic to 3 runs over 6 innings of pitching in a gritty 98 pitch outing, and Brett Gibson shut down the potent Magic lineup in the 7th inning to earn the save. Offensively, the 14T's were led by A PAIR OF THREE RUN HOME RUNS BY BRIAN BORSKI. Yes, you read that right. Mark Robichau went 3-4 at the plate against the Magic. This brought the 14T's into the championship game against, you guessed it, the Raiders. The following tells the story of the game. After 1 inning, the score was 2-1 Titans. After 2 innings, the score was 5-2 Raiders. After 3 innings, the score was 7-3 Raiders. After 4 innings, the score was 7-4 Raiders. After 5 innings, the score was 10-8 Titans. After 6 innings, the score was 14-8 Titans. After 7 innings, the score was 14-10 Titans. Offensively, the 14T's were ed by Brian Borski's 3 walks, 3rd inning home run, and a reach base on an error, Daniel Rothenberg's 2 run homer, single and triple, Beau Faulk's 3 walks, and Sean Lamont and Karl Pringle's 2-5 at the plate (each). Pitching wise, Brett Gibson held back the potent Raiders' offense as best he could given the number of innings he had pitched in the previous 4 days. Patrick Morris came on to shut down the Raiders in the last inning. Congratulations to the 14T's, and their coaches, Jay Dushkin, Glenn Robichau, Mike Winner, and Bennie Cernoch, as well as tournament director Bill Lamont, on an excellent, well run tournament, and a super win for K.C. baseball. What a glorious and exhausting weekend of Kyle Chapman Titan baseball. The next week should prove very interesting since virtually every team's "stud pitchers" will be exhausted from their efforts on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It should be fun. See you at the ballpark.

To borrow from Charles Dickens, "Sunday was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Well at least the first part is true. In Sunday tournament action, the 13 year old K.C. Titans squeezed out a dramatice 3-2 win over the tenacious Sugarland Lonestars to post a 3-1 record and win the K>C> Invitational Tournament at beautiful Bayland Park in Southwest Houston. A few hours earlier, the 14 year old K>C> Titans advanced into semifinal game of the Round Rock Triple Crown Sports Baseball Tournament with a 3-0 record - including a win over the #6 ranked 14 year old team in the State of Texas - but could not quite make it into the final, losing 9-2 to the Austin Slam Astros. In Round Rock, the Slam Astros capitalized on several wind blown high pops and some questionable Titan fielding to tally five runs on five "hits" and one error. In the second inning, the Slam Astros loaded the bases and emptied them with three unearned runs when a ground ball skidded past the waiting second baseman. That made the score 8-0, and with an excellent pitcher on the mound for Austin, one sensed that the Titans were climbing up a steep hill all game long. The Titans got one run back in the top of the 4th when Joe Silver launched a pitch over the left field fence, cutting the lead to 8-1. However, the Slam Astros encountered with a solo home run off reliever Daniel Rothenbergin the bottom of the frame on a hanging curveball that may still be hanging in the wind near Williamsberg, Texas. The Titans closed out the scoring in the 6th inning on a lead off double by Daniel Rothenberg, who advanced to third on a fielder's choiceground ball to short by Beau Faulk and scored on a fielder's choice ground ball to short by George Murphy. Brian Borske had a great game at the plate, posting a three for three day (all singles). The only other offense that the Titans could muster against the Slam Astros ace pitcher were scattered doubles by Daniel Rothenberg, Cameron Brown, Brett Gibson and Joe Silver's home run. Daniel Rothenberg did a pretty good job in a long-relief role, allowing only one earned run ( the one that is still being tracked on some GPdevices), on 4 hits with 2 walks and 3 strikeouts against a very potent Slam Astros offense. With th e loss, the Titans' record moved to 3-1 in the tournament, in which they scored a toyal of 31 runs in their 3 wins. While the team was disappointed not to bring homethe big trophy, the weekend was a success overall. Turning to the K>C. 13 year old, they say that there is nothing like home cooking. The 13 y/o Titans stayed at home this weekend and earned first place trophies by posting a 3-1 reocrd, including a thrilling 3-2 win in a nailbiter finale against the Sugarland Lonestars. The game was so exciting that it deserves more than the usual recap. In the top of the first inning, Titan pitcher Jeremy Schaffer gave up a leadoff double, but then stranded the runner at third on a sacrfice fly to centerfield and back-to-back strikeouts of the Lonestars' usually potent #3 and cleanup hitters. In the bottom of the first, Charles mann singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch, but could not score when Lonestar pitcher, Ross Miller, clamped down and got three successive outs. In the top of the second, the Lonestars could amange only a walk and a stolen base off Jeremy Schaffer. In the bottom of the second, Trey Hibbert walked with one out, but was picked off first by the crafty Lonestar pitcher. This was a critical play, since Jeremy Schaffer followed with a double to left-centerfield. Even though the Titans could not push a run across in the 2nd inning, Trey would definitely atone for this one later in the game. In the top of the third, Jeremy Schaffer did his best Randy Johnson impression, getting the Lonestars on a fielder's choice ground ball, a strikeout, and a perfect strike from Pat Brosch to Grant Haynes to nail the Lonestar's runner attempting to steal second base. In the bottom of the third, Colin Bear reached the base on an error and Charles Mann doubled him to third base. However, Ross Miller clamped downed and got three successive Titans on a foul out to the catcher, a fly out to the short stop and a foul out to the first baseman. In the top of the fourth, a tiring Jeremy Schaffer struck out the first batter, and walked the second. The Lonestars #2 hitter, Ross Seaton blasted a hard ground ball to Jared Rothenberg at first who field the ball on his knee and threw to Ross Chan at short for the force out. This would prove to be a crucial play since the Lonestars followed by loading the bases on a single and a walk. Then, with two outs and the bases loaded, #5 hitter Ryan Burnamanhit a fly ball to shallow left fielder. As the Lonestar runners were rounding third and heading home, left fielder Paul Knowlton sacrificed his body and dived for the fly ball, sliding his glove under the sinking white sphere just before it hit the ground. Despite a hard collision with the turf, Paul Knowlton managed to hang onto the ball for the third out of the inning. Somehow, the Titans managed to keep the Lonestars off the board yet again. In the bottom of the fourth, the Titans loaded the bases with 2 outs on a walk to Jeremy Schaffer, a single to Jared Rothenberg and a Colin Bear hit-by-pitch. However, a hard ground ball by Charles mann that might have gotten through the infield struck Colin Bear between first and second base, and he was called out for interference. Thus, the game remained scoreless after 4 innings of play. In the top of the fifth inning, Charles mann came on to relieve Jeremy Schaffer. With two outs, the Lonestars In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Titans erupted for 3 hugh runs. With one out, Paul Knowlton singled pitch, and Ross Chan chased them both home with a booming triple to the right-centerfield. Trey Hibbert drove home what would ultimately prove to be the winning run with a sacrifice fly to the center field. The score after 5 innings of play, Titans 3, Lonestars 0. The Lonestars broke onto the scoreboard in the 6th inning. With one out, Alan Hoover singled, Trace C, Ross Seaton walked, and Taylor Overbey drove in Hoover with a single. Grant Haynes came in to pitch with one out and the bases loaded. He got Drew Owen to fly out to centerfield, scoring Trace Cryer to make the score 3-2. Grant struck out Ryan Burnaman to finally end the inning. The score in the middle of the 6th was Titans 3 - Lonestars 2. In the bottom of the 6th inning, the Titans went down quietly on three successive infield ground balls. Thus, they went to the top of the 7th clinging to a slight 3-2 lead. Grant Haynes continued his masterful relief in the 7th, striking out the first batter, Will Parisi, on a 2-2 hit a high, wind-blown foul fly down the first base line. First baseman, Jared Rothenberg sacrificed his body, snagging the foul fly a fraction of a secondbefore colliding with the fence. With two outs, Grant Haynes induced Walker Dillie to hit a fly ball to the center of the infield. Jared Rothenberg and Grant Haynes both called for the catch and Jared Rothenberg thankfully ceded to Grant at the last second.The ball dropped into Grant's glove, and the 13 year old K.C. Titans had earned their first tournament trohpy of the spring with a hard fought 3-2 late-inning victory. Congratulations to the Titans, their coaches, Glenn Haynes, Bob Rohrbach, Jack Schaffer, and Tim Mann, and tournament director and team photographer Fred Chan, on a very successful tournament. Go Titans !!!! The coming weekend will find the 13 year old Titans on the road in La Porte for a tournament, while the 14 year old Titans host a tournament here a Bayland Park. Thank you to all the parents and board members who helped to make this past weekend a success for both teams. See you all at the park.

Kyle Chapman PONY League is dedicated to preparing baseball players for advancement to the next level of play, which is High School baseball and beyond. We expect the same dedication to baseball as High School coaches will demand in the High School programs. THERE ARE THREE LEVELS OF PLAY AT KC. This enables all players to participate on a level that each is most capable. The AMERICAN LEAGUE is for developing player skills that may have not been fully developed in the Little League program. If a player is a marginal player, it should be requested during registration he play in the American League as a 13 Y/O to help get more playing time. The NATIONAL LEAGUE is the more competitive league for the players that have developed faster through their Little League years. This League will have 7 or 8 14 Y/O on each team and the remainder of the team will be made up of promising 13 Y/O players. PONY regulates the maximum number of 14 Y/Os to be 8 per team. SELECT TEAMS The newest addition to the KC Program was implemented in the Fall 2002 Season. The League created a Select Program for week-end play, to give the more talented players opportunity to play against a very high level of competition. They will play against the better BUSA and PONY teams in the area in 3 or 4 week-end tournaments. Practice will be on week-ends which there are no games, at each coaches' discretion. These teams are made up on an By Invitation Only basis. There will be at least one each 13 Y/O and 14 Y/O team. Players must play on a KC Spring Season team to be eligible for Select Teams. For the Spring of 2003 there is the possibility of a second team in each age group. The Second Team would play in a Sunday double header against other PONY League Classic Teams and one or two tournaments. The Second Teams will depend solely on the discretion of the KC Decision Committee. The Second Teams will be formed only if it is determined that the teams will have enough skilled position players to be competitive.
What does PONY stand for? PONY is an acronym for Protect Our Nation's Youth. The concept for name originally came from boys at the local YMCA in Washington, PA and stood for "Protect Our Neighborhood Youth," but when PONY became an international program in the early 1950's "Neighborhood" was switched to "Nation's."