14 YO Titans

On Tuesday, September 23, 2003, the final chapter of the 2002-03 Kyle Chapman 14 year old Titans' glorious World Series season was written when the team was honored on the field at Minute Maid Park before the Astros-Giants game that evening. Less than five days later, the 2003-04 version of the 14 year old K.C. Titans demonstrated that they intend to establish their own reputation for excellence, winning the Greater Sugar Land Fall Classic II in the late night hours of Sunday night. The K.C. 14 Titans opened the tournament by taking a 5-2 lead into the final inning, but giving up 4 runs to lose a difficult 6-5 decision to the Texas Terror. Facing elimination from the championship bracket, the Titans needed to win their next game and hold a very difficult Houston Warriors opponent to 2 runs or less. That is precisely what they did, winning a 1-0 decision in large part due to the one-hit masterpiece thrown by Paul Knowlton (4 innings) and Jeremy Schaffer (2 innings). How dominating was this duo? How about 6 innings, no runs, 1 hit, 3 walks and sixteen (yes, 16) strikeouts out of the 18 defensive outs that were recorded by the Titans. The Titans turned right around and played the Houston Warriors again on Sunday morning. A good night's sleep and the passage of a cold front invigorated the Titans' bats to the tune of an 11-2 thrashing of the Warriors. Jeffrey Rohrbach and Grant Haynes combined to hold the Warriors to 2 runs (only one earned), on six hits, and six strikeouts. That win put the Titans in the tournament semifinal game on Sunday afternoon. The Titans faced the top seeded Texas Lonestars in the tournament semifinal. Once again, Titan bats were on red alert, combining for 10 big runs on 16 hits en route to a convincing 10-5 victory over the Lonestars. A five run win does not sound like much, but consider the fact that Diego Lopez and Grant Haynes combined to hold the Lonestars to 2 runs on 8 hits over 6 innings before the Lonestars posted 3 runs in the last inning to make the final score 10-5. The Titans' offensive outburst propelled them into Sunday night's championship game against the second seeded Richmond River Rats. The Titans' secret formula of great pitching, merciless hitting and aggressive baserunning led them to an 11-0 run rule of the River Rats in just 5 innings of play. Titan bats combined for 11 runs on 12 hits, while Pat Brosch shut down the usually potent River Rat bats with five straight goose-eggs to bring the Championship Trophy back to Kyle Chapman Pony League for the second consecutive year. By winning the tournament, the K.C. Titan 14's earned a berth in this year's USSSA South Zone tournament, and did themselves proud in the process. The great pitching, terrific hitting, solid defense and aggressive baserunning demonstrated by the 2003-04 K.C. Titans make this author think that the players' parents had better not make too many plans for the summer of 2004. They could be watching a LOT of baseball. This is a very tired Scott Rothenberg saying, "Congratulations on bringing home the shiny hardware and GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Titans!!!"