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2009 Little League Season is over PDF Print E-mail
Written by Rod Strumbel   
Wednesday, 15 July 2009 08:07

The Rockford Pirates made a valiant effort to win the Delano Little league tournament this past weekend, but came up 2 runs short.

 

We ended up having a bye in the first round, so we got a win for that.  Round 2 the Pirates came out ready for battle, and just beat up on the Rockford Giants team 8-3.  Kids played GREAT, fielding was good, batting was good, and they were even listening to the base coaches.  The final game was against the Yankees team (I never did get if they were from Delano or Rockford) the Yankees jumped out to a 7-3 lead, but the Pirates came rolling back coming up just short and losing 7-6. 

While whining about it won't help... this was ENTIRELY the result of 2 bad umpiring calls (which is done by the coaches).  The first was a play at first when the Yankees first baseman dropped the ball and was scrambling for it WHILE SITTING ON THE BAG.  As a first base coach, I was screened from the play by the kids back, so deferred the call to the ball/strike coach on the mound.  He called our kid safe saying the kid didn't ever have control of the ball, but then the coaches of the Yankees team (who technically were not umpires at that time) started yelling and screaming that he was out... that the ball was held in his hand while he was sitting on the base.  In the nature of good sportsmanship, we reversed the call figuring they may return the favor if something were to occur later in the game (fat chance).  If we had called this kid safe, it would have scored another run for us... but we didn't.

Then in the final inning, our team in the field, the Yankees at bat, one of the coaches kids hits the ball, our kids cleanly field it and throw him out by a full 2 steps at first.  The Yankees coaches (who ARE the umpires at that point) call him safe.... saying he beat out the throw.  We protested, but there would be NO discussion about it and the game went on.  This kid ended up scoring the winning run for the Yankees team.

Lesson learned, no more Mr. Nice Guy.

But anyway, the kids had fun, it was a great day for baseball and the improvement in the kids play over the season was very rewarding as an assistant coach.

Not sure who all reads these pages, but I'd like to thank Scott and Missy Vogel (the co-head coaches) and John Coyle (the other assistant coach), and Ted Botten (who ran the score book for us a few nights while Scott and Missy were out) for a fun season.

I have been asked to be a head coach in next years Little League... I dunno... I think my team would have more of a drill-master feel than a "for fun" setting.  I don't take losing well.  So, we'll see.

Quickly summarizing JJs results for the touney... he had a little trouble with the bat only going 2 for 6, but did a great job pitching for 2 innings in the final game.  Outside of that he played catcher in both games, 3rd base and left field.

Jennifer made it out to the first game of the day and we should have some pictures posted in the Photo Gallery sometime in the near future.
Last Updated on Wednesday, 15 July 2009 08:15
 
Pirates on a roll down the stretch ! (7/9/2009) PDF Print E-mail
Written by Rod Strumbel   
Friday, 10 July 2009 11:29

Well, the Rockford Pirates made it 2 in a row last night winning in the bottom of the final inning with a flurry of hits.  They went into the bottom of the 6th down 4-1 and scored 4 runs (with no outs) to come blazing back for their 2nd win in a row beating the lone Loretto team in the league.

Tuesday  they beat the Rockford Giants team ... also in the bottom of the final inning to win 8-7.

The kids seem to have found their stride, and are actually finally playing like they WANT to win.  Not bad timing at all since the end of season tournament is played this Saturday in Delano at the School's sports complex.  Our first game is at noon:30, kids are to be there by 10 minutes before noon. 

Hopefully they can carry this "high" into the tournament!

 

Last night, JJ got an opportunity to pitch an inning and ended up with 1 strike out, and one un-earned run against him.  Not bad for only his 2nd outing of the year pitching.  He was consistently throwing the ball over the plate, which is a big improvement over how things started this year.  On the batting side of things, he struck out once and had a good solid single that ended up being a double (on error).  Aside from pitching, he played catcher for a couple innings, left field and right field.

 
 
Pirates Make-up Game (6/28/2009) PDF Print E-mail
Written by Rod Strumbel   
Monday, 29 June 2009 07:32

Played a make up game last night, for a rain out earlier in the season.

Kids played very well, but fell again 8-5.  Slowly the bats are coming around, but still have kids that want to sit there and "look" at the pitches.  There is no walking in this league, so what they are really doing is waiting for the coach to pitch to them (as opposed to the opposing teams pitcher).  While waiting, many of them are striking out.  This last game, they finally started to make contact against the opposing pitchers.

A couple of errors again, and not knowing the difference between a force out and a tag out made for the difference in the game.  That and the fact we were playing with only 7 players tonight.  Played 1st, a roving 2nd, 3rd, pitcher, catcher, a left-center and a right-center field.  And of course the other team had 2 instances of hits that went straight up the line where no field stood any chance of getting to it.  Oh well, what can ya do.

We also ran into an issue last night that I'd like to clear up any confusion on... the strike zone in this league (as discussed by the coaches) is bill of the cap to the ankles, and 1 to 2 inches inside and outside of the plate.  The pitchers control isn't where it will be as they get older, and they want the kids to be HITTERS and not LOOKERS when in the batting box.  Have had a couple of parents comment on my strikezone when pitching and calling balls and strikes, as well as complaints that it is developing bad habits.  I disagree.  We are teaching the kids that not every pitch has to be belt high and across the middle of the plate to be able to hit it.  Is the bill high pitch hard to hit?  Harder than in the wheelhouse, yes.  Hard, no.

If you still have issue with the strikezone, take it up with the league coordinator and their rules, I am merely enforcing what was discussed.

No info for JJ at this game, as he is "on vacation" until after the 4th and didn't play today (nor will he play next Tuesday).

 
Last Updated on Monday, 29 June 2009 07:35
 
Pirates Crushed... again (6/23/2009) PDF Print E-mail
Written by Rod Strumbel   
Wednesday, 24 June 2009 10:55

The Rockford Pirates got dis-membered yet again last night.  Playing in 95 degree 100% humidity heat, and short 5 players (we ended up playing with only 8 all night) just made bad things worse.  Final score was 12-2.  JJ and most of the other kids struggled at the plate.  They have all developed a BAD habit of not swinging at the pitches of whatever kid is pitching in the hopes that the will reach 4 balls thereby getting the coach to pitch to them (read that as "baby it in to them") instead.  This has resulted in strike out after strike out as the pitchers from the other teams become more accurate as the season rolls on.  That along with continued BAD play on ground balls (both infield and outfield) is what is preventing them from winning right now.  The kids have all developed tremendously as hitters, and week after week we drill on playing ground balls and they do GREAT in practice.  I just don't understand why they won't demonstrate that during the games.

JJ went 0 for 3, striking out 3 times... I will say I personally "beaned" him in the helmet with a pitch (fortunately a very slow pitch)... but even at that, he just was refusing to swing on pitches right over the plate all day.

Oh well... we are off now until Sunday (we have a bye this Thursday... Sunday is a make up game for a rain out), and then we play on next Tuesday, but not Thursday (a day off for the July 4th holiday).  Then we hit the FINAL WEEK of the season playing on July 7th and 9th.  The season wraps up with a tournament in Delano on July 11th.

 
Last Updated on Wednesday, 24 June 2009 10:57
 
Argh... another loss (6/18/2009) PDF Print E-mail
Written by Rod Strumbel   
Friday, 19 June 2009 07:00

Rockford Pirates baseball lost another last night.  They played a good game other than a few errors.  Those errors cost them the game though.  Final score 6 to 3.

Encountered our fastest (and most accurate) pitcher of the year last night.  Kid was throwing well up into the 50s and very accurate.  This is why we picked up the speed when the coach is pitching (to the dismay of a few parents).  Get used to it, it only gets faster from here on out.

Practice Sunday, then another couple of games on Tuesday and Thursday.  The kids are getting closer, they just need to play in the game as they do in practice and they'll be fine.
Last Updated on Friday, 19 June 2009 07:05
 
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