Our week 3 player of the week is Grant Johnson. Grant had a great week at the plate for us. In our two games this week, he went 4 for 4 with 6 runs batted in. The players before him are getting on base and Grant is coming through every time. He has a team high 14 RBI's on the season and is on pace to break our team record for RBI's in a season. Grant has not had many balls hit to him at shortstop, but he has made plays on the few balls he has had hit his way. Grant has a wonderful attitidue and is truly a pleasure to be around and coach. Keep up the good work Grant. We are very proud of you!

This was the type of game that most of the kids love. Wet, muddy and a chance to play around in it without getting in trouble from their parents. We did a lot of playing in the mud tonight, but also hit the ball around a bit, as we moved to 6-0 on the season with a 8-2 win over Forsgren. The win keeps us in 1st place of the Goldtrap Pee Wee league standings with a 2-0 record.

          Forsgren were the visitors in this one and had first at bats. They came out hitting the ball but our defense was up to the challenge. The first batter of the game grounded out to Matt England at 2nd base. After a strikeout, Matthew Appleyard made a good play on a hard hit ball and threw to Weston Phillips at 1st base for the final out. We came right out hitting the ball in the bottom half of the inning. Matthew Appleyard led us off with an infield single and Brittany Fuhr kept her "red-hot" hitting going with a single of her own. Weston Phillips would then single to score our first run of the game and just like that it was 1-0. We were far from done as Grant Johnson doubled to left field scoring two runs and giving us an early 3-0 lead. Clayton Mayo would then groundout to 1st base, but Matt England would pick him up with an infield single to score Grant and extend our lead to 4-0. Nick Martin and Paul Parr would both battle hard at the plate but both went down swinging. After one full inning of play we held a 4-0 lead.

          Forsgren's first two batters of the 2nd inning struckout and their next batter grounded out to Matt at 2nd base. It was a quick 1-2-3 inning. The bottom half of the inning we got bit by the strikeout bug. Kannon Kuykendall fouled off several pitches before finally striking out and after an Aaron Dalton single, Kalen Pearson and Trace Dillinger both went down swinging. Both kids had some very good swings and both fouled off several balls. So after two full innings of play the score remained 4-0.

          The top of the 3rd would see Forsgren hit the ball pretty well. A couple of hits surrounded by a throwing error would put runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs. Matthew would then make a good play on a hard hit ball and threw to Weston for a quick out. Another hit to left field by Forsgren would score a couple of runs and suddenly this one was getting interesting. Their next two batters would strikeout and leave runners on 1st and 2nd base. Wow, we dodged a huge bullet there! I was not really worried, as I knew we had the top of our batting order due to bat in the bottom half of the inning.

          Ryan Smith had a couple of good swings before striking out to begin the bottom of the 3rd. Three straight singles by Matthew, Brittany and Weston would load the bases with Grant up to bat. Grant would smack a ball to left field scoring two runs and extending our lead to 6-2. Clayton kept the rally going with a single to score Weston. Matt England would then groundout to 1st base, but his buddy Grant would score on the play and this one was a blow-out at 8-2. Nick would then come through with a single, but Clayton was tagged out at 3rd base on the play for the final out of the inning. The umpires called the time limit and this one was in the books. ASE wins it 8-2! Great job ASE. I am very proud of your effort and I can see a lot of improvement in most of our players each game. Hope you all have a great weekend and see you on Monday night @ 6:30.

    Player                         Batting Average                    Runs Batted In

Weston Phillips                       .917                                        5

Brittany Fuhr                          .917                                       3

Grant Johnson                        .907                                      14

                                                       Clayton Mayo                          .818                                       6

                                                       Matthew Appleyard                .778                                       2

Our team photo album will be updated throughout the season with many pictures of our games. At the end of the season I will make a CD for anyone who wants one.

I took some individual pics of the kids last night to have for the web-site.

Well, we weren't quite as sharp tonight but we survived and moved to 5-0 with a 7-4 win over Phillip Taylor. The game was actually the first conference game of the season. We hit the ball pretty well early in the game, but had trouble putting several hits together after that 1st inning.

Matthew Appleyard led off the game with a single and Brittany followed that up with one of her own. Weston Phillips would then double to score Matthew and suddenly it was 1-0. A double by Grant Johnson would score two more runs and we had a quick 3-0 lead. Clayton kept his hot hitting streak alive as he singled and we were in business again. Nick Martin and Paul Parr both battled hard at the plate but both went down swinging and just like that there were two outs. Aaron Dalton would then come through with a single up the middle to score Grant and extend our lead to 4-0. Clayton was tagged out trying to make it to 3rd base on the play. After 1/2 inning of play we held a 4-0 lead.

          Phillip Taylor came right back at us. After a couple of strikeouts surrounded by a triple, they got a rally going. We helped them out by throwing the ball around a bit, which we cannot do. After all the smoke had cleared it was 4-3 and we found ourselves in a close game. A strikeout would end the inning and we clung to the slim 1-run lead.

          The top of the 2nd we started off well. Kalen Pearson singled and we looked to be back in business. Trace Dillinger fought hard at the plate but went down swinging and so did Ryan Smith. Kannon Kuykendall then hit a ground ball to 3rd base and was thrown out on a very nice play to end our half of the inning.

          Luckily for us, Phillip Taylor was at the bottom of their batting line-up and had three quick strikeouts in the bottom half of the inning. After two full innings of play we still was holding on to that 4-3 lead.

          The top of the 3rd would see us get our bats rolling again! Matthew led off with another single, but he was then forced out on the next hit by Brittany. Weston would then double to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with Grant up to bat. Grant would not dissappoint as he singled to score Brittany and extend our lead to 5-3. Clayton would then force Weston out at 2nd on the next at bat and suddenly there were two outs. Nick then came through with his biggest hit of the young season as he doubled to score Grant. Paul then stepped up and smacked an infield single to keep the rally going. Aaron kept the rally alive with a single to score Clayton and extend our lead to 7-3. Paul stepped off the bag at 2nd and was tagged out for the final out of the inning but the damage was done and this one looked to be in the bag.

          Phillip Taylor did manage an inside the park home run, due to a couple of throwing errors on our part to pull within 7-4, but that would be as close as they would get. Matthew made a nice play on a ball hit between 1st and 2nd to record an out and a couple of strikeouts would end the game and give us the hard fought 7-4 win. The win moves us to 5-0 overall and 1-0 in League play.

          I stressed to the kids after the game that they must pay attention while out in the field. We had way too many kids looking around while the ball was being pitched and hit. We certainly do not want one of them to get hurt, so parents please stress to them how important it is to pay attention while in the field. See you all at practice on Wednesday. If you can get there early please do. I'll be there around 5:20.

Click the link above to see the complete 2008 FSBGC Pee Wee Baseball Schedule. Scroll down to page 4 to view the Pee Wee schedule. I will pass out a copy of just our games at the next practice. Our first game is Monday - April 28th @ 7:30 versus Forsgren. Please have your child there by 7pm.