ASE Pee Wee Baseball: Welcome

This is a site for players, parents and fans of the ASE Pee Wee Baseball Team of Goldtrap/Gardner Boys & Girls Club in Ft. Smith, Arkansas. Our mission is to teach the kids solid baseball fundamentals that will enable them to improve their skills and enjoyment of the game. Although we will attempt to be competitive in all our games, our number one goal is for the kids to have fun, whether we win or lose. Our second goal is to develop an understanding of the importance of being a TEAM. We want them to know that we win as a team and we lose as a team. Hope you enjoy the site!

On a night that saw the pitching machine throwing the ball all over the place, I was proud of our kids for fighting threw it all and coming up with a big win. National Family has 10 players back from last year and is one of the best teams in our league. They hit the ball very well tonight, but our defense was up to the challenge and once again made plays to lead us to another win.

National Family came right out hitting the ball. Our defense did an amazing job of holding them to only one run in the 1st inning. After a couple of base hits, Nathan Fuhrman got the ball in quickly on a base hit to left field and helped us hold them to only one run. Their next two batters went down on strikes and we had dodged a huge bullet and was only down 1-0. We did not manage to score in the bottom half of the inning as Ty Jones led off grounding out to the 1st baseman. Jacob Null and Steffan Fak both went down on strikes as the pitching machine was all over the place with the pitches.

The 2nd inning National Family would start off with a couple of strikeouts but then rattle off two straight hits. With runners on 1st and 2nd, Marlon Briggs then made the play of the game as he somehow knocked down a very hard hit ball down 3rd base line, stepped on his bag for the final out of the inning. Marlon would then get us going at the plate as he led off with a double. Aiden Taylor went down on strikes but Brennen Linson drove Marlon in with a base hit to tie the game at 1. Dillon Pike would groundout to the 3rd baseman, but Kaiden Kuykendall picked us up with a base hit to score Brennen and give us a 2-1 lead. Eli Thomason then reached on an infield single but Mrs. Jodie got him tagged at as he was trying to make it to 2nd base. By the way, he was mad at her the rest of the night for doing that :)

The 3rd inning neither team could get anything going and the game was called due to the time limit. On a crazy and late night at Goldtrap, somehow we managed to squeak out a 2-1 win and move to 5-0-2 on the season. Great job tonight guys and see you all Wednesday at practice.

ASE                 5-0-2

Cricket            4-0-3

YMA               4-1-2

HBI                4-2-1

Nat Family      3-2-2

G-Major            1-6

Forsgren           1-6

Shoe Carnival    1-6

Our player of the week for this week is Kaiden Kuykendall. He played really good defense in our two games this week and made some very nice plays. He made a couple of plays in the YMA game that really saved the game for us and helped us get the big 5-3 win. Kaiden has struggled at the plate so far this season but seems to be coming around. He got a big hit in the YMA game and has started hitting much better in practice. Great job this week Kaiden, we are very proud of you!

Well, it was a rematch of last years' city championship game, but both teams have changed quite a bit since then. We only have four players back off that team and I know YMA has a lot of new players as well. Just like last season's game, this one was a lot of fun and ASE would once again come out on top. Our kids played a really good game and our defense once again carried us to the victory.

Ty Jones led off the game with a base hit and it looked as if we were gonna roll early. Jacob Null then reached on an infield single. Steffan Fak then popped a ball up that was caught by the 2nd baseman and Jacob was doubled up for two quick outs. Ty tagged up from 2nd base on the play and used a YMA throwing error to score our first run of the game. Marlon Briggs would then reach on an infield single, but Aiden Taylor went down swinging to end our half of the inning.

YMA led off their half of the inning with a base hit to left field. Nathan Fuhrman did a great job of getting the ball back in to Ty, who relayed to Kaiden for the tag out at 2nd base. YMA then reached on a couple of singles to score a run and tie the game at 1. They had runners on 2nd and 3rd with only one out but their next two batters struckout and the game remained tied after one full inning of play.

The top of the 2nd we were not able to get anything going on offense. Brennen Linson went down swinging and Dillon Pike grounded out to the 2nd baseman. Kaiden Kuykendall would then groundout to the pitcher and our half of the inning was over. YMA managed a couple of hits in the bottom of the inning and would take a 2-1 lead. Our defense once again did a great job of getting the ball in from the outfield and held them to only singles.

The top of the 3rd we would really come out hitting. Eli Thomason got us going with an infield single and Nathan would do the same. Justice would go down on strikes but Ty would quickly pick him up with a base hit to right field. Jacob then drove a ball to left field scoring two more runs and extending our lead to 4-2. Steffan kept the hit parade going with a base hit and Marlon would single in Jacob for a 5-2 ASE lead. Aiden would once again go down on strikes and Brennen would groundout to the 2nd baseman to end our half of the inning. YMA did not manage to score a run in the bottom of the 3rd. Kaiden caught a pop fly and a couple of strikeouts would get us out of the inning still up 5-2.

The top of the 4th we did not manage to score as well and with the time limit almost up all we had to do was hold YMA and the game was ours. They led off the bottom of the 4th with a base hit but Aiden got the ball in quickly and held them to only a single. Their next batter would groundout to Jacob for one out. After a strikeout, their next batter grounded to Kaiden, who made a perfect throw to Steffan to end the game and give us a big 5-3 win.

The win moves us a top of the league standings with a record of 4-0-2. If you would have told me at the beginning of the season that we would be in 1st place at this point I would have not believed you. I am so very proud of how these kids have come to practice and got better each and every time. They are a fun bunch and it's neat to see them improve each and every game.

Well, they say save the best for last and that's what we done against Cricket tonight. With us down 2 runs in the last inning, our little stick of dynamite, Jacob Null, blasted a home run over the centerfield fence to tie the game at 4. It was something to see that's for sure! Cricket ended up making a good play two batters later and on a very close play at home, tagged Steffan out to preserve the tie. It was a fun game to be a part of and to coach in. Cricket is coached by a couple of good friends of mine and their teams are always good. Let's see how the rest of the game went down.

Cricket led off the game really hitting the ball well. Their first four batters hit the ball to the outfield and if it had not been for a couple of good plays by Nathan Fuhrman and Aiden Taylor, the score might have been 4-0. But both players got the ball back into our infield quickly and we held Cricket to only 2 runs in the inning. Kaiden Kuykendall also made a nice play to help hold Cricket to only two runs. Our bats came right back at Cricket to beging the bottom of the 1st. Ty Jones led off by grounding out to the 3rd baseman on a very good play. Jacob Null would then triple to right field and I got greedy and tried to score him on the play. Cricket 's catcher made a very good play tagging Jacob out. Little did I know but that play would come back to haunt me later. Steffan would then pick us up with a double and Marlon Briggs drove a ball deep to centerfield and hustled all the way around for an inside the park home run to tie the game at 2. Aiden Taylor then went down on strikes to end our half of the inning.

The 2nd inning would see both teams struggle at the plate and neither team could get anything going. The score remained tied at 2 heading into the top of the 3rd inning. Cricket's bats came back to life as Nick Hewett led off with a single for them and Bryce Caldwell drove a ball to left field. Their next batter singled in both runs for a 4-2 Cricket lead. A couple of strikeouts and a good play by Jacob would get us out of the inning without them scoring anymore runs.

I knew the time limit was close to expiring and this could be our last at bats. Things sure didn't start off too well, as Justice and Nathan both went down on strikes and just like that there were two outs. Ty Jones then got us going with an infield single and then Jacob blasted his ball over the fence to tie the game at 4. The umpire announced that time had expired so the game was ours to win ot tie. Steffan singled and Marlon drove a ball to the outfield. As Steffan was rounding 2nd base, Cricket was struggling to get the ball in from the outfield. So I had made up my mind I was sending Steffan home and it turned out to be a very close play at the plate. I was right on top of the play and it looked as if Steffan slid under the tag, as he was tagged on the head. The umpire called him out and the game ended in a tie. Great play once again by Cricket's catcher. It was a great game to be a part of and I could not be prouder of our kids. With 7, first year players I am so proud of how far this team has come. See you guys Wednesday at practice.

Our player of the week for the 2nd week of the season is Marlon Briggs. He had a great week of baseball for our team. He went 4 for 4 at the plate with 2- RBI's and he also had three put-outs at 3rd base on the week. Marlon is one of our returning players from last season's championship team and the kids really look for him to be one of the leaders of our team. So far he is doing a great job. Good job this week Marlon, we are very proud of you!

Well, our young team moved to 3-0-1 this week as we notched wins over Forsgren and Shoe Carnival. The Forsgren game would see us hit the ball pretty well, while Forsgren could not get much going at the plate. Against Shoe Carnival, our defense was the hero. Shoe Carnival hit the ball very well, but our defense made the plays it had to and secured us the big win.

Against Forsgren, we came right out hitting the ball. Ty Jones got us going with a single up the middle. After Jacob Null went down on strikes, Steffan Fak hit a ball to the fence and hustled all the way around the bases for an inside the park home run. Just like that we had a 2-0 lead. Marlon Briggs and Aiden Taylor also managed hits in the inning but we could not manage anymore runs. Forsgren led off their half of the inning grounding the ball to Jacob, who threw to Steffan for a quick out. Their next two batters went down on strikes and after one full inning we led 2-0.

The 2nd inning we would put the game out of reach. Eli Thomason got his first hit of the season to get our rally started. After Justice Lincks went down on strikes, Nathan Fuhrman got a base hit and we were in business. Dillon Pike then went down on strikes but Ty would quickly pick him up with a double to left field scoring Eli. Jacob Null then hit a rocket to right field and used a throwing error to score for an inside the park home run and a 6-0 ASE lead. Steffan would then double and Marlon would single him in for our 5th and final run of the inning. Forsgren once again was not able to get anything going and the game was called due to the time limit. Forsgren was allowed to let a couple of kids bat after we recorded the 3rd out, but it did not count in the score. ASE wins 7-0!!!

Our second game of the week would be against a scrappy Shoe Carnival team. Shoe Carnival would really impress me with their bats. But just as impressive as their offense was our defense. The kids really came to play some defense and it would be the reason we won the game. We would jump out to an early lead in this one as Ty Jones got things going with a base hit up the middle in the top of the 1st inning. Jacob Null then singled to score Ty and Steffan would then single to score Jacob for a quick 2-0 ASE lead. Marlon reached on an infield single and Aiden would hit into a forceout. Kaiden and Brennen went down on strikes and after one full inning of play, we lead 2-0. Shoe Carnival really came out hitting. Their first batter went down on strikes but then they really started hitting the ball well. Back-to-back singles would put runners on 1st and 2nd. Marlon would then tag one of their runners out at 3rd for the second out of the inning. Their next batter would double to left field, but Nathan Fuhrman did a great job getting the ball in to Ty, who threw to Marlon for another tag out to end the inning.

The 2nd inning would see Eli go down on strikes but Justice picked him up with a single up the middle. Nathan would then strikeout and dillon grounded out to the 1st baseman to end our half of the inning. Shoe Carnival managed to score a run in the bottom of the inning and would have scored more if not for a couple of good plays by Jacob and Steffan. The 3rd inning we would really put the game away. Ty would double to centerfield and Jacob would hit the ball deep for an inside the park home run and 4-0 ASE lead. Steffan and Marlon would both single and Aiden Taylor would knock both of the in with a base hit to left field. Kaiden, Brennen and Eli would all go down swinging and the score remained 6-1. Shoe Carnival would score a couple of runs in the bottom of the inning, but once again our defense saved the day. A good play by Kaiden Kuykendall and Steffan Fak would slow Shoe Carnival down a bit. Jacob ended the game by making a very good catch on a pop-up and we would win the game 6-3. The win moves us into a 1st place tie with Cricket at 3-0-1 on the season. It will be a battle for 1st place on Monday night versus a very good Cricket team.

Click the handout below to download the entire FSBGC Pee Wee game schedule. I will break down just our games and handout our schedule on Monday at practice.

Please remember that if your child has not purchased an ASE hat, please do so before games start on Monday, April 30th. Hats can be purchased from Coach Johnny for $9.

Click the link above to see the ASE team news page. Here you can see all our game recaps and previous players of the week for the current season.