Midway Heat: Hot Heat News
Monday, February 5Uniform Combinations
Uniform #1 - Navy shirt, gray pants, navy socks, red hat
Uniform #2 - Red shirt, gray pants, red socks, navy hat
Uniform #3 - Navy shirt, white pants, navy socks, red hat
Uniform #4 - Red shirt, white pants, red socks, navy hat
(Wear the long sleeve Navy Under Armour shirt underneath any of these combinations if it is going to be cold.)
Sunday, June 10
CHAMPIONS!!! and CHAMPIONS!!!
The Heat finished their regular season by winning the regular season Lanier Baseball League Championship AND the Lanier Baseball League Tournament!
After going 16-2 in the regular season and winning the 11U West Division title, the Heat played a one-game Championship game vs. the East Division winners - the Sawnee Mountain Thunder. The Thunder jumped out to an early 4-0 lead, but after 3 walks loaded the bases in the bottom of the 3rd, Matthew jacked a GRAND SLAM over the left field fence to tie the game. After a scoreless 4th, the Thunder pushed across a run in the top of the 5th to take a 5-4 lead. Coming from behind again, the Heat scored 4 runs in the bottom half of the inning before time ran out, giving the Heat an 8-5 victory and the Championship trophies! Congratulations to the Thunder on a great regular season and a great Championship game!
As the regular season Champions, the Heat entered the league tournament as the #1 seed. In the first game, the Heat beat a much-improved Dahlonega Dragons team by a score of 9-3 behind an outstanding 72-pitch complete game performance by Andrew. In the 2nd game, the Heat faced the Gilmer Bobcats and after committing 8 errors, put themselves in a deep 7-0 hole going into the bottom of the 5th. That's when the fireworks started - with a leadoff homerun by Connor B. 10 batters and 7 hits later, the Heat had tied the game at 7-7. Connor B. was at the plate again with 2 runners on, 2 outs and an 0-2 count when he hit his 2nd homerun of the inning!!! Unfortunately, the middle runner took his helmet off when he was rounding the bases and was called out after the play was over. Only the first run counted, so we headed to the top of the 6th with a slim one run lead. Gilmer was able to load the bases with 2 outs before the Heat were able to get the final out and secure an incredible, come-from-behind win. In the 3rd game, the Heat faced the other undefeated team in the winner's bracket - the Dawsonville Dirty Dozen. Josh took the mound for this game and gave up 4 runs to the Dirty Dozen in the top of the first. Once again, the Heat came from behind and scored 8 runs in 5 innings off of Dawsonville's top pitcher. Meanwhile, Josh shut down the Dawsonville bats for the last 5 innings, allowing no runs and only 2 hits for a 70-pitch complete game win. That win sent the Heat directly to the Championship Game on Tuesday night. Dawsonville was able to win their game the next night and earn a re-match with the Heat in the Championship. After falling behind 3-1 after 2 innings, the Heat came from behind for the 3rd time in 4 games to score 6 runs in the 3rd and take a 7-4 lead. Behind strong pitching from Blake and Jake, the Heat maintained their lead and earned an 11-7 win and their 2nd CHAMPIONSHIP trophy in 8 days!!
CONGRATULATIONS to all the Heat players on a great league season and tournament! You guys showed that you have learned how to play like CHAMPIONS and never give up, no matter how bad things may look. You all earned both of those trophies!
|
 |
SOLID PERFORMANCE AT MAZZONE TOURNAMENT
On Memorial Day weekend, the Heat played in the inaugaral Leo Mazzone Rockin' Memorial Day Tournament hosted by the Sandy Plains Wildcats. The Heat won their first game vs. the Sandy Plains Prowlers 11-8. In their 2nd game, they ran into the Laurens Lightning from South Carolina. The Lightning ended up finishing as the runners-up in the entire tournament and they beat the Heat handily in this game, 14-1 as the Heat committed 7 errors and only got 3 hits. In the 3rd pool play game, the Heat faced the Tennessee Diamond Jaxx and had a 4-2 lead after 2 innings. Then the Diamond Jaxx scored 9 runs in the top of the 3rd. But, the Heat showed a lot of heart in their half of the inning - scoring 7 runs of their own to tie the game at 11 all. Unfortunately, the time limit was reached and another inning couldn't be played to break the tie. After finishing pool play at 1-1-1, the Heat were the #2 seed in the American League bracket and scheduled to play another team from Tennessee - the Lavergne Hurricanes. The Hurricanes team didn't play like the #7 seed as they got great pitching and hit the ball hard to beat the Heat 11-6. The Hurricanes ended up being the runners-up in the AL bracket. Once again, the Heat faced some very strong competition and despite the 1-2-1 record, the team played well - especially considering that the 2 losses were to teams that finished runners-up in each bracket. Thanks to the Wildcats team for putting on a first-class tournament!
Sunday, May 13
STRONG PLAY AT EAST COBB
The Heat played in the North Atlanta Open tournament at East Cobb on May 11th & 12th, facing some of the best teams we have played all season. After losing our first game 11-0 to the Peachtree Ridge Lions on Friday night during the the thunderstorms, the Heat came back strong on Saturday. In the first game of the day, the Heat played a great game vs. the East Cobb Braves even though they came out on the losing end by a score of 5-3. Blake pitched 5 great innings and the Heat bats finally woke up. With the score 4-3 and the bases loaded, a close play at the plate ended up keeping the Heat from tying the score in the top of the 5th and then the Braves were able to push across an insurance run in the bottom half of the inning and hold the Heat in the top of the 6th for the win. Immediately after that game, the last game of the tournament was vs. the New York Outlaws from Long Island, NY. The Heat played another outstanding game and this time were able to earn a 3-2 win. Josh pitched 5 great innings and Jake closed out the game in the top of the 6th, striking out the last 2 batters with the tying and go ahead runs on 2nd and 3rd. Despite the 1-2 record, the boys learned that they can play with any team they come up against.
|
|
RUMBLE IN DALTON RUNNERS-UP
The Heat finished the Rumble in Dalton Tournament as Runners-Up in the Silver Division.
|
|
TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS!!!
The 2007 Heat team got together on October 29th for a one-day tournament hosted by the Forsyth Outlaws at Bennett Park and ended up coming away with a 3-0 record and the Championship!!! Considering that the boys had only had a couple practices earlier that month and that they were all in the middle of playing football, this was a big accomplishment and gives us a lot to look forward to for the Spring!!
In the first game we played the Central Titans in an early morning game and it took both teams a while to get warmed up. Good pitching and timely hitting helped the Heat to a 2-0 victory. The next game was against the Rock Creek Roadrunners. The Roadrunners jumped out to an early 4-2 lead, but the Heat bats finally remembered how they hit at the end of last season and spurred a 5-4, come from behind win. In the final game, we played our long-time friends, the Sawnee Mountain Thunder. Both teams were 2-0, so this game was for the Championship. Both teams played very well and the Heat led 2-0 until the Thunder tied it up at 2-2 in the top of the 5th. With the time limit approaching, the Thunder were on the verge of winning the championship on a tie-breaker by retiring 2 of the first 3 Heat batters in the bottom of the 5th, but the 3rd out was made before time expired, so the game went to the 6th and final inning tied at 2-2. The Heat retired the Thunder in the top of the 6th thanks to a great double play by Cole. Then in the bottom of the 6th, the Thunder retired the first 2 Heat batters on comebackers and were again on the verge of winning the championship via the tie-breaker. However, Josh worked a walk on a 3-2 count, then 2 of our newly added players - Conner & John - came through with back-to-back singles to drive Josh in with the winning run giving the Heat an exciting 3-2 victory and the Championship!
Blake was not able to play due to a broken arm, so we only had 9 players for the tournament. All 9 pitched and every player had at least one hit during the day. Things definitely look promising for next season! Thanks to the Outlaws for putting on a great tournament - the one-day format was great!
Saturday, September 30
2007 MIDWAY HEAT
Congratulations to the following boys who will make up the 2007 Midway Heat:
Connor B.
Clayton C.
John C.
Josh D.
Blake H.
Dee K.
Andrew M.
Conner M.
Cole S.
Jake W.
|
|
2006 Lanier League Tournament Runner-Ups!
The Heat played a great tournament for the Lanier Baseball League 10U Championship, taking home the Runner-Up trophies by finishing 2nd out of 11 teams in the double elimination tournament!!! The boys played some great baseball to go through the winner's bracket undefeated which put them in the Championship Game. Unfortunately, our old nemesis, the Outlaws, were able to win their way through the loser's bracket and then defeat the Heat twice in a row to win the Championship.
The 10U Lanier League showed it's quality throughout the entire tournament as there were no easy games against any teams - regardless of their regular season record and seeding. The Heat entered the tournament as the #3 Seed and won their first game 12-4 against the Central Titans who played much tougher than a #10 Seed. In the second game the Heat faced their old rival, the #4 Seed Georgia Mustangs. In a typical Mustangs/Heat game, the game went into extra innings tied 8-8 before the Heat were able to pull out a 10-9 victory in the bottome of the 1st extra frame. That moved the Heat ahead to face the #1 Seed Hard Knocks Bats. The Heat put on their most prolific offensive display of the season scoring 10 runs in the first inning and cruising to a 17-8 run rule victory in 4 innings. The Heat pounded out 17 hits over 4 innings and there wasn't one "tinkler" in the bunch! That victory moved the Heat into the final game of the winner's bracket where they faced the much improved Gilmer Bobcats who had come from their #8 Seed to the winner's bracket final. After giving up 6 runs in the first inning, the Heat clawed their way back to an 11-10 victory that propelled them into the Championship, undefeated at 4-0.
Championship night didn't turn out to be the Heat's night as the tough Outlaws team out-hit them to score a 15-11 victory in the first game and then out-pitched them for a 9-2 victory in the 2nd game. However, the boys can be extremely proud of their second place finish and the way they played throughout the tournament! Congratulations Heat!!!
|
|
NO ERRORS !!!
For achieving their error goal in 10 games, the Heat earned these stylin' t-shirts!
|
|
HEAT GO 3-0 IN APPLE CITY CLASSIC!
Once again, the Heat had a great weekend in Ellijay! In a tough pool draw, the Heat won all 3 of their pool play games!! On Saturday morning, the Heat beat a tough Cartersville Canes team 9-5. Then that afternoon, in a tightly contested game, the Heat pulled out a 9-8 win against their old league rivals for the past 3 years - the Georgia Mustangs. Sunday brought rain, but it stopped long enough for the Heat to play one of their best games ever, beating a very good Oregon Park Bulldogs team 3-2 to go 3-0 for the weekend. Unfortunately, before the other pool could finish, the rain came again and the remainder of the tournament was cancelled. Due to the tie breakers used, the Heat was awarded the 2nd place trophies, but more importantly, every Heat player knew that they played a great weekend of baseball!
Individually, Jake Wiley had an incredible weekend for the Heat. Jake hit a home run in each game on Saturday (his 2nd and 3rd HRs of the season), went 3 for 7 with 6 RBIs in the 3 games, pitched 1 inning and struck out the side to close out the win against the Mustangs Saturday afternoon and then pitched a 5 inning, 2 run, 4 hit, 8 strikeout masterpiece against the Bulldogs for the 3-2 win on Sunday!