WCSLL Board of Directors met Thursday evening August 6, 2009 to close out the 2009 season's business. This was the last meeting for five members who had a combined 17 years of service with our group. These members have been an integral part of shaping our league over the last 4-5 seasons and we will very much miss having them.

The exiting members include: Bryan Clardy, Shawn Holland, Jim King, Steve McIntyre and Garry Sago

If you see these guys out in the community, please thank them for their commitment and service to our league.

As their last order of business these exiting members have to join with the returning members in selecting their replacements. We had nine candidates to fill these five positions and are very grateful to have so many participants willing to serve.

When the ballots were returned, the following people were selected to become new members of the 2010 WCSLL Board of Directors: Doug Guelde, Scott Thornhill, Mark Perdue, John Smiley and Evelyn Thrasher.

While we are disappointed for those candidates who were not selected, we are very excited about the group that was elected. This group brings a lot of talent and expertise and each will be a great help in continuing the positive direction of our league.

We are also excited to have our first female member join the board. Evelyn Thrasher brings a strong background of service to our board and we know she will fit right in. There were actually two female candidates and we are very happy that league mothers are stepping up to have a voice within WCSLL. Diversity is a good thing and will help us to represent all of our constituents in the best possible manner.

Please join us in welcoming and congratulating our newest board members if you see them.

While there are a number of side projects underway, the board will likely not meet as a group for the next couple of months. When we next come together, we will begin to plan for the 2010 season.

For those players recently graduating from WCSLL - you have an opportunity to adjust to the bigger field by playing baseball this fall. This is for your information only. WCSLL is not affiliated in any way with Warren County Babe Ruth.

Babe Ruth Fall Ball  - Ages 12-15

There will be sign ups on Saturday 8/1/09 from 12:00 - 3:00 PM at the
Three Springs Complex ( Basil Griffin ) in BG. Cost will be $75.00 per
player. You may contact Todd Boose at 270-303-6563 for more info.

Games start in September - three weeks of additional baseball - open to all
Warren County, Simpson County, Logan County, Butler County, Edmonson County baseball players of this age.

If you are interested in serving on the WCSLL Board of Directors for the 2010 season -

YOU MUST submit an application for service to league president by Tuesday, August 4, 2009.

Applications must go through a single point of contact so please - IF YOU TURN IN TO ANOTHER BOARD MEMBER, ENSURE THAT THEY GET APPLICATION TO PRESIDENT BEFORE THE DEADLINE.  

Applications turned in after Tuesday, August 4, 2009, OR not in possession of league president by this deadline will not be accepted.

WCSLL Board of Directors will meet on Thursday, August 6, 2009 to select new board members for 2010. Application for service does not guarantee participation. The current board will make all best efforts to place the most qualified applicants from the available list of candidates.

Candidates will be advised of results as soon after board meeting as possible.

Application can be downloaded and printed here. 

With our season being over a little sooner than we'd hoped the South Board of Directors must now turn our attention to replacing some extremely well-qualified members who will be stepping down. It is time for those participants in our league who are interested in serving to consider volunteering your time to be part of the board.

Participation on the board is not for everyone. There are long hours spent planning and organizing league functions. There's physical labor at times. There are discussions and arguments and complaints from other participants, and the pay is lousy ($0).

However, if you are a person that wants to help shape the experience for South baseball participants and you are willing to put up with the above conditions now is the time to step forward.

The board has a maximum of 12 members and we will have a need to replace 5 positions for the 2010 season. We have approximately 10 candidates who have already expressed interest in those positions, but there is no limit to how many may apply for positions.

2009 season end meeting and board selections will occur on Thursday, August 6, 2009. Those interested in applying can contact any board member or check back here next week to download an application for service. Applications for service must be returned to league president, Sean Heltsley by Tuesday, August 4, 2009.

The positions are filled through majority vote of the current board. Helping to select new members is the last official act of those leaving the board. Those interested should return your application as quickly as possible and make it a point to reach out to current board members to express your interest and share your ideas and visions for service. We do not recall ever having a need to fill this many positions at one time, or having so many qualified candidates express interest. It will be more important than ever for candidates to ensure that current board members understand why you are interested in serving. Service is an important reponsibility and it should not be taken lightly.

If you are that person who is willing to put others before self and you are ready to work on behalf of our 200+ participants to make their LL experience the best LL experience in Bowling Green and Warren County - we need you. 

Wednesday was a rough day for South baseball. After the elation of semi-final victories the previous evening and all the hopes for moving on to the State Tournament peaked, just like that - the season is over. Both the 9-10 year old all-stars and the 12 year old all-stars lost district championship games last night to East Daviess County and Logan County respectively.

Last nights event's should serve as a great lesson about just how fleeting success can be in the fickle game of baseball. There are many reasons to love it, but you can never be sure exactly what direction things can go. The South 11 year old all-stars got that lesson a little earlier in the weekend when a game that was seemingly under total control slipped away to the team that went on to win the District Championship.

South baseball put two outstanding teams on the field yesterday and in both cases it just wasn't their day. The ball didn't bounce their way. Fate favored the opponents.

After a no-hitter from Logan Bowen and a win over Franklin on Tuesday night, the 9-10 all-stars just couldn't get the push they needed last night. They lost 13-3 to East Daviess County. Though disappointing, this group will have several more chances at a district or state championship run.

Even more difficult to watch was the 12 year old championship. This group of players families and coaches have accomplished great things in our league. They exemplify team in a way that all of our other teams should emulate. It has never been about any one player with them. These players, coaches and families understand that we is greater than me. Together they have enjoyed great success as a team finishing as runner-ups in the state as 11 year olds. Their goal was to go back and get that state championship this season.

Logan County had other ideas and all credit goes out to them for a great game last night. Sometimes the stars line up and once in a while a great team comes together from outside of Bowling Green or Owensboro. This is that team for them. They rode a strong pitching performance and great discipline at the plate to the District Championship.

As we've come to expect, South never quit. They forced Logan County to utilize four pitchers in the sixth to record the final three outs. Adam Jones hit a three run shot, followed shortly by a two run homer from Chris House, who hit 7 homeruns in the post-season. Things got a little anxious for Logan County who had seemed totally in control of the game to that point. These South kids have never been out of a ballgame and they weren't out of this one either, not until the final out.

Our league will miss these players - they are examples to all who follow them. Jim King has been a terrific leader for this group and even through the difficult last weeks with the passing of his father, Jim has led this group valiantly. There could not have been a better fit of manager to team, or team to manager. Condolences of the entire South family were displayed during post-season with the simple display of "REK" on all-star hats, honoring the passing of Jim's father. Jim said last night in his post-game remarks that South baseball is in good hands. We all hope that's true and we'll do our best to continue a great tradition but the contributions of Jim King, his coaches, these players and these families cannot be overlooked. South baseball will miss you all - and we hope you'll remember your time in this league as fondly as the league will remember each of you!

The season may be over, and for these twelve year olds their Little League careers may be over - but them being an important part of the South baseball tradition will never be over! Wherever they go and whatever they do they will always be South baseball players! Thank you all for all the great memories you've left us!

GO SOUTH!

The South 12 year olds completed pool play yesterday in the District 1 tournament, going undefeated with a 3-0 record. They will move on to the single elimination portion of the tournament on Tuesday.

South fell behind early on Saturday when Owensboro Southern hit two first inning homeruns to take a 4-0 lead. As they tend to do, South responded with their steady assault and won the game 11-4.

Sunday, South used pitching by committee to dispatch Owensboro Eastern. The final score was 3-2 but the game never seemed at risk as South pitchers and hitters seemed to conserve a little energy for what's still ahead.

Great job by the South 12s!

GO SOUTH!

South 11 year olds opened the day with an 11-0 win over Franklin-Simpson. Grant Noble pitched a 1 hit shutout to take care of Franklin Simpson in the day's opening game. South bats took a couple of innings to get rolling but once they did they used 9 hits to score 11 runs while the stingy defense allowed nothing.

Second game of the day saw the 12 year old team dismantle BG East 13-0 in a game that wasn't as close as the score would indicate. Chris House led South off in the bottom of the first with a solo shot, later followed by a Cameron Shryock homerun. Several other South hitters rattled the fence in a strong display of offense.

The 9-10 year old team ended the day with a 5-4 victory over BG East that avenged an area tournament loss to the same group. Cathan Shryock and Russ Kerr combined on the mound to hold East bats at bay.

GREAT START for the South All-Stars who will all be in action again tomorrow.

GO SOUTH! 

Every youth sports organization has a few flaws. South baseball is no different and one might say that maybe we take baseball just a little too seriously at times. We just can't seem to help ourselves, we love it and that's just the way it is.

As baseball junkies, what should we think about a manager who decides batting orders and substitution patterns by drawing numbers out of a hat? What about going out to compete with a commitment to changing pitchers every inning no matter what the game situation is? What about treating B-Team post-season play as a total developmental experience for the 13 players lucky enough to be on that team?

The South B-Team outscored BG East 8-4 last night at Kereiakes Park but won the game 5-4. South jumped on BG East early posting 4 runs in the top of the first only to see a BG East 3rd inning rally tie the game at 4. South dodged a bullet in the fourth as BG East loaded the bases with nobody out. South followed with a force at the plate, a strikeout and a groundout to the pitcher to thwart the BG East rally attempt. South plated one run in the top of the fifth and shut East down again in the bottom half. Top of the sixth saw another flurry by South B-Teamers who posted 3 more to push the score to 8-4 as inclement weather rolled in. BG East put the leadoff runner on board in the bottom of the sixth before the game was called for lightning in the area. With only half of the sixth inning completed the final game score reverted to the last completed inning, which was the fifth. South B-Team defeated BG East for the third time this post-season.

While this coaching approach is not something we should expect to see a lot, for this team and this post-season it's working. What we saw last night was a team that played together with different players in different positions every inning. Every one of these players understood that they had to do their job to support their teammates. The players had fun, the families had fun.....and guess what.....they beat BG East in the process.

Reach out and let these coaches know what a great job they've done. It takes some courage to go out and do things differently. They have put the importance of developing players and showing them what being part of a team means above wins and losses. They have had faith in their players to pitch, hit and make plays when they need to do so. The lesson here seems to be to focus on what's important and believe in your players and the wins and losses will take care of themselves. Is anybody out there paying attention on that? The formula works and people had better watch out for this group over the next few seasons. They understand team and we are proud to have them in South colors.

GREAT JOB B-TEAM! GO SOUTH!

In an Area B tournament prolonged a day by Friday night's weather, both South teams (12 year old & 9-10 year old) have secured spots in the District 1 tournament which begins Friday, July 3rd, 2009.

The 12 year old group completed Area B play undefeated, outscoring opponents 42-6 over the three game slate.

The South rode a strong pitching performance from Wes King on Sunday afternoon and a couple of long balls by Jacob Smiley and Cameron Shryock to an 8-3 victory over BG East. They closed things out Monday night with an 11-0 win over BG West with a combined 1-hitter turned in by a variety of pitchers and a grand slam by Joseph McIntyre. This group will seek to move on along the same path that led them to a state runner-up finish as 11 year old All-Stars a year ago.

They will begin Friday July 3rd at 11am against a familiar rival, BG East.

The 9-10 year old group dropped a tough game to BG East Sunday afternoon but rebounded to defeat WC North 12-2 Monday night to secure a runner-up finsh in the Area B tournament. That lets them move on to District 1 tournament where they will face BG East at 11am on Friday, July 3, 2009.

Congratulations to both teams on moving forward!

The South 11 year old All-Stars will get their post-season underway on Friday, July 3rd at 9am against Franklin.

Please get out and support the South All-Stars in their quests for some District Championships.

GO SOUTH! 

South All-Stars were wearing a little thin on only getting to compete with each other after two grueling weeks of practice in some sweltering June weather. It was time to put on the colors and show the return on that hard work.

South 11-12s wasted no time in getting to work Friday night at Pedigo Park. They quickly jumped on Warren County North with an offensive burst and went on to win 23-3. Their scheduled 2nd round game had to be pushed back due to a weather delay in the nightcap.

The 9-10 South All-Stars overcame a few butterflies and settled in quickly against BG West. Unfortunately their push to secure their first victory was delayed until Saturday afternoon because of a summer thunderstorm. They fell behind 1-0 early before rebounding to take a 2-1 lead into the overnight delay. When weather intervened it was the bottom of the 3rd inning and the South had bases loaded and nobody out. They resumed in that position Saturday at 5:30 and moved on to win 9-2.

Both teams will be in action Sunday afternoon at 2pm and 4pm facing crosstown rivals BG East.

GO SOUTH!

The non-sanctioned South 9-10 B-Team is now 2-0 against other non-sanctioned All-Star teams. They have played 4 games in total running into some stout competition from some outlying sanctioned teams that do not have area tournaments to compete in. Even so they have played extremely well against these teams comprised largely of ten year old members. We are very proud of their efforts and look forward to seeing them in action Tuesday night, June 30 in round three against BG East. They have beaten BG East twice in some very competitive baseball games and will try to continue that sweep at Kerieakes Park Tuesday night at 7pm. They will move on after that to play in the Scottsville Tournament next weekend. We'll post times as soon as we have them.

Try to get out and support the B-Team Tuesday night!

GO SOUTH!

The South 9-10 B-Team played another great game last night. They jumped out to an early lead and led most of the way before falling 3-2 to Barren County. A pretty important side note is that this was Barren County's sanctioned 9-10 All-Stars. A break here or there and the B's would have had a big win under their belts. They'll bounce back into action this weekend in the Edmonson County tournament. We'll post times as soon as we can get them.

GO SOUTH!

The South 9-10 B-Team is our first group to secure a 2009 post-season victory. They defeated BG East in a slugfest Tuesday night at Griffin Park and came away with a 13-12 win. Way to go Killer Bs! It's especially sweet to begin by knocking off our cross-town rival. Keep up the good work.

Bs will continue their efforts this weekend in the Edmonson County tournament. We'll try to post times when we have them.

Both 12 year olds and 9-10 year olds get under way Friday night at Pedigo Park, 12's at 5:30pm and 9-10's at 7:30pm.

GET OUT AND SUPPORT THE SOUTH THIS WEEKEND!

We will plan to continue the good work that the B-Team started.

We had a large number of all-star families who braved the sweltering heat to celebrate the accomplishments of an outstanding group of players. South families are just the BEST!

It was a brutally hot Father's Day Sunday and as usual our players, managers and coaches were out working hard to get these teams prepared for tournament play. However, they weren't the only ones working hard. South families pitched in to provide an amazing spread of food for everyone to enjoy as practice wrapped up.

Please accept this special thanks to everyone who contributed time and effort to putting on this amazing picnic. As the players come together as teams and get ready to embark on our annual run in the All-Star tournaments, our families come together to support their efforts. People are always willing to pitch in and do whatever is needed to support these groups. It is so meaningful to have such great families and it becomes easy to understand why we have great players who are also great kids.

We'll post several pictures from yesterday for everyone to enjoy.

THANKS AGAIN TO EVERYONE FOR ALL YOU DO!

Each season we come to a point where situations become highly competitive and where we have opportunities as parents and fans to choose to act appropriately or inappropriately. We have reached that point in the last couple of weeks and we have seen both positive and negative actions.

We are proud to have what we feel are some of the best participants in Bowling Green and Warren County. Last week when we faced some potentially serious weather and had a lot of people at risk, our adult leaders banded together to ensure that everyone was as safe as possible. It was administrators, managers, coaches and parents all working together to ensure that everyone was taken care of.

Unfortunately, we've already seen a couple of actions that are not representative of behavior we want in our league. When we place the outcome of a baseball game ahead of the safety of our players, we may need to stop and think about possibly being out of line. When we personally attack a league volunteer with ignorant accusations in a letter under the cowardice of anonymity without having a single fact in our argument straight, we are definitely out of line.

The person that took this last action is an embarrassment to our league. The action is a clear Code of Ethics violation and should we find out who is responsible that individual and their child/children will be banned from our program. If any WCSLL participant has information about this action or who may be responsible please see a board member or a member of WCPRD immediately. Information you share will be handled with complete discretion.

The league will not tolerate such actions from our participants. We are all competitive and there's nothing wrong with that. We all want what's best for our player and there's nothing wrong with that. It's one element of what makes our league strong. Our managers, coaches parents and players want to succeed. However, it has to stop before it reaches the point of win-at-all-costs. We know what that looks like and that's not what we want to be. We want managers, coaches, parents and players that give their best effort in the attempt to succeed. That's all we would ever ask and we are satisfied with the results when that happens.

Season end, tournament play, all-star selections and post-season play are all environments where it becomes easy to lose perspective. Situations become a little more volatile, perceived injustices occur and everyone's nerves are just a little more on edge than they are early in the season. 

PLEASE remember that in the end this is all about young people learning and playing baseball and having fun.

Who are they learning from?

PLEASE keep things in their proper perspective and act appropriately.

As we progress into tournament play, we know that there will be things that occur where we have to make a choice about how we respond.

As it is each season, somebody, somewhere will not be totally pleased with the All-Star rosters. Somebody can always debate that some player somewhere did not get proper consideration. It's simply not true. If you think about the selection process, every effort is made to ensure that each player has the opportunity to be considered. There is input on each candidate from those with the closest knowledge of their performance. The All-Star managers themselves have very little influence as to the final roster. They are handed 10 players. These players are chosen for them by players and other managers. Players cannot vote for teammates and managers cannot vote for their own players. That helps to keep the vote unbiased. A player has to have convinced players and managers from other teams that they are worthy in order to be voted on. At the end of that the manager can add players at his discretion to round out the roster. If there is a fairer way to select All-Stars, we don't know what it would be.

Umpires in tournament play are going to make calls we don't agree with. Players that played shortstop and batted fourth all season are going to bat once in the ninth position in the batting order and play left field for one inning in a certain game. We feel we have the best All-Star Managers available but they might make decisions we don't understand or agree with. All of these things are opportunities to make choices with our behavior. For our best chance at success we need to make good choices. You are either part of the problem or part of the solution. PLEASE keep things in perspective. Be a positive influence on the players and the team you are a part of. Try to exemplify TEAM (together everyone achieves more). Whether you are a manager, coach, parent, player or fan, be a positive part of what's going on! 

MAKE GOOD CHOICES! MAINTAIN PERSPECTIVE! PLEASE!

Last season we inadvertently established an event that we felt was important to our league and to our players and families that will devote so much time and energy into the post-season representation of South baseball.

We kind of discovered by accident that there was a night where all three sanctioned teams were at Phil Moore Park at the same time. We threw together a little picnic and all got to spend a little time together prior to tournament play getting started. That opportunity will occur again this season and we'll take advantage of it by having a cookout and pep rally following this Sunday's practices.

All sanctioned teams are practicing between 1-4pm this Sunday. We'll need a little assistance from each team's families to pull this together. We'll plan to begin cooking between 3-3:30pm so we can have food ready when players get finished with practice. We'll need some help with ensuring that we have an adequate number of grills to cook for approximately 48 families. WCSLL will provide burgers, dogs and buns. Each team's families should coordinate plates, napkins, side dishes, desserts and drinks for their group.

It would be helpful if each team manager could gather a head count for their team because our plan will be to feed players, parents and siblings and we need some idea of how many to expect.

Around 5:30 we'll take a few minutes to recognize our players from each age group. Our managers should be prepared with a few words about their teams/players. We'll close with a few congratulatory and a few cautionary words from WCSLL board members and recreate our group picture from last year. 

It is not our goal to disrupt anyone's Fathers Day plans but honestly we can't think of a better way to spend Fathers Day than to cookout with family and friends and have a little baseball thrown in for good measure.

All sanctioned and non-sanctioned All-Star teams and their families are welcome at this event. Our B-Team was not present last year but we hope to see them there this year.We are proud of our players and look forward to the chance to recognize and spend time with them. We hope to see EVERYONE involved with these teams out at Phil Moore Park this Sunday! As mentioned above we will also take a group picture like we did last season! That is a great picture of all of our All-Stars and coaches and we'd like to make that a continuing tradition in the South!

Again this season, WCSLL will be supporting a non-sanctioned 9-10 year old B-Team. Having this group of All-Stars allows more of our players to participate in some post-season play and has proven to be a developmental opportunity for future sanctioned All-Stars.

After receiving a few applications for the Manager position, the board has selected Jonathan McDaniel to manage this group. Jonathan served as Manager for the Minor League Nationals this season and has managed in South Major League as well as assisting with one of our sanctioned All-Star teams in the past. Jonathan will be assisted by Greg Linhardt, Manager of the 2009 Minor League Braves and Charlie Cunningham, Manager of the 2009 Minor League Rays. Please join us in granting best wishes to this great coaching staff.

We are pleased and excited to congratulate the following players on being named South 9-10 B-Team All-Stars:

Noah Burns, Nate Cunningham, Hunter Evans, Peyton Ferry, Scott Haley, Kirtley Lawrence, Seth Linder, Garon Linhardt, Cannon McDaniel, Matthew Mitchell, Jacob Miller, Granite Pare and Brandon Thrasher

Congratulations to these players on outstanding seasons and best of luck as you represent South baseball.

Current B-Team schedule is as follows:

6/23 - 6-8pm @ Griffin #4  WC South v BG East

6/26-6/28 - Edmonson County Tournament - times yet to be decided

6/30 - 7-9pm @ Kerieakes Park WC South v BG East

7/2 - 7/4 - Scottsville All-Star Tournament - times yet to be decided

Please get out and support our B-Team! See you at the park.    

The Area Tournament for 2009 will be held at Pedigo Park and schedules for our WCSLL All-Star teams will be as follows:

11-12 Year Old All-Stars

Friday, June 26 - 5:30pm @ Pedigo Upper Field - WC South v. WC North (H)

Saturday, June 27 - 5:30pm @ Pedigo Upper Field - WC South (H) v. BG East

Sunday, June 28 - 2:00pm @ Pedigo Upper Field - WC South (H) v. BG West

9-10 Year Old All-Stars

Friday, June 26 - 7:30pm @ Pedigo Lower Field - WC South (H) v. BG West

Saturday, June 27 - 7:30pm @ Pedigo Lower Field - WC South (H) v. BG East

Sunday, June 28 - 2:00pm @ Pedigo Lower Field - WC South v. WC North (H)

The 10-11 Year Old All-Stars will begin play on July 3rd in the District Tournament in Franklin. 

Little League allows official release of 2009 All-Star rosters beginning today. We want to congratulate the following players on selection as 2009 South All-Stars:

2009 11-12 Year Old All-Stars

Jacob Smiley, Lucas Holland, Alex Biggs, Noah Edmonson, Chris House, Adam Jones, Wes King, Joseph McIntyre, Cameron Shryock, Everett Taylor, Sam Cundiff and Sam Dralle

2009 10-11 Year Old All-Stars

Grant Noble, Jacob Lewis, Kieffer Baxter, Cameron Brown, Griffin Heltsley, Michael Hicks, Trey Kirtley, Austin McElwain, Taylor Perdue, Alex Stackhouse, Landon Bybee and Jacob Page

2009 9-10 Year Old All-Stars

Russ Kerr, Hunter Stone, Dylan Beckham, Max Benningfield, Logan Bowen, Josh Floyd, Drew Gregory, Cole Haller, Cathan Shryock, Dylan Taylor, Chauncey Greer and Adam Smiley

Practice will begin tonight for these teams.

While we are very excited and pleased to congratulate this group of players, we recognize that we have some players who may be disappointed that their names didn't appear on this list. We care about all of our players and we encourage you to keep striving for excellence in baseball and other endeavors. Never accept less than what you want. We hope each player in our league will continue to seek success. That's what makes our league a great place to play. Even those not listed above have contributed by competing and making the players above better. We all play a part in what goes on in WCSLL. Thank you to all our players for participating during the 2009 season.   

After a busy week WCSLL teams played their hearts out through a steamy Saturday to show everybody what they had left in the tank.

The Jamboree brackets are attached with final results.

In our Major League Division we had the most competitive season we've ever had with all teams beating up on each other all season. We had three teams finsh the season with 9-6 records. All had beaten each other, so to divide that would involve some ridiculous mathmateical formula. Hardly fair to let math decide who the champion was so we decided to award co-champion trophies to all who tied for best record. The league finshed as follows:

1st Place - Cardinals, Cubs, Rockies (co-champions)

2nd Place - Yankees

3rd Place - Phillies

4th Place - Diamondbacks

In the Minor League Division our players faced some unbelievable challenges in getting their rainouts made up. They did an amazing jop of demonstrating toughness and desire. They've shown early that they are going to make great players in the South. Regular season finished as follows in Minor:

1st Place - Reds

2nd Place - Indians

3rd Place - Red Sox

GREAT JOB EVERYONE!

SOUTH SIDE - STRONG SIDE!!! 

STILL TRUE

After all is said and done and with more patience from our managers and participants we hope to wrap up the 2009 WCSLL Jamboree and close out our regular season today. It's a busy day with teams playing on all fields.

All regular season and jamboree trophies will be presented as teams complete their games today.

A HUGE THANKS GOES OUT TO ALL WHO HAVE PARTICIPATED IN A GREAT 2009 BASEBALL SEASON!

We had one of the best Major League seasons in memory with every team being as good as the next. Our Minor Leaguers fought through a lot of adversity in getting their rainouts made up but they've proven that they belong in South Little League. We do what it takes to get the job done and they survived a baptism by fire over the last 10 days. Way to go Minor Leaguers!

The Area B tournament will begin on June 26, 2009 at Pedigo Park here in Bowling Green. Schedules will be posted Monday. We hope that all of our South participants will show league pride and come out to support the South 9-10 and 11-12 All-Stars as they compete for an opportunity to move on to the District Tournament in Franklin. We hope both teams will join our 10-11 All-Stars who begin play in Franklin. All-Star rosters will be released Monday, June 15 and published here on our website. Please support those who have been selected to represent our league in post-season play.

THANKS AGAIN FOR A GREAT 2009 SEASON!

First and foremost we are hoping all of our participants found their way home safely last night. There were some pretty scary moments and we appreciate everyone that helped to herd our players and families to safe locations during the storm. Fortunately there was no serious damage that we are aware of. At worst, it looks like we lost a little time on a few baseball games and we'll gladly accept that as opposed to anyones safety being at risk.

We'll try to move forward with our jamboree games tonight, weather-permitting. The revised brackets are attached. Please make careful note of game time and location changes. We may have to continue to adjust on the fly and we don't want anybody in the wrong place at the wrong time. Best course of action is to destroy any brackets you may have downloaded and printed previously. Make sure you have this version for reference.

Also, please remember, we hope we can play our jamboree to completion but these are bonus games. They are just so we can play a little longer and have a little more fun. We plan to play as much as we can but if the weather doesn't cooperate we may need to cancel the balance of the games at some point. We'll try to avoid this, but please be patient and understand if this happens.

Here's hoping we get good weather and are able to spend more time with all of you over next few days.

If weather forces an abrupt end to our season in the next couple of days, we appreciate everyone who played baseball in the South this season. Best wishes to those who are graduating from our league and we hope to see all who are eligible to return again next season!

Minor League wrapped up tonight at Phil Moore # 2 as the Minor Leaguers got a chance to play where the big boys play. The Indians defeated the Braves 7-4 in the 5:30pm game completing an amazing run to win 5 games in 6 days and secure 2nd place for the Minor League regular season by a slight half game margin over the Red Sox who also had a terrific season finishing in 3rd place.

IMPORTANT NOTE - completed Minor League Brackets are attached.  

BRACKETS REVISED SINCE THIS AFTERNOON

The Yankees win in the nightcap at Phil Moore #2 allowed them to leapfrog the three teams they were tied for fourth with based on head to head victories over the other three. Bad information had the Rays posted as the #4 seed earlier today. We did not realize that could change or we wouldn't have posted it. That created a logjam for the #5 seed that could not be broken by head to head because the teams had all beaten up on each other. Seeds #5, #6 and #7 were determined by runs allowed for all thirteen games played. The Rays are the #5, the Dodgers are the #6 and the Diamondbacks are the #7.

PLEASE CAREFULLY CHECK ATTACHED BRACKETS FOR TIME AND LOCATION THAT YOUR TEAM PLAYS.

We will begin jamboree Thursday night and play as much baseball as we can play! See you at the park!

Our Major League wrapped up on Tuesday night with a closing game that was called after four innings because of lightning in the area. The Cubs defeated the Yankees in 3-2 in four innings in the weather-shortened contest. It was another great game and unfortunate that it was ended early by weather, but the safety of our players is far more important than the outcome of any game.

The Major League will recognize three co-champions for the 2009 season. We want to show our appreciation to all of our Major League teams for what has been a dream season. Our co-champions include the Cardinals, the Rockies and the Cubs. Last night's loss drops the Yankees into a second place finish. The Phillies and Diamondbacks finished third and fourth respectively. Any team could literally beat any other team on any night and it was an enjoyable season because of that parity. 

The Major League Season End Jamboree is set to begin Thursday night weather-permitting. The brackets are attached. If we run into weather issues, we will push games to next day and play as much as we can play.

WCSLL Board, Major League and Minor League managers met last night to count player votes and to nominate and select all-stars for the 2009 post-season. The rosters will be released officially on June 15, 2009 and published here.

In a presidents meeting yesterday in Franklin, tournament pairings for Area and District tournaments were set. The District 1 administrator advised that Major League all-star rosters could not be formally announced until Monday, June 15. It is the decision of our board to hold the official release of the Minor League roster until the same date for consistency sake. Our plans to recognize all-stars at conclusion of our season end jamboree games had to be cancelled.

It may be necessary for all-star managers to communicate with some players and families prior to official release date to ensure that their rosters are completed and firm. We would appreciate all efforts to keep any all-star conversation to a minimum. We will announce as soon as possible.

Pairings will be posted here in the near future.

WCSLL completed 20 more baseball games this past weekend and we hope to complete 12 more tonight and tomorrow night, weather-permitting. There is a chance of showers each day, but let's hope for the best. If we can complete our regular season on Wednesday, that will be AWESOME, considering how far behind we were just three days ago.

In watching a lot of games over the weekend it appears the players are having fun and that's what LL baseball is all about. We know our Minor Leaguers have faced a tough schedule trying to make up all the rainouts but they are doing great! Heck, what's better than playing a lot of baseball?

Stay tuned here for updates as season winds down.

WCSLL Board of Directors and team managers will gather this Sunday, June 7, 2009 to select the 2009 WCSLL All-Star teams.

This is a closed meeting. Only board members and team managers are to attend. No assistant coaches, parents or others will be allowed. At times, information shared in these meetings can be of a sensitive nature and we make every effort to be as discreet as possible.

Official roster release date is Monday, June 15, 2009 and those selected will be posted here on that day.

This is always a difficult process. There are lots of players to consider and a lot of time and effort goes into our process. WCSLL is proud of all of our players and we wish that everyone could be selected as an all-star. However, representing our league in post-season play is an important consideration. Some of the best baseball in the state of Kentucky is played right here in District 1. WCSLL has made a habit of competing for Area, District, State and even Central Region titles. This representation helps to shine a positive light on our league. The WCSLL board makes every effort to ensure that our managers take the process seriously, and that we attempt to place our highest performers on these rosters.

We would ask that parents please understand that all-star rosters are normally comprised of 10-12 players. The exact number is a choice that's up to the team manager, they can option up to 14. However, the more players you take the more difficult the job becomes because Little League play time regulations require that every player, play in every game.

It is a common occurence that some players who may be deserving just don't end up on the roster. Nobody takes this lightly. Every effort is made to ensure that the best of the best are selected. That is necessary to allow us the best opportunity for post-season success.While our board and managers may not get this exactly right in 100% of the cases, our record of success shows that we have chosen pretty well over the years. We would ask that parents keep in mind that your players are participating in a rich talent pool. Teams from Bowling Green have often outperformed teams from Louisville, Lexington and Owensboro. Players that don't quite meet all-star criteria here could very well be all-stars almost anywhere else they would play. All of our players are good players and we care about them all. 

In an effort to help with understanding we always like to publish for all participants how the selection process works. There are three steps to placing our all-stars.

Step 1 is that our players select the first two all-stars. Each player votes for who they feel are the top 3 players in their division that they've played against during the season (you do not have the option to vote for yourself or others on your own team).

Step 2 allows each team manager to nominate and support those players on his team that he feels are worthy of consideration. After all managers have done this, the ballot is created. Each manager then votes for the top 8 players from the ballot that have played against them during the season (again, managers do not have option to vote for their own players).

After these two steps are complete 10 players have been placed on the roster.

Step 3 allows the team manager to select any additional players that he wants on his team. The managers selections are done at the sole discretion of that manager. They could be players that were on the ballot, or he may select a player/players from off the ballot. He fills the remainder of the roster as he chooses.

The players selected then must go through a validation and verification process that clearly establishes their eligibilty for participation. This can go quickly or take a few days. The 2009 official rosters will be released to the public on Friday, June 12 and will be published here on the website. We would request that all participants avoid probing for information and participating in gossip related to inclusion/exclusion until those rosters are published. The release date is mandated by Little League rules and we release officially at the earliest possible time allowed. 

If anyone wishes to order additional pictures you may do so by visiting the JVZ photo website.

Here are the viewing instructions:

Go to www.jvzphoto.com and enter the site by clicking on the main front page photo.  Find the menu tab labeled Warren Co Baseball.  Click the hyperlink on that page and use password:  wcsll    

OR

Go to www.myleaguephotos.com and use password: wcsll

Several questions have surfaced over the last few weeks about Major League, Minor League and our draft process. It seemed appropriate to take a little space here to provide some additional information on that.

Players are sorted into Major and Minor League participation with league age being the primary determining factor. Players of league age 9-10 generally participate in Minor League while those of league age 11-12 generally participate in Major League. Unfortunately there are no hard and fast rules about a player’s development level that can be tied directly to league age. Some players mature and develop their skills at a faster rate than others. The goal of the WCSLL board of directors with our draft process is to ensure that participants are placed at the level that allows them the most opportunity to learn, participate and have fun.

Our draft processes in WCSLL are taken directly from Little League operating manuals. There is nothing special or different about how we draft than most other Little League chapters throughout the country. While draft process is an area where Little League allows some latitude with local chapter interpretation, we have made no such adjustments. Our draft is by the book. Board members and managers who participate can confirm this fact.

All 12 year old players must participate in Major League. In addition, any returning player that was a Major League participant last season must participate in Major League. Major League rosters have an 11 player limit. In the 2009 draft there were 66 Major League spots available, 31 of those 66 slots were returning players. That means that there were  51 players that were eligible from a league age perspective to fill 35 slots. Approximately 4-5 of those 51 were 12 year olds who did not play in Major League last season. Those players must be drafted by rule. The situation that leads to is that 15 players that are league age 11 went undrafted in the Major League draft. They immediately become eligible for the Minor League draft.

This is where we ask parents to focus on the positive rather than the negative. Not being drafted by a Major League team simply means that through what they saw in try-outs the Major League managers felt it was in the best interest of these players to spend another season developing their skills and preparing for the Major League competition level. Current participation at the Major League level for some of them can present not only safety issues but can preclude receiving the valuable playing time they need to continue their development. The thing that often gets missed is that these players become highly sought after by the Minor League managers in their draft. At the Minor League level, these players are more mature, better developed and positioned to become team leaders. It’s quite likely that this additional season in Minor League will better help them to prepare for their 12 year old season in Major League.

Occasionally a player goes undrafted that would be just fine at the Major League level. The system is not perfect, but more often than not it positions players in the best place for them. We have seen over the years that this is sometimes taken as a blow to the egos of parents whose kids go undrafted. We ask parents to remember that this is not about you. It’s about your player and your approach will influence his/her approach. Please remain positive and support your child at whatever participation level he falls.

Some questions have been overheard recently about why a 7^th Major League team was not added this season. There are a couple of reasons for that.  First, we have to set the numbers for teams at the completion of registration to allow proper time to educate and prepare our team managers. Those team numbers were set on February 22, 2009. Since that time we have had 25-30 late sign-ups. It was not until just prior to the draft that the number of Major League eligible players existed to even consider forming a 7^th team.  That is not adequate time to prepare. Secondly, of the 15 Major League eligible players that went undrafted there are only 2-3 of those that would have probably been able to compete at the Major League level and enjoy that experience. There was a time only a few years back when this league sent 30-40 players down. That was not the right thing to do and we’ve tried to adapt our system to accommodate as many players in Major League as can play there and have a good experience. Ideally our board would prefer not to send more than 10 players down. In the future, this can be managed more efficiently by getting people signed up on time. Late sign-ups create issues in a whole variety of ways. This is just one of them.

Lastly there are often a number of conspiracy theories out there about things being done for this reason or that. People talk about board members or team managers and their affiliations with certain travel baseball groups. These conversations are heard most often around draft time and all-star selection times. While all of these things make for interesting conversation there is absolutely no basis to it. Your board of directors is singularly focused on providing a quality Little League baseball experience for all participants. We take that responsibility very seriously. We make mistakes from time to time but no decision is ever made without careful consideration for our participants. If you have a question or concern, please address a board member directly and we’ll do our best to answer your questions. We hope everyone has a great season!  

Order WCSLL products by clicking the "Sportswear" tab at the left of the home page. Prep Sportswear offers over 400 products. Most products come in multiple color options and the primary design art can be customized to your liking. You can add player names and or numbers. You can also pick products specifically designed for moms, dads, league officials, grandparents, etc.. These items are perfect for supporting your favorite player or team or just to show league spirit.

This opportunity is simply a source to purchase gear. WCSLL receives no financial benefit from the sale of these products.

In a rare occasion last Thursday night, just before Area Tournament , we had almost all of our players and families together in one place at one time. We are missing our non-sanctioned B-team, but everyone else is here. We were able to get a group shot of our 9-10, 10-11 & 11-12 year old all-stars and coaches. What a GREAT group, we are very proud of them! Not only are these some of the best players around, they are good young men and we are proud for them to represent the South. 

The WCSLL Board of Directors has selected the 2009 All-Star Managers pursuant to our recent by-laws revision.

The board is confident that those most qualified to lead our post-season teams have been chosen for that difficult and demanding job. We want to congratulate the following managers on their selection:

2009 11-12 yr old South All-Stars - Jim King

2009 11 yr old South All-Stars - Brian Bybee

2009 9-10 yr old South All-Stars - Tony Shryock

We want to thank all those who applied for these positions and we appreciate all of you. This is a difficult decision for our board and we have taken the review of candidates very seriously. Through previous experience and detailed responses on our application, we've done our best to make these critically important decisions.

Congratulations to the selected candidates! 

WCSLL Board of Directors was fortunate last night to add two new members for the 2009 season. From a field of highly qualified candidates the board faced a difficult decision, but selected Mike Bowen and James Napper to join the board for the 2009 season.

Mike and James both managed in the minor league division this past season. Both have sons currently participating in WCSLL, and younger sons who will be future WCSLL participants. We hope that Mike and James will continue to help shape the future of South baseball for years to come.

Please join us in congratulating these guys on their selection for service!

 THOSE INTERESTED IN SERVING ON THE 2009 BOARD OF DIRECTORS MUST BE PRESENT TO BE CONSIDERED.

WCSLL will be placing two board members for the 2009 season. Those interested should be at Rich Pond School at 8pm tomorrow night, Wednesday August 27, 2008 to be available for the interview process. Each candidate will go through a short interview with the sitting board of directors and may leave when the interview is complete.

There are two slots for the 2009 board and a number of interested candidates so while making yourself available for service is greatly appreciated, there is no guarantee of an opportunity to serve on the board. The new board members will be elected by a vote of the sitting board of directors. If necessary tie votes will be broken by the president.

The Warren County South Board of Directors will be adding two new members for the 2009 season.

There are three board members stepping down. Please join us in thanking Mike Bartley, Clay Kirby and Joe Pitts for their service on the South Little League Board. These gentleman have brought a tremendous amount to our league during their service. They will be greatly missed.

As we look to the future we will add two board members for a total of twelve. Those wishing to serve on the South board will need to attend the meeting on Wednesday, August 27th, 2008 at Rich Pond School. We are currently aware of 5-6 candidates interested in serving for 2009. Those wishing to serve should be available for no less than two years of service to be considered. The board is heavily weighted with Major League participants at present, so Minor League participants feel free to put your names in for consideration. It is a benefit to be available for a longer period of time. We have a lot of work ahead of us for 2009, so those interested in serving should be prepared to take an active role immediately. 

Candidates wishing to be considered must attend the meeting and go through a brief interview with current board. Upon completion of the interviews current board will vote to place the two new board members for 2009. The two candidates receiving the greatest number of votes will be placed. Tie votes will be broken by the current president, if necessary.    

The South 11-year old squad continued their terrific play in yesterday's semi-final game against Louisville Valley Sports displacing the host team on their home turf by a score of 7-2.

The state championship game followed against South London. Things didn't turn out the way anyone hoped in this one as the South London bats seemed to find the right holes at the right times. South pulled out all the stops and tried all the pitching solutions they could find but nothing seemed to turn the momentum. South London came out on top in this one 12-1. That's baseball. Sometimes the best team in the state finishes second. That's what happened here.

WCSLL could not be prouder of these players and the postseason they have had! They have been extremely impressive on the field finishing with a record of 9-1. They are District 1 champs(any state LL official will tell you that District 1 is consistently where the best baseball in the state is played - so that alone is a major accomplishment), and Kentucky runner-ups. They posted 90 runs and allowed 19. That is playing dominant baseball. They defeated an excellent baseball team in the semi-final game, arguably better, at least more fundamentally sound, than the team they fell to in the championship.

They have been a close knit group with great support from family and friends and you can bet they will not be happy with a runner-up finish. They are hurting a little right now but they must remember that there have been a lot of outstanding WCSLL teams that have not even made it to state. They not only made it, but they owned every team there until last night. When the district tournaments begin for this age group, there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 106 teams trying to win the state championship. Finishing second is a GREAT accomplishment! These guys should be thrilled to have done what they've done. But hey, they are South kids. They want to be champions and they are going to keep working to be that. That's why we love them!

GREAT JOB GUYS!

Bats stayed hot, pitching and defense stayed stingy yesterday as the South 11 year old all-stars closed out the pool play phase of the state tournament with a 3-0 record. The boys padded their already impressive numbers by beating South Oldham 17-1.

They posted 37 runs in the 3 pool play games. South Oldham was the only opponent to post a run against them. For the postseason that brings their run total to 82 scored while allowing only 5. To date they are 8-0 with a 10 run per game scoring average. Maybe even more impressive, they are allowing less than 1 run per game, .6 to be exact.

Yesterday's victory should have clearly established this team as the # 1 seed entering the single elimination phase of the tournament. Due to some weather issues South will not play today. There are teams that still have to complete pool play games. This sets up an interesting scenario for tomorrow night. Plans are to play both semi-final and championship games back to back. Double-headers don't happen often in Little League. It is against the rules and requires a special permission exemption. That exemption has been granted. For any South fans that have been wanting to make the trip up to Louisville to see this team play, they would love to have your support tomorrow night.

They will play a semi-final game against the tournament host  Louisville Valley Sports at 5:30 eastern time/4:30 central time. If they can keep the positive momentum going there, the championship game will follow later tomorrow night.

I would encourage all South fans to get up to Louisville and support this group tomorrow night. They would GREATLY appreciate your help and fan support as they try to bring home a state championship.

GO SOUTH! 

Last season the South 9-10 year old squad mirrored what happened to this year's 9-10 year old squad. They were long on talent but had one moment where things just didn't go their way. They had better players, better coaches, better everything, but they came out on the wrong end of a single elimination District Tournament game that allowed a lesser quality opponent to advance while they went home.

Now this is the part where this season's 9-10 year old squad should take a lesson, those players did not forget what happened to them. It hurts to be the better team sitting home, while lesser teams compete for state titles (remember that 2008 9/10s). They used that hurt as motivation. They did not forget. They could not wait to get another chance, and this year, when most of those all-stars from last year's 9-10 year old squad became 10-11 year old all-stars, they set about taking care of some unfinished business from last season.

Jim King is back at the helm and all the positive qualities that last year's squad had are reflected again in this group. They are a cohesive group focused on the job at hand. Most of the players from last year's group are back with an addition or two. These are good kids from good families who deserved better than what happened to them last season. Oh yeah, and they can play! They could play last year too, but one moment of lost focus or a bad break here or there and they were home too early.

This season they are making their own breaks and they are VERY focused. Most coaches will tell you that a loss is not a bad thing if you learn from it. Some hurt more than others and last year's loss to Owensboro Southern probably topped the meter on the hurt factor, but boy did they learn from it. They did not forget and they have a mission that almost shows on their faces. They have something to prove and they are proving it!

They started by blowing through the District tournament leaving absolutely no doubt about who the best team in District 1 was. They scored 45 runs while allowing only 4 in the 5 games in Owensboro. That run included a complete dismantling of the Owensboro Southern team that sent them home last year. I’m not sure Owensboro Southern knew that they could be whipped like that, but this team had that game circled on the schedule. Mission accomplished there. They soundly defeated the team that got them last year and won a District 1 Championship.

This weekend they began pool play in Louisville against the best teams Kentucky has to offer and after pool play games on Saturday and Sunday they have won both posting 18 runs and shutting out both Russell Flatwoods (8-0) and Lexington Western National (10-0).

In Saturday’s opener against Flatwoods they hit first and had 3 runs on the board before the opponent could blink. Jim says they like to hit first. It shows.

I can't help but relay this observation because I love it so much. Generally when you look at a visiting team's dugout before the game, the top 4-5 hitters have helmets and batting gloves on. These same 4-5 players usually have their bats and are ready to hit in that inning. When you look into this teams dugout, all 9 of them have helmets and batting gloves on because all 9 of them expect to hit, every inning. How great is that!?!

They threw a combination of five pitchers Saturday(Wes King, Cam Shryock, Joseph McIntyre, Adam Jones and Sam Dralle). They worked together in complete harmony to no-hit Flatwoods. This was either the team’s third or fourth no-hitter by committee since all-star play began. They made every play on any ball Flatwoods did manage to put a bat on and the outcome was never in question from the first pitch. Yesterday it sounds as if they handled Lexington Western National even more easily, winning a run rule decision after 4 innings by a 10-0 score. This victory should get them out of their pool but I wouldn’t expect them to let up until the job is finished. Today they will face South Oldham at 6pm. There’s no doubt the road gets a little tougher with each win but these boys have a goal and I wouldn’t bet against them.

Let’s review, to date they are 7-0; they have scored 63 runs and allowed only 4! Their offense is fierce and their pitching and defense are there too. I have lost count on the no-hitters and shut-outs but it’s a significant number of both. They are AWESOME! If you need confirmation on how good, call Owensboro Southern.

KEEP IT GOING BOYS! BRING HOME THAT STATE TITLE! YOU DESERVE IT! 

GO SOUTH!

First, sorry about the lack of timeliness in reporting this GREAT NEWS! The webmaster has been traveling and access to a place to load the information was limited. We try to keep things as current as possible and this is certainly important news for us to report.

Our 11 year old all-stars were nothing short of phenomenal in District Tournament play. They went 5-0 and posted 47 runs, while allowing only 4. WOW! So the offense was powerful averaging almost 10 runs a game and the pitching and defense was stingy, allowing an average of less than 1 run per game. These guys can make a great showing at State!

Please join us in wishing them the BEST OF LUCK as they advance to Louisville.

Their schedule is as follows:

Saturday, July 19 - 9am @ Valley Sports v. Russell Flatwoods 

Sunday, July 20 - 6pm @ Valley Sports v. Lexington Western National

Monday, July 21 - 6pm @ Valley Sports v. South Oldham

We will post opponent information as soon as we have it. Please make plans to support this great group of all-stars at the State Tournament!

GO SOUTH!

They say every dog has his day and yesterday Bowling Green East was the dog. All credit to our crosstown rivals as BG East teams eliminated both out 9/10 and 11/12 year old age groups from the District 1 Tournament yesterday.

A solo shot by Luke Meherg in the first inning was all the offense our 11/12 year old squad could mount yesterday, but the rivals from BG East had plenty of offense. East scored 14 unanswered to end the South's postseasson run in this age group. Despite the end result, we are extremely proud of this group and their efforts. GREAT JOB guys! Credit goes out to BG East, who in all fairness, has an excellent chance to keep moving forward. They have a terrific ball club this year. Best of luck to them as they go on.

 In the 9/10 year old group, it was a tight ball game with several lead changes but BG East got the best of it in the end with a 6-5 victory, avenging their previous 18-8 defeat in the Area Tournament. These two teams were a very good matchup yesterday. With the tying run on basein the top of the sixth, South hitters just could not find a way to get him across. If that run scores and East goes to option number two on the mound the momentum probably turns. Oh well, ifs and buts just don't win baseball games and credit goes to BG East for a hard fought win.  Best of luck to them going forward. Again, we are EXTREMELY PROUD of our 9/10 year old group. GREAT JOB SOUTH!

At time of this post, there was no news on 11 year old group but we'll have it up as soon as possible.

WE LOVE OUR TEAMS! GREAT JOB SOUTH! You represented your league well.

Both South 11-12 year old and 9-10 year old groups took care of their must win games on Sunday to move into the semi-finals of District Tournament in Owensboro. The 11-12 year olds posted a 7-0 win over Central City and the 9-10 year olds got a 7-1 victory over Franklin.

The South 11's who had already locked up a spot with a 2-0 record moved to 3-0 yesterday with a win over Warren County North.

All teams will compete in semi-final games tonight, hoping to move forward and play for District Championships tomorrow.

GOOD LUCK SOUTH!

South All-Star teams had another good day on Saturday winning 4 out of 5 contests. Saturday's postseason play saw the South All-Stars overall record improve to 15-3.

The day got off to a rough start for the 11-12 year old squad, who fell to Owensboro Southern 5-2. Clay Stivers and Ty Pitts each hit solo shots to generate the 2 South runs but the offense couldn't seem to string enough together to overcome the breaks that fell Owensboro Southern's way. This was a matchup between two quality baseball teams and we'll hope for a rematch sometime in the next few days.

The 9-10 year old all-stars regained their form last night with a 19-0 win over Ohio County. The South bats were hot throughout the lineup while South pitchers Grant Noble and Jacob Lewis kept Ohio County hitters off balance the entire game.

The South 11 year old team exacted a little revenge against Owensboro Southern lighting up the scoreboard for a second consecutive night. South had no trouble hitting Owensboro Southern pitching, including a grand slam by Sam Dralle. That makes the second night in a row the 11's have posted a grand slam. Cameron Shryock had one on Friday night. Final score last night was 16-2 - South gets the lopsided win.

In a non-sanctioned round robin tournament at Kereiakes park yesterday the South B-team went 2-0 beating the BG West A-team 9-5 and following up later in the day with a 3-1 extra inning win over Scottsville. The South B-team is 6-0 in postseason play thus far. Way to go guys!

Final day of pool play wraps up today for the District Tournament in Owensboro. If you can make it out . Schedule is conducive to seeing a little of all three age groups. South teams could use the fan support. The 11's have locked up a chance to advance but both 11-12's and 9-10's face must-win games today to keep District Championship hopes alive. Today's schedule (July 6, 2008) is as follows:

11-12 Year Old Division

3pm @ Country Heights - WC South (1-1) v. Central City (0-2)

11 Year Old Division

5pm @ Highlands - WC South (2-0) v. WC North (0-2)

9-10 Year Old Division

7pm @ Country Heights - WC South (1-1) v. Franklin (1-1)

All parks are right on HWY 54 in Owensboro. Take Natcher Pkwy to the end and follow right split onto HWY 60 by-pass.  Take first exit onto HWY 54 and turn right. Highlands is on left shortly after the right turn. Country Heights is about 3 miles further out on left. We hope to see all South baseball fans out at Owensboro this afternoon and tonight to help keep these South teams rolling!

GO SOUTH!

District Tournament play got underway yesterday in Owensboro and the Warren County South 11-12 year old squad got things started by riding a strong pitching performance from Clay Stivers and Ty Pitts to a 6-2 win over Franklin in the 3pm tilt. 

At 5pm the 9-10 year old South all-stars faced off against perennial rival and always strong Owensboro Southern. South hitters were unable to generate much offense and came up short falling 11-2.

Anxious to get underway after a long layoff the South 11 year old squad found plenty of offense from their bats beating East Daviess County 17-1. The team was hungry to get on the field after not having to compete in the Area Tournament.  District is the first round for sanctioned teams in this age group.

All three squads will be back in action today in Owensboro.  Today's schedule is as follows:

11-12 Year Old Division

1pm @ Country Heights - WC South v. Owensboro Southern

9-10 Year Old Division

7pm @ Country Heights - WC South v. Ohio County

11 Year Old Division

7pm @ Highlands - WC South v. Owensboro Southern

Another win by both 11-12 and 11 year old squads will ensure them an opportunity to advance out of pool play. The 9-10 year old squad will have to bounce back and take care of business in the next two games to move on. We know all of our teams can do it.

GO SOUTH!

Warren County South LL finished the opening weekend of post-season play with an 8-1 record and will send both 11-12 year old and 9-10 year old all-star groups to the District 1 Tournament this weekend in Owensboro. Teams representing Warren County South earned two tournament championships and one tournament runner up spot this weekend. South teams scored 103 runs while allowing only 41 proving once again, that when it comes to LL baseball in Bowling Green/Warren County THE SOUTH SIDE, TRULY IS, THE STRONG SIDE!

The South 11-12 year old group lost a heartbreaker to BG East last night by a final score of 6-5. There is no doubt that this was a big game against a competent rival that the South would like to have won. However, this sets a script that is eerily similar to last year where BG East also snuck up and got one against us. It just serves as a reminder that there are big games, and then there are really big games. We all know what happened last year and our goals and expectations are the same this season. We hope to see BG East again at District. We fully expect this great group of all-stars to be refocused and ready to go this weekend in Owensboro.

The story was a little different in the 9-10 year old age group where the South all-stars dominated BG East hammering their way to an 18-8 final score. East tried to hang in for the first couple of innings when the lead changed hands a couple of times, but the South hitting throughout the lineup was clearly superior. East rotated through numerous pitching options but none of them could slow the South bats. This South group seems to have all the tools to make a lot of noise in Owensboro. Powerful bats, outstanding defense and eleven solid pitching options should take them a long way.

The schedule for Friday, July 4 is as follows for South teams:

3pm – WC South 11/12 @ Country Heights (off HWY 54) v Franklin 

5pm – WC South 9/10 @ Country Heights (off HWY 54) v Owensboro Southern 

7pm – WC South 11 @ Highlands (off HWY 54) v East Daviess County

That schedule sets up well for South fans to see all three age groups play. What better way to spend the 4^th? Somebody bring the apple pie, the baseball will be in Owensboro.

SOUTH SIDE………STRONG SIDE!!!

GO SOUTH!

The South 11-12 year old all-stars were able to keep the bats hot in a win over BG West last night to advance to 2-0 in postseason play. South will move on to the rivalry game tonight against BG East who is also at 2-0 and not likely to have forgotten being dismissed from last years district tournament when they had one of their best teams ever. South all-stars will need to be ready to play in a game that should produce another instant classic.

The story is similar for the South 9-10 all-stars whose bats came alive last night against Warren County North. Trailing 6-3 after the top of the 2nd the South's solid hitting put up six in the bottom half of the 2nd before exploding for 7 more in the bottom of the third to produce the 16-6 final score. At 2-0 WC South will face BG East tonight. BG East is also sitting at 2-0.

We hope to have the Warren County South family out in force tonight to support our teams. South all-star teams are 7-0 right now in post-season play and we want to move that to 9-0 after tonight.  GO SOUTH! 

Area Tournament schedule for tonight is as follows:

Field 1 - 9-10 year old age group

6pm - Warren County South - V vs. Bowling Green East - H

8pm - Bowling Green West - V vs. Warren County North - H

Field 2 - 11-12 year old age group

6pm - Warren County South - V vs. Bowling Green East - H

8pm - Warren County North - V vs. Bowling Green West - H

Hope to see veryone out at Phil Moore Park tonight for more great area tournament baseball.

Plan to eat dinner at the park tonight. Hog Wild BBQ will be available at the concession stand. WCSLL appreciates Marshall Beach and his sponsorship of WCSLL. Let's support him and enjoy some great BBQ.

JVZ PHOTOGRAPHY is shooting photography of the 2008 Area Tournament. To view and purchase, click the Links button on the menu on left of this screen and then click on JVZ Photography. Jim Veazey and his team do a terrific job and there will be great tournament photos available there. Please support JVZ by getting photos of your favorite player and team.

Afternoon heat gave way to a beautiful evening for baseball as 2008 Area Tournament games got underway at Phil Moore Park last night. In the 6pm games on Field 1, the Warren County South 9-10 year old All-Stars beat Bowling Green West 7-3. In the nightcap for the 9-10 year old division on Field 1, Bowling Green East got past Warren County North by a score of 10-0.

On Field 2, the tournament opened with Bowling Green East taking on Bowling Green West in the 11-12 year old division. Bowling Green East got the win in that game. Following this contest the Warren County South 11-12 year olds defeated Warren County North 11-2.

Tonight's action will get underway at 6pm, weather-permitting. With the recent dry spell we hope all games can be played as scheduled. WCPR will do all in their power to have games played as scheduled. In the event of a postponement, games will be pushed back but remain in the same order of play. Schedulr for tonight is as follows:

9/10 Year Old Division on Field 1

6pm Warren County North - V vs. Warren County South - H

8pm Bowling Green West - V vs. Bowling Green East - H

11/12 Year Old Division on Field 2

6pm Bowling Green East - V vs. Warren County North - H

8pm Warren County South - V vs. Bowling Green West - H

Hope to see everyone out at Phil Moore Park tonight.

The B-Team 9-10 year old all-stars made Warren County South 3 for 3 in the opening day of postseason play with a hard fought come from behind win against Metcalfe County. South overcame an early 5-0 deficit to win 6-5 last night in the tournament in Scottsville. Way to go South!

B-team will play BG East at high noon in Scottsville today. GO SOUTH!

WCSLL is proud to announce those players who have been named to the 2008 all-star team. Congratulations and best wishes for the 2008 postseason go out to the following 11-12 year old all-stars:

Pictured below at Area B Tournament

Coaching Staff L to R: Manager Joe Pitts, Coach Jonathan McDaniel, Coach David Meherg, Coach John Smiley

Middle row L to R: Luke Meherg, Austin Bybee, Austin Tibbs, Clay Stivers, Tyree Lancaster, Drew Wilken

Front row L to R: Zach McDaniel, Jacob Smiley, Ty Pitts, Brock Lawrence, Brad Logsdon, Devin Rainville

WCSLL is proud to announce those players who have been named to the 2008 all-star team. Congratulations and best wishes for the 2008 postseason go out to the following 9-10 year old all-stars:

Pictured below after winning 2008 Area B Championship.

Back row L to R: Coach Robert Baxter, Manager Brian Bybee, Coach Tony Shryock, Coach Scott Stackhouse

Middle row L to R: Russ Kerr, Landon Bybee, Alex Stackhouse, Michael Hicks, Jacob Lewis, Taylor Perdue

Front row L to R: Griffin Heltsley, Cathan Shryock, Grant Noble, Trey Kirtley, Keiffer Baxter and future South all-star Jack Lewis

WCSLL is proud to announce those players who have been named to the 2008 all-star team. Congratulations and best wishes for the 2008 postseason go out to the following 11 year old all-stars:

Alex Biggs, Sam Cundiff, Sam Dralle, Noah Edmonson, Lucas Holland, Chris House, Adam Jones, Wes King, Joseph McIntyre, Cameron Shryock and Everett Taylor

The 11 year old WCSLL All-Stars will be managed by Jim King.

WCSLL is excited to again sponsor a non-sanctioned B All-Star team in the 9-10 year old age group for the 2008 postseason. This opportunity allows some more of our players to enjoy some postseason experience and helps prepare them for future all-star opportunities.

We are proud to announce those players who have been named to the 2008 B-team. Congratulations and best wishes for the 2008 postseason go out to the following B-team players:

Pictured below after winning Scottsville Tournament

Coaching staff L to R: Coach Wayne Houchens, Manager Marc Christian, Coach Dru Ross, (not pictured) Coach Mike Bowen

Back row L to R: Trystan Watkins, Logan Bowen, Cameron Brown, Jacob Page, Chandler Harnage

Front row L to R: Andrew Houchens, Matt Ross, Bret Christian, Tyler Cunningham, Jacob Skaar, Jeffery Christian

The 2008 Season wrapped up yesterday with some final rain-outs being completed in Major League and the last day of the regular season being completed in Minor League. League order of finish is as follows:

Major League

Champions - Indians, managed by Joe Pitts

Runner-up - Twins, managed by Jim King

Third Place - Blue Jays, managed by David Meherg

Minor League

Champions - Yankees, managed by Marc Christian

Runner-up - Pirates, managed by Scott Stackhouse

Third Place - National, managed by Tony Shryock

Congratulations to these teams on great seasons and thanks to all our participants for another great season. We hope everyone had as much fun as we did. Thanks for playing baseball in WCSLL!

The WCSLL board of directors honored the 2007 state championship team this past Friday night with an informal BBQ dinner at Rich Pond School. The league hosted players and their families and commemorated some of the teams accomplishments from their post-season run.

The presentations included a keepsake collage for the players that included a team photo with individual action shots surrounding the team. Manager Mike Bartley and Coach Clay Kirby had these done for the players with help from the league. Bartley also announced that there are commemorative signs being made to place at Phil Moore and Basil Griffin Parks, home parks of the state champs. The WCSLL league president recapped the team's accomplishments and stressed the importance of the team's representation of WCSLL. The board of directors also announced the plan to recognize this team at the 2008 season opening ceremonies. These players have been excellent on the field but have been good citizens also. The quality way in which they represented the league cannot receive enough focus.

Thanks for a GREAT post-season guys!

Finally a Warner Robins hitter listened to the manager's advice on Sunday afternoon. In the bottom of the 8th inning Dalton Carriker scooted close enough to the plate to hit a walk-off opposite field homer against Japan to win the Little League World Series. The pitchers from Japan had kept the ball away from Georgia hitters all day. The Warner Robins manager continually encouraged them to get closer to the plate and take the ball to right field. Finally Carriker did that and one swing was good enough to win the World Series 3-2 with a walk-off solo shot. Amazing what happens when you listen to your managers and coaches.

The interesting part of the Warner Robins championship is that they did not complete their run at Williamsport without a loss. In fact, they took a pretty lopsided beating. Guess who beat them? Great Lakes Regional Champ, Westside Little League from Hamilton, Ohio clobbered Warner Robins 10-2, handing them their only loss at Williamsport. That's just an interesting footnote about the quality of play in Indianapolis. To some extent it reaffirms the belief that our South All-Stars were good enough to play with the best teams in the world. A little luck and a bounce here or there and we could have seen them in Williamsport. GREAT JOB SOUTH!

Make no mistake about it, Westside Little league from Hamilton, Ohio is a quality baseball team. You don’t go into the Great Lakes Regional championship game undefeated having played five other state champs if you’re not. Westside dispatched Warren County South for the second time in this tournament winning 13-2 tonight.

Westside’s pitching kept South hitters off balance and their defense and hitting was as sound as their pitching. They are a team to watch going forward. They will square off against New Albany Little League from New Albany, Indiana at 6:00pm CST this Saturday on ESPN to decide the Great Lakes Regional Championship and see who moves on to Williamsport. They have beaten Indiana once already in this tournament. Indiana may have a bit of a home field edge, but the smart money is on Ohio.

The season may be over for the South but the memories will last forever. This group of all-stars has compiled a long list of accomplishments along the way.

-         They went undefeated and won the Area tournament championship beating good teams from Warren County North and Bowling Green East

-         They went undefeated in district pool play

-         They dispatched long-time rival Owensboro Southern in the district semi-finals

-         They finished as district runner-up to an excellent Bowling Green East team

-         They went undefeated in state tournament pool play

-         They beat a quality Lexington Eastern team in the state semi-finals

-         They avenged the district tournament championship beating Bowling Green East for the Kentucky state championship

-         They reached the semi-finals of the Great Lakes Regional tournament

-         They made a lot of great plays and had a lot of great hits and great pitching performances along the way

-         They had a lot of fun

Reading through that list doesn’t leave much reason for head hanging. Every year has lots of great teams with great seasons. In the end there only gets to be one team who ends their great season with a win. Everyone else’s great season ends with a defeat. That doesn’t diminish the value of all the experiences along the way. The lessons learned from those journeys are the stuff that builds strength for the future.

This team has accomplished things not seen by a team from Bowling Green in many, many years and their league, their families and their fans are extremely proud of them. They have handled themselves with character throughout the post-season. They are more than good baseball players. They are good young men. They may not be coming back home with a Great Lakes Regional championship but they have been and will continue to be our champions!

GREAT SEASON SOUTH! WE LOVE YA!  

WCSLL would like to take a moment to recognize local businesses and individuals who have donated financially or through products and/or services to help pave the road to Indianapolis for our all-stars. Each step our all-stars take has additional costs associated and these kind sponsors have helped our league to defray some of the added costs for our continued competition.

A GREAT BIG WARREN COUNTY SOUTH THANK YOU TO: