Congratulations to several DFW players!!!

I just thought it would be good to post some positives on these outstanding players. They gave 100% to their TEAM, and their efforts contributed in a big way to the Teams' 2 wins & overall successful season.


Rain Postpones Most of WWBA
By Alan Matthews
July 14, 2005

MARIETTA, Ga.—At Perfect Game's summer tournaments, many high school players will use wood bats exclusively for their first time. This week in suburban Atlanta, that hardware has come in handy, more often as paddles than bats, however.

Hurricane Dennis and its remnants caused flooding across much of the area, canceling the championship round of last week's World Wood Bat Association 17-Under tournament and postponing 95 percent of Monday's and Tuesday's games in the 18-Under tourney.

The weather invented a whole new meaning of pool play, though all 109 teams entered in one of the summer's most heavily scouted events were able to begin play Wednesday. Most of the approximately 1,200 players in attendance were just glad to get out of their hotel rooms.

The afternoon's highlight game featured righthander Shawn Tolleson's Dallas-based DBAT team versus All American Prospects, a club consisting of a collection of South Florida's best underclassmen, which also played in last week's event and finished as co-champions.

Tolleson, recently chosen to play for USA Baseball's junior national team, shook the rust quickly, airing out a 90 mph fastball on his first pitch and dialing it up to 93 on his way to a thorough performance. The rising senior from Allen (Texas) High struck out nine over six innings while allowing three walks and a hit, dealing All American Prospects a 8-0 defeat. A couple of memorable moments during the outing were Tolleson's showdowns with Estero (Fla.) High's John Tolisano, one of the top players in the high school Class of 2007 and Tolleson's teammate in Mexico last summer on USA Baseball's youth national team. Tolleson twice retired Tolisano on strikes, once in the first on a 92 mph fastball and again in the fourth on an 82 mph slider, which he held in reserve until the second trip through the lineup.

"I know him well and we had a chance to talk before the game. He's a great player," Tolleson said following the game. "I'm pretty sure he didn't want to talk (afterwards)."

Though his delivery requires some effort, Tolleson breezed his way through one of the event's best lineups, doing so primarily off his fastball alone, which sat at 89 mph in his final frame, touching 92.

"He just shut down a good-hitting team, a team that won it last week. I didn't think anyone here would come out and shut them down," a scout with a National League team said.

"There's a lot of life on the fastball and he has the ability to control a game," another scout said. "He was terrific."

"I thought I threw well," Tolleson said. "I had not thrown in a couple of weeks so to come out with my fastball was important. Then I worked in my offspeed stuff a little bit."



Many Top Draftees Impress At WWBABy Alan Matthews
July 15, 2005


Chaps Vs. Trunks

One of amateur baseball's eternal debates played out during the third round of the tournament Thursday. A top team from Texas hooked up with one of the event's best Florida-based teams, with Dallas-based DBAT edging Crusader Baseball 1-0 in one of the event's most entertaining games.

Clayton Kershaw, a live-armed lefty from Highland Park (Texas) High, flashed low-90s heat and earned the win with 5 2/3 innings of two-hit ball with seven strikeouts and three walks. Kershaw is considered one of the top five lefthanders in the rising senior class and he pitched with poise, despite Crusader righthander Casey Coleman matching him pitch for pitch.

Coleman, the son of Devil Rays minor league pitching coach Joe Coleman, graduated from Mariner High in Cape Coral, Fla., and was drafted by the Devil Rays in the 49th round. He showed the feel for pitching of a much higher pick in five-plus innings. He filled the strike zone with a mid- to high-80s fastball with good arm-side run.

DBAT scratched across an unearned run and made it hold up, as a pair of righthanders including Jordan Walden slammed the door in relief.

Walden, a rising senior from Mansfield (Texas) High who touched 97 mph earlier this summer, has good arm strength and an aggressive approach. He hit 92 mph in one inning of work, surrendering a double before DBAT cut down the potential game-tying run at the plate to preserve the victory.

Both Kershaw and Walden will appear in the Aflac game next month.