How are your pre-HSer's doing?

Christian is doing very well. He is hitting well over .400 and has thrown well from the mound. He has thrown out over 1/2 of the runners trying to steal on him behind the plate.

So far, we are 15-5 playing up vs. 12U's.

We've had trouble with weather so far and had to cancel 3 games but were able to get in a CABA WS Qualifier tourney. We won and are 4-0 (7-0 counting scrimmages).

Boy's 11U team is 16-3 in Tournament play (3 USSSA and 1 Super Series), winning 3 of the 4 (2nd in the other). The boy is having a hard time at the plate so far (11 strike outs) but his swing is slowly coming into form and getting more comfortable at the plate. But in fairness his numbers are above the team average in all offensive catagories but that is because all the boys are struggling with the Stick and the team is very stringent on counting reached on errors, which I think is a good thing. His pitching is starting to come into form as well, his first outing was rough but has been throwing nicely since then. He seems to be getting right in form for the big tournaments starting on Memorial Day (atleast we hope so because he is supposed to be the big stick and our power pitcher). The one thing I am proudest of though is that although he is upset about all his strike outs, he is not pouting about it and is recognizing it as a lost battle to a pitcher who's sole purpose is to get him out. Very proud that he is starting to learn by his misfortune vs. pouting that things aren't going his way.

My son, Zack, just started majors this year. He has pitched 24 innings with 57 strikeouts, 3 walks and 7 hits. He is also hitting over .400. He really needs to be playing more travel ball. They are "off" for the LL season. My 9yo, Jake, just started pitching this year and has become a very dependable closer for us. We are very proud of both as their hard work is paying off.

My son's 11U team is 8-2 in two tournaments, winning one. He's hitting .448 with one HR and 10 RBI. What I'm most proud of though, is his improvement on the mound. He was a wild lefthander last year, but so far (knock on wood) this year has pitched 13.2 innings striking out 16 and walking just 9. He's 3-1 with a 3.07 ERA.

Lefty's Dad,

Which team? I coach an 11U team in VA.

One of our former players in playing out of Savannah and, of course, Callaway's son is playing in SC.

First year team in Pony. The second year teams are dominating as expected. My son is having a so-so year at the plate and on the mound but has exceeded expectations in the field at least. He's done well in tournament play both at the plate and on the mound.

Redbird,
He plays for the Carolina Rebels from the Anderson/Greenville area (actually we have kids from about 4 small towns, but Anderson and Greenville are the closest that anyone may have heard of).

Lefty's Dad

Have you played against or seen the Spartanburg Phillies 11U? They are the best 11U team that I have seen in our region. My son has a good friend on that team and played against them a number of times when he played for the Carolina Stars. The Phillies are playing 12U Tournaments right now in preparation for Disney.

Another very good team from the Columbia area is the Palmetto Titans 11U. They are also playing up.

After Dixie All Stars, my son will be hooking up with a team again and maybe we'll see you in the upstate.

Continued success with your lefty. Gotta love lefties!

Redbird

Great to hear about "Chico". Never had any doubt though, he has a great coach! I must admit that Boomer really misses the weekend tournaments, but facing quality 12U pitchers from 46' is a great tune-up for the summer. We're hoping to get called back to join the Disney bound team but that will probably depend on how All Stars goes (assuming he is selected of course). I'll keep you posted because Boomer and I would love to see you guys in FL.

R.

Calloway,
I haven't seen the Phillies, but have heard of them. They're in the Major division and we're in AAA. We did play the Stars twice in a December tournament and split with them. I'd love to meet y'all if we happen to be at the same tourney sometime. Good luck to Boomer.

My 12u is having a great time. His hitting is a bit rusty so far, but he has been doing great behind the plate. He has been involved several times already in what I think is the most exciting play in the game, the play at the plate. So far he has tagged out every baserunner at home that he has had an opportunity to put out. He does a great job blocking the plate and applying the tag.

Ain't baseball great!!

I have avoided tooting the horn in these kinds of posts in the past, but I could not be prouder of my 12-year-old son this young season. Originally he was not going to play the local rec, and concentrate on AAU travel ball. With travel only playing double headers on Sunday, he chose to play rec as well at the last minute.

We are now 3 weeks into the 2 seasons.

He is batting 1.000 in rec. Every hit has been for extra bases. SLG 2.333 I can honestly say this is the weakest rec league I have ever seen so these stats are not that amazing, Though he has faced some decent pitchers.

In AAU he is hitting .667 and an OBP of .972, SLG .750

All this while playing solid D at catcher.

Hello everyone, great to hear that everyone is having a good year.
Garrett is still with the Banditos baseball club. He started on the White team this year which is "the second team" but he is now playing with the Black team for the last two weeks. G is sharing time behind the plate, but doing very well. We play up at 12u most of the time and now we are playing 12u major for the next couple of tournaments.
We have already qualifed for elite 24 and I was wondering if anyone else had plans on going.

Good luck to all for the remainder of the year.

www.banditosbaseballclub.com

banditodad,

Good to hear about Garrett. We (Va Wildcats North) are not going to Elite 24. We had already made plans to attend AAU Nationals (as 11U) and Cooperstown (as 12U).

I saw that the Carolina Lightning won a Super NIT but did not accept the bid. The bid was passed down to the previously mentioned Spartanburg Phillies.

Best of luck in Orlando. Are you still going to AAU Nationals?

My 12 yr old's team is 7-2. He is batting .565, slugging .739, and has an oba of .615. He has been playing the field pretty good at shortstop with a .917 fielding %, and has a 3-1 record with 1 save and 29 k's.

My 8 yr old's team is 3-3. My 8 year old plays up in the 9-10 year old age group. He is batting .300, has .500 slugging %, and has a .650 oba. He has a pitching record of 2-1 with 22 k's.

So far, they both have been doing very well. I am glad to hear that the other players are doing well that belong to the other posters on the board.


Scooter P

Redbird, We were trying to get the White team to go and we were making plans to go when they moved two kids to the black team. We were going to go to both AAU and Elite 24. Now there is a little bittnerness and I don't know where the white team is going.

Do you know why the lightning turned down the spot?

I wish we were doing both. Last year we did Superseries and USSSA on back to back weeks and most parents can't get off work for two weeks.

banditodad,

In VA and NC, AAU is more popular. I know most teams had already made housing arrangements back in Feb for AAU Nationals (we did). I would assume that is the case with them.

How does your team work the 'A' team and 'B' team? It seems like there would be a LOT of problems with this concept, especially if the 'A' team can call up 'B' team players.

My 12 yr old is having an impressive season. 1st game he pitched he struck out 16 out of 18 in a little league game. He is batting above .800 and has been intentionally walked 3 times this year. His travel select team has won 3 out of 4 tournaments dating back to September. The most impressive part is his hard work and motivation to get better and improve on his defense. He has great stamina as a pitcher and is pretty dominant as a closer for his select team. Hard work and dedication has really put him in a nice position to look forward to High School.

As a parent I watch his pitch count and also make sure he is not abused as a pitcher. The select team he is in is also very careful with innings pitched and pitch counts, since the majority of kids are playing Rec Ball they do not enter tournaments as often as other teams and I for one am happy for that.