Junior Olympics

JO-West has been going great with no rain delays whatsoever. The weather was at its hottest at the beginning of the week and my son's team had to play 2 games on Day 1 in 115-degree heat. Both games went 2 extra innings with 1 victory and 1 heartbreaking loss. Our team is in the winner's bracket and we face a very formidable opponent tomorrow in single-elimination competition. There are some college scouts here and I know that a UNLV coach has expressed interest in 2 of our players. Great exposure opportunities for every member of the team. It's interesting talking with the folks here. Some teams have banded together just for the JO and others are playing together the whole summer. At least one team is composed of all 14-year-olds who, despite their multiple losses, are hoping to get some good experience and be successful next year. The tournament has been a tremendous experience in every way!

IF, what are the initials of the two boys generating the interest?

Good luck.

JP and ZL. We lost our hard-fought game today in the bottom of the 7th, 1-0. Real bummer.

Infield08, your son's team was very good from what I heard. We played against you guys on the first afternoon in the extra inning game. I wasn't there, but heard the sliders are a great team that played a very good game.

We're in the same boat now, my team won an exciting game this morning in our final at-bat. We went to the bottom of the 7th down 3-2, but rallied for a 4-3 win. In the afternoon, the wheels fell off and we lost 9-3 and are out of contention. We finished 5-2, as our consolation opponent tomorrow bagged it and left. It was a great experience even though we're deeply disappointed at this time since we felt we had a team that could make it to Saturday.

For those who haven't been, if you ever get a chance to go to Arizona or Florida for the Jr. Olympics, take advantage of it. This is an outstanding tournament with top notch teams from all over the country. This was our 3rd year in a row to go to Arizona, and we can't wait to get back there again next year.

Our team -- the Scottsdale Storm -- has had a great time, although we were eliminated in the round of 16, 4-3 in eight innings to the No. 1 seeded San Gabriel Valley Arsenal after going ahead 3-2 in the top of the eigth. They are a very good team.

As for us, we have a lot of 14s and were not sure how we would do, but it has been great (as usual). If we win our consolation today, we will finish 6-2. Had we not lost 9-8 earlier (with the winning run on second when the last out was made) we would have entered championship play seeded No. 4 instead of 16. But baseball is always full of might have beens.

Infield08, I'm glad your team has had a successful tournament and a good time. It was hot the first two days (every day actually), but I must tell you that the highest the temperature has hit through the event is 108. Perhaps it reached as high as 110 at Peoria (although I doubt it) 115 is giving us far too much credit. USA Baseball is to be commended for doing such a great job on keeping the water jugs full in the dugouts.

Jemaz, I heard from the parents and coaches down there that the weather this year was pretty good. However, we have seen 115 while playing there, each of the two previous years. In fact, last year I believe we had a day hotter than that.

This has been another great JO put on by USA Baseball.

Is there a bracket fot the games somewhere? I'm following a team down in Florida and have seen the site and the schedule. But I would think they'd have a bracket for all of this.

Here is a link to Jo East and West.

http://www.usabaseball.com/ot/usab-joly-2006-results.html


My son plays for NorCal Red and I just heard they were doing well against UBA Gray.

Thanks Brem. I have been following those via the daily schedule. But that's a pain in the tush. Good luck to your son's team.

Jemaz, did Chatwood come back from his arm injury last summer?

Amazing that I am seeing scores from Arizona before I am seeing scores from the east coast.

Florida and Tampa are still in the hunt.

Midlo:

I do not know Chatwood and did not come across him. What team? I did meet Robert Stock's dad, who was there with his younger son. Very nice guy. You would never guess his older son is such a stud.

It was a great tournament (JO West). My son's team was 3-4 but he went 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA in 11.7 IP. I'm not sure, but that might have been the best of the pitchers in the tournament. I was very proud.

What's more, he did it in 113-degree heat. (I'm glad to be back in the Northwest today.)

Jemaz,

I own a house in Vegas (Henderson) and the hottest I've seen it there is 116 (the average in July in Henderson is 108..hotter than Phoenix!). Believe me when I tell you that the weather we saw in Peoria was the dang hottest I've ever seen.. It was 113 with humidity. And blowing dust.

We stayed at the hotel where the KC Royals rookie team stays. That was interesting. The players were having a good time until the wee hours.. sneaking girls into the rooms.. I didn't see anyone checking on them or enforcing a curfew. One player made a scene yesterday morning, complaining very loudly in the lobby to the delight of all the guests.. when he was told by the hotel staff that he had to pay for his hot breakfast. He didn't have the money. The worker at the hotel confided to me she felt sorry for them because the team (according to her) wasn't picking up the tab and this had been going on awhile.

It's a hard road to the majors.

Bum:

I don't doubt you were hot, but the high during the Junior Olympics at the airport (where the official numbers are kept) was 108. It could have been a little hotter elsewhere in the Valley, but SkyHarbor is usually the hottest spot because of all the asphalt and the heat island effect. Peoria is a little higher up and a bit cooler.

And, in relative terms for those of us who live here, last week wasn't really all that hot. In fact, in the dugout shade and the small breezes coming through, it was pretty close to nice. The "humidity" won't really begin to kick in until the next week or two with the onset of the monsoons, but that will actually tend to lower the temperatures.

Hot is hot, but as hot as you might have been, if it had approached 113, you would have known it.

With all the great baseball, though, the heat (for me at least) was very secondary.

Brem,

quote:

My son plays for NorCal Red and I just heard they were doing well against UBA Gray.

Congrat's to a good JO West, That's 2 in a row for Norcal.

Welcome to HSSBW, Great Info right here.

Yes, great info here! I am more of a lurker than a poster, but I really enjoy the discussions.

NorCal is loaded with excellent players, but it still takes a lot to persevere through JO's.

My son threw 9 shut-out innings for the week and got the start in the 'ship. I am very proud of him.

...and it is super to have him back home!

Well, I won't dispute the official temperatures, but I did watch the Phoenix news while staying there and heard a humidity forecast of over 40 percent. Maybe it just FELT like 115! Again, it was an awesome tournament with its share of huge highs and disappointing lows. I truly believe that if our whole team had been consistently firing on all pistons (my son included), we could have gone all the way. But, of course, that could probably be said of many teams there, as the competition was excellent.

Anybody got the Youth National Team trials invitees list from JO's West?

Jemaz, Chatwood was a Youth National Team finalist last year and I believe he actually made the cut but had to bow out due to an injury. I know he played for the Scottsdale Storm in 2004 and assumed (perhaps wrongly) that he was with them in 2005 as well. But the way kids move as free agents from team to team, even week to week, I don't know if the Storm was his primary team or not.

The "recap" for Fri 6/30 has the list.

The players selected:

Eli Davis - Nor Cal Red Jaff Decker - Arizona Boys of Baseball Black Dimitri DeLaFuente - San Gabriel Valley Arsenal Brock Duke - Utah Baseball Academy Gray Brad Dydalewicz - All Star Baseball Academy Harlyn Griffiths - Chili Davis Baseball Premier Ray Hanson - San Gabriel Valley Arsenal Derek Legg - So Cal Waves Tyler Matzek - Southland Shockers Jacob Morris - Dallas Tigers Mark Oslund - Thousand Oaks Bombers David Peterson - Placentia Mustangs Matthew Purke - Houston Heat Tyler Rahmutulla - Quakes Baseball Academy Kyle Skipworth - Thousand Oaks Bombers Max Stassi - Star Maker Sharks Jonathan Walsh - Dallas Tigers Devon Zenn - Nor Cal Black

1http://www.usabaseball.com/sports/m-yth-basebl/spec-rel/070106aaa.html

JO West invitees are listed at the bottom of the article. Unfortunately, it gives names and JO team affiliation only, but not positions.

Nice meeting you at the YNT meeting. Congratulations and good luck to Midlo son.

If you're looking for more detail, click on this link:

http://www.usabaseball.com/sports/m-yth-basebl/spec-rel/070506aaa.html