HGRA Seals - thanks for the season

Thanks Seals, parents and Mike and Marty for a great season. Tim loved it and so did I. It was a real pleasure getting to know all of our players and I was proud of how we played today.

It was a terribly close game today. A bounce here or there and we'd have won it. Everyone played bravely and well. Danny and Luiz have extra special memories, but everyone played better than ever before and nobody criticized a teammate doing their best.

We'll miss Melanie, Tommy and Calvin as they graduate from the HGRA majors. Thank you guys. I hope to see all the rest of the team next year, either with Tim and I or playing well against us. I'll email everyone with notification of Penguin ball in the Fall as well.

Enjoy your Augusts, and thanks for all the snacks!

john

HGRA Baseball Seals - End of the 2007 season

The Seals played our best game of the season on Thursday, but the Greys were the better team that night. They may contend for the championship. I was glad our team hung together, and played well up to the last out.

Saturday we play at 11am against the Mustangs at 11:00 am at Homecroft Elementary East Field. If we win we'll play a 2nd game, also at Homecroft, at 1:30 pm on the same field. There's not much time between games, so players may need lunch and lots of fluids. Coach Mike tells me there may be pizza before the 2nd game but I think a backup lunch is probably wise.

I have Brendan as off and Nate as uncertain. Nate is down for snacks, so if he can't make it we may need to ask someone to make a snack run during the game.

We're playing with the rotation again. We're going to try Tim pitching in the 3rd, depending on how he does we'll have either him or Tommy pitch the 4th. Tommy will pitch two innings, so either the 5th and 6th or 4th and 5th. We are going to try to get our best pitchers on either end of the game as we expect this one may be close. We're also going to try to strengthen the field in the third inning to help Tim out. Melanie is still hurt so we'll try to rest her a bit in the 1st game. Austin also has a sore ankle, so we'll try to keep him down to catching only twice and SS once. Luiz is healthy but does best on SS, so we're moving Tommy back to 2B.

As always, our rotation is here.

HGRA Majors 2007 Thursday's game

Based on our finish (tied for fourth with two other teams), we have been seeded 6th and will play the Greys for a third time next Thursday July 26th. We will play at the Saint Paul Academy upper softball field (corner of Niles and Davern) at 6:30pm on 7/26 (as always, plan on having the kids there at 6:10pm).

If your child can’t attend a game, please notify myself, Marty or Jon, as the lineup for the each game is made in advance.

As usual, we request that players arrive 30 to 15 minutes before the game to warm-up. Here's the rest of Mike Vento's recent summary:

First Play-off Game
Thursday, 7/26 6:30pm Seals vs. Greys at SPA (Niles and Davern)

If we win on Thursday our schedule is as follows on Saturday (we will play two games on Saturday)

• Saturday, 7/28 8:30am vs. Spiders or Mustangs at Homecroft Elementary East Field
• If we beat the Spiders/Mustangs we will play for the championship on Saturday, 7/28 1:30pm at Homecroft Elementary West Field
• If we lose to the Spiders/Mustangs we will play for the third place Saturday, 7/28 11:00am at Homecroft Elementary West Field
  

If we lose on Thursday our schedule is as follows on Saturday (we may play two games on Saturday)

• Saturday, 7/28 11:00am vs. Spiders or Mustangs at Homecroft Elementary East Field
• If we beat the Spiders/Mustangs we will play for the consolation championship on Saturday, 7/28 1:30pm at Homecroft Elementary East Field
• If we lose to the Spiders/Mustangs our season is over.

We will provide print outs of the schedule at the conclusion of practice next Tuesday evening 7/24 at Aldine Park (7:00pm practice)

HGRA Majors 2007 Tournament Brackets - July 26th and Sat July 28th.

(corrected 7/16/07 w/ Mike Vento's help)

The tournament brackets are available for the upcoming majors tournament (click on link to see them). Regardless if we win or lose on Thursday 7/26 we will play on Saturday 7/28.

Here are the possible scenarios and game times where we could be slotted (sites TBD)

If we win on Thursday 7/26, we would play two games for certain on Saturday 7/28

Game time – 8:30 am on Saturday
and either:
Third Place Game – 11:00 am (if we lose on Saturday morning)
or
Championship - 1:30pm (if we win on Saturday morning)

If we lose on Thursday 7/26, there is a consolation bracket where we could possibly play two games

Game time – 8:30am or 11am (winners play for the consolation championship)
Consolation championship – 1:30pm

We’ll know more about whom we’ll play and where after our game this Thursday against the Greys.

Seals 12, Buckeyes 11

The Seals and the Buckeyes both played their hearts tonight, and neither team gave up. In the end the Seals won by one, despite missing 3 of our best players and despite Melanie playing injured. Tommy had a great game, but every player had an exceptionally good game and they all have something special to be proud of. Danny's bare handed catch and Brendan's fielding were particularly memorable, but really there was something special for everyone in every position.

I'm very glad we won (we deserved it), but I'm most happy with seeing all of our players swinging, hitting, fielding, keeping their spirits up and setting new personal bests.

No HGRA stuff Mon 7/2 through Thur 7/5

There's no Seals practice Tues and no game on Thur. I believe there's no Mon pitching clinic either. See everyone next week!
john