Mount Seymour Little League
Allstars
I'll be giving you all updates on this page. I'm one of two assistant coaches of the team. This tournament features the best 11 and 12 year olds from our league playing the best players of the same age from the other leagues in our district.
Schedule:
June 30: vs. West Van Result: 9-1 Loss. We kept it close until the fifth inning when they got five runs off us. Until then it was a solid 4-1 game. Good game until the fifth. We just couldn't hit (two hits all game) or throw strikes (maybe 8-10 walks). The next two teams we play (Forest Hills and Highlands) are the best two in the tournament. They played each other after our game and Highlands won 2-1 behind a no-hitter from their pitcher. Forest Hills got the run on a couple of walks and stolen bases. We're in tough for the next couple of games for sure.
July 1: vs. Forest Hills Result: 6-0 Loss. It was a good game for a long time. We shut them down through two as they did the same. Unfortunately for us they were by far the better team. Our starting pithcher went the distance pitching a great game. Once again we had trouble at bat, not getting many hits at all. Twice we had runners on second and third, but both times we had two out and couldn't cash them in. They hit one home run off of us in the third and in the fifth we booted the ball a bit and gave up a few more runs. I really think though that if we had been able to get some hits we could have pulled off a huge upset.
July 2: vs. Highlands Result: 11-3 Loss. 11-3 sounds bad, but once again it wasn't as bad as the score would lead you to believe. It was 6-1 going into the sixth and final inning. They started to tee off on our pitcher a bit because he was leaving his offspeed stuff up in the zone. Then when I had him throw mostly fastballs they started to knock those around. Errors in the inning also gave up some runs. A couple of good notes: This is the second strong game from a starter. We finally started hitting in the sixth inning. Forest Hills and Highlands are the best two teams in the tournament. From here on in we should be ok. The next game will be the easiest, but I think we can take a couple more after that as well.
July 4: vs. Howe Sound Result: 9-7 WIN. Well we won. We really didn't play well though, it's a good thing we were playing the worst team in the tournament. We had some timely hits that brought in runs. A nice come back in the fourth inning where we answered their four run barrage with five of our own to take the lead. Our reliever shut them down in the fifth and sixth very well and we managed to get away with the victory.
July 7: vs. Lynn Valley Result: 2-1 Loss. This was a great game. We lost, but we could easily have won. We played our best game of the tournament. We found out last night that oen of our best players and the kid who was slated to start pitching cut his catching hand open and had four stitches. Needless to say he couldn't pitch. He did play in right field with a glove on his right hand that he had to get rid of whenever he threw the ball (we only had nine players). Our pitcher was awsome and so was our defence. We left some runners in scoring position throughout the game and in the last inning there were two out and two on for the kid with the busted hand. He couldn't hold the bat, much less swing so he tried to bunt and fouled the first two off. On the third pitch he made a swing at it, but missed. What a team player. Anyway, it was a great team effort all around and a lot of fun.
July 8: vs. North Van Central Result: 10-3 WIN. This was a great game...by us. We dominated throughout. They booted the ball around a bit early on to give us runs in every inning until the fifth, but we played strong too. Our pitching was solid (Two hits given up until the fourth) and our defence was even better. What did I say at the beginning? We'd need to play low scoring games with good defence to win. Well we got some runs, but the defence was how it was supposed to be. This was the first game of the tournament for this pitcher even though he was on my team during the season. He was great although he left some offspeed stuff up in the zone. Our defence came through when they had to. Can you tell I'm the pitching coach with all these great pitching performances? :-)
July 12: vs. Cypress Park Result: 9-2 Loss. We came out flat and stayed that way all game. Our starting pitcher (same guy who had the busted hand) struggled and so did our second guy. By the time we got to our third guy it was already 9-2 and he just struck out a batter to close the fifth inning. For my money this was our worst game of the tournament. The team we played wasn't that great and we were brutal. Lots of errors and few hits. Still, the tournament was a lot of fun for all involved.
And that concludes the 2001 little league allstar tournament for me. I hope you all enjoyed reading about it, I sure enjoyed doing the coaching.