Tournaments: 2010 8U Cougars Win Dizzy Dean District 4 Championship
Posted on Friday, July 09 @ 17:36:44 EDT by CoachMark
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It all started on Thursday, June 24th against the NYO Bombers. The Bombers couldn’t help feeling a little overconfident going into the game. Two weeks earlier, the Bombers handed the Cougars their worst loss of the summer when they handily defeated our short-staffed team at the Hobgood Showdown to win the Silver Bracket Championship. Our Cougars ran out of gas after playing 3 games in 100 degree heat with only 9 players.
This time it was different. The Cougars basically controlled this game from start to finish. Revenge was sweet with a 13-9 victory setting the stage for things to come.
Game 2---Saturday morning…Cougars vs. Webb Bridge….winner qualifies for State A in Rome. Long story short…Cougars with the extreme beatdown!!!! Final Score…Cougars 22, Webb Bridge 0.
The next game was later that same day against a solid Wills Park Raiders team. Again the boys came out hitting on all cylinders. With the offense clicking and one defensive play after another, the Cougars advanced to the District Semifinals with a well-played 14-4 victory.
The semifinal game with the Sandy Springs Storm looked on paper to be a high scoring affair. They were coming off a very hard hitting performance and thorough pummeling of a very good Eastside Titans team. But as they say, you don’t play games on paper. In the best defensive showing of the summer, along with timely hitting and aggressive baserunning, the Cougars held the high scoring Storm to 5 runs. In the end, the Cougars found themselves in the Championship game after this hard fought 8-5 victory.
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Dateline: Tuesday, June 29th, 6:30pm…Dizzy Dean District 4 Championship Game
Wills Park Eagles vs. Sandy Plains Cougars
Wills Park came out playing “small ball”. They obviously had done a lot of bunting practice. The first 2 batters laid down perfect bunts and Sandy Plains found themselves with runners on 1st and 2nd with nobody out and the heart of the order coming up. However, the strategy didn’t work when the Cougars got out of the inning with solid defense cutting down the lead runners and allowing no runs to score.
The Cougars’ bats started off a little cold and after allowing 3 runs in the 2nd inning to Wills Park with their small ball strategy, found themselves down 3-0 going into the bottom of the 4th. Then……the moms started cranking up the volume with cheer after cheer. This seemed to spark some life into the boys and the base hits started coming in droves:
KC Heron got it started with a hard-hit grounder off the 3rd Baseman’s glove followed by a solid base hit to left by Thomas Mallis. Two on, no one out. Andrew Manatrizio followed that with an RBI single through the hole at short. Noah Dawkins drives in Thomas on a line drive up the middle. Jacob Kutsche comes up next and hits a grounder to short. The throw pulls the 1st baseman off the bag, but he guns down Manatrizio at the plate for the 1st out of the inning. The score now stands at 3-2 Wills Park with runners on 2nd and 3rd. Next up is Andrew Warchol. He hits a hard grounder that is fielded by the 3rd baseman. Again the 1st baseman comes off the bag too early trying to throw out Noah at home. Everybody’s safe!!! Score is tied 3-3!! Jacob advances to 3rd with 1 out. What happens next? You guessed it….Alexander Gonzalez drives one to left. The left fielder snags it and throws home but it is too late. The sac fly gives the Cougars the 4-3 lead and that is how it stands as we go to the 5th.
In the 5th, the Cougars again flashed some leather capped off by Manatrizio’s 5th flyball putout. After adding an insurance run in the bottom of the inning, they found themselves 3 outs away from winning the district championship leading 5-3. Would it be enough?
Fast forward….2 outs, runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 run in…Cougars now up a run with the Eagles’ best hitter at the plate. The tension is mounting (at least for the parents and coaches). With the small ball strategy out the window but always in the back of the players’ and coaches’ minds, the Eagles’ big hitter lines one to relatively deep left center. Cole Heron goes back and back and over to his right. He sticks his glove up and the celebration begins!!!!! Final score….Sandy Plains Cougars 5, Wills Park Eagles 4!!!
THE 8U SANDY PLAINS COUGARS ARE THE DIZZY DEAN DISTRICT 4 CHAMPIONS!!!!!!
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Average Score: 4.66
Votes: 3
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