I did this last year and everyone seemed to like it, so I thought I would do it again this year. I am 13, so i played in the 13-14 year old league "Pony". My team is made of kids from my middle school, Southwestern. Only around 300 kids attend the school. My team was decent this year. Here is a run through of our lineup.
SS/P Travis Baugh (me)- I batted leadoff because i almost always made contact. I only had a few extra base hits, but I singled almost 4/10 times I batted. I pitched too and only threw in the 60's but pitched strikes which helped me. I had 8 putouts at pitcher one game!
3B/P/SS Clint Thayer- Clint is 5"10 180 pounds of solid muscle. He is our running back in football and center in basketball. This was his first season playing baseball. He did well thanks to his athletic ability. When he got a hold of one you could kiss it good bye. He could throw around 70 and had a nasty forkball.
CF Joe Butera- Joe is a interesting kid. He always talks in the 3rd person. He once hit a grandslam around 290 feet and said "Joe had a nice hit." He always hit good and played a great centerfield for us,too.
1B/P Dylan Johnson- He's been on my team for as long as I can remember. He plays a solid 1st base, pitches well, and did a decent job batting cleanup.
C/P Logan Butler- Logan has always played for a travel team called the Indiana Lions. He came in thinking he was better than everyone else since we were all used to playing rec ball. He was average behind the dish and was a opposite field hitter. If he would have dropped the attitude his season could have been better.
2B Juan Morales- Juan was an all around good player. He had a lot of stolen bases and hardly ever missed one at 2B.
OF/C Levi Bilyeu- Levi is a big kid and he had big pop in his bat. He was a hit or miss guy, our teams Adam Dunn. He was a nice guy and did a good job encouraging the pitchers when he caught.
1B/RF Noah Martin- Noah did OK towards the end of the order getting hits when we needed them. He seemed to always ask Coach if he could pitch or move higher up in the order, and he usually wasn't pleased with the answer. He filled in at 1st when Dylan pitched and did a reasonable job.
OF Nathan Ulmer- There's not a lot to say about Nathan. He did well in the outfield and swung a decent stick.
LF Elijah Light- The lefty always made good contact but didn't get on base too much. He missed over half of the games because he was on vacation:thumbdown .
RF- Tyler Anthrop A.K.A Goosepoop- ( He claims to have ate goosepoop 2 years ago for no appearant reason ) Tyler made contact maybe 3 times this year but 2 of those hits were doubles. Tyler was a great "clubhouse" guy and always kept us pumped up.
OF Jake Anthrop- The younger brother of Goosepoop, Jake did about the same as Tyler. He wasn't Albert Pujols out there but he had a smile on his face and enjoyed the game.
Our team finished 7-7, after a tough loss tonight in the County Tournament. I pitched 2 1/3 and stuck out 3, walked 1, and give up 2 hits. I love playing baseball and have a blast while playing it. Sometimes I wanted to pull a Lou Pinella and throw a tantrum, but I decided it would be better to make the best of things.
Oh yea, my coach knew i was a huge Reds fan, and gave me a hard time. He would always say "Is that how the Reds do it?" or things like that. Tonight he suprised me by giving me 4 tickets to the Aug. 5 Reds vs. Braves game . I was suprised and thanked him numerous times.
I made many new friends this season and I will keep in touch with them.
GO REDS, AND GO BASEBALL IN GENERAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!