The 2008 Season - Tournament #1
1 Comments Published by Coach Clay on Monday, February 25, 2008 at 10:35 PM.
The cold, damp air didn't stop the Cubs from playing in their first tournament of the season. On February 23 with the temperature hovering just below 40 degrees and the wind-chill feeling more like something in the low thirties, the Cubs faced the PCO Indians. They played for 3 innings before time expired. The score: Indians - 14, Cubs - 5.
Game two was settled by the weather. The PCO White Sox had enough of the cold in their first game and threw in the towel for the day, forfeiting to the Cubs.
Sunday was a contrast in weather compared with Saturday. The wasn't any wind and the temperatures rose into the 50's (although it seemed much warmer to me). It was a beautiful day for baseball. The first game of the day was with the PCO Broncos. The Cubs really looked good and played with a lot of enthusiasm.
It just so happened that it was Don Dobel's birthday. He was the lead-off batter and in both of his at-bats made great hits. For this effort, he earned the Silver Slugger award for the team. His hitting sparked his teammates and before it was all over the Cubs won the game. The Cubs - 7, Broncos - 3. The winning pitcher was Calvin Miller.
The fourth and final game of the tournament saw the Cubs take on the Edmond Storm, a traveling team. As the temperature dropped, the Storm clouds grew. However, there was at least one bright spot in the game. With a left-handed batter at the plate, Short Stop Ryan Nelms was holding the runner at second base. The hitter drove a hard, line shot just to the right of second base. In a very athletic move, Nelms caught the ball, robbing the batter of his base. Ryan had made other great catches in the tournament. For his great performance, Nelms was named the Gold Glove winner for the tournament.
In addition to Nelms' spectacular catches, Ian Hudson made two excellent grabs in center field. In the first and last games of the tournament. Both catches underscored the benefit of having great speed and good catching skills in the outfield. Other noteworthy plays included a late-game throw in from left-field by Calvin Miller to Catcher Garrett Parker that deprived one Storm player from scoring.
All in all, the team played well as a TEAM. Everyone did his part. Did we play perfect? No. Do we have room to improve? Always. Did we have fun? Yes. Will we continue to improve? Definitely.
In the end, the Cubs went two and two, taking third place in the tournament. Certainly not a bad starting point.
Keep up the good work and Go Cubs!
--Coach
Game two was settled by the weather. The PCO White Sox had enough of the cold in their first game and threw in the towel for the day, forfeiting to the Cubs.
Sunday was a contrast in weather compared with Saturday. The wasn't any wind and the temperatures rose into the 50's (although it seemed much warmer to me). It was a beautiful day for baseball. The first game of the day was with the PCO Broncos. The Cubs really looked good and played with a lot of enthusiasm.
It just so happened that it was Don Dobel's birthday. He was the lead-off batter and in both of his at-bats made great hits. For this effort, he earned the Silver Slugger award for the team. His hitting sparked his teammates and before it was all over the Cubs won the game. The Cubs - 7, Broncos - 3. The winning pitcher was Calvin Miller.
The fourth and final game of the tournament saw the Cubs take on the Edmond Storm, a traveling team. As the temperature dropped, the Storm clouds grew. However, there was at least one bright spot in the game. With a left-handed batter at the plate, Short Stop Ryan Nelms was holding the runner at second base. The hitter drove a hard, line shot just to the right of second base. In a very athletic move, Nelms caught the ball, robbing the batter of his base. Ryan had made other great catches in the tournament. For his great performance, Nelms was named the Gold Glove winner for the tournament.In addition to Nelms' spectacular catches, Ian Hudson made two excellent grabs in center field. In the first and last games of the tournament. Both catches underscored the benefit of having great speed and good catching skills in the outfield. Other noteworthy plays included a late-game throw in from left-field by Calvin Miller to Catcher Garrett Parker that deprived one Storm player from scoring.
All in all, the team played well as a TEAM. Everyone did his part. Did we play perfect? No. Do we have room to improve? Always. Did we have fun? Yes. Will we continue to improve? Definitely.
In the end, the Cubs went two and two, taking third place in the tournament. Certainly not a bad starting point.
Keep up the good work and Go Cubs!
--Coach
Labels: Game Report, preseason, Spring 2008, Tournaments
"Good job Cubs!" "Thanks" to coaches, and "Good job" to the parents, too. It was really coooooold.