More for the travel baseball guys... (1 Viewer)

For those unfamiliar with my son's baseball exploits, he went to Cooperstown Dreams Park 2 years ago, and last year filled in as a guest player on a team that went to Disney World. If Offdee had a baseball scale, however, my son would probably only be in the 7-8 range; pretty good locally but not the best; nevertheless, he loves the game, works hard, always plays all-out and is a very outgoing kid who is adept at making friends, so he's usually able to fit in with and contribute something to any team he plays for. His new team is definitely a step down quality-wise from his old team, but he has two friends he's known since kindergarten on the team, and after six years with the same coach, it was time to move on, and I'm pretty sure part of the reason he left his former team was the chance to return to the Ripken Experience at Myrtle Beach, which is where they are this week.

The opening ceremony and skills competitions were yesterday. Reports back are that our home run derby contestant showed well for himself, though still far from the top, and our team events groups bombed badly. As for the tournament games, here is a link to the schedule. My son's team is team #6. Each team plays the other teams in their group once, the top 4 of each group moves on to the championship bracket, and the rest will play in the consolation bracket, giving a guaranteed minimum of 6 games. I have no idea what to expect this time around; at 11U, most of the teams they played were from the southeast and were more polished even at that age, but this time around, my son's team is one of the southernmost teams there. Most are from the Midwest and a few from other mid-Atlantic states and points northeast. I'm not trying to say that they can't be as good as the southeastern teams, but they definitely don't get to play ball outside all year round, either.

To me, while Ripken is no Cooperstown Dreams Park, it is a nice facility in its own right, and from what I remember from 3 years ago, they worked hard to keep things running smoothly and had player safety as their top priority, especially when it came to ensuring they were able to stay hydrated. This is my son's second time there; his old team went there at 11U as preparation for things to come at Cooperstown Dreams Park. If other FBGs have been to Ripken and would like to share their experiences as well, you're welcome to do so.

Their first game today got rained out, but their second game should be starting soon, will update whenever possible.

Sounds like your son has had some great experiences. Invaluable. Making new friends. Traveling. Hard work. That's awesome.

johnnyrock62000 said:

Sounds like your son has had some great experiences. Invaluable. Making new friends. Traveling. Hard work. That's awesome.

Click to expand...

That would be the one 'tip' I'd give everyone with young kids who show a knack for sports at a young age. It should always be about the experiences and memories, look for those first and don't worry about winning, no matter what level they play at.

Game update: after a rain delay, they are currently in the top of the 3rd inning, clinging to a slim 6-0 lead. Among the highlights is a leadoff double by my son. He also has a flyout, but since it's currently raining steadily, the Mrs. isn't able to text me any further updates. Will provide more when available. Thanks for tuning in...

They apparently were able to hold on to their lead and pull out an 18-2 victory. I'm not going to read too much into it; the conditions were pretty sloppy, and my son's team has been on the receiving end of those kind of beatings enough times to know how quickly the game can get away from one team. Two games today, back-to-back starting at 0815 local time. The good news is that they'll have the rest of the day to hit the beach.

Does your son sport a full beard and mustache too?

GL to him.

My son just got done with his 12 year old baseball playing. He stopped travel after 10 as he just did not have the size to do it and his age had a lot of good players. They went to states and I spent a lot of time with that team and those kids.

Without baseball, my son would have been far more socially awkward and the experience has been huge for his development. That is really one of the key benefits of youth sports.

Charlie Steiner said:

They apparently were able to hold on to their lead and pull out an 18-2 victory. I'm not going to read too much into it; the conditions were pretty sloppy, and my son's team has been on the receiving end of those kind of beatings enough times to know how quickly the game can get away from one team. Two games today, back-to-back starting at 0815 local time. The good news is that they'll have the rest of the day to hit the beach.

Click to expand...

Way to squeak out a victory. Let us know how the games go this morning. Hope the info on the Michigan teams was helpful (or at least accurate).

Good Luck Young Steiner!

Charlie Steiner said:

Reports back are that our home run derby contestant showed well for himself, though still far from the top

Click to expand...

How far are the fences at Ripken? I assume they vary by field since you can go at different ages?

Also, I heard the Ripken fields are all turf in the infield and grass in the outfield (even base paths are turf colored brown to look like dirt). Is this true?

Al Czervik said:

Charlie Steiner said:

Reports back are that our home run derby contestant showed well for himself, though still far from the top

Click to expand...

How far are the fences at Ripken? I assume they vary by field since you can go at different ages?

Also, I heard the Ripken fields are all turf in the infield and grass in the outfield (even base paths are turf colored brown to look like dirt). Is this true?

Click to expand...

Fields in Ripken at that facility or everywhere? We play Cal Ripken and the field dimensions are the exact same as Little League, with the exception of the 70/50 fields which are a great transition for 12 year olds before going to the big diamond.

Patriotsfatboy1 said:

Al Czervik said:

Charlie Steiner said:

Reports back are that our home run derby contestant showed well for himself, though still far from the top

Click to expand...

How far are the fences at Ripken? I assume they vary by field since you can go at different ages?

Also, I heard the Ripken fields are all turf in the infield and grass in the outfield (even base paths are turf colored brown to look like dirt). Is this true?

Click to expand...

Fields in Ripken at that facility or everywhere? We play Cal Ripken and the field dimensions are the exact same as Little League, with the exception of the 70/50 fields which are a great transition for 12 year olds before going to the big diamond.

Click to expand...

Ripken Experience in Myrtle Beach. Just looked it up on their website. Sounds like fields are field turf. And it sounds like they make each field unique as they mimic the dimensions of famous ballparks -- "All 7 fields at The Ripken Experience Myrtle Beach are symmetrical replicas of historic ballparks."

Al Czervik said:

Patriotsfatboy1 said:

Al Czervik said:

Charlie Steiner said:

Reports back are that our home run derby contestant showed well for himself, though still far from the top

Click to expand...

How far are the fences at Ripken? I assume they vary by field since you can go at different ages?

Also, I heard the Ripken fields are all turf in the infield and grass in the outfield (even base paths are turf colored brown to look like dirt). Is this true?

Click to expand...

Fields in Ripken at that facility or everywhere? We play Cal Ripken and the field dimensions are the exact same as Little League, with the exception of the 70/50 fields which are a great transition for 12 year olds before going to the big diamond.

Click to expand...

Ripken Experience in Myrtle Beach. Just looked it up on their website. Sounds like fields are field turf. And it sounds like they make each field unique as they mimic the dimensions of famous ballparks -- "All 7 fields at The Ripken Experience Myrtle Beach are symmetrical replicas of historic ballparks."

Click to expand...

Yes, they are field turf and they have several replica fields. Nice facility, although we never played there (just visited when I was there for golf).

AAABatteries said:

Does your son sport a full beard and mustache too?

GL to him.

Click to expand...

On the baseball landscape, he's actually smallish, only about 5'7''/120 lbs soaking wet. Like I said before, he's all effort all the time, and he 'got' the game at an early age, so he's usually one of the 'smarter' kids on the field. He's going to get overlooked, at least until they see him play.

Sorry for not posting updates yesterday, couldn't get the time, but here goes now:

1. Al, the info you provided ended up mostly for my benefit. I relayed it on to one of the dads down there, but most of us try to keep out of the coach's ear, and I don't know how much difference it would have made; however, the team they slaughtered was the Oakland team, so maybe it did help. Regarding the fences, unfortunately I didn't pay attention to the big fields when we were there 3 years ago, but I imagine they're not impossible but not easy, either. I learned right before they went that the restrictions on bats are more relaxed at Ripken, so they can use lighter bats to generate faster swings. On the other hand, there haven't been any reports of anyone in our games going yard, so I still don't have a clue. Only the mound and batter's box are dirt, the rest is turf. As far as 'replica' fields go, it's only a replica as far as the dimensions go, except for the "Cal Sr's Yard" at the Aberdeen, MD facility, which actually does look like a smaller version of Camden Yards, complete with a hotel out past the right field fence substituting for the warehouse.

2. I was told yesterday that former MLB pitcher Al Leiter has a son on one of the teams in my son's group. Now I wish I had gone too.

3. Game updates: Standing at 1-0 going into back-to-back early games yesterday, they were able to secure a 10-5 victory in the first game, then rally in their last at-bat to pull out a 5-4 victory to run their record to 3-0. Not much to report for the first game, as the other team got a couple of runs late to make it look closer. Little Steiner came in for the pitcher in the top of the 1st of the second game, after the starter had given up 2 runs. He pitched into the 5th, allowing only 1 run. He walked to lead off the bottom of the last inning, got to 3rd on a steal and sac bunt. The next 2 batters walked, loading the bases with just one out. They pulled their pitcher, who then walked in the tying run and a passed ball to the next hitter allowed the winning run to score. Tough way to lose a game.

4. Because they're sitting at 3-0 with just 2 pool games left, they are guaranteed a spot in the 'championship' tournament bracket. Believe me, I am pretty much stunned by these results, but I know it's only going to get tougher from here. Looking ahead, the two teams they play are both 1-1-1 (they were tied at 1 when the game hit its alloted time), and they may be the best teams in the group; one has only allowed 8 runs in 3 games, the other only 9. Still, my son's team is in a great place right now and anything can happen.

Game on! They're taking on the Davison (MI) Cardinal Baseball club. The early book (props to Czervik) on the Cardinal is that they are beatable.

The Royals get off to a quick start, plating 2 runs in the bottom of the first, after holding the Cardinal scoreless in the top half of the inning.

FWIW, Steiner jr. not leading off for the Royals this game, unsure whether it's a hangover or the coach looking to give other players the chance to do other things in an otherwise meaningless game. Stay tuned.

Mid-game update:

The Royals are up 3-1 after 5 complete, Steiner Jr. out of the lineup to rest his arm after pitching yesterday. If they can hold on to the lead these last 2 innings, they will just about have 1st place in their group locked away. Dreams can come true!

Congrats! Your son is experiencing the apex of his life at age 11! It's all downhill from here. A lifetime of disappointment, disparagement, and botched hysterectomies are in his near future.

And the game is in the books, Royals win 3-1, moving their record in the group stage to 4-0. They have one more game today, but it's really meaningless as they can now finish no worse than 2nd in their group. Steiner Jr. did come in as a defensive replacement in center field for the last inning, but saw no activity.

FWIW, I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer, but this team is really outkicking their coverage. They finished 5th in their league, and that was mainly by percentage points due to an uneven schedule; among those losses were some bad beatings to teams with worse records, and when they went in the tank, they really went in the tank this year. Their best accomplishment this year was a split double header with the second place team, and two 1-run losses to the 3rd place team. I thought a ~.500 record this week was way above expectations, but here they sit at 4-0. How can you not be romantic about baseball?

meatwad1 said:

Congrats! Your son is experiencing the apex of his life at age 11! It's all downhill from here. A lifetime of disappointment, disparagement, and botched hysterectomies are in his near future.

Click to expand...

Sorry that was your experience.

My son played at Ripken last year as a 13U - new team this year and no trip to Ripken. BUT, Ripken was a lot of fun. Great stadiums for the kids to play in. A lot to stay entertained otherwise. Highly recommended. Good Luck and Have Fun!

Charlie Steiner said:

And the game is in the books, Royals win 3-1, moving their record in the group stage to 4-0. They have one more game today, but it's really meaningless as they can now finish no worse than 2nd in their group. Steiner Jr. did come in as a defensive replacement in center field for the last inning, but saw no activity.

Click to expand...

Why are they playing tournaments now instead of the playoffs for the LLWS?

E-Z Glider said:

Why are they playing tournaments now instead of the playoffs for the LLWS?

Click to expand...

First, because he's in the 14U group, so he's too old to play LLWS. Second, Little League doesn't have a strong presence in our part of the state, so we pretty much missed that boat long ago. I believe a lot of folks around here didn't like playing on the smaller field at 12 and wanted their kids to get used to bigger fields at a younger age. I have no experience with anyone who played LL around here, so I can't speak to the experience of moving from a 46' mound at 12 right to a 60' mound at 13.

Charlie Steiner said:

E-Z Glider said:

Why are they playing tournaments now instead of the playoffs for the LLWS?

Click to expand...

First, because he's in the 14U group, so he's too old to play LLWS. Second, Little League doesn't have a strong presence in our part of the state, so we pretty much missed that boat long ago. I believe a lot of folks around here didn't like playing on the smaller field at 12 and wanted their kids to get used to bigger fields at a younger age. I have no experience with anyone who played LL around here, so I can't speak to the experience of moving from a 46' mound at 12 right to a 60' mound at 13.

Click to expand...

Gotcha. We never had much of a presence around here either, but a couple of guys got really serious about it a few years ago and now our local 12u team is playing in the state tourney. Next stop is regionals and they supposedly have a pretty good shot of making it to Williamsport.

The coach is super hardcore. He recently had a pitcher from the local AA affiliate pitching BP to the kids from 46'.

E-Z Glider said:

Charlie Steiner said:

E-Z Glider said:

Why are they playing tournaments now instead of the playoffs for the LLWS?

Click to expand...

First, because he's in the 14U group, so he's too old to play LLWS. Second, Little League doesn't have a strong presence in our part of the state, so we pretty much missed that boat long ago. I believe a lot of folks around here didn't like playing on the smaller field at 12 and wanted their kids to get used to bigger fields at a younger age. I have no experience with anyone who played LL around here, so I can't speak to the experience of moving from a 46' mound at 12 right to a 60' mound at 13.

Click to expand...

Gotcha. We never had much of a presence around here either, but a couple of guys got really serious about it a few years ago and now our local 12u team is playing in the state tourney. Next stop is regionals and they supposedly have a pretty good shot of making it to Williamsport.

The coach is super hardcore. He recently had a pitcher from the local AA affiliate pitching BP to the kids from 46'.

Click to expand...

When my son was little I had no idea there was anything else besides Little League, and I had less of an idea of how 'big' travel ball was going to be. One of the kids that was on my son's team at 11U decided to leave to join a Little League team, but all the 'good' local kids were on non-Little League travel teams, and it ended up being a bad experience for them. Little League definitely would have been cool, though.

After this dies down, please keep us updated on how they do. Good luck on Williamsport!

I hate it when I'm right sometimes; the wheels did indeed come off the wagon in the second game of the day, as the meekly fell 13-3 to the Chicagoland Panthers. The good news for the Royals is that there wasn't anything at stake and they finish the group stage as the top team in their group. On to the "Championship" bracket.

The playoff bracket is out, the #5 seed Royals take on the #12 seed Glenview (IL) Blaze at 12:45. Tough draw, but the other MD team down there (FWIW, they're in our league but we didn't play them this year, probably a little better than us) beat them in the group stage, so there's no telling...

Game on. Steiner Jr. gets the start in left field.

After 1, both teams had their chances with runners on base, including bases loaded and no outs for the Royals, but neither team could capitalize. No score, moving on to the 2nd.

Steiner Jr.: 0-0, BB so far.

Not many details, except Glenview got a run in the top of the 2nd, and one of our baserunners got himself hung up between bases. Two 2-out walks didn't hurt Glenview this time as we move on to the top of the 3rd, Royals trailing 1-0.

Apparently the 3rd inning was very eventful, I'll try to reconstruct what must have happened.

After giving up another run in the top of the inning, the Royals come in to bat trailing 2-0. Steiner Jr. leads of with a walk, and the next 2 batters also walked, loading the bases. Next batter gets hit by a pitch, forcing a run in, and another walk tied the score. Apparently, this is where it got a little wild.

The next batter hits a grounder to 2nd, the runner on first gets tagged, but the runner at 3rd scores. I'm not sure what happened next, but instead of trying to turn 2, they throw over to 3rd, where the runner at 2nd had overshot the base and was tagged out for the 2nd out. For some reason, the batter thought that was the 3rd out and started to head back to the bench. The first base coach grabbed him and told him that it was only 2 outs, but because he made contact with the runner, that's an automatic out, so they had one of the more unlikely triple plays you'll see.

In the time it took to get all that sorted out with the folks at the game, the 4th, 5th and top of the 6th were played. The 4th and 5th for Glenview, and Steiner Jr. led off the bottom of the 5th with an infield single but was caught stealing 2nd, and no other damage was done. Our pitcher walked the leadoff batter in the top of the 6th, then hit the next batter. After a pitching change and errors by the catcher and 2nd baseman, Glenview climbed back on top, 5-3. No joy for the Royals in the bottom of the 6th, as they strand a runner on 2nd. Going to the last inning, Glenview leading the Royals 5-3.

Crazy game. Wish they didn't charge for webcam access. I want to watch!

Al Czervik said:

Crazy game. Wish they didn't charge for webcam access. I want to watch!

Click to expand...

Me too. I got spoiled by Cooperstown not charging.

The 7th inning is still going on, Steiner Jr. hit a triple with 2 outs and a runner on 2nd to get within one.

Charlie, couldn't you pull some strings in Bristol and get this on ESPN3 or something? Maybe the triple play will make it on Top 10 Plays of the Day?! I'd like to see it on video. If you get ahold of it from a parent and can post it on YouTube let us know down the road.

Charlie Jr. seems to be having a nice game. Hopefully the clutch triple leads them back to a win.

Runners on the corners, 2 outs...

Strikeout! The valiant comeback falls just short, and the Royals' Cinderella story ends.

Not sure what the future holds for this team, but without a doubt they now have a lifetime of thrilling memories. If my son were to never play again, I believe he could look back with no regrets, despite the loss.

Thanks for listening, hope E-Z Glider keeps us updated on their local team's road to Williamsport.

johnnyrock62000 said:

Charlie, couldn't you pull some strings in Bristol and get this on ESPN3 or something? Maybe the triple play will make it on Top 10 Plays of the Day?! I'd like to see it on video. If you get ahold of it from a parent and can post it on YouTube let us know down the road.

Charlie Jr. seems to be having a nice game. Hopefully the clutch triple leads them back to a win.

Click to expand...

ESPN has too much skin in the Little League game to promote rival youth baseball tournaments. I don't know if that triple play would be worth seeing, the camera probably would have missed the last out. To be honest, they really would do well if they could get the last couple of rounds at Cooperstown Dreams Park, where you'd regularly see 6' tall 12 year olds throwing 80mph heat to other 6' tall 12 year olds who take those 80mph fastballs over the fence.

I was on the phone with the Mrs. when he came up, and I think he handles it better than we do. I'm just glad he came through this time.

Charlie Steiner said:

johnnyrock62000 said:

Charlie, couldn't you pull some strings in Bristol and get this on ESPN3 or something? Maybe the triple play will make it on Top 10 Plays of the Day?! I'd like to see it on video. If you get ahold of it from a parent and can post it on YouTube let us know down the road.

Charlie Jr. seems to be having a nice game. Hopefully the clutch triple leads them back to a win.

Click to expand...

ESPN has too much skin in the Little League game to promote rival youth baseball tournaments. I don't know if that triple play would be worth seeing, the camera probably would have missed the last out. To be honest, they really would do well if they could get the last couple of rounds at Cooperstown Dreams Park, where you'd regularly see 6' tall 12 year olds throwing 80mph heat to other 6' tall 12 year olds who take those 80mph fastballs over the fence.

I was on the phone with the Mrs. when he came up, and I think he handles it better than we do. I'm just glad he came through this time.

Click to expand...

They should really get the finals each week at Dreams Park. That would be awesome.

The finals when we were there was a great game.

BTW, my son is at an out of town tournament right now too. Getting text updates sucks.