Warriors Prevail Over Archer Manor in Pitchers' Duel

The Warriors beat Archer Manor on Monday night in a pitchers' duel to win its second game in the Hickory Hills Tournament. This was a very well played game by both clubs.

Matthias Dietz pitched four innings and allowed just one hit as the Warriors' starting pitcher. Archer Manor recognized Matthias with the MVP award for his outstanding performance in this game. Mike Rafferty pitched the final three innings of the game. He retired Archer Manor's clean-up hitter with the tying run on second base to close the game!

Archer Manor's starting pitcher also threw a no-hitter through four innings of play. The Warriors scored first with a run in the sixth inning on a line drive off Ronny Drabeck's bat that bounced against the rightfield wall--scoring Grant Lewis who singled earlier in the inning.

The Warriors added two big insurance runs in the top of the seventh inning. Danny Poulos singled sharply to rightfield. With Danny Poulos on third base and Dan Victoria on first base, Archer Manor threw down to second on the steal attempt. The throw sailed into centerfield which allowed both Danny Poulos and Dan Victoria to score on the overthrow! The Warriors led 3-0 as the game moved into the bottom of the seventh inning.

Archer Manor scored a run and had two runners in scoring position before the game ended on a tapper back to pitcher Mike Rafferty by Archer Manor's clean-up hitter.

The Warriors are now 2-0 in the Hickory Hills Tournament and look forward to playing Worth on Thursday night in the final game of pool play.

Bat Bags & Other (Sponsors)

The Warriors would like to thank Mr. Joe Lionardo for purchasing an additional piece of team equipment for each of the players.

The players were presented with a choice of gear: sweatshirts, wind jackets, equipment bags, hats, etc. The players voted for equipment bags. Each player (including our 11 year olds) has received a red equipment bag (with black trim) with his name, uniform number and the Warriors' logo on it as a result of this generous contribution.

Joe made this contribution courtesy of Coach Matt Rafferty. The Warriors would like to thank Matt Rafferty for securing this sponsorship, identifying a vendor and coordinating the equipment order. It is Matt's efforts that made this possible.

Earlier in the season, Coach Rich Tannebaum and Ron Drabeck each made generous contributions to the team in the name of their businesses. As a result of their generosity, the Warriors were able to expand its schedule and play (fund) several additional games in the Chicagoland Metro League.

Please take the time to thank Matt, Rich and Ron for making financial contributions to the team above and beyond the registration fees. Thanks to Kim Lewis and Carrie Rafferty for volunteering to capture and frame a team photo as a token of our team's appreciation to Joe Lionardo.

Jackie Robinson

During a recent practice, we covered the importance of staying alert on the baseball field and always striving to win (or do your best). With rare exceptions (e.g., hit batsman, foul ball, time out, etc.) the ball is live and players must be aware of what is happening on the field.

Jackie Robinson was one of the players in baseball history who accomplished some incredible baserunning feats. In 1954, after reaching base, he stole second base, then third base and finally home plate on three consecutive pitches!

His first steal of home came during his rookie year after he reached base when he was intentionally hit by a pitch by a Pirates' pitcher. He made another "statement" by scoring all the way from first on a sacrifice fly.

Many people (including me) believe that the straight steal of home plate is the most exciting play in all of sports. Jackie accomplished this feat 19 times in his career. To help our players appreciate how difficult this is, we positioned them on a third base bag that was 90 feet from home plate. Amazingly, Ty Cobb is the all-time leader with 50 steals of home plate during his career--a record that will probably never be broken!

Jackie Robinson was respected for being one of the greatest competitors to ever play the game. Duke Snider commented that "He was the greatest competitor I've ever seen. I've seen him beat a team with his bat, his glove, his feet..."

Of course, Jackie Robinson is best known for breaking the color barrier in Major League baseball in 1947. His uniform #42 was retired by every team in Major League baseball.

Warriors Score 20 Runs to Beat Oak Lawn!

The Warriors opened its first tournament in impressive fashion--scoring 20 runs in five innings to beat Oak Lawn by the slaughter rule on Saturday morning.

Matthias Dietz pitched three strong innings for the Warriors. He allowed just two runs to score in the top of the third on a pop up that fell between three Warriors in short rightfield. His pitch count mounted quickly in the third inning. He was done for the afternoon after the third inning with 90 pitches thrown for the game.

The Warriors held a 10-2 lead as the game moved into the top of the fourth inning. Ryan Novak pitched in relief for the Warriors. He threw a good percentage of strikes, but the infield defense broke down behind him. Eventually, Oak Lawn chipped away with five runs to come within three runs of tying the game (10-7). The Warriors then went to Mike Rafferty for a different look from the mound.

Nearly every player contributed to the team's offensive explosion. Mike Rafferty led the team with 8 RBI. His first 3 RBI resulted from his towering 2 out, 2 strike homerun over the leftfield wall. He later doubled in 3 runs and singled in a couple of more! Mike entered the game in relief and pitched the last two innings to close the game. Oak Lawn recognized Mike with the MVP medallion for this game.

The Warriors' baserunning was exceptional. The runners put a lot of pressure on the Oak Lawn defense.

The Warriors look forward to Monday night's game against Archer Manor.

Angels Win Bronco League Championship

The Angels beat the Brewers in five innings at Centennial Park on Thursday night to win the OYA Bronco League championship. The Angels have four Warriors on its roster--more than any other team in the league: Ronny Drabeck, Shawn McHale, Grant Lewis and Dan Victoria. Congratulations to the Angels on an outstanding season!

The lighting was a challenge. But, I tried to capture a few photos through the backstop during the game. Click on the photo to enlarge:

Grant Lewis threw four innings for the Angels and was the game's winning pitcher...
Ronny Drabeck hit a grand slam to ice the game...
Dan Victoria pitched the fifth, and final, inning of the season for the Angels...

Team Website Records 11,000th Visit!

The Warriors team website is an increasingly popular place. This morning, the site recorded its 11,000th hit. The site had its 10,000th visit on June 1st and has had 1,000 more hits in just the last three weeks. I'm glad that people are finding it worthwhile to visit the website--and it has certainly saved me a lot of phone calls!

The current total number of hits can be found by looking at the counter located at the bottom of the blog.

Pitcher Kevin Johnson to Visit Warriors' Camp

I'm pleased that Kevin Johnson, a pitching prospect from Mt. Carmel High School, will be joining our practice on July 2nd to work with the Warriors' pitchers. CLICK HERE to view the Sun-Times article (April 1, 2008) to learn more about Kevin.

The Warriors are fortunate to be able to learn more about baseball from guests such as Coach Doug Pringle and Kevin Johnson.

Our 11 year old players are welcome to attend this July 2nd session.

Good Luck to Our 11 Year Olds!

Back when this year's Chicagoland Metro League Warriors team was created, it was determined that our 11 year old players would play for our team until the 11U team was formed. Mike Hinde and Dan Victoria will now move over to lead the 11U Warriors team into the July tournament season.

Both Mike and Dan worked hard through all of our team's workouts and practices. They both have an obvious love of the game and their enthusiasm helped make the Sunday League experience more enjoyable for us all.

Mike and Dan will continue to be welcome at any team events (e.g., hitting and pitching clinics, photos, pizza party, etc.)--and they may be called upon to help the team as alternates when needed during July tournament games.

We wish both of them success with their new team.

Hitting Instruction on Tuesday Night!

The Warriors are pleased to have Coach Doug Pringle join its practice on Tuesday night. Coach Pringle will provide invaluable hitting instruction to our team throughout this practice. All Warriors, including our 11 year old players, are welcome to participate in this session. This session will be held from 5:30 pm until about 7:30 pm at Humphrey #2 on Tuesday, June 24th.

I was fortunate enough to coach a team a few years back with Coach Pringle. Having attended countless hitting clinics and individual Swingtown lessons, I have yet to see a more effective batting instructor than Coach Pringle.
Not only has Coach Pringle studied hitting for many years, but he is a fine hitter himself. He played through college and was offered a professional baseball contract. He points out that hitting a baseball is the toughest thing to do in all of sports. He also values practice and hard work--and mentions that he took no less than 500 swings nearly every day over a six year period.

Doug will discuss his hitting philosophy in general with the whole team before breaking out and working with individual players during the remainder of the session.

Warriors Slaughter Flossmoor 16-4

The Warriors played a nearly perfect game to beat Flossmoor by a score of 16-4 at Centennial #7 on Sunday afternoon.

Pitchers Grant Lewis, Mike Rafferty and Jack Lebert were ineligible to throw on Sunday due to limitations in innings with the OYA playoffs taking place the day before. Two other experienced Warriors' pitchers, Matt Dahlgren and Matt Taylor, will not be participating in the July Travel team portion of this season.

But, Matthias Dietz got things off to a good start with three strong innings as the Warriors' starting pitcher. Dan Victoria then held Flossmoor scoreless in the fourth inning on just five pitches. And, Sam Marc earned a save with three innings of work in this one.

The defense was strong and featured Ryan Novak--who made several assists from the shortstop position. Sam Marc also turned a double play from shortstop on a line drive.

The offense put the game out of reach early. Most of the hitters were making solid contact, but Mike Rafferty hit the ball especially hard this afternoon. Mike hit a foul ball so far down the leftfield line that the ball was lost in the woods near the lake. He followed that up with a double that hit the leftfield fence on a fly.

The Warriors will battle Hickory Hills in an added Sunday Metro League game on Thursday night at Doogan Field.

A Most Unusual At Bat

The complexity of applying baseball rules never ceases to amaze me. CLICK HERE to view one of the more unusual plate appearances I've ever seen. This took place the other night in a Class A baseball game.

Rising Moon

While coaching my Royals (OYA Pony League) team in the opening round of the playoffs, I couldn't help but notice the Moon rising over the centerfield fence at Centennial #5.

The next night I located an open field at the corner of Harlem Avenue and Sauk Trail in hopes of capturing a photo of the Moon rising over the horizon. Not realizing that the Moon rises over 30 minutes later each evening, I miscalculated the timing and had to try to get the photo while dealing with a much darker foreground than the way the scene looked during that playoff game!

In any event, the above photo was the result (click on photo for a much larger image).

Hickory Hills Tournament

The Warriors opened up with a 20-7 victory over Oak Lawn on Saturday, June 28th.

The second game is scheduled for 5:45 pm on Monday, June 30th against Archer Manor with the final pool play game on Thursday, July 3rd at 5:45 pm versus Worth. Other teams participating in this tournament include Midway and Hickory Hills.

The teams with the best records will advance to the tournament playoffs on July 4th (10:30 am) and July 5th (10:30 am or 2:00 pm). The field is located at 9900 S. 76th Ave. in Bridgeview.

I'll post further details as they become available.

You can learn more about the Hickory Hills tournament by viewing "Tournament Information" on the Hickory Hills baseball website.

Warriors Finalize Tournament Roster

The Warriors finalized its roster for the July tournament season. The roster includes 8 full-time, 4 part-time and 2 alternate players. CLICK HERE for the roster by status designation.

Recent roster moves include the following:

• As originally planned, Dan Victoria and Mike Hinde will move over to OYA's 11 year old July travel team effective Monday morning.
• Jayson Lenzen has rejoined the Warriors after sitting out the Chicagoland Metro League portion of the schedule. Jayson made significant contributions to last season's team--both as a catcher/corner infielder and as a hitter. Jayson replaced Matt Taylor who only participated in the Sunday Metro League portion of the season.
• Shawn McHale has assumed an alternate roster spot to replace Matt Dahlgren. Matt recently joined the Orland Park Magic--a full-time travel team.
• Robbie Maxfield injured his knee and will be inactive through the Hickory Hills tournament. Hopefully, he'll recover in time to play in the Oak Lawn tournament.

Our team's roster is at the minimum allowable size for a tournament or two, so all players must be committed to attend all scheduled events from now through July--unless otherwise agreed upon through alternate and part-time status designations.

Please do not hesitate to contact me at 708-349-1467 with any questions or comments.

Tournament Season Information

The registration fee for our July Travel team is $75 per player. All players, with the exception of our alternate players, should submit a $75 check by next weekend. Please make checks payable to "Orland Youth Association."

The team has three alternate players at this time: Dennis Bresingham, Shawn McHale and Jayson Lenzen. Alternate players are not guaranteed to play in tournament games. Accordingly, these players will be charged a lower fee.

Based upon my current understanding of everyone's availability, the team will move into the July tournaments with the following roster sizes:

Hickory Hills- 12 plus 2 alternates
Oak Lawn- 12 plus 2 alternates
Lockport- 10 plus no alternates
Orland Park- 11 plus 1 alternate

Most tournament have a minimum number of players required in order for a team to participate. I have a call into the Lockport tournament to determine if 10 players will be acceptable. If not, we might need to add another player (or two) just for that Saturday and Sunday!

Adding more players helps protect the team against not having enough players on the roster for a particular game. However, a larger roster limits playing time and forces us to deactivate more players more often. We would rather enter tournaments with fewer players--provided that we can get a solid commitment from all of our players regarding their availability (particularly for Lockport). I will need a firm commitment of each player's available dates for the upcoming tournaments by next weekend.

Please call me at 708-846-1466 (cell) with any questions or comments.

Warriors Travel to Elmwood Park on Sunday

The Warriors will travel to Elmwood Park on Sunday, June 15th for a 10:30 am game. This field is located at the Elmwood Park High School, 8201 West Fullerton Avenue in Elmwood Park.

I plan on taking LaGrange Road north to I-55. Go North on I-55 and exit at First Avenue. Go just under 10 miles north on First Avenue to Fullerton. Make a right on Fullerton Avenue and the High School is located just a couple of blocks away. I'll keep my cell phone with me that morning, so please call 708-846-1466 if you have trouble finding the park.

The deactivated players for Sunday's game include Mike Hinde, Matt Taylor and Matt Dahlgren.

Photo Sessions Rescheduled

The photo sessions originally scheduled for Wednesday, June 18th have been rescheduled for Tuesday, July 8th. This revision was necessary due to several scheduling conflicts with the Bronco League's playoffs.

I will send an email out in early July with the time slot for those players who expressed interest in this. The sessions will begin at about 3:30 pm and end at about 6:00 pm. Each player will be assigned a 10 or 15 minute slot.

The Ballplayer

I experimented with a few new techniques while capturing some photos of my nephew last night. I took some black & white photos and some color photos. But, for the photo below I blended a B&W and color photo to deaden the colors enough in an attempt to give the image a timeless look. Those of you who are scheduled for the photo session will have the option of color, black & white or this blended look for your photo.

Click on the photo to view a much larger version.

Team Website Records 10,000th Visit!

Apparently, the Warriors team website has been a popular place. Earlier this evening, the site recorded its 10,000th hit! This same platform was used for last year's July travel team and the number of visits is the cumulative total over the past two seasons. The current total number of hits can be found by looking at the counter located at the bottom of the blog.

Wilmington Scores 18 to Beat Warriors

A hard-hitting Wilmington team scored 11 runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to secure an 18-5 win over the Warriors on Sunday afternoon.

On a positive note for the Warriors, Grant Lewis homered in the top of the first inning--his second homer of the season. Sam Marc had two hits down the leftfield line. And, Dan Victoria made a nice running catch in centerfield to end the second inning with two runners left in scoring position.

The team's Chicagoland Metro League record moves to 7 wins, 1 loss and 1 tie. The Warriors hope to bounce back next Sunday in its game against St. John, Indiana. At least two of the Warriors' next opponents have strong records in Metro League play--St. John and Floosmoor. Floosmoor advanced to the Final Four in the Memorial Weekend tournament.

The Warriors plan to announce its July travel team roster sometime this upcoming week--along with the deactivated player list for this weekend's game.

Coach Doug Pringle

The Warriors would like to thank hitting coach Doug Pringle for volunteering his time to work with some of our hitters. So far, Doug has worked with Mike Hinde, Dan Victoria, Ryan Tannebaum and Dennis Bresingham.

I was fortunate enough to coach a team a few years back with Coach Pringle. Having attended countless hitting clinics and individual Swingtown lessons, I have yet to see a more effective batting instructor than Coach Pringle.

Not only has Coach Pringle studied hitting for many years, but he is a fine hitter himself. He played through college and was offered a professional baseball contract. He points out that hitting a baseball is the toughest thing to do in all of sports. He also values practice and hard work--and mentions that he took no less than 500 swings nearly every day over a six year period.

Just like last season, Coach Pringle will also be participating in one of the team's upcoming practices. So, every one of our players will have the opportunity to learn more about hitting. I will post more information about this session once we are able to secure field time for the practice.

Following is a photo of Coach Pringle working with my nephew at a hitting station in the basement of his Orland Park home...