2008 WWBA 17U National Championship

The ABD Bulldog ‘09’s (California) and the Diamond Devils (South Carolina) are facing off in the WWBA 17U National Championship game, with the first pitch thrown around 7:55 pm.

The Bulldogs defeated Tri-State Arsenal/Cust D-Jacks 6-0 in one semifinal behind a combined no hit effort by RHP’s Ethan Miller (3 innings) and Nolan Arenado (2 innings). 3B Matt Davidson hit his 4^th home run of the championship, a 2-run shot in the 3^rd inning, to key the offense.

The Diamond Devils outscored Diamond Vision Elite 13-6 in the other semifinal. RF Daniel Aldrich hit 2 home runs, the first a grand slam in the top of the 3^rd inning, and drove in 6 runs. C Brison Celek and 1B Daniel Palka also hit home runs for the Diamond Devils.

Perfect Game has created a new award that was first presented at the recent WWBA 18U National Championships, has been presented at the 17U National Championship today and will be presented at the 16U and 15U National Championships in the next 2 weeks.

The award will also be presented at the WWBA World Junior Championship in Fort Myers in early October and the WWBA World Championships in Jupiter in late October.

The award is the Perfect Game Pro Award. It is given to the team or teams at World Wood Bat Association National or World Championships “that best exemplify Professionalism, Class and Sportsmanship.”

The two recipients of the Perfect Game Pro Award from the WWBA 18U National Championship were the Illinois Sparks and Dulins Dodgers.

The two recipients of the Perfect Game Pro Award from the WWBA 17U National Championship are the Dallas Tigers and NorCal Baseball.

Congratulations to these four outstanding baseball organizations and the work that they do with their talented young athletes. Perfect Game hopes that the PG Pro Award becomes a coveted piece of recognition for quality teams across the country at WWBA events in the future.

The final 8 teams have been determined and the quarterfinal games are about to begin here at the East Cobb Complex and Kell HS.

Those teams are: ABD Bulldogs ’09, East Cobb Astros, Dallas Tigers, Tri-State Arsenal/Cust D-Jacks, Diamond Devils, Dirtbags, ASD Bulldogs and Diamond Vision Elite.

Some Highlights from playoff games today include:

-- Dirtbags RHP Chad Rothlin threw a 2-hit shutout in a 2-0 win over the West Coast Wave. Rothlin couldn’t have thrown more than 45-50 pitches in the 50 minute/5 inning game

-- Dallas Tigers SS Chad Kettler hit a bases loaded double to drive in 3 runs in the bottom of the 4^th inning to give the Tigers a 4-0 lead, then came in to pitch with the bases loaded and the score 4-1 in the 5^th inning to earn the save.

-- The Tigers defeated the Indiana Mustangs 3-0 in their second game of the day behind LHP Crayton Bare. Bare allowed only 1 hit, a single leading off the fourth inning, while walking 3 and striking out 5.

-- Aflac All-American RHP Chad Thompson threw a complete game 2-hitter in ABD’s 5-2 win over Baseball U. Thompson struck out 5 while pitching in the upper 80’s. ABD 2B Tony Walters had a double and triple and scored 2 runs for ABD.

-- East Cobb Astros 2B Zach Alvord drove in 6 of the Astros 7 runs in a 7-4 win over Akadema/Florida Raiders. Alvord had a 2 run single in the first inning, then launched a grand slam home run over the left field wall in the 3^rd.

-- Diamond Devils RHP Greg Harrison threw a 2 hit shutout at NorCal in the Diamond Devils 3-0 win. 3B Matt Moore cleared the bases in the first inning with a triple to account for all three Diamond Devils runs.

-- The Diamond Devils picked up another 5 inning shutout from 2010 RHP Drew Cisco in an 8-0 win over Top Tier. Cisco allowed 4 hits and walked 1 while striking out 5. 1B Daniel Palka and LF Casey Forrester each drove in 2 runs.

The Championship Game of the WWBA 17U National Championship is scheduled to start at 6:30 this evening.

It’s going to be a very exciting evening at the East Cobb Complex because the 16U WWBA National Championship team/scout sign ups have been moved from the Marriott Northwest to the East Cobb Complex. There should be a huge crowd at the Complex between the fans there for the game and all the traffic coming through the Complex.

If you’re reading this and know people who are in town for the 16U, tell them to come out to East Cobb tonight!

Heavy rains for 5 of the first 6 days of the WWBA 18U National Championships have forced wholesale changes in the playoff schedule.

But the weather is excellent Monday morning as 8 playoff games are already finished at the East Cobb Complex and 4 outlying fields.

Day long rains that begun around 9:30/10:00 am on Sunday forced the postponement of all but two games. Those rains on top of all the rain earlier in the week has forced a constant scramble to find dry fields and create new schedules.

With the playoff schedule compacted and the possibility of 2 teams having to play 5 games, all playoff games today will be 5 innings, except for the Championship Game, which will be a full 7 inning game. The Championship Game is scheduled to be played at 6:30 pm at East Cobb Field #1.

Perfect Game appreciates the patience of all the players, coaches and parents through the past few days as we’ve all scrambled to do what’s best and what’s possible.

ADDITIONAL SATURDAY GAMES

Two additional consolation games have been added at East Cobb Field #5 (the smaller field at the far end of the complex).

These games should be of particular interest to many scouts and college coaches.

5:00 PM: Arlington A’s vs. Homeplate Chilidogs

7:15 PM: All American Prospects Blue vs. South Hurricanes

RHP Mychal Givens and RHP Felix Roque will be pitching for All American Prospects.

REMINDER

If your team is not in the playoffs and you want to play in a consolation game, you NEED to contact David Rawnsley (402-689-0523, rawnsleyd@aol.com) or Kirk Gardner (262-370-6112) as soon as possible. We have filled all the consolation slots for Saturday and are doing the Sunday schedule.

SCHEDULE CHANGE

7:00 pm Consolation Game at Pope High School. This game is now between the Austin Grand Slam and Dallas Panthers.

SCHEDULE ADDITION

The following game was omitted from the schedule that was posted last night

2:00 PM (Consolation) Reinhardt College: East Coast Grays vs. Bergen County Bombers

FIELD OMISSION

The initial edition of the schedule posted last night omitted the location/field for the 2:00 game between Action Baseball Club and East Cobb Patriots. That game will be played at North Cobb Christian School.

GAME CHANGES

There are two changes for teams playing in consolation games later today.

Game 2003 (2:00 pm at Centennial HS) is now ABD Boxers vs. Norcross

Game 2018 (8:00 pm at Walton HS) is now Texas Magic vs. Florida Bombers Braves

IMPORTANT CONSOLATION NOTICE

64 teams will be making the expanded playoffs necessitated by the weather. That leaves 128 teams who will be placed in the consolation round.

The vast majority of those consolation games will be played on Sunday, with a handful being played Saturday night.

Experience tells us that many teams will decide not play a consolation game and will hit the road early. This is not a problem with Perfect Game. What is important is that we know exactly who intends to leave and who intends to stay. There is nothing worse than scheduling a game and not having one of the teams show up.

We need to hear from EVERY team that wants to play in a consolation game. If you DO NOT contact us, we WILL NOT schedule your team in a consolation game. We would also appreciate your telling us if you do not want a consolation game and will be leaving town early.

There are 3 ways to contact the PG Staff about your consolation intentions.

BEST: Come up to the East Cobb tower and let us know. It is very likely that you will be able to learn what your schedule is right on the spot, along with being able to lobby a bit for fields/times.

WORKS: Call David Rawnsley (402-689-0523) or Kirk Gardner (262-370-6112) on the PG Staff. Do not plan on leaving a message, keep trying if you don’t get to talk to one of the above.

ALSO: Send an email to David Rawnsley at rawnsleyd@aol.com with you intentions.

We had a great recovery from the afternoon rains and only ended up losing about 10 games from the original schedule. The bright sunlight during the late afternoon helped dry out the fields for tomorrow, when the weather report looks favorable for the first time all tournament.

VERY IMPORTANT: We keep hearing coaches talking about their Saturday games. As of 8 pm Friday night, NO team knows when they are playing on Saturday because the schedule has not been either created or posted. The schedule that will be posted for Saturday is COMPLETELY new.

REMINDER: All teams will be playing 4 pool games. No teams will be playing 5. After 4 pool play games, the top 2 teams in each pool will advance to a 64 team single elimination playoff. The remainder of the teams will be moved to the consolation round. Teams that have not played 4 pool play games at the end of play tonight will be given priority games in the early slots tomorrow morning and will be contacted by PG staff tonight. The Saturday schedule will be posted as soon as possible on the WWBA web site tonight.

The daily afternoon rains hit North Atlanta a little early this afternoon. Most fields are in delays of 1-3 hours. The rains somehow skipped South Cobb HS altogether, but set things back at the EC Complex about 3 hours. 3 fields have been lost for the day, Ward Park, Sprayberry HS and Wheeler HS.

Games are well underway Friday at the 17U National Championships, with most of the 9 and 10 am slots being filled by partial games that were interrupted by rain the previous 3 days.

The goal of this morning was to get all teams up to 3 complete games, with the balance of the day to start teams on their 4^th pool play game. Teams that have not played 4 complete pool play games as of the end of today will be put in the earliest time slots possible Saturday morning.

Pool play will be complete after every team has played 4 games. The Tournament will then be broken into a 64 team Playoff Bracket with the remainder of the teams going into the consolation pool. The top 2 teams from each pool will advance to the playoffs, with standard WWBA rules governing tie breakers applying.

The first round of the playoffs will be played on Saturday afternoon/evening, leaving 32 teams left in the playoffs on Sunday.

There has been no schedule set for Saturday and we are working on it right now. Anything previously published for Saturday is null and void.

It cannot be emphasized enough that teams need to check the WWBA website for schedule updates. If you are a coach and do not have computer access here in Atlanta, you have to arrange with someone back home to keep you updated. We do our best to call teams.

THERE WILL BE A COMPLETELY NEW SCHEDULE POSTED FOR FRIDAY. EVERY TEAM WILL NEED TO CHECK ON THE WWBA WEBSITE LATER TONIGHT TO SEE WHEN THEY ARE PLAYING.

If you know coaches at this tournament from other teams, please spread the word about the new schedule for Friday.  Thank you.

The priority for creating a new Friday schedule will be to ensure that every team has 3 complete games as early in the day Friday as possible. Teams that have already played 3 complete games will be given games later in the day or may not play a game at all tomorrow.

All teams that are given 9 AM and 11:30 AM games will be called as soon as possible by Perfect Game staff members.

There are currently 8 fields still playing as of 6:15 pm after heavy rains over the entire Atlanta area. Those fields are Kennesaw Mountain HS, Walton HS, Alpharetta HS, Wheeler HS, South Cobb HS, Mt. Paran HS, Georgia State University and Southern Poly. All those fields have had some sort of delay during the afternoon but were not washed out.

All other fields, including the East Cobb Complex, had at least one game canceled today.

Jacob Mayers of the Richmond Braves had himself a game this morning at East Cobb Field #3 against the Indiana Dirtbags. Mayers was the Braves starting pitcher and threw a complete game, allowing 4 hits, 3 unearned runs and 1 walk while striking out 8. Mayers was 86-88 mph with his fastball and had a good curveball and change up. At the plate, Mayers batted 3^rd in the Braves order and went 4-4 with 2 Rbi’s. His single in the bottom of the 7^th tied the score at 3-3 and the Braves went on to win 4-3 on an error.

With all the additional scrambling and work required with the rain and rescheduling, it’s pretty much impossible to keep up with individual and team performances as much as one would like. The scouting notes are all there, there just isn’t the time to look at them.

A couple of things we have been able to glean out though.

3B Chris Longo had the offensive game of the tournament on Wednesday morning. The clean up hitter for the Florida Bandits West hit a 3-run home run in the first inning, a 2-run home run in the third inning and a 2 out Rbi single in the 5^th inning. He drove in all 6 Bandits runs against the On Deck O’s in a 6-2 win.

Sean Handlan, a 2009 left hander from South Gwinnett HS in Georgia, pitching for Team Georgia, threw a 5 inning no-hitter against the South Florida Bandits North team Wednesday morning. Handlan struck out 9 hitters and walked 2 while throwing in the 85-88 mph range with a mid-70’s slider.

The top of the first inning was all that the Dugout Tigers needed in their 9 AM game on Thursday morning at the Complex. SS Alex Hand and C Josh Wallace, both 2010 prospects, each hit 2-run home runs in the first inning before Dallas Panthers RHP Robert Slagel (2011) had got his second out. Once Slagel settled down, though, it was all over for the Tigers. Slagel finished the game with 6 1/3 no-hit innings. But LHP Conner Kendricks only allowed 3 hits and 3 runs in a complete game effort and the Tigers pulled out a 4-3 win.

A mistake was made earlier in this blog about a reschedule. The game that was rescheduled for Lassiter HS at 2:00 pm mistakingly read Dallas Tigers when it should have been DALLAS TITANS.

CORRECT:

GAME 251 (Dallas TITANS vs. CenCal Baseball), originally scheduled for 2 pm at Reinhardt College, will now be played at 2:00 pm at Lassiter High School

As of 12:30 pm things are flowing pretty smoothly on the 25 fields currently being used around the area. Three fields have been added to the rotation, North Cobb Christian School, Georgia State University and Lassiter High School.

We will be posting game changes/schedule updates on this blog, adjusting the master schedule on the WWBA web site and calling coaches throughout the day.

The biggest obstacle to rescheduling, along with available field slots, is finding a way to get a time/place that works for both teams. For instance, Team A and Team B have a game postponed on Wednesday. On Thursday, Team A has a game scheduled at 11:30 and Team B has a game scheduled at 4:30. There is no way that you can schedule those 2 teams to play make up their postponed game on Thursday. It’s like a big jigsaw puzzle with pieces laying all over the floor.

GAME 191 (Dulins Dodgers vs. Diamond Vision Elite) that was postponed at 7 pm last night (Sprayberry HS) will be played at 7 pm today (Thursday) at Alpharetta HS.

The fields this morning are in surprisingly good shape this morning considering the amount of rain yesterday. There will small or no delays on the majority of the fields in getting the 9 am games started. There will be delays at Reinhardt College, Cherokee HS and Centennial, two of the northern/eastern most fields. If you are scheduled to play at those fields today make sure to call ahead to see how the schedule is going.

ALL OTHER FIELDS SHOULD BE ASSUMED TO BE ON TIME.


GAME 222 (Bellaire Baseball vs. New Jersey Twins 16U) has been moved from Cherokee HS to Lassiter HS.  The 11:30 game time will remain the same

Very heavy rains have hit the northern part of the tournament fields. The East Cobb Complex and surrounding fields have been especially hard hit.

On the other hand, the southern and western fields (South Cobb, Southern Poly, Dominion Christian, Mt. Paran, Kennesaw Mountain, Ward Park, Weber School) have played full schedules today.

Teams/Coaches who had games postponed or stopped in progress will be contacted by PG Staff when their games have been rescheduled.

As of 7 pm this evening, the Thursday schedule will be played as planned, pending fields being dry enough at 9 am tomorrow morning.

Rain continues to affect play at about half the fields. We’re just about to get underway again at East Cobb and Kell. Games at Blessed Trinity, Alpharetta, Centennial, Walton, Wheeler Pope and Sprayberry have been delayed to some extent.

All fields to the north and south are on schedule, including North Cobb, North Cobb Christian, Etowah, Southern Poly, Kennesaw Mountain, Cherokee, Dominion Christian, Wark Park, Weber and Mt. Paran.

Game 183 that was scheduled for Walton HS at 5:30 has been shifted to North Cobb Christian School and will start at approximately 5:30.

The constant ongoing process of updating the Game Wraps continues as games are finished and scoresheets make their way to the East Cobb Tower. If you haven’t been checking the Game Wraps for notable performances from each game, please do so by visiting http://worldwoodbat.com/TournamentSchedule.aspx?id=296 and clicking on the “Wrap” icon on each game line.

The Wednesday schedule is in full swing, with about 25 games already completed today. Games at Kell HS, the East Cobb Complex, Centennial HS, Alpharetta HS and Reinhardt College got started late but the schedule is flowing smoothly right now. The weather report looks promising for the time being as well.

One of the games that was postponed last night has already been finished, Game #87 between Maryland Select and ABD Bulldogs ’09 (5-5 tie).

We’re getting reports of lots of big performances (14 K’s by one pitcher, a 2 HR/6 Rbi game by a hitter) thus far this morning but I’ll wait until I see the game sheets until I pass on the details.

One noteworthy game from late yesterday before the rains hit was the East Cobb Braves 8-0 run rule shortened (5 innings) victory over Chattanooga Baseball. RHP Zach Wheeler (4 innings) and LHP Matt Lane (1 inning) combined for a no-hitter for the Braves. Wheeler, an Aflac All-American who has been outstanding all summer, was steady 90-92 mph with a late breaking 79 mph curveball. CF Brandon Roberts was 2-3 with 2 Rbi’s and a run scored out of the lead off spot for East Cobb.

8:20 AM Wednesday

The following fields will be starting on time or close to on time this morning. All coaches/teams scheduled at these fields today should assume they will be playing as scheduled.

Southern Poly

Reinhardt College

Alpharetta

North Cobb HS

North Cobb Christian

Cherokee

Sprayberry

Weber School

Kennesaw Mountain HS

Etowah HS

8:35 AM Wednesday

Centennial HS will be in a short delay this morning. The teams from the 9 am and 11:30 am time slots have been contacted but teams playing there in later time slots should assume that their games will start at or close to their original start times unless contacted and told otherwise.

Ward Park games are starting as scheduled

The fields at the East Cobb Complex and Kell HS seem to have taken the brunt of the rains last night. We are shooting for a 10 AM start time at this point but will be trying to turn over games quickly once we get started. Teams scheduled at these fields later today should assume they are playing as scheduled unless contacted and told otherwise.

There were 8 games that were not started on Tuesday night. Those games have been rescheduled as follows:

GAME 87: Maryland Select vs. ABD Bulldogs ’09 NOW: Wednesday, 9 AM at North Cobb Christian School

GAME 88: Baseball U vs. San Diego Show NOW: Wednesday, 7 PM at North Cobb HS

GAME 89: Delmarva Shorebirds vs. Diamond Devils 17’s NOW: Wednesday, 7 PM at Kennesaw Mountain HS

GAME 90: East Cobb Twins vs. Houston Kyle Chapman NOW Wednesday, 11:30 AM at North Cobb Christian School

GAME 94: St. Louis Pirates Red vs. ABD Red Dogs ’09 NOW: Wednesday, 7 PM at Etowah HS

GAME 92: KC Bombers vs. East Cobb Panthers NOW Thursday, 7 PM at Kennesaw Mountain HS

GAME 95: Dallas Tigers vs. Homeplate Chilidogs NOW: Thursday, 7 PM at North Cobb HS

GAME 96: Team Rawlings Bulls vs. Team IBC NOW: Thursday, 11:30 AM at North Cobb Christian School

1B Jonathan Singleton put on a show at the Perfect Game National Showcase, winning the Rawlings Home Run Challenge and rapping out 3 hits in the games. Close to 4 weeks later it doesn’t look like he’s slacked off any. Hitting 3^rd for the San Gabriel Valley Arsenal, Singleton went 2-3 with 4 Rbi’s, including a 3 run home run in the first inning. His second at bat might have been more impressive than his home run. With a runner on second base and 2 out, facing a pitcher throwing in the upper 80’s, Singleton kept his swing short and lined an outside fastball over the shortstop’s head for a clean Rbi single. Most young hitters, coming off a home run the previous at bat, would have rolled over that pitch and grounded out.

The logistics of how information flows from the field to this blog and to the WWBA web site and eventually to the Perfect Game data base is pretty simple, but the sheer volume of the information is huge.

Every field has at least one Perfect Game scout who is in charge of game management (i.e. making sure the umpires and teams are there and ready, ensuring the field is prepped after the last game, etc.), keeping the scorebook and recording scouting notes. The first thing they do at the end of every game is call in the score (to yours truly) and that score is immediately posted on the WWBA web site. The web site automatically updates the pool standings.

The scoresheets with the game results and scouting notes take longer to make their way back to the tower at the East Cobb Complex (i.e. Information Central). Sheets from the Complex fields or nearby fields (Pope, Walton, Sprayberry, etc) get back to the Tower periodically during the day but those from the outlying fields might not get back until the end of the day.

Once a scoresheet reaches the Tower, it’s checked for all sorts of things (top prospects, top performances, etc.), then a game wrap is created on the WWBA website for each game summarizing the top performers and pitchers of record.

So the reality is that game wraps for a majority of the games are done 6-24 hours after the game is finished. The goal is for all 480 pool play games and all the consolation and playoff games to have a wrap written for them.

The weather during the recently completed 18U National Championship couldn’t have been better, with pool play being 100% complete and only a couple of consolation games being rained out.

It’s not especially realistic to think that will continue for another week, as there is a 30% chance of thunderstorms each of the next 5 days and there have been heavy rains in the area the past two nights. The fields are all wet but playable this morning.

The entire area has been in the midst of an extended drought, so all rain is welcomed by the local community. We’ll hope it continues to come during the night.

If weather does become a factor, be sure to check back here for updates.