Memorial Day Classic Tournament Summary
The River City Rampage won two and lost five in the Memorial Day Classic held in Kansas City, Missouri. Rampage went 2-4 in pool play, but lost their first bracket game to the St. Louis Heat Monday morning. Rampage got off to a slow start in their first of three pool games Saturday, with a [...]
From the “You got to be kidding me category”
Sheri came across this the other day; it’s a serious ad/description looking for baseball umpires. I especially enjoyed the “Ability to see requirement.” And as a co-worker friend of mine pointed out, shouldn’t it read the “Ability to see well?” I don’t know about you, but couldn’t we raise the requirements a tad? I mean [...]
Rampage: Memorial Day Classic
Updated: 5/26/2008 8:30 pm Dog-Gone-It… a miserable morning for softball in KC today with a steady rain and rain soaked fields to play on. Rampage drew the Heat for the first game this morning, the only undefeated team in the tournament. Unfortunately, Rampage couldn’t muster the win, despite Kristen’s two run shot over the fence. [...]
Characteristics of Champions
What exactly makes a champion? Certainly an interesting question to try and answer. Ask 10 different coaches and you’re likely to get 10 different answers. That must have been the frustration of the US Olympic Committee when they commissioned a study to better understand the psychological characteristics of Olympic champions and how they could be [...]
Sportsmanship you can be proud of
I’ve been meaning to post this here for a couple weeks now. When I heard this story it melted my heart and made me wonder what other coaches/teams would do or how they’d want their team to respond. During an April softball game a young lady clobbered her first homer over the fence, but suffered [...]
Rampage: May Madness – top 8 finish
Rampage had their first tournament of the season this past weekend when they played in the AFA May Madness tournament in Columbia, MO. This was Megan’s (and our) first experience playing competitive softball and in my opinion, both her and the team did pretty well managing to place in the top 8 teams. I’m still [...]
River City Rampage: Introduction
As I mentioned before, this is the first year for Megan to play on a competitive softball team, she’s definitely looking forward to it. For years, she’s just played for fun with a bunch of her friends from school, but in the last couple of years she’s gotten more into it and the win/loss column [...]
Nine Principles of Baseball and Life
One of our JCBI parents ran across this and shared it with our team. Nine Principles of Baseball and Life by Raymond Angelo Belliotti documents some pretty powerful words to live by, both on and off the field. I felt it’s worth sharing with the rest of you. Baseball is about parents taking their children [...]
Common mistakes made by youth baseball coaches
I ran across an article over the weekend while researching some baseball tips. And while I haven’t read John Reed’s book, I was struck by his list of don’ts. A couple of John’s more philosophical points caught my attention. Destroying player confidence by telling them all the things they are doing “wrong.” It takes ten [...]
Goodbye Thunder, Hello Rampage
I guess that does it for ole team Thunder… after several years of playing together the team has retired and the coaches and girls are moving on. Many of them continue to play softball with several accepting positions on competitive teams, as is the case with Megan. The girls had a blast playing together over [...]
A few kinks with the photo ordering system
OK – nobody panic (including me), but a few kinks have developed with the photo ordering system. Isn't that how it always goes? You test and test, then finally release it to the public and the wheels fall off. Well, the wheels haven't really fallen off, but some of the orders have been delayed due [...]
Thunder goes undefeated!
Thunder wrapped up league play tonight winning a make up game against the Bandits. If I heard correctly, Thunder is the second team ever this year to go undefeated in their league. And provided Sheri and I counted the games right, that’s 18 wins in a row. Way to go girls! Pizza Party on the [...]
Thunder takes the league championship.
Thursday team Thunder was awarded their champion t-shirts after winning their 17th game in a row. Winning just never gets old. Right girls? One more make up game Thursday and we're all done with softball and baseball for a couple of weeks. Not sure what we'll do with ourselves. Oh yeah, I still have pictures [...]
Thunder takes 1st place in their season tournament
Thunder continued their amazing winning streak the weekend going 3-0 to walk away with first place in this weekends double elimination tournament. This makes the girls 14th straight win this season. Pitching dominated the first first couple of games, but the final game was truly a team effort. Good pitching, good fielding, good hitting. Good [...]
Thunder goes 8-0
Thunder continues to storm all over the competition. Thursday's game, while a close one, chocked up another victory for the girls when they beat the Heat 3-2. This victory secures the top seed for the girls going into this weekends tournament.
Creditability and coaching
Having watched Sam and Megan play baseball/softball for the last 8 years, I've seen many different coaching styles and tactics. Everything from the incredibly laid back to the "in your face" type. So what makes a winning team? Is it the coaches? The tactics? The players? At some level it's all three, but for me [...]
The sound of Thunder continues to drown out all the competition
Thunder took on the Heat for tonight's 90+ degree scorcher, in what was to be the toughest game of this early season. And once again, as it's been so many times before, a pitching battle ensued. Thankfully, Devon was on her game once again, giving up only one run in 5 innings of pitching, picking [...]
New pictures posted
Finally caught back up, if there is such a thing. Latest pictures are posted: JCBIMud DawgsThunder
Thunder wins two Thursday evening
Thunder edged out the Brackets, 13-12 in game one Thursday evening. Lots of walks for both teams in this one. Nicole managed a double and Megan managed a single. Game two was against the Bandits and it was all Thunder, winning 17-1 in three. Devon was on fire, giving up only one run and managed [...]
Thunder: first game of the season
So finally, Thunder managed to begin it's season last week and all the practice payed off. It was all Thunder from the start as they took on Rip-Tide on a late Thursday night, by the 3rd inning it was 15-0 Thunder. The night belonged to the pitchers. Devon pitched great, giving up only two walks [...]
Minor league baseball coach loses it!
OK. There's nothing about good sportsmanship here, so if you're looking for that, it's time for you to move on. However, if you've ever coached or as a parent just about lost your mind over calls at the plate, this is for you. I guess thankfully, maybe, the rest of us never have the guts [...]
Thunder 12U AA Girls Softball
I've carved out a little section for Megan's softball team, Thunder. Megan pretty much plays for fun and to hang out with her friends, but I'm starting to see a change in her. Last year she was pretty upset when her team lost a tournament – that was the first time I ever saw any [...]
Good coaching – worth its weight in gold!
As you already know, every Sunday we pack up the kids and head off to Columbia for a little batting pratice. For weeks we've watched Megan improve by leaps and bounds – that girl is really learning to swing a bat! Good work Megan! Sam has continues to struggle a bit, but last Sunday lighting [...]
WOW! Is it March already?????
Nope – not yet, but the kids are getting an early start on the 2007 season. This Sunday we’re off to Inside Sports in Columbia, Missouri for softball and baseball batting pratice. About a week ago Mark Camp sent an email about a new hitting program he was starting and we wasted no time – [...]
