Outlaws Baseball 12U Looking For A Few Players - Free Agent Market

Almost two years ago, the Gunners Baseball team that Jack was playing on put out an ad looking for players. The Outlaws Team has published a similar ad.

Outlaws Baseball 12U looking for a few players. - Free Agent Market

Competitive team based in Elk Grove, CA (Sacramento) looking for a few players. Front-line pitcher and/or catcher are priority, but all interested players will be considered. Team is planning to go to Cooperstown for second time (went as 10yos in 2009) next summer, and looking to add a few players to take it to the next level. Tryout/Open practice this Wednesday, Oct 13th, at 5:00pm at Backer Park (Just off Bilby Road, halfway between Bruceville Road and Franklin Blvd).

Practices are Wednesdays and Sundays.

We have four more tournaments scheduled through fall season, then will begin working out in our indoor practice facility during the winter months.

Please send email to playeragent@outlawsbaseball.info if you'd like to attend a tryout/practice session (or arrange a private tryout), and/or call Head Coach, Scott Congress at (916) 308-8688.

http://www.outlawsbaseball.info/

Elk Grove Outlaws

Sharon, Jack and I went to an organization meeting for the Elk Grove Outlaws Baseball team.

After playing tournament baseball and going to Cooperstown with the Gunners from July 2008 to June 2009, Jack has played with the Outlaws since July 2009. The Outlaws are scheduled to play seven 12u tournaments in September, October and November.

It is going to be an interesting year. The Outlaws coach has said that he is not going to return to rec play in the Laguna Cal Ripken League next spring. Instead, he is planning to have the Outlaws play tournament baseball next spring. I have mixed feelings about this approach. While I agree that the rec league competition is spotty, I think that there are valuable life lessons in having to adapt to different coaches and teammates. Although the team's results have fallen short, I have also enjoyed the Northern California Cal Ripken All Star tournament over the last two years.

The team is also talking about playing in the Cooperstown tournament again in early June 2011. I would really to see the team go back to Cooperstown. Jack had a great time living in the bunkhouses and playing in the tournament, while Sharon and I had a wonderful time exploring the area. Asking Jack about his favorite baseball memory, he actually quickly responded going to Cooperstown!

2009 Outlaws Baseball Tournament #6 Day 2

Jack and I headed back to Tracy for the second day of the tournament. The Outlaws were seeded second in their pool and played the Bay Valley Bombers. The Outlaws lost to the Bombers by the score of 4 to 1 and beat them by the score of 9 to 6 in two different tournament in October.

At the plate, Jack was 0 for 2. In his first at-bat, he popped a 1 and 1 pitch straight up. I don't think I have actually ever seen one hit that high. Jack got confused about where the ball was as the catcher made the catch a step in front of first base. In his second plate appearance, Jack struck out on three pitches.

In the field, Jack played five innings at third base. In the fifth inning, he made a nice stop on a one hopper hit at his shoe tops and threw the runner out at first. It was the only ball he handled.

With the score tied 1 to 1 in the top of the sixth, the Outlaws made two errors sandwiched around a walk to load the bases with no outs. With the infield in, they got two successive grounders to the right side of the infield, but were unable to make the plays at the plate. By the time they got out of the inning, the Outlaws had given up three unearned runs. They lost the game by the score of 4 to 1.

This is the last of the six tournaments that the Outlaws were scheduled to play this fall. I will post the box scores for the last three games and final batting and pitching statistics for the fall tournament season up in the next two days. I am also going to put together a game log.

It has been an interesting three months. With only a couple of exceptions, the Outlaws have not hit the ball in any tournament; the team batting average is below .200. Just a few more timely hits would have made it a very different fall.

2009 Outlaws Baseball Tournament #6 Day 1

Jack, Sharon and I spent the day at the Tracy Sports Complex. The Outlaws played the Nevada Outlaws in the their first game at 12:15 p.m.

At the plate, Jack was 0 for 1 with a walk, a RBI, and a run scored. In his first plate appearance in the second inning, Jack walked on six pitches. He went to second on Matthew's sacrifice bunt. Jack came home after successive walk to DeAndre, Niko and Cooper. Jack came up again in the second inning with the bases loaded and one out. He hit a 2 and 0 pitch deep in the hole to the shortstop and was out at first on a fielder's choice; Jeremy scored from third.

In the field, Jack played three innings at third and one inning in right field. In the first inning with a runner on third, the batter hit a slower roller to the left side. Jack came up with the ball cleanly and threw a strike to Josh at home to get the runner by a step and a half. In the fourth inning, a ball was hit hard down the first base line that he had to chase deep into the right field corner. Jack told me on the ride home that he purposely overthrew the cut-off because of who it was...

The Outlaws beat the Nevada Outlaws by a score of 12 to 2 in four innings.

The Outlaws played the Reno Blue Devils in the second game at 2:15 p.m.

Jack was 1 for 1 at the plate. In his only plate appearance in the second inning, he hit the first pitch hard through the left side off the glove of the diving third baseman for a single. He stole second.

The next sequence cost the Outlaws the game. With no outs and the bases loaded, the Outlaws' batter hit a 0 and 2 pitch back to the pitcher. The Blue Devils turned a double play getting the force at home and first base. Jack ended the inning at third base. After another walk to load the bases with two outs, the Outlaws' batter struck out on three pitches.

Jack played two innings in left field. He cleanly fielded a single hit into left center.

In a hard fought five inning game, the Outlaws lost to the Blue Devils by the score of 4 to 3.

Elk Grove Outlaws 11U versus Woodland Thunder 11U

The Outlaws played an eight inning scrimmage against the Woodland Thunder at Morse Park. The two teams previously played a scrimmage in October.

At the plate, Jack was 2 for 3 with 3 RBIs, a walk and a strike-out. In his first at-bat, Jack walked on six pitches. He advanced to second and third on passed balls. The coached called for a suicide squeeze, but the batter missed the sign and Jack was tagged out going home. With two out and runners on second and third, Jack crushed one into left center in his second plate appearance to drive in two runs. The ball bounced off the fence on one hop. Rounding second, the coach waved him to third. Jack was thrown out in a close play at third. In his third at-bat, Jack lifted a ball in right field to drive a run [I would have probably scored this an error on the right fielder in a tournament game]. Jack ended the inning at second. Jack struck out on five pitches in his final plate appearance.

Jack played first base in the first four innings. He had a nice shoe top catch for an out in the first inning and then tried to dive back to first to double the runner. He had five other put-outs on throws from the pitcher, second baseman, third baseman, shortstop and right fielder.

Jack played the fifth and seventh innings in left field, the sixth inning at second base and the eighth inning at third base without any plays on the ball. It is probably the only time that I have seen him play second base in at least two years.

With the Outlaws pitching walking a bushel of runners in the fifth and sixth innings, the Outlaws lost the scrimmage by the score of 12 to 11.

After the game, we had a nice barbecue at the field for both teams. Boys from both teams played tackle football after lunch. On the way home, Jack said to me that he wished that they could scrimmage the team again just so they could have a football game afterwards...

2009 Outlaws Baseball Tournament #5 Day 2

Up very early, Jack and I were back at Manteca Big League Dreams a little after 7 a.m. The Outlaws were seeded sixth out of eleven teams after the pool play on Saturday. They play the Nevada Dust Devils again on the Polo Grounds Field; the Dust Devils ended up seeded fourth.

At the plate, Jack was 0 for 1 with a walk and a run scored. In his first at-bat, he struck out on a six pitches. His second plate appearance was one of the most interesting at-bat of the fall tournament session. In the top of the fifth with the Outlaws trailing 5 to 1 and one out, Jack came to bat. Running the count to 2 and 2, he fouled off the 5th, 7th, 8th and 9th pitches and finally took the 10th pitch for a walk. Jack stole second and then went to third on Jordan's infield out. He score on Trevor's infield single. The Outlaws went on to score two additional runs. With the score 5 to 4 and runners on second and third, the clean-up hitter grounded out to end the inning.

Jack played five innings at first base. He cleanly handled four throws from the pitcher, second baseman and shortstop. Jack also caught one high pop up on the right side and fielded one grounder and tagged first.

The Outlaws lost the game by a score of 5 to 4 in five innings. The Outlaws have one more fall tournament scheduled for the weekend of November 20 in Tracy.

Elk Grove Outlaws

Warming up before the game with the Dust Devils

2009 Outlaws Baseball Tournament #5 Day 1

Jack missed three days of school this week with flu. With him at best about 80%, we took off in the morning for the Big League Dreams in Manteca.

The Outlaws played the Bay Valley Bombers at 12:20 p.m. When they started the game, they had only nine players.

At the plate, Jack was 0 for 1 with two walks. In his first at-bat, he walked on eight pitches. With the count 2 and 2, Jack fouled off two pitches and then took two walk to get the walk. He stole second, but ended the innings there. Jack struck out looking on four pitches in his second plate appearance. In this third at-bat, Jack walked on six pitches. Time expired for the game with Jack on first.

In the field, Jack played third base for four innings. He had only one ball hit to him. In the top of the fourth, Jack fielded a grounder to the left side. With the runner going from second to third, Jack wheeled and tried to get the runner behind him. Missing the runner and spinning in a circle, he then tried to make the throw to first. Jack airmailed one about five feet over Keaton's head. As Jack said later, Yao Ming would have made the catch at first.

I jinxed him. In an email thread with Rod and Scott in the last two weeks, we were reviewing the number of unearned runs that the Outlaws had given up through the first four tournaments. I said in one e-mail that I was probably jinxing Jack, but he had not had a fielding error yet...

The Outlaws won the game by a score of 9 to 6 in four innings.

The Outlaws played the Nevada Dust Devils in the second game of the day at 2:30 p.m.

At the plate, Jack had one walk. In his only at-bat in the second inning, he walked on seven pitches. He stole second. Jack ended the inning at second.

In the field, Jack played two innings at first. He had one put on a throw from the pitcher and fielded a grounder to the right side and tagged first.

In a hard fought game, The Outlaws lost to the Dust Devils by the score of 3 to 2 in four innings. With four total errors, all of the runs were unearned.

The Outlaws ended the day with a record of 1 and 1. With an eleven team tournament, the Outlaws are seeded sixth in Sunday's single elimination and will be back at Big League Dreams for an 8:00 a.m. game. urrggghhhh.....

2009 Outlaws Baseball Tournament #4 Day 2

We skipped the first day of the Outlaws fourth fall tournament; Sharon and I were scrambling to get ready for the party. Up much earlier than I would have thought possible, Jack and I ended to Big League Dreams in Manteca for the second day of the tournament.

The Outlaws played an 8:00 a.m. against the Bombers. The Outlaws had 1 win and 2 losses on Saturday. In order to make the play-offs, they needed to win and hold the Bombers essentially scoreless.

At the plate, Jack was 0 for 1 with a walk. In his first at-bat, Jack hit a 1 and 1 pitch down the first baseline. The first baseman fielded the ball cleanly and tagged him out at first. The Bombers starting pitcher was very effective; he struck out 6 of the 10 batters the first time through the order. Jack walked on five pitches in his second plate appearance in the bottom of the fifth inning. Josh singled to drive in Jeremy and move Jack to third. James walked to load the bases. With one out, the next batter struck out. The following batter grounded into a fielder's choice to end the inning. The inning ended with Jack still on third.

In the field, Jack played third base for the first two innings and first base for the last four innings. In the second inning, he fielded a slow roller and threw the runner out at first. Jack was very busy at first base. He ended up recording 9 put-outs on throws from the pitcher, second baseman, shortstop and third baseman. Keaton caught one of the runners off base. Jack took the throw and chased the runner towards second. Unfortunately, he waited a little long to make the throw to Jeremy at second. His point blank throw bounced off Jeremy's chest and the runner was safe at second.

With the score tied 0 to 0 in the top of the fourth. The Outlaws made a series of fielding and throwing errors and ended up allowing four runs. One of the things that I struggle with as the scorer for the team is scoring errors. I ended up scoring one of the runs as earned and three of the runs as unearned.

The Outlaws ended up losing by a score of 4 to 1 in six innings. In addition to bases loaded with one out in the fifth, the Outlaws had a runner on third with no outs in the bottom of the sixth, but could not score.

The Outlaws ended up with 1 win and 3 losses for the weekend and finished fourth out of five teams.

2009 Outlaws Baseball Tournament #3 Day 2

Back at the Tracy Sports Complex for the second day, the Outlaws played Monterey Bay again at 11:00 a.m. The Outlaws had beaten Monterey Bay the previous day by a score of 7 to 2.

At the plate, Jack was 1 for 2 with a run scored. In his first at-bat, Jack lifted a 2 and 2 pitch over the shortstop in shallow left center for a single. He stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. When Josh walked, Josh continued towards second drawing a throw. Jack raced home to score. In his second plate appearance, Jack hit a 3 and 2 up the middle. The pitcher made a nice play on the ball and threw Jack out at first.

Jack and Cooper were both designated hitters for the game. Apparently, the tournament rules allow you to bat as many people as you want.

In a seesaw game, Monterey Bay ended up winning by the score of 10 to 7. After four innings, the Outlaws trailed by the score of 7 to 6. They gave up a couple of unearned runs in the top of the fifth throwing the ball around in a perfect example of monkey ball... Keeping the book for the team, I have a hard time figuring out how to score all the throwing errors.

Monterey Bay threw a giant pitcher for the first four innings who had pitched for Lamorinda at Cooperstown. Pat and Jack were the only two boys to get a hit off of him.

Interestingly, Monterey Bay went on to beat Hard 90 in the next game by the score of 10 to 1.

2009 Outlaws Baseball Tournament #3 Day 1

Up early, Jack and I took off for the Tracy Sports Complex.

The Outlaws played Monterey Bay in a 9:00 a.m. game.

At the plate, Jack walked twice and had a RBI on a sacrifice fly. In his first at-bat, Jack walked five pitches; he was still at first when the inning ended. With the bases loaded and one out in his second plate appearance, Jack hit a towering shot to right center for a sacrifice fly and a RBI. Jack walked on six pitches in his third at-bat. He advanced to second and third on wild pitches. Josh hit a chopper in front of the mound. The pitcher fielded it and caught Jack off third. He got in a run down and was eventually called out for going out of the baseline.

For the first time that I can remember, Jack played first base in a tournament game. He handled the ball cleanly on six throws to first base. James threw a pick off move wide. Jack tracked the ball down quickly and threw the runner out trying to go to second.

The Outlaws won the game by a score of 7 to 2 in six innings.

After the game was over, the Outlaws turned around and played Hard 90 at 11:00 a.m. This is the third time that they have faced Hard 90 in the last two weeks.

Jack was the designated hitter for the game. He was 1 for 2 with a strike out, hit by pitch and a run scored. In his first at bat, Jack was hit on the foot by the first pitch. He was still at first base when the inning ended. In his second plate appearance, Jack struck out swinging on five pitches. Jack hit a chopper off the end of the bat to the right side of the infield in his third at-bat. The ball had a funny spin on it. By the time the second baseman tracked it down, Jack was charging down the line and was safe at first. He stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. Jack scored on an infield out to the right side by Breyton.

In a close game, Hard 90 won by a score of 6 to 4 in five innings. The Outlaws had runners on third in every inning and the bases loaded twice. It just seems like they never get any of the close calls against Hard 90. The parents were getting more than a little animated as the game wore on. Unfortunately, one of the boys (not Jack) got thrown out of the game for yelling at the umpire after a particularly close call.

The Outlaws ended up seeded third out of six teams and will be back on Sunday to face Monterey Bay again.

2009 Outlaws Baseball Tournament #2 Day 2

Back at the Woodland Sports Complex for a second day, the Outlaws were seeded fourth and played the North Bay Warriors in a 10:00 a.m. game.

Penciled in to start at third, Jack said his arm was sore during the warm-ups. The coach switched the line-up around and moved him to designated hitter. I don't know if it was the new bat or his sore arm, but he looked very out of sync at the plate on Sunday.

In his first at-bat against the Warriors, he struck out on three straight pitches. He walked on four straight pitches in his second plate appearance. When the pitcher tried to throw to first to pick him off, the ball got away from the first baseman and Jack went all the way to third. He scored on a ground out by Josh.

He played four innings at designated hitter with Jordan replacing him in the fifth inning.

The Outlaws beat the Warriors by a score of 9 to 2.

The Outlaws then had to play Hard 90 again at 2:20 p.m.

Jack stayed as the designated hitter in the line-up. In his first at-bat, Jack struck out swinging on five pitches. Jack walked on five pitches in his second plate appearance. He stole second. On a infield single by Josh, the shortstop threw the ball away and Jack tried to go from second to home. He was out at the plate on a very close call.

With the game tied 2 to 2 in the top of the third, the bottom fell out. The Outlaws gave up five runs. The Outlaws ended up losing the game by a score of 12 to 3.

I think that the Outlaws were clearly the second best team in the tournament. The Bulldogs that they beat on Saturday ended up playing Hard 90 in the championship game of the tournament.

After the second game on Saturday

2009 Outlaws Baseball Tournament #2 Day 1

We spent the day at the Woodland Sports Complex. This is a new facility south of the County Fair Mall on East Street with all turf fields.

The Outlaws played the Hard 90 from Roseville in the first game. Hard 90 is a serious baseball academy. The Gunners faced Hard 90 three times last fall, losing 11 to 2 on October 4, 2008 8 to 2 on November 2, 2008 and 9 to 4 on November 16, 2008.

On Friday night, we bought Jack a new heavier bat which he insisted on using; I think that it screwed him up for the whole weekend... At the plate, Jack was 0 for 1 with a strike out and a walk. In his first at-bat with the new bat, Jack struck out on five pitches. He walked on six pitches in his second plate appearance.

In the field, Jack played two innings at third base and two innings in left field. In the first inning, he caught a high pop up on the left side in spite of the fact that the shortstop (AD) banged into him. Jack also had one go just off his glove down the third base line. In the third inning, Jack fielded a single into left field and made a nice throw to Jordan at third to get Hard 90's pitch runner Darren Baker out.

The Outlaws' pitching got hammered in the first two innings and they lost by a score of 11 to 3 in four innings.

After losing to Hard 90, the Outlaws turned right around and played the Bulldogs in the second game.

At the plate, Jack was 0 for 2 with two RBIs and a walk. In his first at-bat with the bases loaded and one out, Jack hit a 0 and 1 pitch high into right center. The right fielder misjudged the ball and two runs scored. Jack walked on four pitches in his second plate appearance. In his third plate appearance, he drove a 1 and 1 pitch hard up the middle. The shortstop made a nice stop ranging to his left and threw Jack out at first.

Jack played four uneventful innings in the field, three innings in center field and one inning at third.

The Outlaws beat the Bulldogs by a score of 10 to 6 in four innings.

The Outlaws ended the day with one win and one loss. Based on the records and number of runs allowed, the teams will be seated into a single elimination format on Sunday.

Sharon, Jack and I finished the day having some bad Mexican food at Jody's in Woodland..

2009 Outlaws Baseball Tournament #1 Day 2

By the time we got home on Saturday night, it was after 10 p.m. The Sunday morning game was scheduled for 8:00 a.m. I got Jack up about 5:50 a.m. and we left the house about 6:30 a.m.

The Outlaws played the Blue Devils with a start time of 8:01 a.m. In the field, Jack played four uneventful innings at third base. In his first at-bat in the second inning, Jack walked on six pitches. The inning ended with him at second base. In the fourth inning, Jack hit a 1 and 1 pitch down the first base line which the first baseman fielded cleanly for the last out of the game. Jack pointed out afterwards that if the first baseman had not been holding Jeremy on the bag that it probably would have been a hit...

The Outlaws gave up 8 runs in the first inning and lost control of the game. The boys were definitely hanging their heads. They ended up losing the game by the score of 9 to 0. Jack's walk and Jeremy hit by a pitch were the only Outlaws' base runners of the game; they had no hits.

The Outlaws ended up the tournament with 2 wins and 2 losses. Out of the nine teams in pool play, four teams went 3 and 1 (Blue Devils, Star City, Brown Sox and Amigos), two teams were 2 and 2 (Outlaws and Stix), two were 1 and 3 (Demons and Rivercats) and one was 0 and 4 (River Bandits). The Outlaws effectively finished sixth out of the nine teams. Only 4 teams advanced to the single elimination round.

The Amigos beat the Brown Sox in the Championship game.

This is the first of six tournaments that the Outlaws are scheduled to play over the next three months. The next tournament is scheduled in two weeks in Woodland against what are supposed to be tougher teams. It will be interesting to see how the Outlaws do!

2009 Outlaws Baseball Tournament #1 Day 1

This was a very long day at the ballpark; we ended up being there almost 10 1/2 hours.

The Outlaws played the Demons in the first game at 12:15 p.m. In the field, Jack played two innings at third base. In the second inning, he handled a routine grounder and made a nice throw to first for the out. At the plate in the first inning, Jack hit a hard chopper to shortstop's right that he failed to handle cleanly. Cooper scored from third and Jack was safe at first. Jack walked on five pitches in second plate appearance in the third inning. Advancing on wild pitches, he eventually came around to score.

Primarily on the strength of 13 bases on balls, the Outlaws beat the Demons by a score of 15 to 3 in four innings.

The Outlaws played the River Bandits in the second game. Originally scheduled to start at 4:40 p.m., the game did not get underway until 5:18 p.m. In the field, Jack played two innings in center field and two innings at third base. In the third inning, he ranged far to his left in front of Cooper for grounder and made a nice throw on the run for the out at first base.

At the plate in the first inning, Jack walked on 6 pitches. He eventually came around to score. In the second inning, Jack ran the count to 3 and 2 and struck out swinging on a low inside pitch. In his third plate appearance in the fourth inning, he drove a grounder through the right side for single and a RBI.

Again, primarily on the strength of walks (10 total for the game), the Outlaws beat the River Bandits by a score of 14 to 2 in four innings.

The boys walked straight from that game to play their third game of the day against the Amigos. This was the first game of the day for the Amigos! The game got started at 7:20 p.m. Jack played two innings in left field and 1 2/3 innings at third base. He did not handle a ball.

Jack came in the fourth inning with two outs and pitched to two batters. He walked the first batter on sixth pitches and then struck out the second batter swinging on five pitches.

At bat in the second inning with the count at 2 and 1, Jack hit a hard chopper to the right side of the infield. The ball got past the pitcher. With Jack really hustling up the line and the pitcher and the second baseman trying to run down the ball, the throw by the second baseman was late and a little offline. Jack was safe at first. He eventually came around to score the first Outlaw's run of the game.

I now the official scorer for the team. I have gone back and forth about scoring this a hit versus an error; I ended up scoring it as a hit. At this level of play, my rule of thumb is that if it is routine hit to a player and mishandled, it is an error. If it is a difficult play to make, I am giving the batter a hit.

In his second plate appearance in the third inning with a 3 and 2, he fouled off a pitch and then drove one down the first base line that the first baseman handled cleanly for an out. Running the count to 3 and 2, Jack walked in this third at-bat in the fifth inning.

Leading 3 to 2 in the top of the fourth, the Outlaws gave up 8 runs in the bottom of the fourth and ended up losing by the score of 10 to 4 in five innings. The Outlaws only got two hits in the game. By the time, the game was over it was 9:15 p.m.

The Outlaws finished the day with 2 wins and 1 loss. There are nine teams in the tournament. Only four teams will advance out of the pool play to the play-offs.

The Outlaws have to be back tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. for an 8:00 a.m. game!

Outlaws after the third game

Outlaws after the third game, originally uploaded by heringermr.

Outlaws Baseball Practice

Jack spent the morning at the first formal practice for the new Elk Grove Outlaws baseball tournament team. The team is currently scheduled to play in six tournaments in September, October and November.

Elk Grove Outlaws

I went to an organizational meeting for the Elk Grove Outlaws Baseball team tonight.

Over almost exactly the last year, Jack has played with a tournament baseball team called the Elk Grove Gunners. This was the team that went to Cooperstown. After Cooperstown, nine of the boys from the Gunners and eight of the boys that played together at Cooperstown were on the Laguna 10U Cal Ripken team in the Northern California Tournament. The coach for the Laguna 10U team was one of the assistant coaches for the Gunners.

After the all-star tournament was over, the assistant coach for the Gunners announced that he was starting a new team, the Elk Grove Outlaws. It looks like 11 of the 12 boys from the Gunners team have moved over to the new Outlaws team. The team is currently planning to play six tournaments in September, October and November.