Posts Tagged ‘little league’

U12 Vikings #1

Vikings win…Vikings win….Vikings win!!!

Great come from behind victory for the U12 Vikings today defeating the Eagles 13-12 to win the championship.

Congratulations Vikings!

U12 Vikings had a great semi-final WIN this morning, defeating the Black Bears 15-13.  Come on out and  show your support next week as they compete in the Grand Final March 27th at 9:00 am  (Narrabundah 2).

Well done team!

Coach Brian

The U12 Vikings team drew 10-10 against the Rebels on Saturday.  Big hits by Kotaro Horiuchi (homerun) and Thomas Phelps (double and triple) set the tone early.  The Vikings went up early 10-0 behind an outstanding pitching effort by Kurt Gosling.  Kurt only faced 7 batters in two innings only walking one and not giving up a hit.  Give the Rebels credit though as they did not give up and scored 5 runs in each of the 3rd and 4th innings to tie the game.  It literally came down to the last pitch whether the Vikings would lose or draw.  Thomas Phelps was pitching in relief and struggled with control early in the inning.  With the game tied, the Rebels loaded the bases.  The count was 3 balls and 2 strikes.  But under all that pressure,  Thomas delivered a strike to end the side with a strikeout.  Also, great game for Takoda Baltunis behind the plate who caught all four innings.  This week at training, we’ll continue to work on pitching and hitting.

The U12 Vikings started the season off well defeating the Indians by a score of 15-8.  The team played extremely well in all aspects: hitting, fielding, pitching and catching.  The Vikings batted first sending 11 batters to the plate and scoring 7 runs which set the tone for the game.  Kurt Gosling pitched strong only giving up 2 runs over the first two innings.   In total, the Vikings had 11 hits led by James Cappello with 3 hits in 3 at bats (3-3) and Thomas Phelps (2-2).  In addition, the team was very disciplined at the plate:  6 walks and only 4 strike-outs.

The U12 Vikings have a bye for Round 2 (24-Oct), but will play an intra-squad scrimage game at Viking Park beginning at 10:00 am on Saturday.

The U13 Vikings Red had a come-from-behind victory against the top-ranked Bandits Blue to advance to the Little League Division 2 Championship game.  The Vikings fought hard all game and trailing 12-9 going into the last inning, scored 7 big runs.  Jack Brinkley took the mound in the bottom of the 4th and shut the Bandits down 1-2-3.  Vikings 16- Bandits 12.  This was truly a team victory with everyone contributing.  Jack pitched 2 outstanding innnings stifling the Bandit’s hitters.  Sam Smith came to the plate with bases-loaded in the top of the 3rd and hit a grand slam starting our comeback.  You could feel the momemtum shifting throughout the game.  It was a truly electrifying experience for the players, coaches, and parents. 

Grand Slam Sam

Come on out to Aranda on Saturday to cheer on our Vikings Red team where they will compete against the Bandits White for the Grand -Final.

Game time:  9:00 am 28-Mar at Aranda.  You can catch this game before going on to Narrabundah to cheer the Colts in their Grand-Final match.

James Cappello started the game at pitcher for the Red team and struggled with the strike zone in the 1st inning walking several batters.  So the Red team found themselves trailing the Grey team early.  To James’ credit though, he found his stride in the 2nd inning and pitched strikes.  Jack Brinkley came in relief and pitched an inning and a third, while Kotaro Horiuchi pitched the final 2 innings.  

The Red team trailed the entire game, but didn’t give up.  After 4 innings the score was Grey 10 - Red 8.  In the top of the 5th, the Grey team chased home 5 more runs.  But in the bottom half of the inning, the Vikings Red scored 7 runs of their own:   Final score 15-15. 

Special thanks goes to Thomas Phelps (U10) who stepped up with 4 hits for the Vikings Red team, stole some bases, and made some plays in the field.  Well done Thomas!

Well done U13 Vikings!

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Vikings Win!  Vikings Win!  Vikings Win!

What a great game on Saturday for the U13 Vikings Red team.  They defeated the Bears by a score of 17-8.  Kurt Gosling had another good start on the mound, pitching two innings.  Kotaro Horiuchi then came in relief and shutdown the Bears’ batters, even striking out the side.  Kotaro also, helped the team with a 3-run homerun down the right field line.  Aggressive batting, base-running and excellent play in the field by the boys.  Our next game is this Wednesday at Viking Park against the Vikings Grey.  Game time is 6:00 pm, so come on down and cheer on our U13 players.

Kotaro Horiuchi strikes out the side

Kurt Gosling delivers the pitch.

The Vikings Red team lost to Ainslie 9-6 on Saturday.  Kurt Gosling pitched a gem of a game giving up only 4 runs over 4 innings.  The bats came alive and there were some good hits for our team and the Vikings had a 6-4 lead going into the last inning.  Well done team.

Beginning next round, the Little League teams will be split into two divisions.  The Vikings Red team will play in Division 2.  I’m confident that the team will be highly competitive as the boys’ skills have developed tremendously over the course of the season.

The Vikings Red team were defeated by the Eagles Red team 21-5 on Saturday.  Unfortunately, we started the game with only 7 fielders and played only 2 outfielders the entire game.  Our two pitchers, James Cappello and Kurt Gosling, for the most part did their job and pitched strikes.  But to the Eagles’ credit, they hit the ball hard and found the holes.  It was good for the boys to play such a high-quality team as it shows them where they can be in a year or two.   Defensive plays of the game go to Jack Brinkley in left field who caught two fly balls in one inning including a sliding catch to slow down the Eagles’ offense.

Hamish Francis at the plate

The cold weather got to our boys this weekend against the Eagles.  But the game was really better than the score indicated.  Our starting pitcher, Kotaro Horiuchi struggled with the cold and a blister on his pitching hand in the 1st innning and the Eagles scored 7 runs (only 1 hit).  But James Cappello came in and pitched two innings only giving up 5 runs.  In our last at bat, Ben Parker led off the inning with a nice at bat.  He got behind in the count, but fouled off a couple of pitches before drawing a walk.  This started our mini-ralley.  After a 2nd walk, Kotaro came through with a big hit, scoring 2 runs and later scoring himself.  Again, there were some outstanding defensive plays in the game including James Cappello stopping a ground ball up the middle (soccer style) with his foot and then throwing the runner out at 1st.  Also, Ben Parker snagged a hard line drive at shortstop.  But the defensive play of the game was a 7-1-2 combination.  The Eagles batter hit a great ball over Kotaro Horiuchi’s head in left field.  But Kotaro didn’t give up and he chased the ball down and made a good throw back to the infield to pitcher James Cappello.  The Eagles 3rd base coach sent the runner home and James fired a strike to catcher Jack Brinkley at the plate.  The runner collided with Jack, knocking him backwards to the ground, but Jack held on to the ball.  You’re Out!!! 

It just goes to show that we can be competitive with the best teams as long as the pitchers pitch strikes.  This week we’ll concentrate on hitting in training to try to give our bats a boost for the next game.

Ben Parker starts a 3-run inning by drawing a walk