Dodgers take Third

The baseball tournament continued on Thursday evening, with the Dodgers first facing the Rockies. Both teams played well and the Dodgers won, 12-6.

We played the Yankees next and the Dodgers came out on top of another close one, 12-11. On the other field, the Phillies were taking care of the Blue Jays, setting up a semi-final rematch between the Dodgers & Blue Jays.
The Phillies were another stacked team, compiled of what seemed to more than their fair share of older & bigger kids. They were undefeated in regular season play and were the team to beat in the tournament.

The Dodgers had a practice on Friday afternoon and the boys all decided to show some team solidarity & spirit...they decided to shave their heads into mohawks and dye their hair blue for the game against the Blue Jays on Saturday. Jamie was so funny, after I shaved his mohawk, he just could NOT get enough of himself. He was posing and admiring himself in the mirror. When I pulled out the camera, he could not stop making silly faces and posing!!

We got up this morning, before his 9:15am game and sprayed the temporary hair color into his hair. It takes a LOT of dye to color black hair! Jamie talked Bill (Dodgers head coach) into coloring his hair too.

When we got to the field, most of the boys had done the blue hair color but only a couple others were brave enough to do the mohawks. Still, it was very cute and we got lots of fun comments from the other teams & parents.

team photo
back row (L-R): Coach Solomon, Cole, Jared, Coach Bill
middle row (L-R): Case, Zachariah, Jamie, Jordan, Andres, Enrique
front row (L-R): Isaac, Blake, Jason

Pizza party at SLV Pizza Company

So, let me just say that both the Dodgers and the Blue Jays played an excellent & exciting game. My frustration with our LOUSY Parks & Rec department continues to grow, however, and it's a shame that the kids got a bum deal. EVERY game of the regular season and tournament has been played at Sunset Field. Today's games were played at Lee Field. The bases at Lee Field are 5 feet further (total base path is 20 feet longer!) than they are at Sunset. In other words...Sunset Field is set up for Little League, while Lee Field is set up for adult leagues. WHY???? Why, in the name of baseball, did the idiots in charge decide to move today's Little League games to an adult field at Lee Field????? The kids from both teams were thrown off by the larger infield and by having the outfield further away. It was reflected by the increased fielding errors and also in base running. At Sunset Field, a hit into the outfield is a guaranteed double...not so at Lee Field.
And then there's the whole scoring thing...they limit each team to 5 runs per inning...UNLESS your team is behind, then you can score enough runs to lead by one. So, the Dodgers scored 5 runs in the top of the 1st inning (with NO outs!) and had to come off of the field with two runners still on base. The Blue Jays come up and they are allowed to score 6 runs in the bottom of the 1st inning. We would've only been allowed to score 5 runs in the 2nd inning, which would only give us a four run lead. STUPID, STUPID, STUPID!!!!! Theoretically, this has been the scoring policy all season but when we tried to get it to work in our favor during a couple of regular season games, we were told that we were wrong. Again...the idiots at work!
It's a mute point, however, because the Dodgers failed to score 5 runs in the 2nd inning. The Blue Jays scored their 5 runs in the 2nd inning, although we did have to remind the umpire that they had reached their five run limit. We scored 3 more runs in the 3rd inning and then had to plead with the umpire to end the game and not let the Blue Jays needlessly run up the score (AGAIN!) in the bottom of the 3rd inning. We lost to the Blue Jays, 11-8.
Bill & I have discussed, several times over the season, the scoring policy. There just has to be a more fair way to do this. I am going to do some internet research, probably just for my own good, because the idiots at Parks & Rec don't listen to any ideas that might be helpful. They are quite belligerent that way, which infuriates me even more! No, they are very content to make up their own STUPID rules and expect everyone to follow them without questions.
Enough of my ranting...I do have serious issues with our Parks & Rec department. But, the kids all did great! They played hard and they had fun, which is the most important thing, especially at this age. The Phillies outlasted the Blue Jays in 5 innings, 6-2, capping off a perfect season.