KC Cards

The Kyle Chapman 14 year old all-star team finds itself one win away from the PONY World Series early Tuesday morning following a thrilling come-from-behind 5-4 victory over an incredibly tough East Cobb Georgia team on Monday night in St. Amant, Louisiana. Before we go to the game highlights, the author would be remiss for not acknowleging the contribution of Charlie West to Monday night's victory. During a Monday afternoon batting practice at a municipal park in Gonzales, Louisiana, Charlie West reached down deep and gave the K.C. 14's an inspirational speech, the likes of which have not been heard this side of Iwo Jima and various Civil War battlefields. FCC regulations prohibit the author from a direct quote of the speech, but let it suffice to say that if Charlie West had been present at the Alamo, Texas' southern border would now probably be the Panama Canal. Whatever the motivation, K.C.'s 14's knew that Monday night's game was critical. Win, and they were one win away from the PONY World Series. Lose, and they would have to win three consecutive games in two nights against two very tough teams. Now on to the highlights. East Cobb won the coin toss and elected to be the home team. K.C. came up in the top of the first and went down 1-2-3. East Cobb began the game with a walk, advanced the runner to third on two fielder's choices, but failed to score when its cleanup hitter grounded out to K.C. starting pitcher, Jamie Reingold. Scoreless after one inning. The author would never accuse East Cobb of dirty play. However, Jamie Reingold-- who pitched a very effective 1st inning against East Cobb-- came up to bat in the top of the 2nd inning. On a one strike count, the East Cobb manager sent in a set of signs. On the very next pitch, East Cobb's pitcher, Nathan Vinyard, hit Jamie in the ankle, sending him to first. A pickoff, and two strikeouts later, East Cobb held K.C. scoreless in the top of the 2nd. In the bottom of the 2nd, K.C. fielding made all the difference. East Cobb's pitcher led off the inning with a hard single down the third base line. On a 1-1 count, with none out, Clay Remouli hit a vicious hit-and-run line drive into shallow left field. Unfortunately for East Cobb, the rifle shot landed in the glove of a leaping Matt West, who doubled Vinyard off of first base for a beautiful double play. The excellent fielding was all the more important because the next batter singled, but was stranded when Jamie Reingold struck out the East Cobb batter to end the inning. Scoreless after two innings. K.C. registered two quick outs in the top of the third inning. Corey Triche got K.C.'s first hit of the game (up the middle), but quickly became the third out when he was caught stealing with an 0-2 count on Brian Borski. Jamie put East Cobb down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning. Scoreless after three innings. K.C. again went down 1-2-3 in the top of the 4th inning. In the bottom of the 4th, East Cobb drew first blood on a solo home run by first baseman Omar Byrd. At the end of 4, it was East Cobb 1, K.C. 0. K.C. revved up its offense in the top of the 5th, tallying 2 runs to take the lead 2-1 on a Jamie Reingold single through the right side, an error by the second baseman on a Daniel Rothenberg grounder, with a throwing error by the second baseman putting runners on second and third. Sean Lamont brought in a run on an error grounder to shortstop. Alex Cernoch pinch-ran for Daniel Rothenberg. With a 1-1 count on Joe Silver, Joe attempted a suicide squeeze. He did not successfully bunt, but he did set a world class pick behind which Alex Cernoch was able to avoid a tag by the catcher and score K.C.'s second run. East Cobb tied the game in the bottom of the 5th on a two out walk, stolen base and double to center field. Thus, it was tied 2-2 after 5 innings of play. K.C. went down 1-2-3 in the top of the 6th inning. In the bottom of the 6th, East Cobb turned a bad bounce into 2 big runs. East Cobb started the inning with two quick outs. After 2 singles, Matt West relieved Jamie Reingold on the mound. He finished a walk to the next East Cobb batter that Jamie started with a 2-0 count. Thus, with the bases loaded and 2 outs, East Cobb catcher, Jason Butts hit a hard ground ball to first base. The ball took a really hinky bounce over George Murphy and into right field. Two runs scored and East Cobb ended the 6th inning with a 4-2 lead. In the top of the 7th, East Cobb's players and coaches could be seen beginning their victory celebration. They obviously haven't faced K.C.'s die-hard 14's. Daniel Rothenberg led off the top of the 7th inning with a single up the middle. Sean Lamont followed with a walk on a 3-2 count. George Murphy loaded the bases with a single to the left side. Mark Robichau hit a fielder's choice grounder to the second baseman, getting George out at second, but scoring Daniel Rothenberg from third. Thus, it was 4-3 East Cobb with runners at 1st and 3rd, one out. Corey Triche tied the game with a beautiful sacrifice fly to left field, driving in Sean Lamont from third, and sending Mark Robichau to second. With a runner on second and two outs, Brian Borski worked a walk on a 3-2 count, and Karl Pringle came to the plate. Karl ran the count to 3-2 and fouled off three pitches. Finally, he hit a fly to right field that fell between the right fielder and the second baseman. Mark Robichau scampered home from second with the go-ahead run, but the inning ended when the right fielder fired a bullseye to the East Cobb catcher to nail Corey Triche at the plate. In the middle of 7, K.C. led 5-4. Matt West got the first two East Cobb batters on strikeouts to begin the bottom of the 7th inning. However, with two outs, Josh Means and Nathan Vinyard hit back to back singles to give East Cobb runners at 1st and 2nd. Clay Remoldi ran the count to 2-2, before Matt West struck him out to end the game on a high inside fastball. And just like that, K.C.'s 14's are one win away from the PONY World Series. At 5:30pm today (Tuesday), Corpus Christ Westside plays the East Cobb Astros in an elimination bracket game. Immediately following that game, K.C. will play the winner of that game. If K.C. wins, they are the South Zone champions and go on to the PONY World Series. If K.C. loses to East Cobb or Corpus Christi on Tuesday night, that sets up a winner-take-all game for all the marbles Wednesday evening. This is a very happy, very exhausted, very excited Scott Rothenberg saying, "I love these wins, but could you guys PLEASE make them a little less exciting. The K.C. parents can't take many more of these nailbiters!!!! GOOOOOOOOOOOO K.C.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (and pass the Rolaids!!!)"