KC Cards

The Kyle Chapman 14 year old All Star team rode the strong right arm of Brett Gibson and a relentless 15 hit offensive bombardment to the District 5 Texas Pony League championship Monday night, defeating a tired but talented Brazos Valley squad by the score of 12-1 in 5 innings. Brazos Valley drew first blood, tallying their first-- indeed only-- run of the game in the opening frame on a walk, a fielder's choice, and a two out roller to the left side that leaked into short left field, scoring the runner from second. Did Kyle Chapman have an answer in the bottom of the 1st? Yep. How about six of 'em. Brian Borski walked, reached second on a passed ball, moved to third on a Mark Robichau single, and scored on a Matt West double. Credit a young lady named Claudette with an assist on Matt's double. He hit a blast high and deep to centerfield that would have been a three run home run if Claudette had not reached out her vaporous hand and slapped it back into the field of play. After Mark Robichau and Matt West were balked home by Brazos Valley pitcher Kyle Dzunkiewicz, Joe Silver continued the offensive outburst with a single, but was erased on the front half of a very close double play. Daniel Rothenberg recharged the K.C. offense with a line drive single to left-centerfield, and George Murphy added one of his own. Brett Gibson stared the Brazos Valley pitcher and Claudette straight in the eye and defied them both, launching a long, high deep blast to the outfield. This time, both Dzunkiewicz and Claudette were powerless to contain the mighty blast. K.C. led 6-1 after one inning of play. After a scoreless second inning, K.C. added an insurance run in the bottom of the third. Karl Pringle singled, Daniel Rothenberg singled, and Karl scored on George Murphy's second hit of the evening. After 3, it was K.C. 7, B.V. 1. K.C. held Brazos Valley scoreless in the fourth, but K.C. exploded for 5 big runs in the bottom of the 4th to put the game away. Brian Borski singled and was balked to second. Matt West drove Brian home with his second hit of the game. Joe Silver reached 1st on an error by the B.V. 3rd baseman. After Andrew Espinosa went in to run for Joe Silver, Karl Pringle launched the second K.C. home run of the evening to make the score 11-1. K.C. closed out the scoring adding one more run on a single by George Murphy, a stolen base, a balk and a single by Brett Gibson. At the end of 4, it was K.C. 12, B.V. 1. In the top of the 5th, Brett Gibson got the first batter to ground out to third, the second to fly out to third, and the Brazos Valley cleanup hitter to foul fly to Beau Faulk near first base to end the game. And just like that, the K.C. 14's were the District Champions. What can one say about Brett Gibson's pitching performance? 5 innnings. One unearned run on four scattered singles. Two walks compared to three strikeouts. Eighty-seven pitches worth of awesomeness. And how about the K.C. defense? A single error compared to 11 workmanlike defensive outs, including a nifty 6-4-3 double play, Matt West to Alex Cernoch to George Murphy to snuff out a Brazos Valley attempt at a rally in the third inning. And the coaching? Jay Dushkin, Mike Winner and Nick Ozuna virtually replicated Joe Torre, Sparky Anderson and Bobby Cox in the dugout and in the coaching boxes. In a phrase, it was a team effort through and through. Congratulations to the District Champion Kyle Chapman 14 year old All Stars. And congratulations to each member of the winning team on putting away an average of three pounds of pizza each at CiCi's during the post-game celebration. Next on tap is a Sectional Game on Friday, July 18, 2003 at 6:00 p.m., at the Port Neches Pony Field against Bridge-City. Thanks to all of K.C.'s tireless supporters, and everyone who contributed to a very successful District Tournament. Special thanks to Bill Lamont for his Above the Call of Duty Efforts to insure a smoothly run tournament and Fred Chan for his excellent team photography. On to Port Neches. Congratulations K.C..... Go K.C.!!!!!!!!!!! This is Scott Rothenberg saying, see you in Jefferson County!!!!