05.29.07

Las Vegas, NV

From the very first game to the last pitch thrown our kids played outstanding baseball.

Our first game was against the Island Boyz from Hawaii and ended with a 17-3 Mud Hens victory. The 2nd game of the tournament was against a spirited #2 Ranked Southern Nevada Vipers. The final score was Mud Hens 12 and the Vipers 6. This put the Mud Hens 2-0 heading into game 3 of the tournament and clearly the most exciting game we’ve played in a long time. The highlights of this game started with the Mud Hens down late in the game 13-5 when the bats came alive. The bottom of the order, Chad, Colt, Carter and Alec set the stage for a dramatic Grand Slam by Max with 2 outs in the bottom of the 5th to cut the lead in half. Then in our last At-Bat with the bottom half coming thru again Alonso launched a bomb to CF to tie the score at 13 with one out left to spare. Max, Brandon did their job with some timely hitting to keep the rally alive so Eric could take an inside pitch and stroke in down the LF line for the GWRBI. Mud Hens 14 – Las Vegas Ace’s 13. Mud Hens capture the #1 Seed with this victory. Our 4th and final pool game was against the Las Vegas High Rollers and it ended quickly with a final score of Mud Hens 11 – LV Rollers (red) 1.

Championship Monday:

Our first game of the day was against the Las Vegas Warriors and this one ended in a hurry as our bats were red hot out of the gate with the Mud Hens winning the Quarter Final Game 11-2 Our semi-final game was against the Las Vegas Cadets and the Mud Hens took this game easily as we came out firing and defeated the Cadets 13-0.

The stage was set for what looked to be a tough Championship game with a very boisterous crowd cheering on the Home Team (LV Highrollers – Black). The Highrollers took 5th last year in the Triple Crown World Series in Steamboat Springs, Colorado and looked ready to battle for the Memorial Day Baseball Bash Championship. However, it simply wasn’t meant to be as the Mud Hens came out firing on all 12 cylinders and had saved the best for last. Alonso started to game with driving the first pitch down the RF line for a stand-up double. Max, Brandon, Steven, Jordan and all other Mud Hens followed their lead and before you knew it the Mud Hens put up a 5 spot in the 1st Inning and disposed of their best pitcher. The Mud Hens shut down the Highrollers in the bottom half of the first with dominant pitching from Steven and then went on to score 4 more in the 2nd and this game already over as the Mud Hens rolled to a 7-0 record for the weekend beating the Highrollers 12-2 for the win and championship.

It was an amazing weekend and it was a total team victory with EVERYONE contributing. You boys did an outstanding job and represented Arizona Youth Baseball very well.

GO MUD HENS !!