MyParkTeam

Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008 @ Ft. Snelling
Park vs. Minneapolis

Payback is fun, and Park beat Minneapolis, 11-2, a week after falling to them at home, 11-7.

Derrick Keller pitched a complete game, allowing two runs on four hits, four walks and six strikeouts. The defense was nearly perfect, with Jack Bordewick scooping a couple balls out of the dirt, and Jimmy Heck, Max IntVeld, Ryne McNary, and Paddy Clancy fielding every ball flawlessly off the beautifully manicured Minneapolis infield.

The outfield was equally strong, with David Petit and Grant Welsh each making tough plays look easy.

Park started the scoring in the first when Tre Munson walked, stole second, and scored on Keller’s single. In the third we added another when Scott Foltz singled, Clancy walked, and Bordewick singled in Foltz.

Clinging to a 2-1 lead in the fourth, Park exploded for four when Heck singled, Munson and Nick Omodt walked, Foltz singled in Heck, with Munson getting nailed at third. John Gallice doubled in two more, then scored when Clancy reached on an error.

Park put the game away in the fifth when Bordewick and McNary walked, IntVeld was beaned in the back, Welsh reached on an error, Petit singled, and Foltz blasted a 3-run double into the left field corner. Foltz was the hitting star of the day with four hits, Munson added two, and Keller, McNary, Bordewick, Heck, Gallice and Petit each collected one hit.

(Record 6-4)
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Friday, May 30th 2008 @ Carlson
Park vs. Eden Prairie

There’s no question we’re getting closer to beating the vaunted Eden Prairie team! In fact, we were one swing of the bat away from winning this one, but fell 9-8 on a rainy night.

John Gallice started for Park and allowed four runs on six hits, four walks, three strikeouts, and two errors, before being relieved by Jimmy Heck with two outs in the fourth. Heck would pitch the last 3-1/3, allowing four runs on seven hits, no walks, three strikeouts, and an error behind him.

Park took an early 1-0 lead in the first when Tre Munson singled, stole second, advanced on a Scott Foltz groundout, and scored on a Derrick Keller infield single. Trailing 9-1 in the sixth, Park looked dead in the water (remember, it was raining), but added two more runs when Foltz singled, Heck walked, Nick Omodt walked, Foltz scored on a wild pitch, and Heck scored on an RBI-groundout by Ryne McNary.

Park trailed 9-3 in the ninth, and again was left for dead….then…

Munson walked to start the inning, Paddy Clancy was retired, Foltz singled, Keller walked, Heck singled in Munson, and the bases were loaded. Omodt tripled to the gap to score three more, and all of a sudden the score was 9-7 with one out. Dylan Vosika singled in Omodt to pull Park within one, and went to second on a Grant Welsh groundout (he was safe by a step!).

IntVeld reached on an error to put runners on first and third, two outs, down by one with…..Munson up! A single would tie the game, and one of his patented extra-base hits would win the game! Munson drove the first pitch he saw sky high, but the Eden Prairie left fielder grabbed it to end the game! Ugggggggggh.

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Thursday, May 29th, 2008 @ Carlson
Park vs. Minneapolis

Park lost a high-scoring game to Minneapolis, 11-7, Thursday night

David Petit pitched the first 2-2/3, allowing 4 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks. Ryne McNary relieved and allowed five run on five hits, 2 walks and an error. Grant Welsh pithed the last 3-2/3, allowing 1 run on 2 hits with 4 walks. Welsh got out of a base-loaded jam with a nice 1-2-3 double play.

Trailing big in the 3rd, Park scored 3 in the 5th when Scott Foltz, Jimmy Heck, Nick Omodt, and Derrick Keller singled. We added 3 in the 6th when Dylan Vosika reached after a dropped third strike, Heck walked, Tre Munson walked, Omodt reached on an error, Keller hit into a fielder’s choice, and John Gallice doubled.

Park’s last run came in the 7th when Foltz reached on an error and scored on an RBI groundout by Vosika.
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Thursday, May 22, 2008 @ Carlson
Park vs. Chaska

Man, I hate to say it, but this one looked like a lost cause.

Ryne McNary started on the mound for Park and retired the side in order in the first. The second inning wouldn’t be as kind to Park. With the bases loaded with Chaska Hawks and two outs, a Chaska batter ripped one in the hole, shortstop Derrick Keller made a nice diving stop and went for the force at second. The throw was low, and when it trickled away from second baseman Paddy Clancy two runs scored.

Meanwhile, Park was simply not hitting. Park’s first 10 batters were retired in order before Clancy singled, then was wiped out on a 6-3 double play. Park added a single by McNary in the fifth for only the second hit through the first five innings.

When Prior Lake scored two more unearned runs in the fifth, thanks to a botched rundown play (that the team had worked on for an hour at the last practice), Park trailed 4-0 and things looked bleak.

The sixth was wild. Park loaded the bases with two outs, and John Gallice came up to pinch hit. A gapper would pull Park within a run. Instead, Gallice took two strikes, then hit a slow roller to the pitcher who threw to first to end the inning…..no wait….the first baseman dropped the perfect throw, and Gallice, bad hip and all, made it to first before the first baseman could pick up the ball which had fallen to his feet.

The Chaska pitcher, a bit shaken, threw two wild pitches to score two more runs, and the inning ended with Park trailing by one.

McNary pitched the top of the 7th, got two outs with runners on first and third, and Foltz threw out a Chaska runner trying to steal second to end the inning.

Bottom of the 7th, down by one, a great Chaska pitcher on the mound. Park needed a spark, and they got it from a skinny kid with red hair and freckles: David Petit. Petit singled to right to start the inning, then Coach McNary thought he’d give the next batter, Jimmy Heck, one swing before asking him to bunt. On the first pitch, Heck topped a ball to third, the third baseman bobbled it for a second, then threw to first to nip Heck, but Petit moved to second, just as he would have on a bunt!

Park need a hit to tie the game, and one of Park’s hottest hitters, Scott Foltz, came to the plate; he singled between short and third as Petit advanced to third–first and third with one out, and up steps….Tre Munson.

All Park needed was a fly ball in the outfield to score Petit, but what do you think Tre would do in this situation, but belt a ball into the right-center field gap! Petit scored, and Foltz was waved all the way around from first, the center fielder hit his cutoff, who turned and fired home as Foltz dove Puntsie-like into home….SAFE! GAME OVER!

Again, Park didn’t hit like they can, but won anyway. Clancy, McNary, Petit and Foltz had singles, none of which were stung very hard, and Munson had a triple. That’s it. But, McNary kept Park in the game with his fine pitching; he allowed four runs, all unearned, on six hits; he hit two batters, walked two, and struck out three.

Besides a couple sloppy stretches, Park’s defense was pretty solid. Grant Welch made a great play in right when he charged a sure single, and fired to first to get the Chaska runner by a full step, Vosika made a nice scoop at first on a throw from short, Max IntVeld made a nice charging play at third, and Munson caught everything in sight in center.

Until Tre’s triple, Park trailed the entire game. Ouch! That’s got to sting on the ride back to Chaska!
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Wednesday, May 21, 2008 @ Carlson
St. Louis Park vs. Prior Lake

Remember in 2003 when Jimmy made “the catch” to seal a win against Prior Lake, and keep the U10s winning streak alive? You don’t? Well, it was awesome!

Anyway, Wednesday’s game was almost as dramatic, and our boys won again over the Lakers, this time 7-5!

In the first inning, it looked like all the kids must have partied too hard after winning the Slugfest, because the defense was putrid, and Prior Lake scored four times, thanks to four errors.

Park trailed 4-0, and it could have been 5-0, but left fielder Nick Omodt threw out a runner at home trying to score from second on a single.

Park scored its first run in the first when Derrick Keller reached on an error, advanced on a wild pitch, and scored on a Grant Welsh single. Park scored two more in the second when Omodt and Jack Bordewick walked, Jimmy Heck singled a run in, and Paddy Clancy reached on an error as Omodt scored.

In the third inning, Omodt walked, made it to third, and scored on the front end of a double steal, knocking the ball out of the catcher’s glove on the slide.

In the 4th inning, with the score tied, Foltz led off with a single, and Tre Munson hit a home run into the woods to give Park a 6-4 lead.

Prior Lake scored one in the 6th, but Foltz averted further damage thanks to a great play by shortstop Ryne McNary, who fielded a ball deep in the hole, and fired to a stretching Dylan Vosika for the out.

In the bottom of the sixth, Park scored their last run in usual Munson fashion. Clancy led off with a walk, and was forced out at second on a Munson fielder’s choice. Munson stole second, and moved to third on a ground out. With two outs, Munson started dancing off third after every pitch to Derrick Keller, and the Prior Lake catcher was dying to throw him out. Prior Lake’s coach called a timeout and went to the mound to discuss things.

Now, third base coach McNary ain’t no genius, but even he could figure out that the mound meeting was about Munson. “They’re talking about you,” McNary said to Munson. “They’re going to try and pick you off.”

“Can I go if he throws it down?” asked Tre.

What can you do? It’s Tre! “You can if you want, but you’ll have to get a good jump…right when it leaves the catcher’s hand,” said McNary.

“I’ll make it!” said Tre.

On the next pitch, Keller took a ball, the catcher cocked his arm, Tre broke, the throw went to the third baseman, who relayed to home…almost a perfect throw. Almost…but a foot up the first base line, and Munson was safe as he slid across the plate a micro second ahead of the tag.

In the top of the seventh, Foltz demanded to finish the game he started, and he walked the first batter, and the second batter reached on an infield single. Both runners moved up on an errant throw, and the tying run was on second with nobody out. “I might have left him in too long,” coach Keller was thinking. Ah, lighten up, Bob. Foltz made the mess, he’ll clean it up.

Foltz got the first batter to hit a grounder to Max IntVeld playing third. IntVeld looked the runner back and fired to first for out number one. The next batter flew out to shallow left where Nick Omodt made a nice catch and, since he threw out a runner at home earlier in the game, the runner didn’t test him again. Foltz had just enough left in the tank to strike out the last batter to end the game!

“I knew he would do it!” thought Keller.

Foltz ended up giving up five runs, only two earned, on seven hits, he walked two and struck out three.

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