Magnolia Slugs Their Way to Victory

It all came together for the MBC 13’s on Sunday night for their first win. The team beat the Seattle Stars 14-5 on the strength of good pitching, good defense (well sort of good defense, spotty at times but good defense for 13-year olds) and powerful hitting. Magnolia pounded out 14 hits, and it was fun to see the boys finally standing tall in the batter’s box and driving balls to the outfield. After a slow transition to this level, the boys seem to be figuring it all out.

Magnolia started the ball rolling with a two-out rally in the first. Campbell Queen singled, Ben Thomson walked and, after they both stole their way to second and third, they scored as Chris Luttinen slashed a ball past the Stars third baseman. In the second inning, MBC added two more runs. Ryan Doerfler and Jimmy Sheldrup both singled and scored on a towering “single” by Tino Peleti. After driving a ball over the outfielder’s head, Tino managed to trip, miss first base, come back to touch it and was gunned out trying to reach second.

Magnolia broke the game open in the fourth inning. A hit parade combined with three walks brought home seven runs.

Every MBC player recorded a hit in the victory. Big nights were had by Tino Peleti (2-3 1 RBI), Nick Reeves (2-5 3 RBI), Ben Thomson (3-3 2 RBI and a triple) and Ryan Doerfler (2-4 1 RBI).

Pitching was a four-man show. Chris Luttinen started and posted three solid innings, allowing only the lead-off batter to score. Jimmy Sheldrup pitched two scoreless innings, followed by Sam throwing a solid sixth inning that was marred only by one inning of sloppy defense. Tino Peleti was lights out (literally, as the lights were poor) with a solid seventh inning.

Bowling for the Bowling Impaired

The Magnolia 13's finished up their longest day together by having a hoot of a time bowling at the West Seattle Bowl. The action was fast, furious and borderline spazzy as these competitive boys finished their day rolling the rock and having a good time. Three large pizza's were inhaled within minutes and then the fun began.

Hiding their bowing skills behind stage names to protect their solid reputations the scoreboard showed a game between such bowling giants as:

The Cheater
Cheesey
Elmo
Rubicks Boy

and yes in case you could not believe your eyes there was a bowler called Duck Poop, and the name fit. I am not giving out any names, so I will just say the bowler with the initial J. S. finally scored a pin in the SEVENTH FRAME!!!!



AND OH By the way before I forget.........Coach Cougan beat Coach Bishop at bowling for the FIRST TIME EVER!!!!!!!! Interviewed after the contest Coach Cougan said " It was a great thrill to finally best Bish. I guess the key to my success was to just focus on my game. I didn't do anything different tonight, but Bish having the worst night of his bowling life was the key the contest, and for the record.....Hey Bish... Talk to me NOW!"




It was wonderful to see that the parents wanted in on the act. Grabbing their own lanes and having their own grand time, they too spent the evening getting to know one another better. So far the season seems to be getting off to a great start....now if we can just start to win some games!

Titans Steal Game for Magnolia

For starters is it just me or were those kids from Federal Way HUGE. Anyway Magnolia played tough, scrappy baseball battling huge boys, bad umpires, cold weather, fatigue (first double header) and full bladders but came up short once again on the scoreboard. Having to play game two of the double header immediately after the first game left many players needing bathroom relief during this game. Line-ups were juggled as players were released to “go” on an "as needed basis" to the restrooms which were quite a journey. Although MBC again lost, Coach Cougan took it as a moral victory that no MBC player faced the ultimate embarrassment.

On his favorite mound again Tino threw well for 3 innings. Control issues followed him from game one, but he seemed sharper and more in control in this game. Tino held these giants from Federal Way to four runs (three earned) and struck out three for his days work.

Spencer Hogger followed Tino with a strong fourth inning but ran into trouble in the fifth. Nick Reeves came in to put the fire out but the damage was done.

Magnolia had their best offensive showing against these giants. Tino led off with a scorching single which was followed by a single from Nick and a walk to Campy. Mr. Clutch (and winner of most of our off season hitting contests) Ben Thomson then followed with a sharp double to score two. When Mitch Smith flew out to left Campy sneakily scored the third run as the Titans threw to second and the second baseman argued the call.

Tino lead off the third inning with a single and scored on Andrew’s RBI single. Campy, who had walked earlier, moved to third on Andrew’s single and scored on a past ball. This third inning run explosion gave this young MBC squad their first lead of the season.

MBC's Woes Continue vs the Bombers

For older folks in Milwaukee, Spahn and Sain and two days of rain used to sound pretty good. Well, here in Magnolia we have yet to find our Spahn or Sain, but we seem to have the rain down. After a weeks delay for rain, MBC resumed tournament play on Saturday. Without Spahn or Sain in the lineup MBC went down 6-1.

Chris Luttinen pitched like Spahn. Chris went four innings and gave up three UNEARNED RUNS while allowing just two hits. The team’s lefty and franchise player Sam Deane came in for the final three innings and was not sharp early. Before Sam could turn around he had given up three runs. He quickly settled down and was his same old self blanking the Bombers for his final two innings.

The hitting frustrations continued. MBC had chances but could push but one run across against pitchers who should have received harder treatment.

Stuart Fairchild, Tino Peleti, Ryan Doerfler, and Kennan Heller all recorded hits for Magnolia.

Magnolia Falls to Rock Creek 7-3

MBC 13’s learned more lessons and lost another pre-season game 7-3. Walks and errors do add up and make games slip away. The good news is the bats started to show a glimmer, late in this game, showing signs that this team will turn it around soon.

Jimmy Sheldrup started for MBC and threw four fine innings. His first two batters reached on a hit and an error (and scored) but then Jimmy settled down and mowed for four innings.

Spencer Hogger entered to pitch in the fifth and was shown just what happens when you cannot throw strikes or get the ball down. Four hits and three walks later four runs were in and Spencer was running for cover. Nick Reeves came in to put the fire out and battled for the rest of the game and suffered some when his defense could just not seem to make the play to get off the field.

Hitting wise Andrew Kennedy was the star with a 3-3 night which included two doubles and 3 RBI. Mitchell Smith, Tino Peleti, Nick Reeves and Campbell Queen each added hits. Campbell Queen’s hit was a huge triple over the center fielders head and he made it all the way to second base.

Slow Start to Season; MBC Loses Opener

The Magnolia 13’s got a slow start out of the gate for the 2009 season, losing 3-0 in the tournament opener to the Brewers. In the first inning, with two outs MBC walked in two runs. Two infield errors in the second opened the door to another run. All the scoring in the game happened early, and MBC was not ready early.

From the third inning on, MBC found their gloves and the strike zone and redeemed themselves defensively. Things improved offensively as well, but the Brewers made the plays needed to keep MBC scoreless. Mitchell Smith tallied MBC’s lone hit, but Spencer Hogger, Tino Peleti, Stuart Fairchild, Nick Reeves and Jimmy Sheldrup all tagged balls that had some hope before landing in Brewers gloves.

It was a tale of fire and ice (though not as cold as we thought it would be) from the mound. Hard throwing Tino Peleiti threw 36 pitches in his two innings (18 for strikes) and, while the Brewers had difficulty putting the ball in play, his four walks and our two errors led to Brewer runs. Soft throwing Sam Deane threw 57 pitches (39 for strikes) and shut the Brewers down for five innings. Keeping the ball in play early in his counts and having solid defense behind him was his recipe for success. No plays were bigger than Stuart Fairchild’s barehanded grab and throw to get out of a jam in the third and Nick Reeves’ unassisted double play in the seventh.

First Action for MBC 13's

The Magnolia Baseball Club played their first game against a live opponent yesterday. It was an impressive performance for a team that had yet to see a field. MBC played the Stod’s team head up for nine innings and the final score was 4-4.



The results were the opposite of what I would have expected. After spending all winter hitting inside, defense was our strong suit and the hitting came up lacking. I guess there is a big difference between BP and having someone on the mound who WANTS to get us out. MBC pounded out seven hits, but struck out an unacceptable sixteen times! The good news is that if you had a bad day at the plate, you were not alone. My advice is to shake it off, it was our first time out, and we will get better.



I am reminded of a story an old friend of mine who was a college coach told me. He once traveled all the way to Ohio to watch a prospect play. In the only game he could watch, the boy struck out four times. The prospect was devastated and then perplexed when the coach offered him a scholarship. The coach told the boy that he had just seen the twelve best swings he had seen in ten years. Moral – Keep swinging, good things happen when we swing the bat.


Defensively MBC played very well. The gloves showed a lot of promise and both coaches were impressed by the hustle and effort displayed. Our pitchers threw strikes and the team backed them up, what more can we ask for?



The team showed great promise of team work. The talk was positive all day and teammates showed great support and appreciation for plays attempted and made. The best demonstration I heard all day of team work was from Ryan Doerfler. Nursing an injured leg, and limited in his ability to run and defensively contribute his primary contribution was warming up pitchers, not a pleasant task. I took pity on him around the sixth inning and offered to warm up the next pitcher. Ryan remarked that he preferred to do the job himself, he wanted to help the team.




And though it is early in the season, just want to put a shout out to all of those who either followed the game on the radio or after asking their son how did the game go and heard "OK, I guess" that there are still good seats available, as shown below.