Alumni News, Flying High From Walla Walla To Germany

Andrew Johnson from last years MBC 16 team at a tournament in Walla Walla as a dead duck going into third

Andrew, always athletic, always spontaneous, decides not to go quietly

Facing an 8 on the scale of difficulty Andrew tucks it in for the final landing

Short story, he was still out

Do not try this at home, or on the way to third, Andrew is a mutant and although he may be imitated, he cannot be duplicated!

In other news base running mutant Jordan Turpen is playing baseball in Germany this summer. Strange as it seems Jordan fell in love with a German exchange student and left in early June for a summer in Germany. The parents of the young Fraulein have set him up with an 18 year old baseball team. Two players from this league have been drafted into US pro ball. I heard last night that in his first double header Jordan was 5-7 and scored every time he reached base. Showing the Germans what a real speedster can do on base!

Tigers Efficiently Roar Past MBC

It all happened so quick that it seemed the game was over before it began. The second place Eastlake Tigers quickly and methodically scored their eight runs and sent MBC packing.

Oddly enough MBC played great defense, turning a wonderful double play in the second and having Bonecrusher Heller make a big league play from the hole. Spencer Hogger made a diving stop on a screaming line drive, but between these key defensive plays, the Tigers had managed to keep the pressure on and score the eight runs needed to win.

Offensively MBC could not do much against the Cy Young candidate the Tigers put on the mound. Chris Luttinen and Stuart Fairchild hit booming doubles but the Tigers limited the MBC boys to just two other hits, singles by Ben Thomspn and Spencer Hogger. They showed some good leather as well as the first baseman robbed Peter Rakita of a sure RBI double down the line with a nifty stab.

Wind Blows in a Win for Magnolia

In Magnolia they got a name

For rain and wind and fire

The rain is Spence, the fire Campy,

And they call the wind Tino

On what was a pleasant summer evening everywhere else in town the Magnolia 13’s played the rest of the island boys from Bainbridge defeating the Mavericks 9-1.

Tino Peleti threw six brilliant “wind aided” innings striking out ten of his neighbors. Six Bainbridge Island boys got to razz him on the ferry by recording hits.

It was a strong night for MBC offense all well. The first five players scored to lead off a good night. MBC added one run in each of the next five innings to win a mercy rule shortened game.

Ben Thompson led the game off with a hit, and the next two batters walked. Mitchell Smith scored two on his single and Campy Queen (2-4 2RBI) drove in the third run with another single. The Bainbridge pitcher “the King” tried to shut the door with a pair of strike outs but Peter Rakita (2-3 3RBI) came up big with a two out, two RBI single.
Magnolia scored a run in each of the next five innings and walked off the field on Campy’s game ending RBI single in the sixth. This brought a roar for BOTH crowds as the it meant we could all get out of the terrible wind that had blown all night

Loss And Gain

When I compare

What I have lost with what I have gained,

What I have missed with what attained,

Little room do I find for pride.

I am aware

How many days have been idly spent;

How like an arrow the good intent

Has fallen short or been turned aside.

But who shall dare

To measure loss and gain in this wise?

Defeat may be victory in disguise;

The lowest ebb is the turn of the tide.

Out of Sync MBC Falls to Brewers Blue

MBC 13’s fell to third place (13-2) Brewers Blue team last night 7-1. The score was not a true representation of the game, as MBC had chances to win this one, but found themselves way out of sync.

I circled eight plays in the scorebook that tilted the game in favor of the Brewers. Three were coaching errors, three outfield plays, and two tough plays from the mound. All correctable, most non-typical for this team, but they all happened and we came up short.

Both coaches were asleep at the switch when Ben Thomson led the game off by hitting the catcher’s glove. This non-questioned non-call cost us a base runner in a inning where we left the bases loaded. Later on, a frustrated Coach Cougan at third sent Tino home with a chance for a inside the park home-run after the Brewers blew the relay to home. In retrospect, after an super hustle play by the Brewers shortstop nailed Tino at home, Coach Cougan wished he had a man on third with no outs. Later in the evening, an absent minded, and perhaps itchy (no other explanation) Coach Cougan mislead both Ben Thomson and Coach Bishop into thinking he wanted to steal. Wrong move when down 5-1.

Three no catches on flyballs that we will someday “get to” cost us dearly, and I am sure the ultra competitive Stuart will always know how many outs there are in the future. And by golly, as long as baseball is played light hitting nine hitters will be accidentally beaned with two outs, two strikes and the bases loaded, that is just the baseball Gods telling you that it is not your night.

Game at Highpoint Might Just Be Our Low Point

A listless bunch with an awful lot of bad luck lost a winnable game at Highpoint against the Puget Sound Stars 13-5.

Not making the make-able plays and giving up lots of dinky hits was the recipe for failure for MBC. MBC gave up 14 hits and over half of these hits seemed to have eyes.

MBC had ten hits of their own, but they were bunched the wrong way. Rather than bunching them together by inning, they were bunched among four players. This team does best when everyone is getting hits.

Ben Thomson was 3-4, Nick Reeves and Campbell Queen were 2-4 and Tino Peleti was 2-3. AK added a single to the mix. None of the hits were for extra bases, and that typically spells bad news for this team’s offense.

Did You Guys Know That Your Coach Invented the Taco Salad? Well Here is Proof Positive

Out of Steam, Out of Pitching, Out of Time Magnolia Goes Out of the Tournament.

It was a loser out, winner stay in game, but as hard as MBC tried the verdict was out.

MBC scored four in the first. A rare walk to Ben Thomson , a single by Spencer Hogger (2-3) another walk to Tino Peleti was followed by a two RBI single by Stuart Fairchild (2-3) and a sac fly by Campbell Queen. Mitchell Smith’s two-out RBI single showed the Tigers that the MBC bunch was not done bringing the fourth run of the inning.

The Tiger’s matched that total and added five more in the second.

With time running out MBC responded in the fourth with four runs. Jimmy Sheldrup led the inning off with a hit and scored on Peter Rakita’s single. After a walk to AK, Ryan (a/k/a Limping Boy) Doerfler stroked an RBI single to center. After a Tiger error hits by Spencer Hogger and Tino Peleti put MBC within three runs.

But the comeback was over and MBC went down 1 – 2 -3 in the sixth to loose the time shortened game.

All in all it was a fun and exciting tournament. The experience was good for our boys. It was good to see the hard work in practice start to pay dividends for some guys that had been struggling at the plate and it was great to see Ryan Doerfler come back and start contributing.

Some hitting highlights from the tourney:

.571 Chris Luttenin
.556 Mitchell Smith
.556 Spencer Hogger
.500 Sam Deane
.500 Ryan Doefler
.462 Ben Thomson
.417 Tino Peleti
.417 Jimmy Sheldrup
.385 Nick Reeves
.333 Peter Rakita
.300 Campbell Queen

Frustrating Day Starts with Loss to Brewers Gold

It is always hard to beat a well match opponent three times in a row and that was the task in front of MBC on Sunday. If there ever was a team that wanted to beat us, well as the say in Louisiana, “there was them that could”.

Pulling out all stops the Brewers Gold made it their goal to finally beat us. Employing advanced scouting reports, playing their outfield deep and pitching around specific guys they eked out a 6-4 victory against us.

A close, well played game that always seemed within reach slipped away as MBC just could not connect with a knock out punch and ran out of time.

Ben Thompson stayed hot with a 2-4 2 RBI game. Tino Peleti , Mitchell Smith and Chris Luttinen were 2-3 and Nick Reeves, Campbell Queen, Jimmy Sheldrup and Sam Deane added hits.

Magnolia Wins with Greatest Comeback in Magnolia History

Again starting slow the Magnolia Boys found themselves down 4-0, early.

With a hint of things to come Magnolia scored two in the third. Jimmy Sheldrup (2-3) led off with a single, Mitchell Smith (2-3) hit a monster triple. He scored after a walk to Keenan Heller and a single by Spencer Hogger (3-3). Now here is where it gets kind of weird. With runners on first and second and zero out, the stubborn and non-bunt oriented coach Cougan finally gives in and flashes the bunt sign. Little did he know the Gators had positioned a sniper on top of the looming apartment buildings to shoot at the feet of Keenan Heller at second who gallantly tried to reach third after falling to the ground.

In the sixth inning down 8-2 MBC started the comeback. Nick Reeves led off with a double and scored on Tino Peleti’s triple. After consecutive hits by Campbell Queen, Chris Luttinen and Jimmy Sheldrup the Magnolia bunch had scored three, cut the deficit in half and were ready to make history.

Spencer Hogger started the rally with a long triple. Ben Thomson scored him with a single and the Gators third baseman booted Nick Reeve’s ground ball. Having seen enough of Tino Peleti, Gators walked him and elected to take their chances with Stuart Fairchild. WRONG MOVE!!!!!! Stuart blasted the ball completely over the head of an already deep center fielder and it was mayhem as the boys raced around the bases for victory.

You have to love the sight of a bases loaded walk-off triple!

Early Morning Loss to Brewers Blue

It is becoming apparent that the MBC 13’s are not a morning bunch. Playing in the 8:00 AM game MBC fell behind early and waged a gallant comeback to lose 10-7.

It looked good at the beginning. The game started with hits by Ben Thomson (2-4) and Nick Reeves (3-4) but they were quickly stranded as the rest of the team slept in. When the team woke up they found themselves down 8-0 after two innings.

Then the fun started. Sam Deane led off the third with a double (not an easy thing to do) and was moved to third by Spencer Hogger (2-3). Sam was driven home by Ben Thomson who later scored on Nick Reeves’ booming double.

In the fifth, Spencer Hogger led off with a hit and scored after Ben and Nick again notched back to back hits.

Still down five runs the boys started to make the Brewers sweat some in the sixth. Campy Queen single and scored along with Jimmy Sheldrup after two infield miscues by the Brewers defense. The big blow of the inning was Chris Luttinen’s single to bring the team within three runs.

MBC miscues led to two more Brewer runs in the sixth but the boys poised themselves for a comeback again down five.

Spencer Hogger led off the seventh with a hit, but the Brewers finally figured out a way to get Ben and Nick out. With two outs Tino Peleti hit a two run homer to put a big scare into the Brewers, but it was all over after Stuart Fairchild flew out to right.

Boys Bounce Back By Beating Brewers

Tino "Bugman" Peleti, in the dugout



The MBC 13’s stopped their losing streak with a big 6-0 win against the Brewers Gold team. MBC hit on all cylinders combining pitching, defense and hitting to dominate the game.

Tino “Bugman” Peleti was on fire on the mound and at the plate. Tino threw 6 2/3 innings of shut out ball striking out ten and was 2-3 with a home run a triple and five RBI. Chris Luttinen relieved in the sixth to close the door.

Defense was huge for the MBC team. The team made all the routine plays and Campy shut down any running game the Brewers tried. Stuart Fairchild made a Willie Mays catch racing deep into left center. The game ended with a terrific double play. With the bases loaded a soft line drive looked to be a sure hit up the middle before a loping tall Nick Reeves made a snow cone catch and doubled the runner off second.



(artificial recreation of Stuart's great catch, he ran so fast his uni came off)


Ben Thomson did his best to jump start the offense going 3-3 from the lead-off spot. He was stranded in the first inning but scored his next two times. In the third inning a walk to Keenan was followed by a double by Ben and the stage was set for Tino’ first blast of the night. With two down and a 0-0 tie the Brewer pitcher tried to get Tino with his off speed curve ball. He missed once, fouled off another and sent the third curve DEEP into the night for a three run homer.

The fifth inning was a deja’vue moment. Keenan started the inning with a single and was followed by another Ben Thomson hit. This time they tried to pitch around Tino but brought one pitch too close and Tino again sent the ball deep into the night for a triple. Stuart Fairchild promptly drove him home with his second hit of the night.

Campbell Queen had two hits and Spencer Hogger, Peter Rakita and Sam Deane also added hits. Sam put a charge into another ball in the seventh inning but his attempt at extra bases was shut down by a fine catch by the Brewers left fielder.

Children Should be Seen But Not Heard; Umpires Should be Heard but Not Seen

Please accept my apologies for my ejection from yesterday's game. I have gotten better at staying in games, but apparently have room for improvement. I will continue to improve my techniques of presenting my case with umpires while staying within the bounds they control.

Let me please explain my mindset, and fully explain the reasons for my ejection.

My belief in this great game of ours is that the umpire while being in control of the game, does this role best when they are quite invisible and not injecting themselves into the game. The umpire inserted himself into the game yesterday when he called Nick out for not sliding. Had he not made that call, no one would have been asking for Nick to be called out as Nick had obviously avoided contact with the catcher. I am a huge believer in safety for competition at this level and would take any player out of the game who would maliciously injure a player from another team.

His ruling that anytime there was a play and the runner was within arms length of another player a slide was necessary was absolutely wrong.

I want everyone to know that while in my argument with this umpire, the transgression which caused my ejection was not due to using profane language, nor did I use abusive language but I apparently crossed the line when I indicated my belief that one always seems to get calls like this (one sided) in Kent, and after being cautioned to end my conversation, I repeated this theory to Coach Bishop apparently within earshot of this umpire.


This proves another theory I have on umpires, the more wrong they are, the quicker they are to toss you.

In retrospect, I was wrong and my ejection could have been prevented by better actions on my part. Again, I apologize to the team, and the parents.

MBC 13's Slide Continues

Magnolia 13's had better set their alarm clocks a bit earlier for Wednesday 6/10. That is the next chance they have to turn around their mid season slide after losing 9-1 to the Kent Bulldogs Red.

Tight defense and timely hitting (things MBC used to use AGAINST other teams) was the key for Kent. Kent pounded out 14 hits and made great plays to limit MBC to just two hits and one run.

Nothing seemed to go right for MBC. Ben Thomson's lead off "hit" was robbed by a terrific play from the Kent shortstop and our next two hitters struck out looking. Cambell Queen was hit by a pitch in the second and scored on a drive to the right center gap by Spencer Hogger. Spencer languished at third and was eventual nailed in a tight play attempting to steal home.

In the fourth, down 5-1 MBC rallied and loaded the bases on walks to Tino Peleti and Stuart Fairchild and a single by Nick Reeves. On a towering sacrifice fly to center, Nick Reeves was called out as he sidestepped the Kent catcher. The home plate umpire just could not grasp the concept of the word "OR" in the rule "Slide OR avoid contact". This minor disagreement between the home plate umpire and Coach Cougan ended the inning, and ended Coach Cougan's day.

Four quick Bulldog runs in the fifth inning then ended the MBC 13's day.

Annoying Bulldogs Finally Leave Magnolia, and Take a Victory with Them

Good riddance to the most annoying team I have ever faced, the Kent Bulldogs – Blue. What a horrible team. They hit okay, and played decent defense but their constant obnoxious chatter that started every time our pitcher came set seemed to be specifically designed to prove what poor sports they were.

Magnolia again fell behind early and fell short on their comeback. Stuart Fairchild just couldn’t seem to catch a break early as he fell victim to seeing eye hits and some self inflicted damage due to walks. The damage could have been worse without Spencer Hogger doing his best impression of Brooks Robinson at third base all night. Tino came in and held them to one run as the team tried to come back.

Ben Thomson was 3-4 with a double and Tino Peleti was 3-4 with two triples. Cambell Queen was 2-3 and Nick Reeves and Jimmy Sheldrup added hits.

The game almost turned with a moment that seemed right out of the movie “The Natural”. As you may recall in the movie, Roy Hobbs falls under the spell of an evil woman who saps his glorious rise in fame. At his bleakest moment in the movie, a woman in white stands during his at bat and the sun beams down on her. Roy Hobbs, upon seeing this pure vision from his past, gathers himself and restores himself to his powerful ways, and proceeds to lead his team to glory.

Well, we are a thirteen year old team, and none of our boys are under a spell from an evil woman (at least I hope not!) but Campbell Queen seemed to have this moment as he tired of the annoying Bulldogs stealing bases at will. Not sure if anyone else noticed, but around the third inning, Campbell’s Grandmother (visiting from Colorado) stood in the stands, a ray of sunlight beaming down on her as she implored Campy to find the strength to rise above it and start throwing those darn Bulldogs out. It worked and soon runner after runner was taking that sad walk to the dugout as Campbell threw them out.

Magnolia Cannot Keep Wolves from the Door

Still smarting from their Friday night loss Magnolia traveled all the way to Port Orchard to duplicate the performance. Magnolia spotted the Wolfpack SEVEN first inning runs and put up a smaller comeback before falling 11-3.

The Wolfpack crawled all over a bug-less Tino Peleti in the first inning. Crafty Lefty came on in the second inning and fooled the Wolfpack hitter for the rest of the game.

Ben Thomson was a one man offense going 2-3 with a double. Nick Reeves, Tino Peleti and Jimmy Sheldrup managed hits as well.

Issaquah Thunders by Magnolia

Magnolia gave up ELEVEN early runs against the thunder on Friday night tried to rally back, but fell short loosing 11-8. The game had been delayed from 5:00 to 5:30 to allow Issaquah time to get the field on a Friday night; we should have delayed the game to 6:00 because that is when the home team finally showed up.

Scoring eight runs is typically enough to win, but tonight the team fell short.

Jimmy Sheldrup started the game and the defense let him down early and then the Thunder caught fire. The hitting light was on and it took a while for MBC to turn that light off. Chris Luttinen came on and fought against the hitting light and finally got it turned off in the second inning and blanked them the rest of the way.

The bats tried hard. Tino hit a three run homer (2-4 4 RBI), AK was 2-2 but left the game with a shoulder injury and Cambell Queen, Stuart Fairchild and Peter Rakita (double) all had hits.