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2019 Little League Thread

pepper brooks

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pepper brooks

pepper brooks 580

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28 minutes ago, MAROON said:

WU won the 12s two years ago?  Really? - I had no idea.  I was out at that state tournament.  Thought for sure PO represented district 16.  That Lufkin team was great.

 

We lost in sectionals our 12 year old year to a Pearland team.  As 11s we run ruled Pearland in sectionals.  The team they fielded that 12 year old year did not play Little League as 11s.  It was an entirely different team of kids. They were one out away from going to Williamsport when a little kid from Lafayette La hit is only home run of the season to beat them.  Interestingly none of those kids off that Pearland team played in college (that I'm aware of).  It was full of kids who hit their peak as 12 year olds.

yep.  That was the year district for majors was at Westbury.  That was the time our team that ultimately won district had beaten post oak to send them to the losers bracket to face our other west u team.  Post Oak had zero pitching available.  I mean nothing for the game the next day.  Our team had some.  This is now at the semi finals game where the winner would advance to the finals and have to beat us twice.  Somehow, for a tournament that had been being played for 6 days at that point had mysteriously forgotten to schedule umpires.  Both teams are there waiting to play, no umpires show.  Someone ahem, "forgot" to schedule them.  We filed a protest saying the pitching should be frozen as if the game would be played that day.  of course, they ruled against us, it rained the next day, they deemed it unplayable, and the following day all their pitching was back.  They beat us to make it to the finals. That extra day ended up helping our team that was awaiting their opponent, they got all their pitching back, and took down post oak in the finals.  They then went 0-2, bbq in the regional held in pearland that year. 

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pepper brooks

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Heard today that for 2020 they will tweak the USA bats. I don’t know if that is true or not, but it was what I’d consider a decent source. I hope that is the case. We’ve run the freaking gauntlet on USA bats trying to find a food one. In 2018 we started with the Easton ghost x. That was a f*cking turd. My god that bat sucked. Canned it way before the season started. Got a USA axe. It was shit. Settled on the Mizuno Ghost and it was good until he shattered it halfway through all-stars last year. Picked up a Demarini cf zen USA to finish off the season. It was his favorite. 

2019 we started with the 2019 Demarini cf zen in 31/21.  It was good for about 1,000 swings and then went stone freaking dead.  Wasn’t cracked but you could absolute nut one and it would go nowhere. He then Used his 2018 Demarini from last year. It was good for about 1,000 cuts and the same thing, just went dead as hell. Bought a Louisville 919 and it was great, but it will crap out early next season. These things are all some version of dogshit. I’m convinced Easton will never make another decent bat. They’ve conceded the composite tournament bat market to Demarini.  Marucci owns the aluminum/alloy market. Easton’s tournament bats are pure trash and their little league USA bats are worse. Anyway, I hope they relax these things a bit.  They don’t need kids playing 46 foot mounds using tournament bats, but the shit sticks they now use are killing the game. Find a happy medium. Fingers crossed this news is true.  

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Johnny Sack

Johnny Sack 8397

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11 hours ago, pepper brooks said:

Heard today that for 2020 they will tweak the USA bats. I don’t know if that is true or not, but it was what I’d consider a decent source. I hope that is the case. We’ve run the freaking gauntlet on USA bats trying to find a food one. In 2018 we started with the Easton ghost x. That was a f*cking turd. My god that bat sucked. Canned it way before the season started. Got a USA axe. It was shit. Settled on the Mizuno Ghost and it was good until he shattered it halfway through all-stars last year. Picked up a Demarini cf zen USA to finish off the season. It was his favorite.  

2019 we started with the 2019 Demarini cf zen in 31/21.  It was good for about 1,000 swings and then went stone freaking dead.  Wasn’t cracked but you could absolute nut one and it would go nowhere. He then Used his 2018 Demarini from last year. It was good for about 1,000 cuts and the same thing, just went dead as hell. Bought a Louisville 919 and it was great, but it will crap out early next season. These things are all some version of dogshit. I’m convinced Easton will never make another decent bat. They’ve conceded the composite tournament bat market to Demarini.  Marucci owns the aluminum/alloy market. Easton’s tournament bats are pure trash and their little league USA bats are worse. Anyway, I hope they relax these things a bit.  They don’t need kids playing 46 foot mounds using tournament bats, but the shit sticks they now use are killing the game. Find a happy medium. Fingers crossed this news is true.   

There was not one single over the fence home run at POLL minors this year.  The bats are dead, dead, dead,

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Huckleberry

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Well it also doesn't help that kids aren't swinging heavy enough bats. Everyone wants one more mph of bat speed so they are swinging -10 bats.

[getoffmylawn]Back in my day we used the biggest bat we could swing comfortably, my 11-year-old year I used a 30/24 and my 12-year-old year I used a 32/26. 12-year-old kids these days can't even pick up a bat that size and head up to the plate with a 31/21 if they're the big strong kid on the team.[/getoffmylawn]

Found a -8 for my kid last season he played and lo and behold the ball was jumping off the bat better.

In game news, Lufkin beat Western Hills last night so there is a final championship game tonight in Section 1.

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pepper brooks

pepper brooks 580

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1 hour ago, MAROON said:

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You should have been around this bad boy.  The bat of the check swing dinger to dead center!!!

Easton bought Combat and incorporated their barrel tech into the last great bat Easton made which was the 2017 Mako Beast XL.  My then 9 year old could take it out of the yard with that thing.  

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pepper brooks

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1 hour ago, Johnny Sack said:

I wonder if a wood bat might have more pop than the dead aluminum bats?

Doesn't seem to.  We have two pretty nice wooden bats as well.  They're great when hit dead on the screws, but any mishit is terrible.  They're like the baseball version of hitting the old Hogan Apex blade golf clubs.  We did have one 12 year old in our league this year who had to use wood.  They didn't make a USA bat in anything bigger than 32.  This kid swung a 33/30 which is what I used in pro ball!  He led our league in home runs, but the kid is an absolute beast.  At 12 years old he looks like an D1 defensive end.  

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F250

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1 hour ago, Huckleberry said:

Well it also doesn't help that kids aren't swinging heavy enough bats. Everyone wants one more mph of bat speed so they are swinging -10 bats.

[getoffmylawn]Back in my day we used the biggest bat we could swing comfortably, my 11-year-old year I used a 30/24 and my 12-year-old year I used a 32/26. 12-year-old kids these days can't even pick up a bat that size and head up to the plate with a 31/21 if they're the big strong kid on the team.[/getoffmylawn]

Found a -8 for my kid last season he played and lo and behold the ball was jumping off the bat better.

In game news, Lufkin beat Western Hills last night so there is a final championship game tonight in Section 1.

My kids were swinging -5 at 12 years old without issues. There were a couple of Easton XL1 drop 5 bats that were passed down from my oldest to my youngest son. After a couple of years of use the "trampoline effect" with the XL1 improved due to the natural "rolling" process, it was a rocket launcher. The bat was very end loaded but if you could handle the extra weight while maintaining bat speed you are basically Thor with his hammer.

 

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pepper brooks

pepper brooks 580

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I got mine a drop 5 Cat 8 Marucci aluminum alloy yesterday for summer workouts.  He cracked his Demarini CF Zen -8 USSSA version on Tuesday.  The new USSSA CF isn't out until August 1 so I bought him one size up and drop 5 to train, build strength, and have a bat he cannot crack to use for practice.  He cracked/shattered 8 bats last year.  the one he busted on Tuesday was a replacement of a replacement of a replacement.  Demarini usually will replace 1 bat, but they made an exception on this one.  He had a nice CF Zen Custom in -10 that he cracked last summer.  He got a replacement, and cracked that one literally on his 3rd swing with it.  I called them up, and they agreed that was absurd so they offered to replace it again while recommending he go to a drop 8 that would hold up better.  It did.  He made it through last fall and spring tournament ball with it.  It was a great bat.  He hit 6 bombs with it in 10 tournaments.  not bad.  IT is frustrating how delicate their bats are, but damn if they don't have great customer service, warranty, and of course those things are freaking rocket launchers.  

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chitwood

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12 hours ago, Huckleberry said:

Well it also doesn't help that kids aren't swinging heavy enough bats. Everyone wants one more mph of bat speed so they are swinging -10 bats.

[getoffmylawn]Back in my day we used the biggest bat we could swing comfortably, my 11-year-old year I used a 30/24 and my 12-year-old year I used a 32/26. 12-year-old kids these days can't even pick up a bat that size and head up to the plate with a 31/21 if they're the big strong kid on the team.[/getoffmylawn]

Found a -8 for my kid last season he played and lo and behold the ball was jumping off the bat better.

In game news, Lufkin beat Western Hills last night so there is a final championship game tonight in Section 1.

Any word on the WH Lufkin game?  In 11U Northwest beat Washington County last night to advance to state. 

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BrazilHorn

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It will be a good game between POLL and WHLL. I know most of the kids/dads on both teams and there are good players on each of them. POLL is strong though but these are all just kids and sometimes the Pee Wee Rodeo can take hold so you never know. WHLL does have kids that can knock the piss out of the ball though.

Should be a fun series, wish Tyler LL field had a web cam or these would be streamed. Will be the best team either one of these guys have faced thus far.

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F250

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On 7/12/2019 at 9:48 AM, MAROON said:

Post Oak gave up zero runs in their sectional.  That's really impressive.

I don't think they gave up any runs in the district tournament either. I'm curious how many quality pitchers they have on the roster.

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Huckleberry

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On 7/13/2019 at 2:14 PM, F250 said:

I don't think they gave up any runs in the district tournament either. I'm curious how many quality pitchers they have on the roster.

They gave up some runs in the district tournament. 1 to Westbury and 6 to Bellaire. Still obviously impressive, they've given up 7 total runs in 8 tournament games.

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F250

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Texas West Tournament

Texas West Section 1 Champions Midland Northern (District 3)

Texas West Section 2 Champions Dixie (Abilene) (District 5)

Texas West Section 3 Champions McAllister Park National (San Antonio) (District 19)

Texas West Section 4 Champions Corpus Christi National (District 23)

First Round: Corpus vs. Dixie (Abilene) and McAllister vs. Midland Northern.

 

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Huckleberry

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BRACKET CONTEST!

image.thumb.png.5a533da83fe7187331e9462f55b12926.png

For each of the two Texas brackets, enter your picks and let's see who wins this thing. You will get the following points for correct guesses in each bracket:

Games 1 and 2 - 1 point
Games 3 and 4 - 2 points
Game 5 - 3 points
Game 6 - 4 points
Game 7 - 4 points

Game 7 rule - You can state a team that you think wins Game 7 or you can say None if you think the bracket champion will finish undefeated. If you choose None then you only get the 4 points if your chosen Game 6 winner is the team that finishes undefeated.

Tiebreaker - Total runs scored in the two brackets' final games, whether it's 6 or 7 doesn't matter.

My entry:

Texas East:

Game 1 - Lamar National
Game 2 - Post Oak
Game 3 - Post Oak
Game 4 - Western Hills
Game 5 - Lamar National
Game 6 - Lamar National
Game 7 - Post Oak

Texas West:

Game 1 - CC National
Game 2 - Midland Northern (upset alert!)
Game 3 - Midland Northern
Game 4 - McAllister Park
Game 5 - McAllister Park
Game 6 - McAllister Park
Game 7 - McAllister Park (vengeance complete!)

Tiebreaker - 19

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Huckleberry

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So Western Hills won 15-0 and POLL won 10-0. Setting up a hell of a game tonight in Texas East between them. 

POLL still not given up a run in entire playoff. Jeez. 

They've given up 7 runs, just none since district.

Go all the way and it could be like when Trumbull, CT won it all. They lost a game in district then blew through the rest of the world. Wonder if those guys who beat them in district think about how they might have been the second best team in the world but just happened to be in the same district as the best.

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BrazilHorn

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10 minutes ago, Huckleberry said:

They've given up 7 runs, just none since district.

Go all the way and it could be like when Trumbull, CT won it all. They lost a game in district then blew through the rest of the world. Wonder if those guys who beat them in district think about how they might have been the second best team in the world but just happened to be in the same district as the best.

Don’t doubt it. Challenge is you really see where the $ to pay for privates/select teams etc come to bear. I’d say 80%+ or so of Western Hills plays for Horns select team. POLL/WHLL both very affluent areas of their respective cities. 

I think days of the scrappy little local little league comprised of kids who just play spring ball are long over. 

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Huckleberry

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Definitely.

WHLL is in a weird spot now. They play Lamar National in an elimination game tonight and would have to win that then beat POLL twice in a row. They beat Lamar National 15-0 in three innings in their first game and you have to think that was against Lamar's #2 pitcher if not their #1. Do you start a back end pitcher tonight to save arms for Post Oak? I think you have to if the goal is to win the tournament, not just be the 2nd place team.

Obviously the task is daunting at best and POLL is a very heavy favorite to advance. Just thinking about it strategically.

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Huckleberry

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By the way, over in Japan the Tokyo champions from Chofu LL went 4-0 and outscored their opponents 37-1 to win the region and advance to Williamsport. Included in that three day run was an 11-0 win over the host league. So it turns out Japan will be tough to beat again. I'm sure you're all shocked.

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BrazilHorn

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I don’t know pitching situation for WHLL. 

They may have used one pitcher vs Lamar 

1-3 vs POLL (all depends on pitch count here) 

WHLL has 4 solid pitchers and then around 2-3 more that can toss it as well but are inconsistent. 

will be very tough beating rested POLL team 2x

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BrazilHorn

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9 minutes ago, Helobious said:

Sucks that Texas West won't be a south Texas team. What HS areas are those Western Hills kids mostly from? Westlake/Lake Travis? I've never heard of that little league at all. 

Westlake/Austin High. 

Lake Travis LL doesn’t feed to williamsport

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Huckleberry

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It's a bit strange to me that they're playing the final game at 10:00am today. That field faces east-northeast. Even if it was so teams would know that Tuesday night was the last night they'd need their hotel rooms they still could have scheduled it for 1:00 or something. Although I guess heat is a concern then, we just got lucky with the cool front.

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pepper brooks

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West U seniors are headed to the World Series in South Carolina. Starts Sunday and on espn+. 

West U juniors won state and will be heading to regionals

 

west u intermediates lost to New Mexico last night in the regional finals. New Mexico was really freaking good. Those guys could absolute pound the ball. They must have hit 15 home runs in the tourney.  

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F250

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On 7/22/2019 at 10:59 PM, Helobious said:

Sucks that Texas West won't be a south Texas team. What HS areas are those Western Hills kids mostly from? Westlake/Lake Travis? I've never heard of that little league at all. 

Agreed, I usually pull for those teams. I think this sentiment (regional pride) is what makes the Little League All Stars playoffs superior to the big select baseball national championships. Sure these teams wouldn't beat those select teams made up of mercenaries from kids all over the country but nobody cares about those teams. People like myself or you root for South Texas Little League teams because they are the best Little League team from our region.

 

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