@Quito - you may or may not know since your kid is younger than mine but do you happen to know how the fields are at The Yard or the Kelley Complex?

Specifically, how are the mounds? If I have one continual gripe with the fields it's that the mounds aren't very good a lot of the time. Lots of the artificial mounds are really small so that our better pitchers have their natural stride land at the bottom lip of the mound and they slip off and it's extremely difficult to throw strikes. And they're frequently really narrow from side-to-side with a steep drop off which makes pick off moves harder to execute.

Also, the whole team is staying on the west side of Omaha closer to the fields where we play. Any tips on where to park when we head into downtown to go to the CWS games?

Only tip on CWS games is be careful where you park…I got towed last year. I thought my spot was too good to be true.

As for the Yard, that's where we played for pool play last year and fields were nice and turf. Mounds were tiny. I think outfield might have been grass.

It was 105 degrees and little shade. If you have tailgate tents, that helps.

Thanks for the tip on the shade.

I suppose those tiny mounds are better than the mid-size ones they usually get. At least with those tiny ones they stride completely off and onto flat ground vs. slipping off the lip.

If y'all are there during session #3 we're Houston Wildcatters 12U - Ziegler.

We are session 1 next weekend…two games Friday.

Quito - what organization do you play though for the Omaha tournament (USSSA, Perfect Game, etc)? I would like to do this next year.

AgBanker said:

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Quito - what organization do you play though for the Omaha tournament (USSSA, Perfect Game, etc)? I would like to do this next year.

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Not Quito but this is the org: https://www.triplecrownsports.com/

Had to sign the waivers and stuff so my kid can play in it.

Anyone playing in Gulf Shores this week? We are driving there now.

Trying to figure out where the CWS watch party is Friday night

So we took out 10u rec team to play a small weekend tournament this weekend. We actually competed pretty well since we can make a select infield and have two really good pitchers. Lost in the semi finals to the team that won and is a AAA team.

Saw my first really dirty slide against that team by one of their players at 2nd base against my son. We thre a pickoff to first and the kid immediately broke for 2nd. My son took the throw at second and the kid actually still had time to turn around. Instead he pulled this jump slide move and spiked my boy right in the thigh. I was standing behind the first base coach and I admittedly went somewhat ballistic. The umpires were good guys but they were young and didn't really know what to do. The first base coach just swallowed everything I said without reacting. The kid should have been thrown out of the game but they got 'a warning.'

Two innings later and we are down by four my boy had mostly shook it off. He is now pitching, and when that kid came up he blew a strike right by him, froze him with a changeup, and then on an 0-2 pitch hit him in the knee. I am pretty sure he did it on accident. He said he was just trying to thrown an inside fastball and the kid was crowding the plate. I believe him but I will never know for certain. He is not the kind of kid to do that. I dont think. I hope. Maybe.

Funny how those kinds of things start creeping into their heads.

agsalaska said:

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So we took out 10u rec team to play a small weekend tournament this weekend. We actually competed pretty well since we can make a select infield and have two really good pitchers. Lost in the semi finals to the team that won and is a AAA team.

Saw my first really dirty slide against that team by one of their players at 2nd base against my son. We thre a pickoff to first and the kid immediately broke for 2nd. My son took the throw at second and the kid actually still had time to turn around. Instead he pulled this jump slide move and spiked my boy right in the thigh. I was standing behind the first base coach and I admittedly went somewhat ballistic. The umpires were good guys but they were young and didn't really know what to do. The first base coach just swallowed everything I said without reacting. The kid should have been thrown out of the game but they got 'a warning.'

Two innings later and we are down by four my boy had mostly shook it off. He is now pitching, and when that kid came up he blew a strike right by him, froze him with a changeup, and then on an 0-2 pitch hit him in the knee. I am pretty sure he did it on accident. He said he was just trying to thrown an inside fastball and the kid was crowding the plate. I believe him but I will never know for certain. He is not the kind of kid to do that. I dont think. I hope. Maybe.

Funny how those kinds of things start creeping into their heads.

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Sounds like a good tournament run and hopefully your son's leg is good.

Why are you so worried about your kid hitting someone? It is part of the game. My son was in to close out a game against a mouthy team we had played before. He got the first two outs and the third batter was taking way too long in between pitches. That kid ended up wearing a fastball to the back, which I thought was accidental. He later told me he didn't like the delay because Nolan Ryan didn't put up with that. He ended up closing it out on the next batter, so I couldn't really tell him anything.

Edit - wrong emoji

This is a team that hit a dinger off of one of our pitchers in a previous game. As he was rounding the bases, he told our pitcher to get pitching lessons. Not the same kid my son hit, but from the same team.

baseballaficionado said:

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agsalaska said:

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So we took out 10u rec team to play a small weekend tournament this weekend. We actually competed pretty well since we can make a select infield and have two really good pitchers. Lost in the semi finals to the team that won and is a AAA team.

Saw my first really dirty slide against that team by one of their players at 2nd base against my son. We thre a pickoff to first and the kid immediately broke for 2nd. My son took the throw at second and the kid actually still had time to turn around. Instead he pulled this jump slide move and spiked my boy right in the thigh. I was standing behind the first base coach and I admittedly went somewhat ballistic. The umpires were good guys but they were young and didn't really know what to do. The first base coach just swallowed everything I said without reacting. The kid should have been thrown out of the game but they got 'a warning.'

Two innings later and we are down by four my boy had mostly shook it off. He is now pitching, and when that kid came up he blew a strike right by him, froze him with a changeup, and then on an 0-2 pitch hit him in the knee. I am pretty sure he did it on accident. He said he was just trying to thrown an inside fastball and the kid was crowding the plate. I believe him but I will never know for certain. He is not the kind of kid to do that. I dont think. I hope. Maybe.

Funny how those kinds of things start creeping into their heads.

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Sounds like a good tournament run and hopefully your son's leg is good.

Why are you so worried about your kid hitting someone? It is part of the game. My son was in to close out a game against a mouthy team we had played before. He got the first two outs and the third batter was taking way too long in between pitches. That kid ended up wearing a fastball to the back, which I thought was accidental. He later told me he didn't like the delay because Nolan Ryan didn't put up with that. He ended up closing it out on the next batter, so I couldn't really tell him anything.

Edit - wrong emoji

This is a team that hit a dinger off of one of our pitchers in a previous game. As he was rounding the bases, he told our pitcher to get pitching lessons. Not the same kid my son hit, but from the same team.

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Don't get me wrong, I know it's part of the game and am fine with that. It is certainly how we played. I have no problem with it as long as it doesn't get out of hand. If I was being completely honest I bet he hit him on purpose. My son has hit three kids in 31 weekend innings this year. Pretty sure that wasn't an accident. And he hit him low not high.

I think for me it is just watching these boys who I have coached since t ball evolve from crying when they got out to policing each other on the field is bitter sweet for me.

We are. 11u division. A lot of Ag parents on our team, so we'll be watching somewhere.

Am I a bad Dad if I skip my older boys game at noon to take my younger boy to Ags/Oklahoma?

Quito said:

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Am I a bad Dad if I skip my older boys game at noon to take my younger boy to Ags/Oklahoma?

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Maybe. But I would do it anyway

Quito said:

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Am I a bad Dad if I skip my older boys game at noon to take my younger boy to Ags/Oklahoma?

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No I'd do it and wouldn't think twice

Bassmaster said:

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We are. 11u division. A lot of Ag parents on our team, so we'll be watching somewhere.

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1pm start time. I may be watching on my phone coaching 3rd base

My 10U plays at 8:00 am and noon Friday. I'm going to the 8:00 am game and then taking my 8 year old to the Aggie game while my wife and daughter watch our 10U.

I asked my 10U and he said he'd do the same if he were me!

Hopefully we can all go to a game Sunday.

Yep, bad timing.

Lonestar_Ag09 said:

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baseballaficionado said:

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agsalaska said:

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So we took out 10u rec team to play a small weekend tournament this weekend. We actually competed pretty well since we can make a select infield and have two really good pitchers. Lost in the semi finals to the team that won and is a AAA team.

Saw my first really dirty slide against that team by one of their players at 2nd base against my son. We thre a pickoff to first and the kid immediately broke for 2nd. My son took the throw at second and the kid actually still had time to turn around. Instead he pulled this jump slide move and spiked my boy right in the thigh. I was standing behind the first base coach and I admittedly went somewhat ballistic. The umpires were good guys but they were young and didn't really know what to do. The first base coach just swallowed everything I said without reacting. The kid should have been thrown out of the game but they got 'a warning.'

Two innings later and we are down by four my boy had mostly shook it off. He is now pitching, and when that kid came up he blew a strike right by him, froze him with a changeup, and then on an 0-2 pitch hit him in the knee. I am pretty sure he did it on accident. He said he was just trying to thrown an inside fastball and the kid was crowding the plate. I believe him but I will never know for certain. He is not the kind of kid to do that. I dont think. I hope. Maybe.

Funny how those kinds of things start creeping into their heads.

---

Sounds like a good tournament run and hopefully your son's leg is good.

Why are you so worried about your kid hitting someone? It is part of the game. My son was in to close out a game against a mouthy team we had played before. He got the first two outs and the third batter was taking way too long in between pitches. That kid ended up wearing a fastball to the back, which I thought was accidental. He later told me he didn't like the delay because Nolan Ryan didn't put up with that. He ended up closing it out on the next batter, so I couldn't really tell him anything.

Edit - wrong emoji

This is a team that hit a dinger off of one of our pitchers in a previous game. As he was rounding the bases, he told our pitcher to get pitching lessons. Not the same kid my son hit, but from the same team.

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Mind if I ask your response when your son told you that he intentionally put it in a kids back because in his opinion he took too long?

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I didn't believe him at first. He promised it was intentional. The kid wasn't damaged and we won, so I didn't care. I know you wanted a better answer, but to me, it wasn't a big deal. I like a little nasty, but that is just me. Other people might not like that and that is their right as well.

PhatMack19 said:

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Bassmaster said:

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We are. 11u division. A lot of Ag parents on our team, so we'll be watching somewhere.

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1pm start time. I may be watching on my phone coaching 3rd base

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Are you with the Woodlands crush team? If so, yall get to play some Texas Fire people I know on Thursday.

I also know a ton of Orange Crush kids, but no dice on pool play. Probably bracket round.

I don't take many pictures, but two I have taken from the trip:

I hope this embed works but this is a tremendous message for youth players.

<iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2F107577861722040%2Fvideos%2F366573368604876%2F&show_text=false&width=560&t=0" width="560" height="314" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe>

Is this the video you are trying to display?

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=366573368604876

lil99chris said:

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Is this the video you are trying to display?

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=366573368604876

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Yup.

I guess the forum code doesn't let you embed FB videos.

Ran into Aggie football royalty at 10U game in Omaha.

Randy Simmons!

His boy was pitching in the game ahead of us. Good pitcher, great man. Really generous in talking to my boys.

That was us. Wanted to play the Orange Crush to gauge where we are, but fell just short.

We finished our season in Gulf Shores last Saturday. Ended up with the 2 seed after pool play and promptly threw that away in our first bracket game. We got smoked by a team from Houston. Only had 1 error and 3 walks, but it was one of those games where everything the opponent hit found a gap. That's baseball. We weren't throwing our best arms that game, but the kids we threw were all very capable and have had plenty of great games on the mound this season. The boys fought back the next day all the way to the semis. We just ran out of gas. We played a major team who was playing their first game of the day and we were on game 3 of the day after starting at 8:30. Ended up losing 8-5. We're right there though. Our best pitcher threw day 1 and woke up the next day with soreness. They held him out for the next two days and he only hit, didn't throw a ball. Day 4, he gave it a go on the mound our first game, but didn't have it, so we pulled him after 2. We had to slide everyone else up and we just didn't have enough to win it all. In tournaments like this, it hurts only having 11 especially when your ace goes down.

For the season, we played 8 tournaments. Played in 5 championship games. Won two, lost one after two extra innings, lost another in a competitive game to a 12uAAA team, and completely no showed in another. Overall, the team got better, kids worked hard, and had a lot of fun.

Let's talk youth bats for a bit. My son is finishing up 8u with our local league and his travel team and will move up to 9u kid pitch this fall. Any recommendations on bats. He's been swinging a Marucci Cat 9 27/17. He's a strong kid and what I would consider a power hitter for this age. Most likely it's time to move up to a 28/18 bat. Any recommendations?

There's a poster on here named bigpern who has a website whichbat.com.

They put metrics to all the bats with all different kids sizes and strengths. He has been helpful to me and I've used his site multiple times.

I have an 8U and a 10U….9U and 11U in the fall.

My 10U is built bigger than my 8U. My 10U currently swings a 30-10 Zoa. He will move to a 31-8 Zoa in Spring…I'd do it now, but his bat is always his big Christmas present.

My 8U swings a 28-10 Easton and will swing a 29-10 Cat 9 in Spring.

Thank you. What are your thoughts on the hybrid bats?

I have a pocket radar setup in basement with a tee. I don't see a difference between alloy and composite at the 10U level.

Biggest advantage of 2 piece is the feel…feels much better on hands, Especially on miss hit.

We live in Kansas and weird spring and fall weather. I buy a cheaper alloy to use in cold weather…Easton Alpha. Gotta say, not much difference in Exit Velo off the tee.

Thanks for the info

Bassmaster said:

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That was us. Wanted to play the Orange Crush to gauge where we are, but fell just short.

We finished our season in Gulf Shores last Saturday. Ended up with the 2 seed after pool play and promptly threw that away in our first bracket game. We got smoked by a team from Houston. Only had 1 error and 3 walks, but it was one of those games where everything the opponent hit found a gap. That's baseball. We weren't throwing our best arms that game, but the kids we threw were all very capable and have had plenty of great games on the mound this season. The boys fought back the next day all the way to the semis. We just ran out of gas. We played a major team who was playing their first game of the day and we were on game 3 of the day after starting at 8:30. Ended up losing 8-5. We're right there though. Our best pitcher threw day 1 and woke up the next day with soreness. They held him out for the next two days and he only hit, didn't throw a ball. Day 4, he gave it a go on the mound our first game, but didn't have it, so we pulled him after 2. We had to slide everyone else up and we just didn't have enough to win it all. In tournaments like this, it hurts only having 11 especially when your ace goes down.

For the season, we played 8 tournaments. Played in 5 championship games. Won two, lost one after two extra innings, lost another in a competitive game to a 12uAAA team, and completely no showed in another. Overall, the team got better, kids worked hard, and had a lot of fun.

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It looks like y'all had a great run and great season! Are y'all playing any late summer stuff or will you just wait until fall?

Jbob04 said:

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Let's talk youth bats for a bit. My son is finishing up 8u with our local league and his travel team and will move up to 9u kid pitch this fall. Any recommendations on bats. He's been swinging a Marucci Cat 9 27/17. He's a strong kid and what I would consider a power hitter for this age. Most likely it's time to move up to a 28/18 bat. Any recommendations?

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I understand the need around the 12u level, to start working towards the drop 8 and eventually BBCOR bats. However, I have seen way too many kids being bought bats way too heavy for them. Their dad's think 1oz means more power and they will have no problems swinging it -- only to see them now late on everything -- striking out or weak contact.

As far as bats, the Cat series are still the best overall bats out there. I like the Cat 9, but some families have moved from the Cat 9 back down to the Cat 8. Also, remember that there is a new Cat series bat every two years and the Cat X looks pretty sweet:



The hottest bat currently out is Demarini CF Zen. However, this bat is guaranteed to break at some point and usually pretty quickly. If I were to purchase this bat, I would buy two of them. That way when one breaks and I am sending it in for a warranty replacement, my son still has another to use.

Combo post:

Bat discussion, I too believe most kids swing bats that are too big. I didn't plan to get my son a new bat until next spring…then he made All Stars and I wanted him to have a bat with more pop for those games. So I bought the 27" Cat I wanted for next season and used tape to keep him choked up.

All Stars, he didn't get to play any infield, he plays seconds mainly during the season but both coaches sons play there also so mine played OF. I prepared him for that before he even tried out.

Making the team was an awesome surprise for us. My son is fundamentally sound but very small and I figured he'd get cut for that. But he made the team, got lots of extra practice for a month and then we had the tournament. We played 5 games, he went 7-10 2 doubles, 6RBI and 5 runs scored. His three at bats where he didn't get on he drove in runs on two of them. The one other at bat was a hard hit line drive that the 2B made a nice play on.

I visited the whichbat website and went ahead and ran the program for my sons metrics that it asked for. The number one bat it recommended was the Demarini Voodoo balanced, which is a 2020 model bat. and can't be found. They also recommended a 30" bat for him which seems like it would be too big for him. What model took the place of the Voodoo?