Thanks to players and coaches and parents

As most of you now know,  Head Coach Alfred Smith has decided to disband the current 11U Finest team to pursue a longtime desire.  He wishes to start a new team in the fall whose members will all be attending Red Mountain High School in the future. His primary goal is to create a feeder team whose members will be good prospects to play baseball for Red Mountain HS.

Unfortunately, that means that the current team, whose players would be attending many different high schools in different parts of the valley, will be broken up.  I know many of the players were upset to hear this news.  Many of us have been part of each others lives every few days for practice and every tournament weekend for the last few years. The kids know each other like family.  Many of the parents are friends.  I'm sure we will all miss each other.

Thanks to all the players, coaches, and parents.  Great job to all the players, who worked so hard as team-members. You guys learned a lot about baseball and life and did a great job! Personally, I'm proud of all of you and sad to see this happen.  I'm sure we will all see each other again as we link up with new teams.

If any other teams are interested in some really great baseball players, you can email me here and I can foward your information on to available players.

May 15/16 USSSA Best of the West tournament

The USSSA Best of the West tournament was held at Big League Dreams in Gilbert on May 15 and 16.  On Saturday May 15, the Finest had early 7:30am game against the Blue Blaze.  Finest won it, 9-1.  Second games followed immediately against the 10u Blaze. Again, a fairly easy victory...Finest win 11-1.

Sunday's first game was the number 1 seed Finest against the number 4 seed Red Mountain Rangers.  This was a good game...anybody's game, all the way to the end. Finest win it 3-2.  Championship game comes down to the Finest versus the winner of the Blue Blaze and the 10u Blaze. 10u Blaze won against the Blue Blaze.  Championship game against the 10u Blaze was a disappointment for us all.  They win it 4-2.

Photos

Spring Classic Tournament April 24/25

The Spring Classic tournament on April 24 and 25 was played at Rio Vista park in Peoria.  The first game against the Rattlers ended with the Finest on top 8-6.  The second game was against the Dbacks. Finest lose that one 3-6.

Sunday's games started with an easy win early in the morning against the Red Mountain Rangers. Finest 8, Rangers 0.  The second game was against the 10u Stealth. This was a much more difficult win for us.  Their primary pitcher was throwing about 80% curve balls and we had a tough time hitting until he tired.  Once he tired, the Finest started hitting great. Then the Stealth changed the pitcher and we finished them off. Finest 6, Stealth 4.  That win got us into the championship game with the Rattlers again.  No excuses but we seemed really tired in the 3rd game of the day and it was hot.  Lots of mistakes and the Rattlers just seemed to want the win more.  Rattlers 4, Finest 1.

Photos

April 2/3 USSSA Easter Classic

The USSSA Easter Classic games were played at Big League Dreams.  First game against the Red Mountain Rangers ended in a 2-2 tie.  Both the Finest and the Rangers were pitching perfect games until late in the game.  Second game on Friday against the Scottsdale Dirtbags ended in a loss for the Finest 3-6.


Saturday, unfortunately, held only one game for us.  The Scottsdale Silverhawks held us down and won it 5-1.  That eliminated us from the rest of the tournament.


Silverhawks ended up winning one bracket against the Diablos, or 3rd place overall, and the Scottsdale Dirtbags won the other against the Sandlot Allstars to take 1st and 2nd places, respectively.


Photos

Spring Championships Super NIT March 26, 27, 28

Friday, March 26 at Victory Lane, the Finest played at 5:00pm against the Colorado Team Rawlings.  Final score Finest, 5 and Team Rawlings, 3.  Our second game was at 9:00 pm against the AZ Bulldogs.  That game ended with Finest 9, Bulldogs, 2.

Saturday's morning game on field 2 was against the AZ Rattlers.  This one was a nail-biter.  Finest took an early lead and held it until the 5th inning, when the Rattlers scored 4 runs to close the gap by one run.  Final score Finest 6, Rattlers, 5.  The second game of the day was against the number 4 seed, El Paso Dukes.  This was also a very good game.  We had some very good plays, and Justin Jensen pitched the entire game. Final score Finest 2,  Dukes 0.

Photos

Sunday's first game, semifinals was against the blue Blaze.  Finest won 9 to 1.  Next was finals against the Las Vegas Hawks.  Lots of errors on our part contributed to an unfortunate loss.  Final score Finest 3, Hawks 6. Hawks move on to the championship game with the Scottsdale Dirtbags.  Dirtbags win it all, 12-8,

Photos 2

USSSA Spring Training, March 13/14

Both Saturday and Sunday's games were at Big League Dreams park in Gilbert.  First we played the Bulldogs. Felt like an easy win, Finest 8, Bulldogs 2.  The second game Saturday was against the Rattlers. Lots of mistakes cost us this one, Rattlers 3, Finest 2.

On Sunday, we played the Rattlers again but this time we looked good.  We win 7-3.  Championship game was against the winner of Aztecs vs Bulldogs.  We ate lunch watching the Aztecs and Bulldogs, hoping the Bulldogs could pull out a victory.  No they couldn't so we enter into the best game of the day. The Aztecs took an early lead. We chased 2 runs for a few innings. The Aztecs could taste the win. They got a bit cocky about. In the sixth inning, one Aztec player was heard to say "3 up, 3 down and the championship is ours". (in  young Obi Wan Kenobi voice: "Oh, I don't think so..."  Finest get fired up and slam in 4 runs to take a 3 run lead.  Then Finest take the field for defense one more time.  Who wanted it more?? Ha, ha silly. Finest shut them down and shut them up.  That's the most excited I have seen these boys in a long time.  Congratulations are in order because you worked hard and earned this win.  Great game!

Photos

USSSA Spring Training 1, March 6/7

Saturday, March 6 games at Rio Vista park in Peoria. Our first game was against the Wildfire. I don't believe we ever played them before.  Finest took a large early lead, on the order of 9-0 or so but the Wildfire started hitting and our defense was having trouble knocking the ball down. Final Finest 11, Wildfire 8.

The second game on Saturday was against the AZ Attack. The Finest fairly dominated this game.  Final Finest 11, AZ Attack 0.

We seeded #3 for Sunday's games but they were cancelled due to rain.


Photos

USSSA President's Day NIT

Saturday's games at BLD were against the Ball Club and Desert Dawgs. First game against the Ball Club got away from us early on. I would speculate that their absolutely obnoxious chanting (screaming?) does have an effect on their opponents. These kids just scream and scream until they are hoarse. Personally, it just drives me bonkers and makes me want to leave. They hit the ball into holes in our defense and had an early 7 run lead. We got 3 back fairly quickly, but then just took turns shutting each other down. Final score: Ball Club 7, Finest 3. I'm not a big fan of the Legends, but when the Ball Club is playing the Legends I will cheer on the Legends every time because of the Ball Club's juvenile chanting.

Game 2 against the Desert Dawgs we fairly dominated from early on. Final score: Finest 7, Desert Dawgs 1.

On Sunday Feb 14, the first game was against the Red Mountain Rangers, who looked defeated from the beginning. Must have been a bad day for them. Finest stomped on them and made it look easy. Final score Finest 16, Rangers 2.

The second game at 6:00pm was against the Scottsdale Silverhawks. I don't believe we had played them before so there was a lot of interest in what they could do. The Silverhawks played the Legends just before they played us. Legends run-ruled them. By the time we got to play them, it seemed like their spirits were broken. Final score: Finest 13, Silverhawks 1.

Monday games at Victory Lane...semifinals Finest vs Predators, and Legends vs Ball Club. Go Legends!!! Go Finest!!!!!!!!!

Saturday / Sunday photos

Monday game: Finest gets the flip for home team. I know there was a lot of disappointment on this game but it really was a good game. Predators took an early 1 run lead but we soon got it back thanks to Austin Smith's triple into left center field. The rest of the innings were all about shutting each other down. Great pitching Spencer! Tied at 1-1, extra inning invoked the california rule. Predators end up with 3 runs in the final inning. Finest have last at-bat. We bring in 2, and have tying run on base but they shut us down with the 3rd out. Very exciting game...not too many errors.

Predators have been a tough team for us. We tied them once in the last Halloween tournament and lost to them twice during the league play. They are our's next time...we have the skill, we just need to want it more.

Monday photos

Tournament January 30, 2010

Today, the Finest played the Diamond Dawgs and won 6-4 at Victory Lane. The second game was against the Gators, which we lost 3-1. More coming tomorrow...

Sunday's games were held at Rio Vista park in Peoria. First game was against the Thunder. Seemed to be a fairly easy victory since we were playing good. Final score I believe was 10-1, Finest. The second game was against the Legends. You never know how the game will turn out against the Legends since they are very similar in ability and skill level to the Finest.

The umpires said this was one of the best games they saw all weekend. The Legends took an early lead, then we took turns shutting each other down. Great pitching by Nico and Spencer. Sixth inning and our last at-bat, we had 2 on in scoring position and were down 3-1. Austin and Justin are next to bat. Two outs, we steal from first and second. Legends throw the ball to 3rd base and the field umpire calls us out, game over. The problem was that most of us on the 3rd base side saw the ball pop out so our runner should have been safe. The field umpire wouldn't ask for assistance from the plate umpire.

So, we are out of it and the tournament championship ends up being between the Gators and Legends.

Link to photos

Photos from Carmen Ramsdell

Carmen Ramsdell, mom to Ricky #5, aka "Rocket" was kind enough to share some really nice quality photos from some of the games. Take a look, they are really nice. Thanks, Carmen!

Link to photos

Link to photos 2

USSSA Winter Nationals Super NIT

Sunday's games at Big League Dreams were against the Legends and the Desert Dawgs. The first game against the Legends ended Legends 3, Finest 6. The second game against the Desert Dawgs ended Dawgs 2, Finest 8. Good job Finest!

Monday's games at Big League Dreams/Anaheim field were against the LP Tigers and the Long Beach Fury. LP Tigers took an early lead that we just couldn't catch but we did come on strong at the end. I thought we possibly could pull out a victory, especially when we had the bases loaded with no outs. Alas, we couldn't bring any of the runners in and took the loss, 10 to 6. Lots of fielding errors on our part and unearned runs.

The second game on Monday versus the Long Beach Fury was tied at 1 all for 3 innings then fielding errors cost us 2. Final 3-1, Fury wins it.

Tuesday we played only one game. This one was against the winner of the Gators and Red Mountain Rangers. Ranger were up early but Gators came back to win. Finest versus Gators game, the Gators took an early lead but we came back to win it, 5-2. Next game: Wednesday 11:00am.

There were a lot of upsets with the top seeds losing to lower seeds. One example: The Desert Dawgs defeated the Xplosion.

Semi-finals on Wednesday was Finest vs Aztecs. Regulation game ended in a tie which led to sudden death final inning. Aztecs scored 3 runs, Finest only 1. Thus we made it to the final four but not the championship game.

Photos

Dec 19/20 AZ USSSA Winter Nationals Warm-up

Games 1 and 2 on Saturday, December 19 were played against the Red Mountain Rangers and the Red Raiders. Finest won both games 12-0.

The first game Sunday is against the Red Mountain Rangers.

Final score: 3-0, Finest.

Championship game against the AZ Xplosion. Similar to the last time we played them, lots of errors on our part contributed to our loss. Final score: Xplosion 10, Finest 2.

Photos

USSSA Toys for Tots Tournament

Saturday December 12 and Sunday December 13 was the USSSA Toys for Tots Tournament at BLD and Victory Lane.

On Saturday we played our first game against the LumberKings and won 16-1. Then we played the Drillers and lost 5-9.

On Sunday, the semifinals were against the Legends. Final score: Legends 6, Finest 8.

Championship game against the Stealth, AZ Finest come from behind to win it, 3-2 in the 6th innings.

Way to go, guys! Good baseball to watch.

USSSA Thanksgiving Shootout NIT Nov 27, 28, 29

The first game Friday at BLD against the red Blaze ended a tie at 1-1. Second game against the Stealth we lost 8-1.

Saturday's games at Victory Lane were much better. The first game was against the Aces. Finest won 13-4. The second game against the blue Blaze ended with the Finest winning 13-1.

Friday/Saturday photos

Sunday's games were back at BLD. First game was against the Drillers. It was a good game. Finest win 9-4. So onto the championship game against the Desert Dawgs.

The Finest took an early 3-0 lead. The Desert Dawgs had just run-ruled the Stealth before they played us so it may have been a bit of a shock to them. They seemed a bit dejected as they were walking out to take the field. A couple of runs and some cheerleading for the Dawgs helped their attitude though.

The Finest take the lead and keep it to win 11-7. Great job Finest!

Sunday photos

USSSA League November 18, 2009

Double header against the Rangers. Both were played on Ebbets Field at BLD. First game we won 7 to 4. Second game was Finest 12, Rangers 5.

One thing I found notable in these 2 games was the number of times our players were hit by the pitcher. The number had to have been at least 10. Great job taking one (or ten) for the team guys!

A Ranger parent actually came up and asked if our players were trained to stand there and take the hit. Isn't everyone? :)

USSSA Strike Out Hunger Tournament

Today's games were against the Bulldogs and Dirt Bags. Both games were are Big League Dreams Angels field. We lost to the Bulldogs 5-6. Final against the Dirt Bags was Finest 5, Dirtbags 8.

Next games tomorrow 12:00 at Rio Vista.

Sunday's games were at 12:00 on Rio Vista #1 and 2:00 on Rio Vista #2. Game 1 was against the Bulldogs. The Finest pulled out a 2 run victory in extra innings, final score 7 to 5.

The championship game was played against the Sandlot All Stars. The Sandlot team was up 8 runs in the first 2 innings and we just couldn't pull it together. Final score Finest 2, Sandlot 11.

Photos

USSSA League results

Yesterday, Wednesday 11-11-09 the Finest played a double header with the Legends at Big League Dreams Chase Field. First game was a 14-4 loss. The score should have been much closer because twice we got our third out leaving the bases loaded. Notably, Justin Jensen drove a ball past right center field for an in park home run.

The second game we took an early lead and did everything we could to hold onto it. This was an exciting game as we held them to the end of the 6th inning for a 4-3 win.

USSSA Veterans Day Salute Tournament

The USSSA Veterans Day Salute Tournament began for the Finest at Victory Lane for games 1 and 2. Saturday's games were against the Stealth, which ended in a tie at 5-5, and the DBacks, which we unfortuately lost 3-4. These were exciting games to watch.

Sunday's games were at Rio Vista Park in Peoria. First game at 10:00am was against the Red Mountain Rangers. Finest won 13-3. Game 2 was against the Desert Dawgs. Finest won 8-4 which put us in the championship game against the Xplosion. The championship game was the third game of the day and you could tell the Finest were wearing down a bit. The Xplosion also has some really gigantic 11 year olds which makes for some intimidation. But even with the heat, and fatigue, the Finest played very well. We lost 4-2 but 3 of the Xplosions runs were a direct result of our errors.

Great job Finest! These were exciting games to watch.

Link to Sunday's Photos

USSSA League November 4, 2009

Yesterday's league games were played against the Muddogs at BLD Fenway. I'm not sure what ranking or age they are but the Finest fairly dominated both games. Game 1 final: 11-0 Finest. Game 2 final: 10-0 Finest. The boys looked very good and the weather was perfect for evening baseball.

USSSA Halloween Scream Tournament

On Saturday Oct 31, the Finest came from behind to tie the Legends 6 to 6. The second game against the Cougars was a shutout with the Finest winning 10-0. That means we are first seed and play in one semi-final and possibly the championship game tomorrow in Chandler. Great job Finest.

Game 3 tomorrow 11:00am.

Pictures from Saturdays games

Game 3 on Sunday November 1 was against the Cougars. The Cougars had just finished a game against the Predators and narrowly edged out a victory. The Finest dominated the game against the Cougars, winning 12-4 in only 5 innings. We had some really solid hits this game.

The championship game at 1:00 versus the Aztecs started late because the Aztecs and Legends were tied at the end of the regulation time. The championship game was won by the Finest 6-0. We had solid hits and some really good plays.