When you want to know what's up!

At the AAU Fall Classic, the Thunder proved that we could play with anyone. We started off with displaying our new team banner and wearing our new helmets and the excitement was high.

We jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the first game on Friday against the Oviedo Bombers. We let them back into the game with a tough defensive inning to go down 9-5. After battling back to tie the game 9-9, we again opened the door to go down 12-9. Bottom of the 6^th, we started another comeback, only to get shut down by an odd double play. We had great play by Chris (good pitching), Owen (excellent defense), and Mario (also with excellent defense).

The first game on Saturday was against the Tampa Stix. Another great game with the exception of one tough inning. We lost a close one, 13-5. Standouts from the game were Nicki (on base twice and scored), Josh (on base three times and scored), and Michael (with three hits). Our second game on Saturday was against the number one seed, the Central Florida Mustangs. We just ran out of gas, from playing 3 games in less than 24 hours and had another one of those innings. We did score 3 runs, but that just wasn't enough. Highlighted players were Bubba (on base twice and scored once) and Matt (with good defensive play).

On Sunday, we proved what the Thunder is made of. Brian took the mound, everybody hit the ball well, and there were no errors. We proved that great pitching and defense always wins and we even added great hitting, as we won 13-3 against the Hillsborough River Dogs. During the game, Brian pitched all five innings for the win, Eric had a key hit and scored and Kalan played perfect 1^st base.

While our record for the tournament wasn't that great, we were competitive in every game. The players never game up and always were ready for more. I think that with some additions to our pitching staff and tightening up the defense, we are going to be very successful.

We have one more tournament and we will be playing as a 10 and under team, using real baseball rules (leads, dropped third strike, etc.). We are ready. Bring it on!

We had some great defensive plays by Charlie, Mario and Bubba, but we were hitless against the Stingers. Steven and Kalan got on base and Steven scored our only run. The Warriors made us play our second game with lead-offs, pitching from the stretch and stealing. This was a lot of new things for a team that is only been together for one month. Chris and Mario were our only base runners and unfortunately we were held scoreless. Josh did a great job on the mound, with all of the added responsibility.

Our second day started with the Sarasota Snappers. They are a 9 and under team. The plan was to play the Snappers in the morning and again in the afternoon for the Championship. The morning game was great. We had nine base runners and scored four runs. Michael had a excellent pitching performance with Charlie in relief. Fielding was very good from Owen and we lost Bubba from being hit in the wrist with a wild pitch. We lost (4-11), which was alright, because we didn't want to show all of are cards in the morning game and we were in great shape for the championship game.

Unfortunately, the rain came and it poured. The fields flooded and after a two-hour delay, the Championship game was cancelled. This made the morning game, the championship game and put us in 2^nd place.

Overall a great performance from everyone. We got our first team trophy and everyone got individual plaques.

The season begins and we are off to a great start. We won both ends of a double header against the Santa Fe Braves (18-5 and 12-2). The first game had a 60 minute weather delay, in the second inning, due to local thunderstorms. When we re-started, Kalan led off with a single, Nicki got hit by a pitch and we batted through the order twice, on our way to a 15 run inning.

The second game proved that double headers are long and require a lot of energy. After a close game through 3 innings, we got our second wind. In the 4^th inning, everyone that got on base scored. Key hits by Matt and Josh kept the rally going and secured the victory.

Today, we played our first official game, and WE WON (12-6)! We played a local 9-10 recreational league team, the Yankees. This was our first chance to pitch and hit off of other kids. It was a new experience, because the pitchers aren't always as accurate as coach pitch.

Our pitchers: Brian, Chris, Steven, and Eric did a great job. This should help us prepare for our season opener, next week.