Ducks Redux

The ducks featured in the April 18th Longhorns Round-Up post are back. Actually, they never left. As the wet weather has continued, virtually unabated, over the past week, the saturated yards, sidewalks and streets of the city of Louisville have become one big, boundless birdbath, much to the delight of our aquatic feathered friends.

Although these neighborhood wetlands are perfectly suited for mallard merriment, the only human activity that can possibly be done on the baseball fields throughout the Ohio Valley region is the backstroke. Consequently, the Louisville Longhorns’ much-anticipated trip up to Cincinnati this past weekend for a doubleheader against the Cincinnati Spikes had to be called off.

For those scoring at home, the persistent precipitation has now drowned-out the last seven games—four tournament tilts, one league contest and the aforementioned double-dip—on the Longhorns’ schedule, and we’re not out of the water-logged woods yet. With more severe weather in the forecast for the next three days, Wednesday’s scheduled league game against the 12U Hilltoppers is also in jeopardy.

Sigh.

Wetnessday

Wind-whipped rain lashing against windows. Booming thundercracks so loud that they set off car alarms. And, for good measure, tornado warning sirens crying out, urging all to seek safety. It was the kind of overnight meteorological onslaught that would keep even the heaviest of sleepers awake.

The tumultuous tempest that ripped through the region Tuesday night was also the sort that wreaks havoc on the playability of baseball diamonds, even for games not scheduled to be contested until 12 hours after the last umbrella has been folded up and put away. So, on the heels of having their weekend tournament in Fort Knox completely washed out, resulting in three to four games being lopped off their schedule, the Louisville Longhorns’ 8 PM Beechmont Competitive League meeting against the 12U Louisville Bulldogs on Wednesday night was also called off.

After playing 14 games over the first three weeks of the season, the wet weather, combined with a week off for Spring Break, has resulted in the Longhorns only getting in one game over the past three weeks. With the benefit of having an indoor training facility at their disposal, however, the Longhorns have used what in the past would have been down-time to work on their games, as they did last night, honing their swings with close to two hours of tee-work, soft-toss and live batting practice in the cages of the Louisville Baseball Center.

Freshly-shorn coach Rick Arnold makes a point to his charges

at Wednesday night’s indoor workout.

(Pictured, counter-clockwise from Coach Arnold:

No. 32 Andrew Arnold, No. 31 Ryan Hamilton, No. 21 Casey Simon,

No. 2 Brendan Koester, No. 11 Andrew Littlefield, No. 9 Noah Baugher,

No. 5 Nicholas Parrish, No. 7 Trey Sweeney, No. 3 Byrce Elmore.)

Nice Weather... If You’re a Duck

It was not a good sign: seconds after pulling out of our driveway early Saturday morning on our way to the MidSouth Global Sports baseball tournament in which the Louisville Longhorns were scheduled to play, I had to slow down to allow a family of ducks to cross in front of our car. This is not a fabrication to make a journalistic point about how much precipitation we had this past weekend, but rather a bona fide statement of fact (if you don’t believe me, my car-mate, Casey, is available for verification purposes, or you could just ask any of the three mallards).

Water fowl making themselves at home on our street is not a common sight—we live in the Highlands, so named because the area stands 60 feet above the flood plain of the Ohio River, so even during the heaviest periods of rain, when other parts of the city of Louisville, Kentucky may otherwise be under water, our neighborhood remains high and dry. For that trio of ducks that waddled across Meadow Road to feel at home on the lawns and thoroughfares around our house, there would have had to have been a significant accumulation of the wet stuff.

And there was. So much so, in fact, that as we splashed through the rivers that flowed along the sides of the roads, and as our Ford Flex continued to be pelted by rain for the entire duration of our hour drive, I wondered aloud—several times—how, even if the skies cleared at some point, the fields at the Kilianski Baseball Complex in Fort Knox could possibly be playable.

They weren’t. Nor would they be. We sat in the parking lot for a spell, looking down at the sopping-wet fields, wondering why we were sitting in the parking lot, looking down at the sopping-wet fields, before the tournament director finally stated the obvious: there would be no baseball today. Ever the optimist, he declared that the fields would be ready the next day, and we would all play the entire tournament—a minimum of three games, and as many as four, per team—on Sunday. Given the present condition of the fields, a weather forecast that called for the possibility of more rain throughout the day and high temperatures that would not get out of the 40s, one had to wonder how the baseball diamonds could possibly dry out in time for play to begin at 8 AM the next morning.

They couldn’t. We’ll just chalk that plan up to wishful thinking. But, as the saying goes, If wishes were horses, beggars would ride. Fortunately, unlike Saturday morning, we did not have to ride down to Fort Knox again, as the decision to cancel the tournament on account of mud was made late Saturday night, in time to allow us all to sleep in on Sunday.

“No games today—or tomorrow, for that matter.”

One For All and All For One Hit

RE-CAP  In a Wednesday night duel, four Louisville Longhorns pitchketeers combined to limit the 12U Lyndon Lightning to one hit over six innings while whiffing 14 Bolt batters. At the dish, after being down 1-0 after the first half inning, the Longhorns answered right back with two tallies in the bottom of the frame and added three more in the third stanza en route to a 5-2 victory, their first in the young Beechmont 12U Competitive League season.

Catcher Bryce Elmore awaits the start of the evening affair

as the sun sets over Field 8 at A.B. Sawyer Park.

HUMP DAY HAPPENINGS  Special Ks: Starting slabster Matthew Higgins recorded eight of nine outs via Route K, and Nicholas Parrish, Andrew Littlefield and Casey Simon flung an inning each and notched two punchouts apiece... Balls Out: When not throwing it by batters or getting plunked by one (actually two—he was twice hit by pitches in the game), Higgins was hitting the ball out of the yard—his 3-run shot in the third inning, high over the center field screen, was his fourth of the year and proved to be the difference in the contest... Slap Me Five: Andrew Littlefield’s first inning, RBI single extended his hit streak to five games... Bunt Cake: His sacrifice hit in inning No. 2 marked the second time in the last three games that Noah Baugher has treated game-goers to a scintillating display of his small-ball savvy.

Good as Gold in Fort Knox

After the first ten games of the 2011 baseball season, the Louisville Longhorns were sporting a 7-3 overall record, had made it to back-to-back championship games and had one title already under their collective belts. Certainly, that should be considered a good start, but heading into the Kilianski Opening Day tournament—their third tournament in as many weekends—they were also coming off two consecutive run-rule losses. How, and if, the ’Horns would bounce back down in Fort Knox, Kentucky would be a good indication of their pastime pluck.

After taking one for the team, Ryan Hamilton takes a lead.

                                             

Casey Simon leads off the third with a double.

RE-CAP  The Longhorns sent 12 men to plate and erupted for 8 runs against the Kentucky Beasts in the third inning, and would carry an 8-0 lead into the last frame. However, the Longhorns’ personal monster so far this season, defensive miscues, reared its unsightly head once again, as they allowed 5 runs—4 unearned—in the top of the fifth inning, before Trey Sweeney came in to secure the 8-5 victory by slaying the final Beast. (More on Mr. Sweeney later.)

KNOX NOTES  3-up, 3-down x 3: Starting pitcher Casey Simon twirled 3 innings of perfect ball, aided by a stellar Bryce Elmore-to-Nicholas Parrish 9-3 putout against the final batter he faced... Perfect Pair: Nicholas Parrish, with a single and two bases on balls, and Andrew Littlefield, with a 2-run single and a walk, were perfect at the plate... Double-double: Simon started off the 8-run third inning with his fourth double of the season, and Elmore collected his first extra base hit of the season, a 2-run two-bagger, in the same inning.

Andrew Arnold makes the out at first,

despite the specter of the... GIANT LOOMING HAND.

RE-CAP  After jumping out to an early lead, the Longhorns can’t take the Heat, as they are once again burned by their all-too-familiar nemesis, the unearned run. After scoring four in the first inning, the ’Horns would give up a dozen counters, only the first three of which were earned, and the contest would ultimately end with the ‘Horns at the lesser end of a 12-5 final score.

Andrew Littlefield prepares to deliver one of his two base hits

beneath picturesque early-April skies.

BULLION BANTER  Double-A’s double-bagger: The Longhorns’ 4-run first inning was highlighted by Andrew Arnold’s 2-run keystone hit, his third of the season... 11 + 21 = 2-3: Andrew Littlefield and Casey Simon (numbers 11 and 21, respectively), both go 2-for-3... 7th heaven: Littlefield nabs his team-leading seventh sack of the season... Walks on the wild side: Brendan Koester works the count full in both turns at bat, takes ball four, and the accompanying free pass, each time... Play of the Year (so far): third baseman Trey Sweeney makes diving stop to his left, gets up and throws out runner at first base to rob final Heat batter of certain base hit.

Starting pitcher Matthew Higgins fanned six en route to the victory.

RE-CAP  The Longhorns earned the No. 2 seed going into Sunday’s bracket-play phase of the tournament, where they once again faced their first-round pool-play opponent, the Kentucky Beasts, in a semifinal re-match. This time, their combination of an unrelenting offense—15 of their 23 batters would reach base—and a flawless defense—no errors (!)—would spell doom for their Bluegrass brethren, and, with their 11-3 victory, the Longhorns would earn a spot in their third consecutive tournament championship game.

Ryan Hamilton pilfers one of his three bags in the game,

raising a cloud of diamond dust in the process.

TOURNEY TALES  Twice as nice: Noah Baugher was a perfect 2-for-2 with two RBIs, including a sublime, second inning safety squeeze... 6-pack: Starting pitcher Matthew Higgins earned the win with three strong innings of 1-run ball, fanning 6 along the way... Three’s company: Casey Simon was 3-for-3 at the plate, with 3 RBIs... Hit parade: Andrew Arnold earned his way on base via hit-by-pitch for the second time in the tournament... Baker’s dozen: Trey Sweeney drove in his team-leading 13th run in the the first inning... Four score and two walks apiece: Ryan Hamilton and Brendan Koester both walked twice and scored twice in the game... Crime pays: Hamilton swiped three bags, to double his season stolen base output... The ultimate sacrifice: Andrew Littlefield’s third inning sacrifice fly was his second of the season, tops on the team.

RE-CAP  The Heat was on for the Louisville Longhorns in the championship game of the Kilianski Opening Day baseball tournament—the Ohio Heat, that is. The searing Heat, a club that won 50 games in 2010 and was undefeated so far in 2011, had already proven to be too hot to handle for the Longhorns when the teams met earlier in the tournament, so when the two squared off again on a windy Sunday afternoon in Fort Knox, it promised to be a barnburner.

Ouch, Part 1: Casey Simon gets drilled with a pitch in the fourth inning.

 Ouch, Part 2: Later in the same inning,

Andrew Arnold feels his teammate’s pain.

The Heat would score in each of the first three innings—four in the first, a single marker in the second and two more in the third—while the Longhorns chose to do all of their early damage in one fell-swoop with a 7-run second inning. From that point on, however, the complexion of the contest would change dramatically, from a hitfest in which tallies seemed to be a dime a dozen to a pitcher’s duel in which neither team could buy a run. After combining for 14 runs on as many hits over the first three frames, the two teams would manage only a pair of harmless singles each, and no runs, over the next five innings, in large part due to exceptional pitching and tight defense. In the top of the ninth—three stanzas deep into extra innings—the Longhorns would finally wear down the previously indefatigable Ohioans and plate four unanswered runs, en route to an 11-7 championship game victory.

FINALS THOUGHTS  Hit ’em where, and when, it hurts: Ryan Hamilton’s bases-loaded triple to deep center field was the big blow in the Longhorns’ 7-run second inning... How do you spell relief?: Trey Sweeney came on in relief to spin 5-2/3 innings of masterful 2-hit, no-run ball to earn the W... Clean-up on Aisle 4: Matthew Higgins, hitting out of the fourth spot in the order, was 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs, including the knock that drove in what proved to be the winning run... Fort Base Knox: Andrew Littlefield’s second inning single gave him at least one hit in all four tournament games... Flashing the leather: shortstop Casey Simon had a putout or assist in 10 of the outs the Longhorns made in the field... Not on my watch: Andrew Arnold gunned down his third would-be base-stealer of the season in the 7th inning... Multi-talented: Brendan Koester had his second multi-hit game of the season.

The Burnt-Orange Boys hoist the championship hardware.

Trey Sweeney flashes a sparkling smile

befitting equally sparkling baby-blues,

while clutching the well-deserved game ball.

Nightmare on Rochester Drive

Beechmont 12U Competitive League
Regular Season Game No. 1
Louisville Longhorns 2, Kentucky Mudcats 20

Get out your thesaurus and find the synonyms for the word “horrible.” There, you will discover the many appropriate terms to describe the Louisville Longhorns’ performance against the Kentucky Mudcats in the first game of the Beechmont competitive league season. Start with “abhorrent,” move on down the line to “dreadful,” and make your way over to “revolting.” Choose any one you like—they all apply.

Pitcher Noah Baugher recorded one of the two
Longhorns’ strikeouts on the night.

In an effort to find challenging competition, the 11U Longhorns are playing up in Beechmont’s 12U league, and they realized going into the season that there might be occasions when they have to take their lumps. But even though the Mudcats may very well be the class of the league, if not the best 12U team in the state, the Longhorns fully expected to make a far-better showing than they did last Thursday night. Witness: the Longhorns were only able to muster 3 hits—all singles—in 4 innings; their pitchers issued 9 bases on balls, and hit two batters, in only 3 innings; they committed an inconceivable 9 errors in the field, leading to 10 unearned runs; and, were it not for the two unearned runs that the Mudcats gifted them, the final score would have been 20-0.

’Nuff said.

A pained Nicholas Parrish cannot bear to watch.

The Importance of Education

Tournament Championship Game
Beechmont Sno-Ball Classic
Louisville Longhorns 1, Cincinnati Spikes 10

Upon completion of the Beechmont Sno-Ball Classic baseball tournament, one thing was abundantly clear: the Cincinnati Spikes need to do more reading. Specifically, it is Longhorns Round-Up that they need to read, and read often.

Nicholas Parrish follows through on one of his two

hard-struck base hits in the championship game.

If the Spikes had done what any true, dyed-in-the-wool-flannel baseball fan worth his or her salted peanuts does and religiously read the Round-Up write-ups, and had they spent a few less hours practicing and instead used that time to crunch the numbers, they would have known that, in the Louisville Longhorns’ seven games against opponents other than the Spikes, the ’Horns scored, on average, a robust 10+ runs per contest and their pitchers sported a miserly collective earned run average of 1.24. Certainly, had these Cincinnatians been aware of these eminently important facts, they would never have dreamed of going into the tournament championship game and putting ten runs up on the scoreboard while limiting the Longhorns to but three hits and one lone tally.

Casey Simon blasts a third inning home run while teammate Matthew Higgins

follows the flight of the ball from the on-deck circle.

Perhaps a couple of Longhorns ought to read up on the Cincinnati Spikes, as they were obviously unaware that hitters are apparently not expected to go a perfect 2-for-2 against them, as Nicholas Parrish did, nor are they supposed to take their purportedly indomitable starting pitcher deep over the center field fence for a shutout-shattering circuit shot, as Casey Simon did.

Return Engagement

Bracket Play Semifinal
Beechmont Sno-Ball Classic
Louisville Longhorns 8, Louisville Legends 6

Familiar faces, familiar places. Just one week prior, the Louisville Longhorns and the Louisville Legends were in opposite dugouts for the championship game of the Pre-Season Classic. Seven days later, the crosstown rivals would face each other once again, this time for the right to advance to the championship game of the following weekend’s Sno-Ball Classic. Both tournaments were contested at the Beechmont baseball complex, where these two teams will see each other once again, later this season, when they square off in competitive league play.

Starting pitcher Nicholas Parrish would earn the win,

striking out 6 along the way.

Like the setting and the opponents, the first four innings of the game took on a familiar appearance. Having won their inaugural affair against the Legends by a score of 12-0, the Longhorns looked to be on their way to authoring a strikingly similar follow-up story. In the top of the second inning, with Nicholas Parrish and Ryan Hamilton already on base via a walk and an error, Bryce Elmore, Noah Baugher and Brendan Koester stroked back-to-back-to-back singles, Andrew Littlefield added a sacrifice fly and Casey Simon pulled a run-scoring double down the third base line to put a healthy five runs up on the board.

Two frames later, Brendan Koester launched his first career home run, far over the left field screen, and after Andrew Littlefield singled, Matthew Higgins added a 2-run blast, his third of the season, to straightaway center field. The score was now 8-0, and it certainly appeared that the Longhorns would once again cruise to another one-sided, shutout victory. But in the Legends final at bat, the story line of the sequel would suddenly deviate from the original.

Brendan Koester cranks his first career home run.

Matthew Higgins mashed his third round-tripper of the season.

Just when one thought the show was, for all intents and purposes, over, a plot twist in the form of two 2-out, 3-run homers turned a foregone conclusion into an edge-of-your-seat, 8-6 nail-biter for Longhorn fans. Any chance of a storybook ending for the Legends was denied, however, by Matthew Higgins—he of the steely countenance and menacing fastball—who came in from left field and struck out the final batter of the game, swinging.

Roll credits.