Final Thoughts
Mood:  happy
Topic: UPDATES

As our bats went, it seems so did our season. We finish the year 14-5, we outscored our opponents this year by a final tally of 253-88. That is producing runs. I can't say enough about how proud I am. Each and every player offered something to the team this year and every player contributed to the season.  In the two years now since Brett has come back to Montandon, this team has soared to a total record of 25-12-1, and both a 2nd place and 3rd place finish. That is not too shabby at all. We had 5 pitchers this year that were just outstanding. I want to thank River Mertz, Dalton Fay, David Busler, Kolby Bohner, and Michael Bergerstock. We had a chance to win every single game this year because of your pitching. Thank you for that. Two of the younger guys I want to thank are Dalton Fay and David Busler. You two kids inspire me. The love of the game is in you, you guys play ball the way the game is suppossed to be played, with enthusiasm, spirit, and a smile on your face.

I also want to thank River Mertz. I have not seen a kid with the ability you have at your age in a very long time. If you stick to this game, and keep playing hard, the game will bring you great things in the future.

And finally, to my 12 year olds. Justin, you were just awesome this year. Everytime we needed you, you were there to step it up and play like a champ, I am really going to miss you, you became like a family member to me, and I am so very proud of all you accomplished this year. Brock Townsend, what can I say about you? Everytime we needed that big hit from you, you were there. I am so proud of you. Your improvement from last year to this year was just amazing to watch. I am proud to have been a part of it, no matter how small my part may have been. And now onto my son Brett Conrad. Thank you son. You played your heart out everytime you were in. You made me proud so many times I can't even mention them all.  And, you spent so much time comparing your play to the way I played at your age, and in my mind and heart, you became a better ball player than I was. I love you buddy, and all the years I have been involved in baseball, this was my all time favorite, because you and I got to do it together. I will always cherish this year, and you will always be MY MVP.

Final Tournament Games
Mood:  celebratory
Topic: Tournament

The rain may have dampened the fields this past week. But not the spirits of the Montandon Big Red.  After rain pushed back the games one day, we came into Friday's elimination game against West Milton, ready to go. In a game where David Busler, Michael Bergerstock, and Kolby Bohner pitched us to victory, we added hits by most of the players on the team, on our way to cruising to an easy 20-2 victory. Saturday morning brought more showers, but we played on. In a 2 Inning downpour we jumped out to an 8-0 lead on the Turbotville Yankees, and when the rain just go too heavy to play, the Yankees asked for no more, so we ended that game with an 8-0 final score. We then moved onto an afternoon game against Exchange. In another elimination round game, our kids stepped it up. We played through injury, and illness, but those kids never gave up on themselves, and in the final innings we just simply pulled away from them in a 10-6 win. At this point we knew we had at the very worst 3rd place for this year.

In Sunday's first game, we had another rematch with those Turbotville Tigers. In the first innings one of our leaders, and final year players, Brett Conrad, pulled up lame running out a ground ball. Brett tried like crazy to play again but, he just wasn't able to with the amount of pain he was in. Maybe I have too much faith in my own kid, but, to be honest, even I thought without Brett, we didn't even have a shot against a team that had beat us 3 times this year, when we had him. But, as usual, those kids never gave up, showing the heart of champions that they all have. Huge hits in this game from Dalton Fay, David Busler, and homeruns by River Mertz and Brock Townsend got our offense going. Meanwhile David Busler and River Mertz were just LIGHTS OUT, on the mound. We finally got past those Tigers with a huge 13-4 win, putting us in the championship round.

Our final showdown of the day was Washingtonville. We battled back and forth with them all game long. We did all we could, and even went into the bottom of the 6th with a one run lead. But give credit where credit is due, they battled, they fought, they clawed and scratched their way to score two in the bottom of the sixth, and they won the championship with a 12-11 win. That gives Montandon a 2nd place trophy, and congratulations to Washingtonville, they did earn the title this year.

Some of the higher points from the tournament. Our hitting was spot on when we needed it to be. Brett Conrad, in the games he did play, went 8 for 10 for an .800 Tournament average. Kolby Bohner went 11 for 15 in the tournament for a tourney avg of .733 meanwhile Justin Russell and Austin Ruhl both hit .600 in the tourney, and other high tournament averages included Michael Bergestocks .500, Brock Townsend's .455 and David Busler's .417.

We had an awesome season, with an awesome team. I want you to know as parents, if there is a b-ball team in Montandon next year, I have already offered my services to take over for Coach Bohner, and I would absolutley LOVE to have all of you back that can come back. To the 3- 12 year olds, I am gonna miss watching you play, I am very very proud of you, I love you, and I wish you the very best of luck as you continue your careers elsewhere. As far as the rest of you go, I love you alll too, you became my kids throughout the course of the season, we took 3rd last year, and 2nd this year, so if you come back next year, I am going to try to get us one step higher and we'll fight to take first next year. Thank you again, each and every one of you have touched my heart this year, and I am gonna miss you until we go back out and get 'em next year. I know I speak for all the coaching staff when I say that we love you all. Have a great summer, and we will see you at the picnic on July 26th, at Halfway Dam.

Turbotville Tigers
Mood:  don't ask
Topic: Tournament
In a game that we all knew was going to be the most competitive of the first round games, our kids played the Turbotville Tigers. Although we had a homerun from Brett Conrad, great pitching from River Mertz, and Dalton Fay, this game was marred by lopsided umpiring. I don't like to, nor do I want to make excuses for a loss, but, the simple truth is when our kids were batting, balls that bounced in front of the plate, landed inside the batters box, and in some cases were eyeball high were called strikes, and when we were doing the pitching, balls right across the plate waist high were called balls high, it would be hard to argue the fact of por umpiring. Despite the obvious obstacles we were up against, we still played with all we had, and in the end, we lost to the Tigers for the 3rd time this year 8-5.  Our next battle is West Milton on Thursday, at this point the kids are more determined than ever, nobody is going to come to our house and push us around anymore. Let's just hope and pray that from here on out, the kids play wins or loses games, and not bad umpiring. It's for the kids, it is so unfair to them to lose mainly because of the umps.

West Milton
Mood:  bright
Topic: GAME
We went to West Milton for our last regular season game. We sat the bigger kids for most of the game and the smaller ones responded. Austin Ruhl came up with 2 big hits, and the pitching of of Michael Bergerstock and David Busler led us to an easy 13-4 win. Ending our regular season record of 10 &3. Our next contest is next Tuesday night as we start the tournament against  the Turbotville Tigers, good luck kids.

Washingtonville
Mood:  party time!
Our next game came at Washingtonville. We went in hungry for a win to avenge our only other loss on the season. Our kids took it to them, and took it to them hard. Going in knowing that Washingtonville's record was 12-0-1, the only undefeated team in the league, we knew we had our work cut out for us. Brett Conrad went 2 for 2 with a bases loaded triple, Kolby Bohner had 2 hits to help the charge, and the pitching of River and Dalton was just unbelievable as we went to their field, and walked away with a 12-5 win, avenging our only other loss and knocking them off their undefeated pedestal, really giving the Big Red some momentum heading into tournaments.

Exchange
Mood:  chillin'
Topic: GAME
We really needed to break out of our funk, as we welcomed Exchange to our field for another tough contest against another tough North side team. The highlights of this one were our spot on pitching of River Mertz and David Busler, these two were almost untouchable shutting down their bats, and limiting them to just one run. From our offensive side, we finally started hitting again, as we got big hits from Brett Conrad, Michael Bergerstock, as well as another Homerun from River Mertz, as we coasted to a dominating 15-1 win, now making us 8 & 3 on the year.

Turbotville Tigers
Mood:  don't ask
Topic: GAME
We went to Turbotville, trying to avenge our first loss, but we again came up short. We only managed 4 hits in this one, we did get a two run Homer from River Mertz and a 2 RBI double from Dalton Fay, but the double from Brett Conrad and single from David Nielson didn't produce anymore runs. We had solid pitching from Dalton Fay and River Mertz, but the Tigers managed to pull out one big inning, scoring 6 runs, on their way to beating us 7-4. This makes our record at this point in the season 7 and 3

Washingtonville
Mood:  not sure
After a week of no games, we had the Washingtonville team come to our field for our toughest game yet this year. We got a Grand Slam from River Mertz in the first inning to jump out to a 4-0 lead, and going into the last inning we were still up 4-2. Washingtonville awoke their bats and got some solid hits to score 4 runs on us in the 6th. We went into the bottom of the 6th down 6-4. We got some key hits, and Brett got robbed on a beautiful play by Washingtonville's shortstop, we managed to get another run in on River's double, but the last out was made when Austin was thrown out at the plate, trying to score a run to tie the game. We gave them all we had, and even though our kids played their hearts out, we came up one run short losing 6-5. Our kids were upset enough, that they won't allow themselves to lose to Washingtonville again. We know they can be beat, and next time we'll get them. Good job kids, all the parenst and coaches are very very proud of you and the way you played. Don't worry, we'll get them next time.

@ Exchange
Mood:  cheeky
Topic: GAME
We went to Exchange for our first back to back games. To say we recovered from the loss wouldn't exactley be the right way of putting it. If you like good pitching , then we were the team to watch. River Mertz started the game and pitched the first three innings allowing 2 walks, and striking out 9. Dalton fay came in to close it out with 2 innings, allowing a run, but striking out 4. As far as our offense went, we scored all our runs on bases loaded walks. We didn't manage a single hit, but still came out on top 9-1. Running our season record to 7 wins with just the 1 loss. On a side note, David Neilson was hit right in the knee cap with a pitch and had to be pulled from the game, we hope that feels better soon, as David is one of those kids we really don't want to lose for any length of time.

Turbotville Tigers
Mood:  down
Topic: GAME
We welcomed Turbotville Tigers to our field for what turned out to be a battle. In the end the pitching of David Busler and Kolby Bohner just wasn't enough on this day as some of our big bats, whom have been hitting all year, were unable to carry us  on this night, our normally explosive offense only produced 6 runs on the night, as we went down to our first defeat 11-6. Give credit where credit is due, the Tigers played a great game, their pitchers shut down our bats and their defense was outstanding, we tip our hats to you, but, we also know we will get you next time.