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Flag Football

September 22, 2018

Preface: Sennet was asked to join a flag football team coached by the Radiator Whiskey and NSB All Stars coach, Jordan Pane’e. He said he didn’t want to, but we told him to just go to the practice and see how it went. He went to the first practice, and had fun – almost everyone on the team is a friend and baseball teammate. He still hemmed and hawed a bit about it everytime we went to practice. Last night was the last practice before the season started. He whined and moaned and said he didn’t want to go, he didn’t like it, and that he wanted to quit football. I told him that he had to go to the practice and play through the first game. If he still felt like quitting he could. After practice last night he said he had fun and he apologized for never wanting to go to practice (he does this with soccer too – but never baseball).

So today was the first game for the Meadowbrook Dawg Pack, his flag football team. The game was at 9:45 and then he had a soccer game in Shoreline at 11:45. His flag football team was going to play a scrimmage after their game, but he would miss that to go to the soccer game.

The Dawg Pack won and he had a blast. Midway through the first game he came over and asked if he could miss the soccer game so he could play in the scrimmage. Stacie and I discussed it and told him that was fine. (The soccer team has 5 extra players, and the football team had 3 people out today, so they had no one to sub in.)

After the first game he said he loved football and that it was his second favorite sport… then he paused and said,
“No. No, golf is my second favorite. Then football.”
(Of course, he’s never played a round of golf yet, but loves going to the driving range and putting green).

Here’s some footage of the football games…

Fourth grader

September 5, 2018

And just like that… we’ve got ourselves a fourth grader!

Last Licks Tournament with Stods Cobras

September 2, 2018

Labor Day weekend was the last tournament of the season for the Stods Cobras 9u team. The Last Licks tournament was held at the Phil Johnson Ballfields in Everett and was put on by Klouters – the baseball team that Radiator and All Stars brothers Julian and Quinn play on.

Stods registered too late to get into the 9u bracket and had to play in the 10u. This made it quite the tough tournament for the team, and they dropped the first two games, 1-9 vs. Valley 10u and 0-13 vs. (EBA) Edmonds Baseball Association 10u. One highlight was that the second game was played at 8pm, after dark under the lights – the first game Sennet has played like that. He pitched one inning and gave up 2 hits, no walks, no runs, with two strikeouts. He didn’t get a hit in either the game, but was walked once.

The next day they played (EBC) Everett Baseball Club Bombers 10u. They played them really tough: it was 4-3 Cobras after 1, 6-4 EBC after 2, 7-7 after 3 and remained at that score through the rest of the game. Unfortunately for us, when it’s a tie and the game needs to end they go back to the previous non-tie inning – which was 6-4 EBC after 2 innings. So even though we tied them, they got the win and we got the loss. Sennet pitched closed the game – pitching the sixth inning, gave up one hit, no runs, no walks and struck out one to preserve the tie. He also had the game-tying RBI single in the third inning to even the score.

The final (consolation) game was against Julian’s 10u Klouter team. Always fun when you play a former teammate. Cobras were behind pretty much the whole game. Going into the bottom half of the sixth and final inning Klouter were up 8-3. Cobras scored six runs in the inning for the comeback victory! Sennet had a sharp line drive RBI to centerfield, to tie the game at 8. The last score came on a wild pitch and Caleb scored from third.

Sennet played the last four innings at catcher and had quite the game. He threw out one kid trying to steal second, and picked off another kid at second who was taking just a bit too much of a lead – gambled and lost against Sennet’s arm. Another good play was when a batter had hit a long ball to the outfield and was trying to make it around to home and the fantastic throw (from Noah) came in to Sennet and he blocked the plate and tagged the runner out to end the inning. The umpire was hilarious, he kept saying to Sennet, “Holy cow, great throw!” “How old are you?” “Amazing throw kid!”

These were our last games with Stods, as Sennet will move over to Prospect United for next season.

Port Angeles Tournament

August 11, 2018

NSB All Stars last tournament of the season was the Dick Brown Memorial Tournament August 4-5 in Port Angeles, WA. NSB swept the 9U tournament and were crowned champions!

The first game was a 19-2 victory over Port Angeles – Mercy rule after 4 innings.
Sennet played great. He had several outs playing shortstop all game.
At the plate he had two rocket drives but right to a player for outs. But he was really happy that
A.) he made connections,
B.) he hit it HARD,
C.) he didn’t strikeout,
D.) one of the outs was an RBI.
His third time up he walked and ended up scoring.

The second game was against EBA (Edmonds Baseball Association) and was another victory, 16-8.
Sennet pitched the first 3 innings, only gave up 3 runs on 3 hits, struck out four, and gave up NO WALKS!
At the plate he struck out swinging on his first at bat. Then walked, then had a nice RBI single down the right field line, scoring two and taking second base on the throw home. He walked again in his last at bat.
He played shortstop the last 3 innings and made a few more outs.
He also won the MVP medal for the game! (Which he was really, really happy about – he’s wanted to win one since last year.)

The third game was against PCR (Puyallup Cal Ripkin) – another victory, 13-0! Mercy rule after four innings. That put us in the championship game as the top seed.
Sennet singled in the first, stole second and eventually scored. He grounded out in the second inning.
He played shortstop and third base and made a few outs.

The championship game was a rematch against Edmonds.
Sennet started as pitcher and pitched the first two innings. First inning he only gave up 1 hit, but the infield had two errors and so Edmonds scored one run.
We tied it up, Sennet didn’t get up to bat. End of one, score 1-1.

Second inning he struck out one batter and another hit a grounder to him and he made the out. Third out was a pop up. No hits, no runs scored.
At the plate he grounded out in the second inning that was so close – he thought he was safe. NSB didn’t score any runs either. 1-1 end of second inning.

Third inning they gave Sennet a rest and Kai pitched. Edmonds scored one run on one hit, one walk, and two more errors.
We didn’t score any, end of three, Edmonds 2-1.

Fourth inning Kai still pitching, gave up a run on two hits and a walk, Sennet played centerfield.
We didn’t score, end of fourth, Edmonds 3-1.

Fifth inning, Henry in to pitch for us. Had two strikeouts and a groundout. No hits, no runs, Sennet played shortstop.
At the plate Sennet singled, stole second, stole third, stole home on a wild pitch. No other hits. End of five, Edmonds 3-2.

Sixth and final (regular) inning – do or die. We have to tie, win, or go home.
Henry still pitching, Sennet at shortstop. Two strikeouts, a walk, and third out was runner trying to steal third, tagged out by Sennet. No hits, no runs.
At the plate we scored one run to tie it up, sending it to extra innings. We had a chance to win it, with Henry on third and Finn on second with one out. Gabe hit a pop up and Henry tagged up and was running to home for the winning run, but Finn didn’t tag up and began running to third as soon as the ball was hit. So the outfielder caught the ball for one out and ran and stepped on second to get Finn out and turn a double play to end the inning.

In extra innings at this level, the team batting starts the inning with a runner already on second base.
Seventh inning. Henry still pitching, he’s on a roll. Strikeout, ground out, ground out. But their runner at second base stole third and then made it home on one of the ground outs because Finn who was playing first base wasn’t paying attention after he made the out so the runner on third went home – two horrible errors in row for Finn.

So we’re down one – do or die again. At the plate Kai grounded out. Then Gabe, who started the inning as our runner on second base, stole third. Sennet up. He singled with a full count and Gabe scored, tying the game. Jesse then struck out, but Sennet stole second. Gavin (Sennet’s schoolmate from John Stanford) then hit a pop up single into the outfield and since there were two outs, Sennet took off as soon as he made contact. Sprinted around third and across home plate with the winning run.

Final NSB 5-4 over Edmonds for the Championship!

Monroe Tournament

June 21, 2018

North Seattle All Stars played in the Legends All Star Invitational baseball tournament this past weekend, up in Monroe, Washington.

They played two games on Saturday, both of which ended as losses, but the first one was a strange turn of events. NSB played the Marysville Pilots. Pilots were up 2-1 after three innings. Sennet played short stop and he had a lot of action, making two ground outs and one fly out. He also grounded out both times up to bat.
Then the wheels came off for Marysville. NSB scored 13 runs in the fourth inning, putting us up 14-2. Sennet got walked and scored a run in the inning. Unfortunately, we used up too much of the game time that inning. If the game goes to the drop dead time, score reverts to the previous inning. So we had to try to get 3 outs as quick as possible.
They put Sennet in to pitch and he struck out the first batter, but then the pressure got to him to make it happen too fast, as the coaches were yelling to keep pitching and get outs and he couldn’t set up and get into his rhythm. Marysville hit two singles, a double, got 3 walks and scored three runs and then game was called on time. So we had to revert to the end of the third inning’s score: Marysville 2-1 over NSB (instead of 14-5 NSB over Marysville). A bitter pill to swallow. Sennet was pretty crushed and felt terrible. The coaches felt pretty bad too, not only for pushing him and the team to move so quickly to get outs, but for not realizing how the time was getting away until it was too late.

Next game was against the Diamond Dogs. It didn’t go well. Final score was 13-3. Sennet took over pitching in the second inning from Ben down 3-0, no outs, and bases loaded. The first batter he faced hit an outfield single, scoring two. Sennet then struck out the next two batters. Diamond Dogs scored another run on a passed ball. Sennet then walked the next batter and got the following to fly out to end the inning, 6-0.
Sennet was first up to bat and hit a single, but was thrown out at second when the next batter hit into a fielder’s choice. NSB didn’t score any that inning.
Sennet pitched the next inning and didn’t give up any walks or runs and got each batter to ground out. When NSB was batting they got two runs by bases loaded walks, and then scored another on a base hit. 6-3.
Henry then came in to pitch for NSB. He gave up 4 walks and 2 runs and Kai took over pitching. Diamond Dogs scored 2 more runs before the inning was over. 10-3.
NSB didn’t score and Sennet lined out to the third baseman when he was up.
Quinn took over pitching for NSB for the final inning. Lead off batter hit a triple, next batter bunted him home. They ended up scoring 3 to end the inning 13-3. We had three straight ground outs to end the game. Even though it was a lop-sided game, the boys played hard and the coaches were pleased with the effort.

Next day was quite a bit better. Our first game was against the Legends 9u team. Henry lead off batting and hit a triple. Quinn hit single next, scoring Henry. Ben was hit by pitch. Finn singled. Sennet grounded out. NSB then scored one more before the inning was over.
Sennet started at pitcher and pitched a strike out, ground out, single, ground out to end the inning: NSB up 2-0.
Second inning we scored 3 more, Sennet didn’t get up to bat. He stayed in at pitcher and pitched two strike outs and a ground out. NSB up 5-0.
Third inning we scored another run. Sennet walked, stole second and third, and was then stranded. Sennet pitched again, pop out, ground out, walk, strike out. NSB up 6-0.
Fourth inning we scored 3 more, Sennet didn’t get up to bat. Kai came in as pitcher, Legends scored 3, NSB up 9-3.
Fifth inning we didn’t score any. Sennet struck out swinging when he was up to bat. He played short stop and had one out, but Legends scored 2 more. Final NSB 9-5.

Next game was against the Lynden Lasers – maybe the best team in the tournament. Sennet played short stop and made 6 outs, including a sweet double play on a really hard ground ball that he nabbed, ran to second for the first out and fired a missile to first for the second out. He struck out and had a single in the game. Their pitcher was on fire, NSB only had 6 hits the whole game. Lynden won 6-1. But we played them really tough and the team felt good, even in the loss.

That put us in the bracket to compete for 3rd or 4th place against Langley – a team from Canada. This was the most lop-sided game of the tournament for us. NSB won 21-4, with the mercy rule being applied after the third inning. We were up 10-0 after the first. NSB had 18 hits in the game. Sennet went 2 for 3, hitting a single and a double, scored 2 runs (one by stealing home), had an RBI, and also had a sacrifice bunt – moving the runner over to third.

So NSB All Stars ended the tournament 2-3, but finished in third place. And it was mid to upper eighties the whole weekend, so after the final game the boys all jumped in Lake Tye – in their uniforms!

North Seattle All Stars Memorial Day Weekend Tournament

May 28, 2018

Sennet and most of his Rainiers’ teammates made the North Seattle All Star team, along with a few new faces: Jaxson, Gabe, Ben, and Henry (from the Twins).

Their first tournament was the 2018 Eastside Huskies Memorial Day Weekend Tournament, across Lake Washington in Bellevue at the Hidden Valley Sports Complex.

Game one was Saturday at 11:00 am against Seattle City Baseball. We fell behind early, and never caught up – despite out hitting City 8 hits to 6.

Laith started the game as pitcher and gave up 3 runs on 3 hits in the first inning before coming out with an injury. Henry replaced him and pitched the next two innings – giving up 3 more runs on 2 hits with 3 walks and 4 strikeouts. Sennet pitched the last three innings and also walked 3 and struck out 4. He had a run scored on him, but it was a 2-out fly ball right to the outfielder who dropped it and the runner on third scored – should have been an error, not an earned run.

He played centerfield first inning and shortstop the next two innings, where he had a ball hit to him and got the lead runner out at second.

At the plate Sennet went 1 for 2 with a nice outfield double in the third and then later stole home on a passed ball for a run. His second time up he grounded out to the pitcher in the fifth.

City beat All Stars 7-4.

Next game was at 1:00pm against Seattle Senators. The All Stars had a rough game and were shutout, with only 3 hits. Sennet went 0-2 with a swinging strikeout and a groundout to the pitcher.

He played shortstop the whole game, and threw out his old McGilvra Tigers soccer teammate Kellen in the fourth inning. He also caught a pop up, and threw out another runner, both in the fifth inning.

Senators beat All Stars 6-0.

The third game of the tournament was on Sunday at 9:00am against the host team Eastside Huskies. Whatever jitters or bad juju the team had on Saturday was nowhere to be seen on Sunday. Henry was first up and was hit by a pitch, then stole second and third. Next up was Ben, who was walked. Sennet was up next and drilled the second pitch over the centerfielder’s head for a triple, which he turned into a home run on the throw to the catcher. 3 RBIs.
In the second inning, Sennet hit a double to left field, scoring two more RBIs. He grounded out to the pitcher in the third, going 2 for 3 with 5 RBIs. Everyone on All Stars got a hit in the game, AND NOT ONE OF THEM STRUCK OUT! Laith, Angelo, and Gabe combined for a no-hitter. Sennet played shortstop and third base, but didn’t see any action. Game was called after the fourth inning for the 10-run mercy rule.

All Stars beat Eastside Huskies 15-5.

Final game of the tournament was Monday at 9:00am – a repeat against Eastside Huskies. Result was similar.
At the plate Sennet went 2 for 3 with 2 RBIs. He had a nice, sharp hit to right field in the first inning, but it was right to the outfielder who caught it. He got a single in the second inning, and then advanced to second on an error by the first baseman. In the fourth inning he smacked one over the center fielder’s head for a stand-up triple, scoring Finn and Eli. He then scored on a single by Angelo.

Sennet played shortstop and second base the first three innings, including getting a runner in a pickle in the third inning for an out, and having another batter ground out to him. He pitched the last two innings. He threw 5 strikeouts, gave up no hits, and walked one batter – which started a strange sequence of events. When the kid he walked was at first he was standing just off the bag and when Sennet got the ball back from the catcher he gunned it to first and the first baseman tagged the kid – but none of the umps were watching. Sennet had his arms spread and said, “Is he out?” But they didn’t call him out. That kid then advanced to second on a passed ball. The very next pitch he was again standing off the bag, so when Sennet got the ball from the catcher he whirled and picked him off at second with a quick throw to Henry to end the inning.

All Stars beat Eastside Huskies 13-1.

All Stars finished the tournament 2-2. Sennet went 5 for 10 in the tournament driving in 7 RBIs and only striking out once. He pitched in two games for a total of five innings, gave up 1 hit, 1 run (unearned), had 4 walks and 9 strikeouts.