Saturday, September 28, 2013

Game 7 ~ Mudcats 11 - Bee's 12

What a beautiful day for baseball !

Coach Jaime asked The Cats to , " GIVE ME 6 GOOD INNINGS~ EVERYBODY FOCUS"!

Coach Jaime and the whole Mudcat family got 6 innings of focus and 1 extra inning !

Baseball is a great teacher. It teaches us all when things get hard, we need to work harder ! That is exactly what our Mudcats did today on the field !

Our actions as a Mudcat family , players, coaches, parents, grandparents, friends and family are determined on how we react to the game and ultimately will prove to be how  we remember the game. Our Mudcat family is so supportive of each other, the coaches and their Mudcats !   ~~  I will remember this game for a long time !

This is how this Mudcat bleacher Mom remembers this awesome game !

It is Mudcat pre~game warm up time and all the Mudcat fans are finding there perfect game time spot ! It's a good thing West Raleigh has Wi-Fi as all the football faithful, UNC~ ECU~ NC State ~ Notre Dame & UGA are trying to make sure they are prepared for sports updates and scores ! By the time the Pledge of Allegiance was said, no matter what game you may have wanted to follow~~ be it ACC or SEC it was Mudcat baseball that would prove to be extremely exciting !

Let me just say, I wrote this once already and LOST each and every inning breakdown- ! I clicked the X on accident and POOF the write up disappeared ! BUT I can tell you this- THOSE BEES can hit and I will sum it all up again!

We put a few runs on the board early but the Bees just were hitting hard ! One bleacher Mom put it best when she said the second inning was , " crushing one" !

Coach Jaime kept the Cats believing and told them straight up, " we gotta field it before we throw it" ! We actually started doing this ! Keeping the ball in front, making smart throws and staying C~A~L~M !

We were hitting, Jackson getting on, Channing moving him in to score, Finn  put us up with an RBI and Jay getting on put us all tied up in the 2nd inning 4-4 !

Well some little base hits and some BIG base clearing hits put the Bees up 4-8 to begin the 3rd inning !

Let it be known, Gramma Gigi made the bench call to the Cats to , " STOP THAT TRAIN" !

I knew exactly what train she was referring to and it was the hitting train from the  Bees !

I am unsure how irritating the bleacher coaching is, but we all just asked for outs and to keep the baseball in the infield ! Our Cats battled back after some tough innings and held the Bees 6-11 to end the 5th inning !

" TOGETHER our Cat's are strong, they seemed committed & determined to play tough and not be rattled" !

6th inning ~ BREAK OUT THE ASPRIN AGAIN !! Anyone a medic in our Mudcat family ~ LOL !
Braden started it all off getting a hit ~
Channing delivered a solid hit ~
Connor's line drive brought in a Mudcat run ~ Will, Finn and Moose all delivered at the plate to bring our cats with-in 1 run !
~~NOW~~
2 out's and Mudcats are down 10-11 ~ "Jay bird", Hale put a hit into play and HELLO TIE BALL GAME and the Mudcat family GOT CRAZY ! :-) Jay's hit brought in a Mudcat run and  the Cardiac Cats tied it all  up!  MUDCATS 11 BEES 11 !

Yes ~ that's 22runs in 6 innings of West Raleigh Baseball !

CARDIAC CATS took us to 7 innings of exciting baseball but the Bee's bats brought in one more game ending run !

Mudcats battled, web gems were given out to Finn for 2 RBI's, Jackson, Channing and Will for solid defense and Jay for the game clutch tie RBI !

We come from all over the Triangle!  We drive in to West Raleigh from home and work from Wake, Durham and Johnston County ! Our Mudcats are all different shapes, sizes and ages ! Some Mudcats are seasoned and some rookies. But together they all came together in an exciting, well played MUDCAT "TEAM" effort !

Did we win ~ YES !!!! Well, "No", we did not win the game~ but we won the fight !
They just never gave up :-)  Our Cat's played tough, strong and their actions shined on the field!
That free drink at the concession stand and a hot dog smoothed it all over by the time stickers were awarded :-)

See you all Monday ! Time to awaken the MUDCAT NATION again and the best part is, we get at least 6 more fun innings of baseball together !





Thursday, September 19, 2013

Game 6 ~ Mudcats 8 Riverdog's 8 ! TIE !

Looks like this Mudcat Mom missed a HECK of a game !
THANK YOU DALE for the game notes ! Here it goes ~~ and PS ~~ Channing, I'm only glad I did not have to see the hit to the noggin' rest up buddy ! You too Erin LOL !
May I also say, JULIO ~ I hear you had a great night !! Way to go to our rookie Mudcats !
You guy's are playing AWESOME :-)

Here you go for Game 6:

"WHEW - NO one left with energy after this 7 inning dog fight with the Riverdogs. Everyone left everything they had on the field - even the coaches were tired! Some younger siblings were even caught watching this exciting game as we went into extra innings although Jake (Connor's younger brother) would never really admit it.

Channing was injured in the forehead early in the game with a ball thrown to him in the 3rd and Connor filled in as best he could for our top notch 2nd baseman. The Hammer gutted it out and came back after some TLC from mom in the dugout to play the 5th and 7th inning. Thanks Mom!!

The outfield was solid the whole game getting the ball back to the infield fast with Crash Nowak, Julio, Jaybird, Fin, Sam, Moose, Connor and Crazy Legs Jones.

Early in game, Sam threw a laser to Cameron from left field with the Riverdogs hustling to third - the call was close as the umps split - one saying safe and one saying out - but final ruling was safe.

Finally, Cameron displayed his all star status with excellent, heads-up base running to score an important late run and closed the game with the final 2 outs.

The game momentum went back and forth inning by inning:

The first was another hot start for the Mudcats. Jackson, Brayden and Connor had solid hits with Channing and Cameron also collecting hits and Will slicing it by the SS to drive a run. Fin drove in a run with Will The Big Thrill hustling home before the final out.
Bottom of the 1st we learned this was going to a game to remember. The Riverdogs scored twice with all our outs coming from solid middle infield play. 

Although the Mudcats didn't score in the 2nd we held the Riverdogs to a 1-2-3 inning.

The 3rd started strong as Julio "Lil' Papi" smacked a solid hit! We scored 4 runs after we collected a few more hits by Action Jackson, Big Red and Smiley. Big Thrill collected 2 more RBI's with another solid hit.

The 3rd defensively was remembered with Channing's injury and Connor moving to 2nd. Fin looked confident going to center field and was ready to make a play. Connor collected an out at 2nd with a good throw from Will and Cameron closed the inning with an incredible web gem - snatching a laser line drive shot out of the air just above his head. It was 7-5 Mudcats after the 3rd.

The 4th and 5th were defensive innings with both teams holding the opposing offenses in check with the scoring slowing down to 7-6 Mudcats after the 5th. Channing came back for the 5th and Will had a diving backhand "Derek Jeter" type of stop at short and made a smart baseball decision by holding it to stop the runners from advancing.

The Mudcats scored their final run in the top of the 6th. As the Mudcats took the field for the bottom of the 6th the lights came on for us to enjoy some night baseball for the first time. We tried valiantly to defend the 8-6 lead with Connor having a close play at 2nd after a good throw from the outfield but the tag was a split second too late. The Riverdogs played tough and tied it up 8-8. 

The Umps smiled to each other and decided to play one more to see if we could break the tie.

Jay got a hit in the top of the 7th and Sam shook off a hand injury at his at bat but the Mudcats were unlucky and no runs were scored.

Channing was back again in the bottom of the 7th and the Mudcats shutdown the Riverdogs 1-2-3 to end the game 8-8.

We are all proud of you Mudcats! Great game!

(I tried - thanks for the opportunity to help out Amanda - Dale) THANK YOU VERY MUCH DALE :-)

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Game # 5 Mudcats 16 - BULLS 5 !

P~R~A~C~T~I~C~E makes P~E~R~F~E~C~T !
Our Cats came through tonight!
BUT it did NOT start on the field !
I thought we were the only family rushing to get homework done, food in the belly and a game uniform on the body ! I thought we were the only family rushing to get the water bottle filled up and the Mudcat bracelet on and the game face on ! I thought I was the only Mom struggling to get the grey pants clean, the socks ready and the belt just right ! UNTIL we all arrived at the same time with the same silly " are we really here" face :-) All in a moment everyone arrived, scrambled to our HOME seat and a deep sigh of relief set in ! WE MADE IT :-)

NOW ~ The sun was shining very bright on the "HOME" team bleachers and the question was ~Did our Mudcats arrive too ! ? ! Uniforms cleaned, bellies full ( of various things) bats, gloves and game faces on " COMPLETE WITH EYE BLACK " !! THANK YOU COACH JAIME !!  Way way cool :-) Time to play some baseball !

1st inning  ~ It was so great to hear the Cats infield yelling, " play is on first ~ get down~ no hits no outs" ! Then a BOMB of a hit put runners on and the Bulls put 2 runs in the books !
Our Mudcat leadoff hitter , " Action" Jackson delivered with a great hit to get on base ! Cameron stepped up and drove in Braden for out 1st Mudcat run.  Mudcats 1- Bulls 2

2nd inning ~A relaxing breeze came about the field as the sun finally set and the Mudcat bleacher fans could put their sunglasses on top their heads ! The Bulls were killing it ! They were working the bat and bases hard  BUT The Cats held them to just 4 runs !

I believe ALEX came ALIVE in the dugout as he lead the Cats in enthusiasm and excitement to cheer them on to a great batting inning ! Our Jay"bird" hit Will the "Thrill" in to bring our score 2-4 !

3rd inning~ Let it be noted, "SAM" was very excited to share his love for the eye black !!! He said it was " TOUGH"! Great recovery for our defensive Mudcats and Braden with a solid hit put Jackson on 3rd base! Channing with a solid hit brought #34 in and our Cats to 3-5 !

4th Inning ~The Cats kept inching closer one out and one run at a time ! They held tough on defense and delivered ! I think I saw a " Jaybird " under that catcher equipment and he was AWESOME !
 1~2~3 SOLID defense put us up to bat !
Smiley bombed a hit to start us off :-)
Finn hit Smiley in 4-5
Mason N. hit to rt field put runners on 1st& 2nd
Jay hit Finn in to tie the game up 5-5
Sam hit the Cats around to lock& load the bases !
Mason J put the Moose on the loose and The Cats 6-5
Alex hit Jay AND Sam in 8-5 ( a few Bull errors helped our locked and loaded lead) !

5 th Inning ~ I think it might have gotten , " chilly"  not just for the fans but for the Bulls !
Gezzzz the Cats really kept the ball in front of them, made smart plays, throws and moves !
The Cats kept the Bulls to ZERO runs and stepped up to bat !

BRADEN bombed a hit into the outfield and home came Jackson 9-5
CHANNING drove in Braden 10-5
CAMERON banged in Channing 11-5
Connor moved the Cats around
WILL drove in Cameron 12-5
FINN with a great hit brought in Connor 13-5
Jay "bird" came up clutch with a hit to center field and brought in Will 14-5
SAM advanced runners and MASON J brought in Finn & Sam 16-5
The 10 run rule was put in force and the inning was over !

6th inning !CATS WIN~~SOLID DEFENSE ~~ STEADY PLAY ~~we put runs on the board, outs in the books and ended this game with out ASPRIN  :-) LOL :-)

It was a two sticker, heads up base running , locked and loaded kinda night !
Sleep tight Mudcats !
 Get your homework done and get ready to rock and roll Thursday night !

Your BLEACHER crew is very very proud of you !



Monday, September 16, 2013

Game #4 : Mudcats 15 - Bats 17

" PILE OF RUNS" ! That is exactly what Coach Jamie directed The Cats to do ~ AND ~ that is exactly what the Cats delivered the 1st inning of this emotional baseball game ! Every single Mudcat got to the plate and after going all the way through the line up , the Umpire called the plate appearance for The Cats because the runs were piled up to 10 ! The Bats stepped up to hit ready to pile the runs on as well ! This inning ended with the Cats looking great but the Bats inched closer to our lead leaving the end of the inning 10-3.

The 2nd inning left the Cats scoreless and the Bats took advantage of some Mudcat errors and brought their runs even closer to 10-7 ! It must be noted, this bleacher Mom was proud of Cameron giving a "glove pat on the head" to a Bat player on 3rd base as he came around from a bomb of a hit !

Lets just call the 3rd inning, " LOCKED and LOADED" ! Let me explain~
Bases loaded, Sam came to the plate and hit Finn in 11-7.
Bases loaded, Mason came to the plate and hit Moose in 12-7.
Bases loaded, Alex came to the plate and hit Jay & Sam in 14-7 !
This should have proved to be a great relief for a cushion of a lead for The Cats !

Solid defense only allowed 1 run to be scored by The Bats leaving this inning in the books 14-8.

4th inning was not a hitting opportunity for our Cats but proved to be the PDQ chicken break all the bleacher Mom's and family ! The smell of the chicken, fries and apple slices proved to be distracting as not too many web- gems were captured this inning. The Bats did inch closer to our lead 14-9.

The Moose was on the loose to start off the 5th inning ! Moose started us off with excitement that The Cats really needed.  This inning proved to be costly for The Cats as many errors, overthrown balls and mental mistakes took a toll on our "cushiony" lead!  15- 17 YES THATS A "17" :-(

Mudcats now DOWN "2" runs just meant every Mudcat fan needed to once again bring a bottle of aspirin just in case of a baseball induced heart attack ! Goodness these Cats are not called the "Cardiac Cats" for nothing ! The Cats did come alive and battled but The Bats held tough and kept the score at 15-17 !

Tough tough loss. Hitting was AWESOME but you can't hit until you make a play and get the outs needed to win! Our crazy throws & mental errors and too many "EAT-IT" moments, resulted in a few good innings at the plate for The Bats that were hard to overcome !

We love our Cat's and look forward to building on this experience !

Just an after thought ~ BUT~ if you want to "PUMP" up your Mudcat~~ take a look at The Slideshow from the last season ! It always gives me chills and may be just what the seasoned Cats need to remember the outcome when you work hard and an inspiration for our new Cats !!!
" Light 'Um Up Cats" !!!    http://vimeo.com/67355505 ~~ just click on play :-)

Friday, September 13, 2013

Game 3: Mudcats 10, Scrappers 9

This bleacher mom thinks the starting game temp was HOT but the electricity at the end of the game was even HOTTER!  There is absolutely no doubt that the Mudcats were hotter than hot in the 6th inning!

1st inning- I think it's fair to say that the top of the inning should be re-named the Conner "Smiley" show!!  Conner started the Cats defense off with a great catch for their 1st out!  The 2nd out came from a quick thinking play by Conner as he forced out the lead runner at 2nd base.  And in keeping with them theme... the final out was an awesome pop fly catch in center field by, you guessed it, CONNER!

Time for the Mudcats to bat!  The Scrappers were tough on defense as well!  From the dugout came the cheer "two out rally!"  Channing had a great hit to get on and Cameron put a big BLAST to center field.  With some confusion in base running the inning ended 0-0!

2nd inning- The Scrappers had hot bats this inning.  Thankfully Cameron made a great play from 3rd to stop the hot hitting Scrappers!
Up to bat came Conner with a great hit to put him on 2nd base.  Will had a solid hit but I think it was the Mudcat bleacher crowd that "willed" him safely to 1st base.  Finn got a hit to bring Conner in for the first Mudcat run of the game.

3rd inning- Jackson started off the inning with good pop fly catch at pitcher, and "Moose" stepped up to make some good stops.  The start of the 3rd inning looked promising until the Scrappers hit a BOMB to right field and made the score 5-1.   On the very next play, they launched another bomb to left field that increased the Scrappers lead 7-1.  Jackson fielded a little dish to 1st and ended their hitting rally!
Now it was time to bat!  Sam stepped up with a solid hit getting on base.  Conner, Mason and Alex all came through and moved Sam in to score the Cats 2nd run!

4th inning- The Mudcats made great defensive plays to keep the hard hitting Scrappers scoreless.  We then turned around with some lightning hot bats.  Jackson, Brayden and Channing all had solid hits to get on base.  Cameron delivered an RBI to bring in Jackson.  Conner stepped to the plate and had a big, big hit with bases loaded to bring in Brayden.  Then Will stepped up with a hit and one more Mudcat RBI bringing in Channing.  At the end of the inning the Mudcats rally brought the Cats within two.

5th inning-  The Mudcats took the filed prepared to stay solid on defense.  Jackson had a catch to get the 1st out.  Moose let the Bleacher mom crew know he was "HUNGRY!"  A snack was quickly delivered and the sun finally went down behind the trees.  Will and Channing added two great defensive plays to keep the Scrappers scoreless.

Mason "Moose" started the Cats off with a base hit followed by another base hit from Jay.  Having Mudcats on 1st and 2nd, Mason Jones stepped to the plate!  The dug-out was cheering "Bang, bang, choo choo train, come on Mason hit that thang!"  #20 delivered with a hit to bring in another run and pull the Mudcats within 1.

6th inning- The sun was now down but this inning was H-O-T!  The Scrappers came out hitting hard.  Jackson and Mason had a fist bump moment together when they worked to get the Cats first out.  Will and Channing teamed up for the second out and Brayden snagged a pop fly to end the Scrappers time at bat, but not before they add two runs to their lead, bringing the tally to 9-7.

Watch out world here we come, the Mudcats are #1!  Going into the bottom half of the final frame, the boys were as fired up in the dugout as they Mudcats have ever been!  Jackson lead off with a solid hit combined with a Scrapper error to put him on 1st base.  Brayden put a bomb to center field and brought Jackson home.  Channing  had a great hit combined with a Scrapper error that allowed him to advance.  At that point, a Mudcat mom was heard saying, "I didn't think I would be a screamer!" but we were all so excited!  Cameron stepped up and, WooHoo, tied up the game 9-9!  It was now "THRILL" time!  Will placed a huge hit to right field that brought in the winning Mudcat run!  Final score Mudcats -10, Scrappers-9.

Post game words of wisdom: "Listen guys, we win together and we lose together!"  "400 Mudcat stickers were purchased and hopefully they will all be gone by the end of this season."  "Something exciting happened when we were down 2-7 and we just dug down deep and never gave up!"

Monday, September 9, 2013

Game 2: Lookouts 12, Mudcats 2

Out of desperation, we have formed this BLEACHER MOM report because we love our Mudcat blog. We want to share all the things that happen before, during and right after the game that make the baseball experience special for all of us.

For this particular game, the pre-game words of wisdom were priceless!  Ok boys, get your “butt- down, be baseball ready, don’t forget to do the crab and be the thrill! Coach Jamie then came over to get the crowd pumped up and began to cheer "GAME TIME GAME TIME GAME TIME” 
To start the game, the Mudcats were baseball ready, had some good hits by Jackson, Brayden, and Cameron, but the Lookouts were making some great outs that left Brayden stranded on second.  Quickly the Lookouts scored from a great hit to center field.
The 2nd inning was not very kind to the Mud Cats! Keeping the details of this inning brief--- it ended with the Lookouts scoring 7 runs during a 2 out rally where the ball just wouldn't bounce our way.
Then to start off the 4th inning, the boys heads lifted and there seemed to be some hope.  Alex had a great hit to start the inning off. The top of the lineup got several base hits that got in Alex for our first Mudcat run. But once again, the Lookouts played some great defense and held the mighty cats to just one run.
The 5th inning started great with Conner, Will and Finn all getting solid hits to score the 2nd Mudcat run of the game, but a couple of great defensive plays later (including a textbook double play), we were headed out to the field again to try to make one last defensive stop against the hard hitting Lookouts.  In the end though, the Lookouts were too much to handle as their final time at the plate extended their lead further.

I believe it was the parents that called TIME in the 5th in an attempt to play from the bleachers or will the boys to win.  Despite that extra effort from outside the lines, the game ended before the bottom half of the 6th inning with a final score of 12-2.  It was a really hard loss, especially coming off of the dramatic come from behind win a few days earlier, but the boys showed that they not only win as a team, but lose as a team... and that the best way to forget a loss is to win the next one!

Game notes: the bleacher Mom’s did spot Chris Nabors drinking from a pink Hello Kitty thermos! That moment helped add a little humor to the game's ending score!

Words of Wisdom: from Coach Jamie, “Play for the Mud Cat beside you”!

Game 1: Mudcats 10, Bees 9

What a week for the Mudcat Nation!  Quickly each parent and baseball player learned that we are all connected and "bleed red & black!"  Having a young team, maybe some assumed we would struggle our first game.  The warm up was shaky with players running in late, some struggling with pre-game nerves, others having trouble getting their uniforms situated and everyone trying to figure out what to do in general.  On the opposite end of the field, the Bees seemed cool, calm and collected...at least that was the BLEACHER MOM observation.

Little did we know we were about to witness a great night of baseball!

The Mudcats got on base one little hit at a time as did the Bees.  We got outs here and there and witnessed some incredible base running speed.

But despite our determination, the 6th inning looked dire with the Bees-9 runs and the Mudcats-7.  However, the Mudcats had a few tricks up their sleeve.  We quickly posted one run to leave runners on 2nd and 3rd-then hung in there with two outs, had a great hit combined with an error by the Bees and scored both runners to win the game!  In the end the Mudcats had fewer errors, one more hit and one more run for the win.  The excitement from all Mudcat parents, grandparents, siblings and fans was palpable.  Final score: Mudcats-10, Bess-9.  What a great start to another season of Mudcat baseball!