spoonbill

thanks for the info. it looks like they got them lined up the best they can. hopefully they can pull the next two games out. they better bring the sticks.

who pitched last night for vidor, and who's projected to go tonight? good luck to the pirates. the next two games are critical.

Has anyone heard any new news on hester's injury? I was told by a kid on the freshman team that he is done for the year and has scheduled surgery for the shoulder. I know how rumors are in high school, but have known this kid for many years. Hopefully the info isn't true, but if it is i hope he gets it fixed and comes back stronger than ever next year. He is a great ball player.

anybody hear the latest on his shoulder? hopefully he can rehab it and come back strong later in the year. from what i'm hearing it doesn't look good. definitely don't want to risk his future. i know coach will be on top of this. they'll need him next year too.

I can't say for sure, but i believe bridge city has 5 junior (13-14) teams. Later after freshman ball, they will have the senior (15-16) teams. Last year they had them mixed, but from what i'm told, this yr they will be separate. Most little leagues don't field a 15-16 yr old team until after freshman ball is over. Hopefully there is a bridge city board member logged on that can answer this 100%. Oh..and also, Vidor little league will have a couple of senior teams (15-16) They will interleague with bridge city and some other local little leagues. Signups will be later in May.

This guy has absolutely no idea what he is talking about. Unless, your son is a strong 13 yr old, he does should not swing a -3. Notice I did not say could not, I said should not. The weight of the bat has a lot to do with bat speed. A 13 yrs old can swing a -3 but he will not be able to generate the bat speed he can with a lighter bat. This changes several things, first he will have to committ to the pitch much sooner or he will be late on everything and the slower bat speed will not allow the same jump off the bat head. My son is 13 and he swings a -3 in the cage and a -5 in games. The -5 is a transitional bat and is made to transition from league play to high school play. Yes there is a big difference in a -3 and a -5. I agree. A couple ozs make a big difference. I would recommend not going to a -3 at 13. Just the adjustment of moving to the big barrel bat is hard enough for kids. The big barrel bats aren't balanced like the 2 1/4 bats at the 12 yr old level. I would go somewhere in the middle between what the kid used at 12 and the -3. At fourteen you can try the -3 or something real close to get ready for highschool. Also, most coaches/dads give their kids a heavier bat for the cages, hit-a-way, etc. to build strength. You don't have to spend a lot of money....i generally use something a little heavier and it's usually an old cheap bat that i'm not worried about abusing. spoonbill and silsbee88 you two guys are absolutely correct with the advice of your post. Bat speed and conditioning is very important for these young kids. If you do not condition the kids they may not hit the ball as well and he may lose confidence, you do not want this to happen!!!!!! Our 13 yr old team were all 8th graders playing AAA ball. So we felt that we should work our kids to the -3. Now they are all 14 yrs old playing HS baseball and guess what they are hitting with -3 bats. So at what time do either one of you guys think it is the right time to swing -3 at live pitching? Maybe the 13 and14 yr olds that you guys are talking about maybe 6th and 7th graders, and if so no do not go to the -3 at this time. If it is the season before you go to HS I would strongly recommend to you prepare your youngsters for the -3, and let them swing it at live pitching!!!!!! All of our 13 yr olds are in the 7th grade. You are correct that by the end of their 8th grade yr of baseball they should be up to the -3 or at least close. One year of growth at this age is huge. They grow in spurts and get stronger in spurts. You would think 2 or 3 ozs wouldn't matter but it makes a big diffrence as you probably know. You hit it on the head with your comment on confidence. At this age, what's going on between the ears is the most important thing. They can easily get down on themselves with all the changes from little league ball. Keep 'em having fun. When that stops they can easily give up the sport. It is a hard enough game as it is.

This guy has absolutely no idea what he is talking about. Unless, your son is a strong 13 yr old, he does should not swing a -3. Notice I did not say could not, I said should not. The weight of the bat has a lot to do with bat speed. A 13 yrs old can swing a -3 but he will not be able to generate the bat speed he can with a lighter bat. This changes several things, first he will have to committ to the pitch much sooner or he will be late on everything and the slower bat speed will not allow the same jump off the bat head. My son is 13 and he swings a -3 in the cage and a -5 in games. The -5 is a transitional bat and is made to transition from league play to high school play. Yes there is a big difference in a -3 and a -5. I agree. A couple ozs make a big difference. I would recommend not going to a -3 at 13. Just the adjustment of moving to the big barrel bat is hard enough for kids. The big barrel bats aren't balanced like the 2 1/4 bats at the 12 yr old level. I would go somewhere in the middle between what the kid used at 12 and the -3. At fourteen you can try the -3 or something real close to get ready for highschool. Also, most coaches/dads give their kids a heavier bat for the cages, hit-a-way, etc. to build strength. You don't have to spend a lot of money....i generally use something a little heavier and it's usually an old cheap bat that i'm not worried about abusing.

Oh c'mon running a little league is a piece of cake and the pay is awesome... ;D sorry....couldn't find the sarcasm emoticon. Seriously, good luck and have a great season. One good thing about being on a little league board during these tough economic times is that if i get laid off, i have plenty of varied experience....fence builder,carpenter,concrete worker,lawn care pro,mechanic, etc.

So who chooses that Mauriceville not play in that district.Do people really think both jr highs playing different schedules and recognizing one for their undefeated record and not the other is fair to all kids of that district considering one is playing a much tougher schedule. At least they could play each other to see who should get the bragging rights, instead of one getting the bragging rights for having an undefeated season while the other has to listen to the community talk about how good that one is. Since you seem to know alot about the numbers of all the jr highs of 20-4A district what are the figures of them all and how do you know MMS is 200 less than any other? Years ago MMS and LCM played when my boys were there, LCM 7th played MMS 8th and it was usually a blow out as it should be and I think the then ad decided it was not goo for the two teams to play since they would be playing as one team in the 9th grade. I agree. They havent played scince I dont believe. Thanks for the answers. I still don't understand why 8th grade teams did not play each other and 7th grade teams did not play each other. That would make more sense and how come all of these other schools in 20-4A have their jr highs play each other and it seems to be working better than the alternative is for LCM, hence the varsity records this year. I have even heard that Vidor splits their 1 jr high between north and south and they even play each other and manage to make it work. Heard they wanted to have their jr high programs more like the other jr highs in this district which is 8th A is 8th graders and 8th B is 7th graders. That's how most teams in this district do their jr high programs. That is exactly how vidor junior high splits the teams. The two teams scrimmage before the first game, then play each other the last game. This year was neat because of construction at the jr. high, they played at the high school. The whole thing about numbers of kids is misleading imo. My kid is on one of the 7th grade teams and, believe me numbers don't make a great team. There is no try out. If you want to play, you play. I think this is the right way to do it. All the kids get a taste for it and can decide for themselves. It doesn't make for a dominate team due to the coach trying to let everyone play a little, but is fair. Luckily most of these coaches jobs don't depend on their record. Some of the kids on the team haven't even played flag football. It's all about teaching and finding out which kids take to it. We play all the teams in our district and pay for it at times. This isn't tee ball where no score is kept. Kids can only learn adversity one way. Just my thoughts.

I cant agree more. I remember growing up thinking some coaches were such jerks. Now as an adult I realize that hey, when he gets on to you for "plain grab a--", it's because his paycheck is on the line. When the team loses and he gets fired, he has to look for a job and if he's lucky enough to find one, then he's gotta move his family, etc. These guys are under tremendous amounts of stress. Coaching "youth" sports is stressful enough, but if you lose you don't lose your livelihood. You still gotta "real" job monday morning.

I coulda swore somebody already beat lumberton. ;D

Yes he is. I remember him from little league all-stars...weisbord i think is his last name. Easy kid to remember. The little league team from nederland were pretty much all big kids. I coached the vidor little league team against them...pretty good team...found out pretty quick and saved my best pitchers for another day. Vidor is always limited in little league though due to half the city doing youth baseball and half in little league. Never quite understood the youth baseball thing...too much pressure on the pitchers at that age if you ask me.

The key word here is MOSTLY. There is a big difference in size and ability between 7th and 8th grade football players. I'm sure you've watched the 8th grade games after the 7th grade games and seen the difference.Even if the 8th graders on the team aren't good enough to play on the "A" team, they are generally bigger than your regular seventh grader.Plus, they have had twice as much time in the system the school runs. The main advantage is on the lines in my opinion.

Not that it means much, but vidor junior high fields 4 teams which consist of two seventh grade teams and two eight grade teams. There is no junior high a and b team. The team that played the c o wilson b team was entirely 7th graders and only half of the 7th grade, which is split by interstate 10 not by skill. I'm not sure why vidor does this....they just started a few yrs past, but it does let more kids play junior high ball....fyi