Legend’s SpeedBall League Inaugural Opening Day Overview

It was a beautiful weekend for Legends Baseball as things kicked off for the Fall with the first annual Legend’s Speedball League.

Five games were on tap over the course of the weekend as 15 teams took the field for the first time. The weekend’s games utilized coach pitch in order to facilitate the action, and action there certainly was. A unique aspect of Speedball (as opposed to traditional game formats), is that everyone plays all of the time…and the volume of at bats and defensive reps at each position dwarfs other organized leagues in comparison. With rules set up to keep games competitive, the boys each had nearly a Baker’s dozen of ABs in less than 2 hours!

As the games went on into the later frames, you could see players catching on in a much shorter time frame than they would in any other format other than speedball. One thing became very evident, 2 hours of Speedball is the equivalent of 24 innings of any other baseball league.

Memorable stats: Approximately 20+ HRs, 17,500 calories burned, 50+ kids falling asleep in the car on the way home, and every mom and dad happy they joined the league!

Coach Speedball Scrimmage 9-11 Game Summary (Sunday Oct 4th)

In Sunday’s lone contest, it was Team Leadership leading the way. Kais Withers left early, but left an early impression as he hammered 3 singles and a homerun to set the pace of the game with 4 RBIs. In his absence,.“Action” Jackson James showed great awareness in the field and ended the day with a two-bagger while Krueger, Roldan, and Welch put in some hard work with a few knocks between them.

Kal Rogers for Team Positivity was positively stellar in the field with a couple web gems and a handful of hits, while Hammerin’ Hank Melton had a grandslam, Robert Spinosa left early after getting 5 hits, and Whitney ended the day with 3 hits in his last 3 ABs.

Alas, it was the offense of Team Respect that showed up on this day. Hawkins (5 hits), Marroquin (Grand Salami and webgem), Purvis (7 hits), Seaver (3 hits) and Welch with 2 doubles (4 hits) were just too consistent and made more contact when they needed to – and got the job done!

Minors Division 9-11 Year Olds Opening Game Summary

The opening day battle between Teams Focus, Positivity, and Respect, provided enough fireworks to humble even the most audacious 4th of July ever! Cameron Pyle had 9 ribbies in his first four at bats, all by way of the long ball. Pyle went back to back to back to back including a grandslam. Those runs were supplied in part by base knocks compliments of the law offices of Bochnowski, Harley, Mazzuco, and McDonough, who laid down the law with 20 hits between them. Team Focus came loaded as well with Avi Buxbaum flashing in the field with a webgem to support an offensive assault led by PJ McGarahan with 9 hits in a row including 3 dubs and a trip.The Kim’s chimed in with 11 knocks between them as Armstrong pounded our 8 himself.

Team Positivity was hardly shy about raking a few pitches. Lopez, Shan, and Stevens went deep while Stockwell and Feller contributed 4 hits to the cause. Shan it should be pointed out had 2 bombs on the day and heated up like a Hot Pocket in a microwave oven in the later innings!

All in all we saw 8 balls leave the field of play!

Minors Division 9-11 Year Olds Opening Day Game Summary

On the sun drenched diamond of La Entrada Middle School battle was waged with the first casualty being the scorekeeper. Team Hustle brought out the fire power and reigned offense like no other on that day. Beck, Brock (HR), Conaghan HR) and Costouros (HR) had 28 hits between them with Kyle George going 3-3 in his last three at bats! Team Grit fired back with Bradley Hong’s first AB bomb followed by 2 doubles. Fredrick Hayes added 7 hits, Sam Eason salvoed out a few shots, and Aaron Lytikainen doubled twice to keep the battle heated.

Meanwhile, Team Teamwork loaded up some big guns of their own as Grant Gilmour bombed the bleachers twice late in the game and had 8 hits, 3 of which were doubles. Mixter mixed in 7 key hits, while teammates Allen, Douglas, and Murlidhar sniped 7 additional hits between them.

With more ABs than the average player gets in a week and a half, these boys slept well that night I assure you!

Major 10-12 Year Olds Opening Day Game Summary

It was a beautiful opening day for Legends Baseball at La Entrada MS Ballpark when the Major 10-12 teams squared up. For team Hustle, Lev Bicer showed some nice defensive skills and leadership in the dugout and on the field. Newcomer to Legends Cailan Elliot not only had the day’s first webgem diving for a ball in left field, but gathered 4 hits in his last 5 ABs to join Tomas Jaramillo “Ropez” Lopez in driving some solid shots into the gaps. Big William Larson dropped 4 bleacher bombs, knocking in 10 runs and collecting 10 hits. His only out was a sacrifice fly!

Team Positivity was paced by the best nickname in the game as Matthew “Piggy” Butler, and Victor “G-Force” Gutierrez led the team in hits with Noah Ewing and Xavier Morello contributing some key base knocks in support. Jack Martin saved his best for a “quadruple” in the 4th inning to add to the score, it was the team’s only HR on the day. Team Grit showed grit as they attempted to keep pace with Team Hustle and their big hitter William Larson. Dane Bochnowski put on a clinic on how to make great contact ending the day with 7 consecutive hits! Davis Bennett with 4 base knocks, Jackson Cambouris (6 knocks, 5 ribbies), and Keanu Kamanagar, (ribbie with each hit) did their collective best in supporting the day’s effort!

Rookies 10-12 Year Olds Opening Day Game Summary

When Team Hustle, Positivity, and Grit met in the Opener, it may have been the wildest game of the day. For team Grit, Ryan Cohen “called” his shots, collecting 2 homers while hitting for the cycle. The Yankee fan had 7 hits total with 6 RBIs and constantly forced the action when he got on base:-)

Liam Goodger garnered 6 hits and Peter Kopp raked in a couple runs while providing some great team energy and competitive spirit. Team Hustle’s offense was led by Tommy “Lou” Brock who had 8 solid hits, demonstrating the benefit of a nice level swing. Tibu De la Carcova reached base 9 times showing great hustle, Alexander Gazor collected 4 clean hits, and Tyson Sonoda did his best Greg Maddox imitation with his steady mound presence.

Phil Barth led off for Team Positivity and showed not only impressive throwing and running form, but also showed impressive field IQ as well. Same can be said for newcomer Tashfiq Talukder who knew where to throw the ball every time it was hit to him. Keep an eye on Tash as he can flash a little leather as well as he demonstrated by garnering the game’s only webgem! The offense was led by Mateo ‘the Burmeister” Burmeister who had a whopping 8 pack of hits, and Trevor Foster who had 4 hits including a pair of dubs.