The Bulldogs take Sparta by STORM

WOW - what a weekend. I have to say that I did miss Saturday because of the half marathon, so I don't have any game pics....but I do know what happened. We played two very good games. Won them both handily - one against the Mudhens (our arch nemesis) and one against the LarVergne Herd. This put us in #1 seed for Sunday's Championship.

Now, our coach is a good Christian man. He knows that we will have to play on Sunday and sometimes miss church. So he is always diligent about bringing us a lesson on Sunday morning and a devotional on Wednesday nights if we have to play during church time. His lesson this Sunday was about playing for God, and using the fruits of the spirit found in Galatians. "Self-Control" on and off the field. We are here to play as a team - not as individuals. (some of our boys have a hard time with anger and tears when they mess up or get out).

We started game #3 of the weekend with Cody on the mound. He did a great job! We were up against the Herd again and he pitched all 6 innings.

Steeeeerike!!!!

The first 3 innings were close - within one run....then Dawson Hamilton decided to open it up. With Julian on second base, Dawson parked one over the fence for a homerun. That was all the bulldogs needed to bump up the confidence and start hitting the ball.

Congrats Dawson!

Austin Steel sliding in for a safe at homeplate!

We won!!!!! Congrats boys.

Then we had a couple of hours until the championship game....some of us ate....some of us slept!

Game #4 of the weekend....we were up against the Mudhens again for the Championship. This was the most nerve wrecking game ever. Hamilton started off on the mound. He pitched for the first 5 innings. At that time the score was 4-2. The mudhens were ahead.

Now, let me explain something here. For those of you who do not understand baseball, a balk is when the pitcher makes more than one move during his pitch...a 'fake', for all practical purposes. Dawson Hamilton is one of our top pitchers and he's been pitching the same way for two years and has never had a balk called on him. The score was tied 2-2 and the umpire, not once, but TWICE called a balk on him when there was someone on third base. If the pitcher balks, each person on base automatically gets to advance. Which means, that with two balks and a runner on third base each time, the mudhens opened up the score from 2-2 to 2-4.

Our parents were livid to say the least. There are obvious balks, but Dawson's were not. So it felt as though we were playing against the opposing team and the umpires. The score stayed 2-4 until the 5th inning when we finally went up 5-4. All we had to do was get three outs in the top of the 6th and we win the ballgame.

Austin Steel comes in to pitch and when he walked his first batter, we knew there might be trouble. That batter ended up getting home and the score was tied 5-5....extra innings. In the top of the 7th inning, they got two more runs making the score 5-7. Austin did great on the mound in a pinch but we knew we had to get the bats going in order to win. And boy did those dawgs get the bats going. One good hit after another.....laying down good bunts.....hard hits to the grass.....excellent base running and stealing! The bulldogs came back against all odds and won the game 8-7. They are the champions!!

Congrats boys - first championship win of the season.

The team from left to right, starting with the coaches....Brian Turner, Chris Ellis, Lee Freeman, Jay Vondohlen, (middle row) Ty Ellis, Maddox Vondohlen, Corey Perkins, Seth Garnder, Austin Steel, Dawson Kula (bottom row) Kavan Hill, John Turner, Dawson Hamilton, Daniel Freeman, Julian Shanklin, and Cody Miller.

Crazy boys celebrating the win!
Next week the 8-2 Bulldogs are off to Kingsport to vie for a berth to Disney!

Off to a great start in Music City...then came the rain!

The boys finally got the bats going for the Capitol City NIT tournament in Music City last weekend. The first game they played was against the Mudcats. This team has been our nemesis for years. Last year they were one of only 6 teams that beat us and we certainly were out to redeem ourselves. The boys pulled together like the Bulldogs we are used to and cranked the ball all over the field. They won this game 11-5!!

The second game was a little closer, but our boys came from behind against another Bulldog team to win 8-7. I personally did not get to see them play but I got a blow by blow from others. We were looking forward to an early start Sunday morning to wrap up this championship and mother nature just would not cooperate. So, unfortunately, due to impending weather and field conditions, the tournament was cancelled.

We won two games and our record is now 4-2. Next weekend we head to Sparta! Supposed to be a beautiful weekend so I will definitely have pictures to post. Wish us luck!

A Rocky Start in Georgia

Well, the season has begun. For those of you new to following our team, let me back up. This team started as the Smyrna Bulldogs five years ago. Jay Vondohlen, our head coach, was coaching rec league and decided to put a travel team together. Throughout the years, we have lost players and added players, but the majority of the boys that started with Jay are still with Jay.

We have Coach Jay Vondohlen, Coach Chris Ellis, Coach Brian Turner, and Coach Lee Freeman. Meet our boys: Maddox Vondohlen, Ty Ellis, John Turner, Daniel Freeman, Austin Steel, Dawson Hamilton, Dawson Kula, Kavan Hill, Corey Perkins, Julian Shanklin, Cody Miller, and Seth Gardner.

Last year was by far our most rewarding year. We played 73 ballgames last summer and our record was 67-6. We won several tournaments including the USSSA World Series in St. Louis.

This year, however, we are off to a little bit slower start. We had our first tournament in Marietta this past weekend. We won 2 and lost 2. This was the boys' first play of the year and as everyone knows, it will take some time for them to get their groove together. Most of the teams we played had already played in 10-15 games so they did have a jump on us.

Defensively, the Bulldogs played well, but their bats needed a little help....as they get older the pitching gets faster but I have no doubt within a couple of more tournaments, these boys will find their team power from last year and be back on top again!

Now, more about the Marietta tournament. We all traveled down Friday night and a few of us went to dinner together. Saturday morning we headed to the ball field where we won our first game against the Hobgood Heat pretty handily.

Later that afternoon we lost to the East Cobb Bandits. The boys hung their heads, but pulled it together quickly enough later to play in the hottub and a little game of cornhole.

Sunday morning we all gathered at the park for a nice devotional lead by Coach Jay. Then we hit the field to play the Georgia Titans and won. The boys were on a high, until we hit the field with the East Cobb Tigers. The teams were pretty evenly matched, but our sticks were just not on this time. We all drove home in the rain - but made it back safely.

One last note, one of our players, Kavan Hill was injured in a scrimmage last week and fractured his arm. Everyone please keep him in your thoughts and prayers. We all wish him a speedy recovery so he can rejoin us soon!