UPDATES: Nick and Kylie 08/23/2012

Well Hello,

Been a long time since I sent out updates on the Brase kids. So, here we go.

Nick
Nick has been very very busy. Soccer has just started. So far, looks like he has gotten on a team that is 10 times better that last years. He has a very good coach and she really really likes Nick. Nick is at the top of the food chain on this team. He is the oldest on the team and it shows. His teammates look up to him and he has become a positive leader on the team. I love to see this from him. I constantly talk about leadership and sportsmanship to him. Should be a great season.
Nick also continues to excel at Martial Arts. He's been going for almost 3 years now. His instructors love his work ethic and his aggressiveness. I will post some video of his sparring when I get a chance. I love going to his class and watching him spar. Very exciting being a fight fan !!! Unfortunatley, he had his first run in with a bully. He tried to stay out of the confrontation until he had no choice. He took care of business. Dumb bully came back again a month later, took care of business again. I hate to see that have to happen, but that's part of life. We are boys afer all.

Kylie
Kylie continues to be very busy with Softball. Very busy summer with trips to Colorado and Tennessee. She just ended her run with Powersurge 18U. She is trying out for (2) 18 Gold teams this week. She has already been offered a spot after the first tryout.
She has been getting college attention since last fall. Very exciting. The schools can contact her after September 1st. Looking forward to that !
Kylie has also tried out and made Varsity Field Hockey again for Santana. They are currently practicing daily. On the road to another TRI-SPORT patch I'm sure ! 

More updates to follow....

Brase Sports Update 3/18, 3/21-3/22

Hello Everyone,

Let's Go !

(real quick, Congrats to Ms. Kylie for bringing home straight A's for the first time !!! Good job girl !)

Thursday 3/18 Baseball: It was Thunder vs. the Lakeside Padres. Nick and I practiced real hard Wednesday, so he was pumped and ready. Our pitching was stellar all game. It was awesome. We hit hard and fielded well. Nick was 2 for 2 with 2 triples ! Both to the fence. Played very good in the field too. We ended up Mercy ruling them 11-1.

Saturday 3/20 Baseball: Thunder vs. Muckdogs. This is the team that there is a rivalry between the parents. Yes, the parents will do their best to ruin kids sports. Sad, but true. Anyway, the game was pretty bad. We were missing 2 key players to start with. Not sure if it would have made a difference, but it sure would have helped. Our pitching was really bad. They would throw 4 balls and then their coach would come out and pitch. Resulting in bombs to the outfield for which our outfielders were trying to catch the bugs over their heads. Ugly ! On a good note, Nick had a single off of their pitcher and another single off of our coach. Thunder ends up getting Mercy ruled 13-1. OUCH !

Sunday 3/21 Softball: Mystic was up in Anaheim for 3 games. First game was against the Punishers. Mystic had good pitching and defense. They were down late before exploding for 5 runs in the last inning. Ky didn't play in the field but did have 1 AB for a ground out. Mystic wins 6-1. Next up was the OC NightHawks. Mystic came out struggling. Walks and errors. It wasn't too pretty. Pitching struggled, defense looked lost. We did hit pretty good. Definitely a team that we should have dominated. Didn't happen. Kylie played RF the whole game. Not a lot of action out there except on over thrown balls by the infield. 2 AB's 2 outs. Mystic goes down 7-2.

Last game was against Matrix. Kylie pitched. Another team we should dominate and they did ! They were absolutely crushing the ball ! Kylie threw very well. After a couple of walks in the first, she settled in and dominated. She threw hard, had great movement on breaking pitches, and threw her change which was very good ! She had 2 AB's, fly out and an infield single for which she ended up scoring. She gave up 2 hits, and no earned runs. The one run was on an error by SS. Mystic Dominates Matrix 18-1 ! Gonna be some down time due to Spring Break. See you in a couple of weeks !

Base Sports Update 3/11, 3/13-3/14

Hello Everyone,

Let me start by saying I am crushed that LT has signed with the Jets. The fact that I am going to have to hear about it through the entire 2010 NFL season from My Father in Law is going to be very fun. NOT ! Anyway.....

We'll start on Thursday, 3/11. Nick had a game over in Lakeside. Thunder vs. LNLL Cardinals. Beautiful fields ! State of the art facility. Top of the line artificial turf. Wow ! Not a lot of action in this one. Thunder had to come back in the last inning to finish with a tie. Nick had a couple nice at bats. Only player to actually hit off the pitcher. Made some nice plays in the field too. Thunder 4 Cardinals 4.

Saturday Baseball 3/13. Thunder vs. The Rock Hounds. This was a good game. Thunder held the lead late before the Rock Hounds came back to tie. Very exciting. Nick had 2 at bats. His nerves got to him (again) the first at bat. Striking out on a bad pitch. Next at bat, he crushed a low pitch ! A towering bomb to center ! Big hit. Makes you wonder what's going to happen when he gets that perfect pitch. Oh yeah ! Anyway, so the game is tied in the last inning. Out comes Nick to pitch. NOOOO!!! He's warming up, not looking too good. First batter, he walks him, which means the coach comes out to lob meatballs for them to blast. The coach pitches the ball, the kid smashes the ball, Nick shoots over, fields the ball and throws the kid out !! 1 out. Next batter, Nick walks him. Kid smashes the ball. Nick fields it, but the kid is safe. Next pitch... passed ball, runner advances. By the way, the game is tied at this point. Next pitch... passed ball again, runner advances. Then, Nick pulls it together and throws 3 straight strikes ! 2 outs. Next batter, a 1 a 2 a 3, strikeout ! I was happy and confused !!! Woohoo ! Thunder 4 - Rick Hounds 4. We are now 1-0-2 on the season.

Sunday Softball 3/15. Kylie had a friendly in San Diego ! 15 minute drive instead of 90 minutes. Nice ! First game was against the San Diego Renegades. Kylie played RF. Our pitcher struggled badly first the first inning. 3 walks, 3 runs scored. The Renegades had a pitcher that threw very hard. Only had a straight fastball, but we could not hit her. We gave up one more run from a walk. 4-0 Renegades. We finally started hitting and started to come back. Ky had a great catch in RF. On the run in the gap. Nice ! Anyway, too little, too late Renegades 4 - Mystic 3.

Next up was So Cal Breakers. Kylie in the circle. This was a very good game for Mystic. Kylie pitched great ! Fastballs, curves, drops. It was was working for her. Also had a line drive shot to center for a hit. She gave up 1 run, struckout 5 in 6 innings. Mystic 8- Breakers 2. Nice !

Last game was against The Renegades (second team). Kylie sat this game. Mystic started off great. Hitting and fielding to a 3-1 lead. Then..... the wheels came off. 2 Huge errors by 1B. It was horrible. Very frustrating. It ended at 5-4 Renegades. So close, yet so far away. See you next week.

Brase Sports Update 3/6-3/7

Well Hello Everyone !

Been a while, so let's get started.

The weekend started off with Nick's first baseball game of 2010. Nick's team is Thunder (Cap Division). Very exciting and COLD ! Showers off and on. We were playing our new rivals, the Muckdogs. Trust me, it's going to a rival all year. Long story. Anyway, the kids actually pitch at this level. It was really cool. Nick played the whole game. Playing, 3b, SS, CF, and 1st base. He also batted 2nd in the line up. His first at bat you could tell he was pretty nervous. Swing at balls over his head and in the dirt. Struck out. Next at bat he battled hard to a full count before hitting a single to left. Last at bat.....another battle to full count ending with a laser line drive to right ! He got on twice and scored twice. Played great in the field too. Had a great snag over at first for a big out in the inning. Lots of fun ! If I had to guess, I think he will be pitching in one of the games this week. I'm sure his Mom and Dad will be a wreck. Already have 2 great pitchers don't want another one ! Next game is Thursday !

Sunday we traveled up to Hemet for some Softball. Beautiful facility, but super cold !! Anyway, Mystic started off against OC frenzy. Our starter got in trouble right away. Kylie comes in with bases loaded, 2 nothing and 1 out. Strikes out 2, back to the dugout ! She ends up pitching 5 innings strikes out 6, but no Mystic bats means a loss. She did real good. Had 1 at bat and walked. Next up was Fury. They came out blasting, Mystic down 3-0 in the first. But, the bats came alive and started pounding the ball. Kylie, contributed in right field and at the plate. Ball hit to right and Ky gunned the ball like a laser at home. Pitcher cut it off too early. Would have been a great play . Oh well. She hit hard and walked and scored. Good game. Mystic wins 7-3.

Next up was West Coast Voodoo. Mystic was down again 2-0. But, once again the bats came alive. They crushed the ball. Kylie again hit well and laid down a nice sacrifice bunt to advance the go ahead run. Mystic comes back big and wins 8-4. Busy weekend ! Same next weekend. Stay tuned !

Brase Sports Update 10/17-10/18

Hello,

What a crazy weekend. We'll start with Nick's soccer.
Man, it was HOT on Saturday. So the Blue Bombers were playing the Lava Balls (pretty good name for an optic orange team). The Lava Balls had only 6 players which sucks since we have 8. Anyway, this was a very good team. First team I have seen pass the ball and play together. The Lava Balls scored within the first 2 minutes of the game. I'll be nice, we um had the wrong kid at goalie. We'll just leave it at that. I would say the ball stayed on our side of the field 75% of the time. We had maybe 2 players that ran the whole time. One of them being Nicholas. We had players standing around, falling on the ground, and totally lost. The Lava Balls went up 3-0 before we scored our first and only goal. The Lava Balls were well coached and had our number. I will say, Nicholas played his heart out. I'm not just saying that because he's my boy. There was a point in the game where I wanted him to do more, but when it was over, I had a new hero. No more Merriman, Gwynn, LT, Cammy, and Humphries. After the game, an exhausted and limping Nicholas walked over to the team huddle. I walked over to him and asked him if he was ok. No response. I kneeled down and gave him a hug and he fell into my arms sobbing. What a moment. Where do these little guys get that kind of fight and heart ? Pretty special stuff.
Ok, now onto Softball. The Kylie update.
Kylie has been having pitching shoulder issues. So, we finally got her in for physical therapy. Overuse is the culprit. She has been pitching since she was 5 years old ! So, she is shutting down softball for at least 1 month. We hope, but are not rushing her back, that she will be ready to pitch around Thanksgiving. We'll see. Kylie is another super tough, play through the pain, athlete. Which I admire, but would really like her to speak up so it doesn't get worse. So, that's where we are right now. Crazy stuff !
Nick has his first Flag Football game Saturday. Should be a lot of fun !

Brase Sports Update 10/3 - 10/4

Hi Everyone, (click on pictures to enlarge)

Now we are getting busy !! Saturday was a very busy day.
Nick started the day with some Flag Football Evaluations. He did good. Nervous, but he had fun and did well.
Nick had a soccer game at 11am. It was the Blue Bombers vs the Fireballs. The Blue Bombers came out very aggressive (as usual). The ball stayed in front of the Fireballs goal probably 90% of the time. Nick was his old self being very aggressive and playing hard. Anyways, the Blue Bombers dominated the Fireballs and won 4-0. The Blue Bombers remain undefeated, 4-0.

Sunday was for softball. Mystic travelled up to Santa Ana for a 3 game friendly. First up was Rancho Mirage. Pretty big team. Mostly '95 birthdays. Mystic is all '96. Anyway, Mystic was a little rusty all around. Kylie played RF the whole game and did get a hit. They did pull this one out, 5-0.

Next up was the Outlaws '96. The Outlaws had a lefty pitcher that threw very slow and had movement. Mystic did get a couple of runs, but ended up losing it in the last inning with 2 outs. Definitely a team we should have clobbered. Kylie played RF the whole game and grounded out twice.

Last game was against OC Frenzy '96. Kylie pitched in this one. She had shut down her pitching for 2 weeks due to arm fatigue. She did very well. Threw hard and threw well. She threw only 32 pitches in three innings. She ended up going 4 innings. She gave up 2 hits and 1 run. Mystic could not get it going with the bats. Mystic lost in the last inning again on a throwing error. It was an interesting Sunday. We still have a ways to go. But, we have about 4 months to get it together. We'll be fine. See you next time !

Brase Sports Update 8/26, 8/29 - 8/31

Hello Everyone,

We'll start with Nick's Basketball game on Wednesday 8/26: The Raptors vs. The Bulls. Nick (raptors) had a solid game. But, the Bulls came to play and pretty much pounded the Raptors. Nick left it all on the court. He played very hard, running up and down the court and tried to be a big team player by passing to his teammates. He'd steal the ball and rocket down the court, but he would usually lose the ball. Once he learns to control the ball he's going to be a monster. It was a little frustrating because the coaches son was on the wimpy side and would rather sleep than play. Hit the road youngster !!!
Saturday 8/29: Nick had his final basketball game. Once again, he played his heart out. But, just like the game on Wednesday, the outcome was the same. Including the coaches son !! At least the team had fun at their party !
Sunday 8/30: Mystic had their final tryout. Pretty good turn out. We ended up picking up a pitcher, shortstop, third base, and a catcher. We actually have too many players at this point. I'm talking to the main coach right now about trimming it down. So, we'll see. Kylie will be one of the 3 pitchers. She also plays a fantastic Right Field. First practice is tomorrow.
Monday 8/31: Nick's soccer team (Bolts or Blue Bombers, haven't decided yet), played a practice game against the Raging Tornadoes. Man, that was fun !! Let's just say Nick should have a very fun season ! Mega Motor !! The team has a few things to tighten up on and then they are going to be good ! Anyway, see ya next time !