Brase Sports Update 5/23 - 5/24

Hello Everyone,

Well, it was the BIG weekend for State Championship softball. The draw was on 5/19. We ended up pulling Kylie's old team, Legacy. I know that I was very excited as was Kylie. The chance to show what they never gave her the chance to do. Very cool.
Saturday: The game started at 11am. Mystic came out in a fury. Crushing the ball off of Legacy's pitcher. Kylie pitched well. She gave up a few hits here and there. I will give Legacy some credit, they can bomb. Kylie did very well at the plate also. 2 AB's, 1 hit, scored once, and hit a run in. Anyway, the score was 5-1 Mystic in the 4th inning. Very nerve racking. I had to walk away from the game I was so nervous. So, I walk away for about 15 minutes and come back. I am then told the score is 5-4 !!! What the ??!! What a mess. Mystic commits 4 straight errors combined with 2 hits makes the score 7-5 Legacy at the end of 4 innings. Nightmare time ! Mystic tried to come back, but it wasn't going to happen. 7 - 5 Legacy as time expires. A crushing defeat. Kylie played very hard and played well. I was a hard loss for her. It was nice to see 3 of the Legacy coaches hug and tell Kylie how good she did. Very cool and lots of class. The Manager of Legacy was a different story. Not a word to her and showed what an incredible Jackass he is. Have to admit, our coach is in a little over his head. But, it was there for the taking.
Sunday: Our second game was against Corona Express. A very good team. This was a another very good game. Mystic's defense was really good. Very solid. Kylie played RF. She played very well again. She also got moved up to bat 5th and came through with a 3/3 game. The score was 1-1 late in the game. We had girls that bombed in the first game go hitless in this game. That hurt us. Corona Express takes the lead late 3-1. The coach puts Kylie in to pitch the last 2 innings. She shuts Express down. Setting up the chance to come back, but Mystic goes down 3-1. Double elimination tournament, so we are done. Heartbreak city.
The parents received an email before the tournament saying that we were going to State so we could automatically qualify for Western Nationals (every team that shows up qualifies). Almost sounded like they were not expecting to compete. There are a few parents that are still in Rec League mode. 90% percent of these girls showed they want to win this weekend. Their parents need to stop babying and let these ladies play. We will see what happens in the next couple of months. I was approached afterward and asked to start coaching again .We'll see. What did Jack Nicholson say ...... "you can't handle the truth".
See ya.

Brase Sports Update 5/9 - 5/11

Hello Everyone,

It's been a little quiet on the sports front, so I skipped a week. So we'll start with this past weekend.

Saturday: Kylie had a friendly in West Covina. This was the big test for Mystic. All three opponents for the day were ranked in the top 12.

First game was against OC Wildcats (#7). This was a very well coached team with a ton of talent. Orange County is the hot bed for all of softball. In fact, 90% of top talent in the nation comes out of Orange County. Kylie started at pitcher for this one. She has been working very hard to get back to where she was before she joined Legacy. She did pretty well. There were 2-3 errors in the first that really hurt. Kylie threw a fastball when the coach called outside curve and goodbye ! I have never seen 12U girls hit like that ! If you made one mistake, the ball was leaving in a hurry. Kylie did pitch the whole game and didn't get tired. She did well. She also continued to hit. But, the Wildcats were way too much. Mystic goes down 8-3.

Next game was against So Cal Jynx (#2). This was a nightmare for the first inning. Kylie started at 2B. Jynx was up first and lets just say that was the longest 1st inning I have ever seen. I kept asking Kelly what inning it was ! Good thing I have a patient wife ! Jynx absolutely crushed the ball, this combined with more errors, made the 1st inning horrific. First inning 10 -0 Jynx. Kylie had a couple of opportunities at 2B, but got bit by the error bug herself. It was a mess. The good thing was that Mystic fought back !! Going into the last inning, Mystic was down 10-7. Kylie continued to hit also. We were fighting to get our last ups, but that went away when our pitcher served up a giant "cookie" and the ball disappeared into the blue sky ! My gosh, that was a bomb ! Anyway, game over. Mystic goes down to Jynx 13-7.

Last game was against the Raiders (#12). No Al Davis here. This was a very good game. Kylie came in the 3rd inning to pitch. It was 2-1 Mystic at that time. She shut them down. The Raiders had a mean, maniac coach. Constantly yelling at the girls. Anyway, going into the last inning it was 2-2. Kylie was cruising. The Raiders had their bomber up. Kylie had struck her out the last time. Well, the count went to 3-2. Then Kylie threw a fastball right down the middle and the ball was crushed to left center and was then badly mis-played and went forever. Home run. AHHH !! Just like in the first game, Kylie missed the signal and thought a fastball was called. Can't do that at this level. But at least the coach and Kylie talked and our back on the same page. They better be. State Championship is in 2 weeks !! So, Mystic went 0-3 on the weekend. They showed signs that they can compete with the top teams. They better get going a little faster or it's going to be a short Memorial weekend.

Monday: Nick had baseball ! It was the Raptors vs. the Diamond Jaxx. This was a great game ! Nick was a maniac ! A focused warrior maniac ! He had 3 AB's. 1st at bat he crushed a line drive to the short stop. His second AB was a dribbler back to the pitcher, that kid heard "you better run" and didn't look once at the ball and ran as hard as he could toward first. The first baseman caught it at the last second. The bad thing for the first baseman was that he stepped on top of the base. Nick ran right through him (totally legal), knocked him down. At least he held onto the ball. Nick's last hit was a scorcher to CF all the way to the fence. But, Nick's performance was in the field. That played so hard it was awesome. The Diamond Jaxx bomber was up. Nick was playing pitcher. The kid hit a fly ball toward first, Nick ran over and caught it in the air ! Just missed a double play when he threw to first to double up the runner and the 1st baseman dropped it. The next huge play was while Nick was playing 1st base. The ball was hit between 1st and second, Nick runs over and knocks the ball down. He then picks it up and it turns into a race to first. Nick then dives, mitt first toward the base. He hits the base with his mitt, the runner runs into Nick and goes flying. Then the ball trickles out of Nick mitt. Runner is safe, but that play was awesome !! What a beast !!! Very exciting ! Nick got his 5th game ball to add to his collection. Anyway, that's it ! See you next week !