I'm happy to announce that the 2008 11U Cincy Flames were the runners-up at this year's CABA World Series. This year's World Series was certainly more international than a previous CABA tournament the Flames have played in, with teams from not only the United States, but also from Mexico, Panama, and Puerto Rico.
The boys' first game of pool play was against the Puerto Rican National team, which the Flames won. They went on to win three other pool games, earning the 2 seed in the championship (gold) bracket next to the only other undefeated team, the Indiana Prospects. Our boys continued to go undefeated in the championship round, all the way to the championship game against the stellar Prairie Gravel (IL)baseball team. Since the tournament was a double-elimination format and they lost to Gravel in the championship game, another game was played immediately following. Sadly, Gravel was on fire while the Flames played flat in both games. All in all, though, it was a great tournament, and our new head coach should be commended for encouraging our boys all the way!
The crowning moment of the tournament, though, was the award ceremony at the end. Several of the boys on both teams were named to the All-Tournament team, which is essentially an honorary thing based on how they played the whole tournament. Other awards were handed out for MVP, Best Pitching, etc. Our dear son, John, received the Gold Glove award for outstanding outfielding!!! He made at least 3 incredible plays at center field (in 3 different games): two diving catches--one which was a game-saving catch against Mexico, allowing the Flames to continue their undefeated status--and a put-out from the fence at center field to 3rd base in the final championship game. While he wasn't able to show his stuff at the Opening Day skills competition, he certainly proved he has what it takes in the field! Can you tell I'm proud?
Because of the double-header championship games on Sunday, we didn't get back home until 1am Eastern time early Monday morning. We haven't had much of a chance to take a break, as both John and Drew have returned to football practice in full pads! John is practicing 5X/week and Drew is practicing 3X/week. I can honestly say I can hardly wait for school to begin again so we can have some 'down time.' Then it will just be a couple of practices during the week and games on the weekends.
