7/12/09

Dear parents and All-Stars,

After a very emotional night, the gravity of our time together has truly hit me and I believe I speak for my entire family as I write this letter to you.

I want you all to know what this time together as All-Stars has meant to us.  I want to thank each and every one of you for being so special, caring, supportive people.  It is rare to find a group like we had.  We feel so honored and blessed to have gotten to know all of you and to share this incredible ride we have had.

Seeing our children's victories and their defeats has been wonderful and heart wrenching at the same time.  They worked so hard and came so far.  The lessons in life that we have to go through can be so difficult, but I know they make us all stronger.  I can tell you that my heart breaks for the faces that I saw last night.  I could not hold back my tears last night and they continue today.  However, I am so proud of each and every one of them.  They are all so special and gifted in their own ways and I know as they continue to grow they will be even more amazing.

I smile when I think of our kids.  I will always remember something special about each one of them...

Oscar Carrillo - Soft spoken, a great hitter and so fast!

Robbie Galvan - "Daddy" has so much confidence and can do it all.  Great pitching buddy!

Anthony Golemme - Great all-around player and one of the best smiles I have ever seen.  "hit one for the Moose!"

AJ Gourrier - Stealing home against Summerlin, a great hitter and lightning fast.

Micah Higa - A fabulous hitter and so sweet and quiet.  "It only takes one, huh?"

Hayden LeCates - A guaranteed power hitter and that red hair!

Evan Lewis - Kind, sweet and an awesome RBI against Spring Valley.

Brandon Lite - "Dyson" - our great center fielder, the fastest kid I have ever seen and your incredible "first" home run ever!

Adam Mitchell - Gifted hitter, pitcher, catcher and wonderful attitude.

Jake Peeler - Another great hitter and all-around player and that cool Mohawk!

Jacob Radmanovich - "Radi" - hitting, hitting, hitting and wonderful pitcher.

DJ Wyman - "Deej" and "Tiny Wyman" - An amazing throwing arm and great batter.

Nick Parr - Pitching and a knack for being walked.  "Believe you can."  I love you my sweet son.

Thank you Coaches for your wonderful teaching style, patience and time.  Chris, your patience and hard work are so appreciated.  Brian, your quiet style is calming to the kids and that is priceless.  Bill, your great smile, encouragement and whistle make you a stand out.  You all truly made a difference in our kids lives.  Thank you for choosing our kids and believing in them.

Dale and Nancy, a special "thank you" to you for all of your hard work behind the scenes.  You made it a wonderful experience and so easy for all of us.

Thanks again for this great experience and I hope we have the honor of playing with all of you again.

Yay Cheyenne 2009 All-Stars!!!!!!

Very Sincerely,

Laurie Parr

more [+]

more photos [+]

Things looked pretty good for four innings into the championship game Saturday night at Mountain Ridge Park.  The Cheyenne 11-year-old All-Stars held a comfortable 8-2 lead, starter Nick Parr was looking brilliant on the hill, Adam Mitchell and Hayden LeCates just got done hitting home runs - LeCates' a grand slam - and our defensive was playing solid baseball.

Then, the Mountain Ridge All-Stars bats came alive.  The eventual District 4 champs erupted for four, fifth inning runs to pull within two, 8-6.  Their four runs came on a grand slam dinger of their own.  Two more Mountain Ridge home runs in the top of the sixth, leading to three runs, put them in the lead, 9-8.

To keep their championship hopes alive (A victory for Cheyenne would have forced the "if necessary" game Monday night) Cheyenne needed one run to send the game to extra innings or two runs to win.  With one out in the last chance sixth, AJ Gourrier tapped a grounder toward first base, avoided the tag, and was called "safe" by the field umpire.  However, the plate umpire over-ruled the play and said Gourrier was tagged.  A controversial call that will be talked about for years.  So with two outs, Cheyenne's hopes were fading.  Jacob Radmanovich drew a walk to spark hope but LeCates, who had two singles and the towering grand slam home run in his previous at bats, flew out to right-center field to end the game and Cheyenne's season.  The Mountain Ridge All-Stars - who both of Cheyenne's losses in the tournament were in the hands of - were the District 4 champs, winning 9-8.

The game was scoreless through two innings until Mountain Ridge tallied two unearned runs off of two hits and two Cheyenne errors.  Cheyenne retaliated with one run of their own in the bottom of the third off of back-to-back-to-back singles by Gourrier, Radmanovich, and LeCates.

After Parr shut down Mountain Ridge in the top of the fourth, Cheyenne went on their seven-run blitz.  Key hits included the home runs by Mitchell and LeCates and singles by Oscar Carrillo and Brandon Lite.  You know the rest.

Parr pitched five innings giving up just seven hits while striking out five.  Robbie Galvan picked up the loss.

Well... our season has ended but what a great effort put forth by our 13 talented ballplayers.  You should all feel very proud!  Thanks to our coaches, team mom Nancy, and all the support from our fans.

Just wait until next year!

more [+]

more photos [+]

The Cheyenne 11-year-old All-Stars moved one step closer to State with a 10-8 victory over the Lone Mountain All-Stars Friday night.

But it wasn't easy.

Cheyenne lead by six runs, 10-4, heading into the top of the sixth and final inning when Lone Mountain erupted for four unanswered runs on two hits, a couple of walks, a few errors and some mental mistakes.  But Anthony Golemme put a stop to that by throwing three consecutive strikes to end Lone Mountain's rally and end the game.

But let's focus on the positive.  For starters, Cheyenne out-hit Lone Mountain, 16-6, including three hits by Jacob Radmanovich (2 singles; 1 double; 2 RBI's; 1 run scored) and Hayden LeCates (3 singles; 3 RBI's); Two hits by Golemme (1 single; 1 double;1 RBI; 2 runs scored), AJ Gourrier (2 singles; 1 RBI; 2 runs scored), Adam Mitchell (2 singles; 1 RBI; 1 run scored), Jake Peeler (2 bunt singles; 2 runs scored); And one hit for Micah Higa (1 double; 1 RBI; 1 run scored) and Oscar Carrillo (1 single; 1 run scored).

Cheyenne simply dominated at the plate.

Defensively, Radmanovich started and picked up the victory pitching four and two-thirds innings of brilliant baseball.  "Radi" recorded eight strikeouts while giving up just four hits before reaching his pitch count limit.  Golemme picked up the save giving up just two hits while striking out a pair in his one and one-third innings.

Lone Mountain scored first picking up a run in the top of the first but Cheyenne was quick to respond with a run of their own.  With one out, Radmanovich doubled off the center field fence - three feet to the right and it would have been a dinger.  LeCates moved him to third with a single then Mitchell scored "Radi" with a sacrifice fly.

Cheyenne took a 3-1 lead in the second stanza off singles by Gourrier, Radmanovich, and LeCates.  After Lone Mountain climbed back to within one in the third, 3-2, Cheyenne exploded for four runs in the bottom half to make it 7-2.  Key hits came off the bats of Mitchell, Peeler, Golemme, Gourrier, and Radmanovich.

Our All-Stars jumped ahead by seven in the fourth inning, 9-2, after Mitchell and Peeler both singled followed by back-to-back doubles by Higa and Golemme.  But Lone Mountain wouldn't go away.  They retaliated with two runs in the top of the fifth to make it 9-4.  But our boys in blue weren't finished either.  Cheyenne picked up their tenth run in the bottom of the fifth when Carrillo led off with a single and scored on an RBI single by LeCates.  We all know what happened in the top of the sixth...

Now it's on to the championship game.  Our Cheyenne All-Stars must win two games against Mountain Ridge to claim top spot.  Game time is 7:30pm, Field 3.

more [+]

more photos [+]

Thirteen Cheyenne 11-year-old All-Stars contributed to an 11-6 victory over the Summerlin North All-Stars Thursday night advancing to Friday night action against the Lone Mountain All-Stars, 14-3 losers to Mountain Ridge.  Game time is the same time... 7:30pm but this time on field 2.

After a scoreless first two innings Cheyenne jumped out to a 5-0 third inning lead.  Key bats in the inning included a single and run scored for Jacob Radmanovich; a single, RBI, and run scored for Adam Mitchell; a single, two RBI's, and run scored for Jake Peeler; and an RBI double for Robbie Galvan.  Summerlin North didn't like that.  They retaliated with five runs of their own in the bottom of the third stanza to tie the game.

In the top of the fourth Cheyenne took the lead, 6-5, when AJ Gourrier stole home when the Summerlin hurler wasn't looking.

Cheyenne took a commanding lead scoring another five runs in the top of the fifth.  Galvan led off with a towering home run deep over the left-center field fence.  Then after Evan Lewis was hit by a pitch and Micah Higa and Nick Parr walked to load the bases, Radmanovich slapped a single between shortstop and third to score Lewis.  Hayden LeCates picked up an RBI sacrifice fly scoring Higa.  Mitchell doubled off the center field fence scoring Parr and LeCates.

Mitchell started on the hill for Cheyenne and threw extremely well.  Mitchell recorded nine strikeouts, allowed just three hits, and picked up the victory in three and two-thirds innings.  Parr then went to work for the next two innings allowing just one hit while fanning three.  DJ Wyman came into the ballgame with two outs in the bottom of the last inning, yielded a hit, then recorded a strike out to end the game.

Cheyenne out-hit Summerlin, 10-5.  Radmanovich, Mitchell, and Galvan picked up three hits apiece and Peeler had one.

Defensively, Anthony Golemme and Higa did a great job behind the plate, Radmanovich completed an unassisted double play, and Peeler made two great catches at second.

See you on the fields...

more [+]

more photos [+]