Congratulations to the following players for their placement on DHYS Summer Tournament Teams!
14U All Stars:
Reid Barry
Jeremy Boise
Parker Boyd
Clay Dodson
Stanford Flowers
Rafi Goldsmith
Miles Grayson
Matthew Holt
Jack Maloof
Tyler McClinton
Ben Parrish
Spencer Patterson
Kaden Spann
Nicalas Williams
12U Vipers:
Sam Bulmer
Luke Clark
Levi Cloud
Hunter Flowers
Jonathan Gagnon
Panikos Hadjipanayis
Jackson Hills
Robbie Huey
Ross Oglesby
Jaden Rafter
Ben Smith
James Swank
12U Cobras:
Andrew Neville
John Principe
Jose Sanchez
Jacob Simon
Joe Vatalaro
Clayton Crochet
Matthew Hills
Joey Kooken
Seth Jones
Jake Waddell
Cole Walker
Henry Freer
12U/11U Dragons:
Keith Adams
Sam Ahmann-Lloyd
Cole Attick
Trevon Frazier
Nathan Hall
Andrew Mao
Augie McQuaig
Nathan Moore
Kevin Phillips
Noah Reiter
Nicolas Rioja
Ethan Yankovich
11U Spartans:
Rainier Barfield
Aidan Beyer
Mason Doan
Henry Dunbar
Micah Eisen
Joseph Garcia
Will Hutchinson
Bentley Marshall
Henry Nichols
Dennis O'Shea
Jacob Suever
Joseph Tolbert
11U Spartans Finish 3rd in the State!
The 11U Spartans capped off a fun and exciting All Star season with strong showings in the DizzyDean District & State Tournaments. The Spartans played well in the District 4 Tournament to earna spot in the State Tournament in Woodstock. The team’s skill, hard work and perseverance paid off in the State Tournament as the Spartans advanced through the 15-team field to finish in 3rd place. The Spartans completed the All Star season with an impressive 22-8 record, securing 1st or2nd place in every pre-District tournament. In addition to scoring over 250 runs and batting over .400 as a team, the Spartans were outstanding representatives for DHYS – competing with great effort while also displaying class and sportsmanship. Well done Spartans!
11U Spartans Start the Summer Strong!
The 11U Spartans are off to a strong start this summer with runner-up finishes in their first two tournaments. The Spartans have capitalized on solid pitching, defense and outstanding hitting to collect second place trophies at the All Star Warm-Up in Cumming and Southeast All Star Championship in Douglasville. While compiling an 8-2 record, the Spartans have outscored their opponents 103-51 and collected 20 extra base hits. Congratulations to the Spartans on a solid start to the summer tournament season!
11U Spartans Continue Their Winning Ways!
The 11U Spartans continue to play outstanding baseball as they battle All Star competition across metro Atlanta. The Spartans have won 8 of their last 9 games, while compiling an overall record of 16-4. Most recently, the team finished 1st in the silver bracket of the All Star Showdown in Woodstock and captured 2nd place in the Roswell All Star Showcase over Father’s Day weekend. The Spartans look forward to representing DHYS in the upcoming Dizzy Dean District Tournament starting June 20.
10U (A) Red Devils:
Finn Blackmon
Nathan Brieske
Sam Colton
Malachi Cloud
Max Fishbein
Taylor Flowers
Noah Grayson
Carson Harlan
Alex Matullo
David McQuaig
Charlie Payne
Cole Turner
The 10U Red Devils took home their first hardware of the summer going 5-0 at the Lake City Classic in Acworth. The boys outscored their opponents 66 - 18 with timely hitting, outstanding pitching and great defense. Pool play started with the Red Devils facing a tough East Side Titans squad. After both teams failed to score in the first inning, the Red Devils exploded for 5 runs in the second and the rout was on. Finn Blackmon and Taylor Flowers combined to pitch 4 innings, strike out 5 and walk 2 while allowing only 3 runs. The entire team hit well with doubles by Malachi Cloud, Sam Colton, Max Fishbein, Charlie Payne, and Alex Matullo. Taylor Flowers and David McQuaig both had triples. Final score was 13-3.
Game 2 saw the Red Devils face a seasoned Powder Springs Makos team they had played several times in 9U. After David McQuaig held the Makos scoreless in the first inning, the boys wasted no time warming up the bats jumping out to a 4 run lead after the first inning. The Makos managed to plate one run in the second, but the Red Devils scored 5 of their own - including an inside the park home run by the fleet footed Nathan Brieske - to keep the game one sided. Brieske led off the Red Devils’ fourth with his second race around the bases in the game. Malachi Cloud came in to pitch well in the fourth and a walk off inside the park home run by David McQuaig ended the game by mercy rule. Final score was 15-4.
As the #1 seed going into bracket play, we faced the same Powder Springs team we defeated on Saturday. Nathan Brieske used his newly discovered change up to baffle the other team's hitters. Malachi Cloud was not to be outdone using his self-described "whirly ball" to close out the game in the 4th and 5th. Bats were on fire again. Noah Grayson led the team with 2 RBIs. Final score was 10-1.
The semifinals pit us against another opponent from pool play, the East Side Titans. Coming off a 9-2 victory over Hobgood in the first round of the bracket, the Titans appeared to be a different team from the one we defeated on Saturday. The Titans definitely came to play starting off the game with several hard hits to the outfield. Max Fishbein's heads up throw to third to get out an overly ambitious base runner helped limit the East Side team to a single run despite their good hitting. Facing their first deficit of the tournament after the top half of the first inning, the boys rallied to score 3 in the bottom half and never trailed again. Sam Colton and Charlie Payne held the opposing team to 5 runs in 5 innings. Our offense once again carried us to victory highlighted by Taylor Flowers' 3-run inside the park home run to blow the game open in the 3rd inning. Final score was 13-5.
In the final, the Red Devils faced a Canton Stingers team that had steamrolled their two bracket opponents by a combined score of 19-3. The Red Devils got off to a hot start after pitcher Finn Blackmon blanked the Stingers in the top of the first. Scoring 4 runs in the bottom of the first, the Red Devils appeared to be well on their way to victory. The Stingers had something else in mind though. With the help of a few untimely fielding errors, Canton scored 5 runs in the top of the second to take the lead. Not to be outdone, the boys showed grit and scored 5 of their own in the bottom of the inning to claim back a lead they would not relinquish. Finn dialed up the knuckle ball and held Canton to zero runs in the next two innings while the offense took over. Cole Turner's clutch first pitch line drive up the middle in the 4th ignited a 5 run inning to put the game out of reach. Hitting highlights included Carson Harlan's bullet to Right Center for a RBI triple, David McQuaig's 5 RBIs and Noah Grayson's 3 RBIs.
Huge thanks to the parents and family members for coming out to cheer on the team in the North Georgia heat. It's on to Douglasville next weekend for the Southeastern All-Star Championships.
10U (B) Hawks:
Liam Aiken
RJ Brewster
Will Bruce
Gabriel Elliott
Cal Forde
Brayden Gordon
Nathan Mancinelli
Duncan Tanner
Jack Tope
Emma Tucker
Lleyton Weaver
Drew Wren
The DHYS Hawks 10U team started the 2014 summer tournament season strong with a second-place finish in the Hobgood Memorial Day Warm-Up tournament. The Hawks were very strong in pool play, using excellent defense and pitching to beat Sharon Springs Spartans Blue and Sharon Springs Spartans Silver. In bracket play the Hawks beat Powder Springs in the first game of the day. Unfortunately the Hawks had to knock off the DHYS Blue Claws in a well-played game to advance to the championship, where the NYO Thunder proved too much in the third game of the day.
10U (C) Blue Claws:
Balser, Oz
Bourgeois, Devin
Craig, Alex
Davis, Sam
Eastman, Charles
Fleming, Thomas
Gewirtz, Harry
Kosar, Oliver
Levy, Sagor
Reiner, Austin
Ross, Colin
Thompson, Miles
Walton, Jonathan
The Druid Hills BlueClaws wrapped up a successful summer season on Sunday 6/22 at the Ocee Park Summer Slam. Playing in five straight tournaments they successfully compiled an overall record of 11 wins, 5 losses, and 4 ties. They won one Silver bracket championship trophy (Hobgood Summer Showdown), and also earned a Gold bracket Runner Up (Hobgood Baseball Bash) along the way. In earning the Runner Up at the Hobgood Baseball Bash, they avenged a tight semifinal loss the prior week against eventual Larry Hutson tourney champions, the Sandy Plains Cougars. The BlueClaws scored in the bottom of the last to tie the Cougars during pool play, and then outdueled them in the semifinal 3-2 on the strength of errorless defense and near-flawless pitching. In each tournament they lost but a single game, and advanced to semi-final play in all tournaments based on their winning efforts in pool and bracket play.
In the last tournament of the season, the 'Claws overcame several big deficits in the bottom of the last inning to secure exciting and improbable walkoff wins. Against Sharon Springs Silver Spartans they dug themselves a 14-0 hole, and were down 14-4 going to the bottom of the last inning. The bats came alive and the BlueClaws earned a heartpounding 15-14 win, scoring 6 runs with two outs. After a dominating win vs. the North Gwinnett Bulldogs, the BlueClaws again faced a steep hill in an elimination game against the Sandy Springs Cyclones. The cardiac kids again pulled out a big win with two outs, winning 13-12 as Jonathan Walton smashed a line drive hit to secure the win after starting the inning down 12-5. Their late inning luck finally ran out against the Sharon Springs Blue Spartans in the semifinal, having been speared 10-9. Congrats to the team as they represented themselves and DHYS extremely well.
In the Hobgood Baseball Bash on June 14, BlueClaws defeated a strong Sandy Plains Cougars team 3-2 to advance to Championship game Although the BlueClaws came up short against the Sandy Springs Storm (who hasn't), the team played extremely well in a signature win in their semi-final game. The team benefitted from stellar pitching from Thomas Fleming and Harry Gewirtz (who pitched 6 shut out innings in tourney). Outstanding defense by Charles Eastman and clutch play by Miles Thompson helped preserve the team win. Additional players pounding the ball were Colin Rosss, Sam Davis, and Oz Balser whose bats keyed earlier wins in pool play. Alert and focused contributions in the field were made by Devin Bourgeois, Austin Reiner, Oliver Kosar, Sagor Levy, and Alex Craig to help advance the BlueClaws in tourney play.
The DHYS 10U BlueClaws won the Silver Bracket Championship in the 2nd Annual Hobgood Summer Showdown on June 1. The team earned the Championship via a 3-1 tournament record as they received a #1 seed in Bracket Play and won both Bracket Play games by identical scores of 14-4. Players were very enthused as this represented the first Championship for many of the players. Thomas Fleming was selected the 10U Tournament's Outstanding Player based on his strong contributions pitching and hitting.
9U (A) Devil Dogs:
Kaleb Bodman
Jackson Cheek
Drew Gossett
Jude Hiley
Brady Jones
Garrett Lambert
Colton Lusk
Sam McFarland
Gus Molnar
Keenan Nelms
Mac Richardson
Will Tansill
9U Devil Dogs Huddle for a 1st Place Win at the Early Bird
The 9U Devil Dogs shrugged off a loss in their 1st pool play game to go 5-1 overall and win the Southwest Early Bird Tournament during May 22-25th. After Winston got the Devil Dogs attention in a 3-8 loss on Thursday, the Dogs woke up on Saturday to beat the NYO Bulls 8-3 and Bill Arp 11-1. In bracket play on Sunday the boys then took control over the host Southwest Park All-Stars 19-2 to setup a rematch with the Bulls for the Championship. The Bulls showed why NYO is one of the better parks for competitive youth baseball in Metro Atlanta, shrugging off the earlier loss to lead the Dogs 5-3 going into the bottom of the 6th. However, the Dogs showed their interest in playing competitively as well, answering with 3 quick runs for a walk-off win and the Championship. Way to go Devil Dogs.
9U Devil Dogs Place Second in USSSA AA NIT
The 9U Devil Dogs took their first shot at a USSSA AA travel tournament on June 8th and 9th in Social Circle Georgia. After pool play games that saw the Dogs fight for a 6-5 victory and win another 14-4, they were seeded fourth overall. In bracket play the boys started right where they left off in pool play, winning by a score of 8-2 and then 8-6 in the semi-final. The championship game pitted the Dogs against the Elite Gamers.....and "elite" they were. The Dogs held the Gamers to no runs and then scored one for themselves in the bottom of the 1st. After a scoreless 2nd inning the Dogs led 1-0 into the 3rd when the Gamers scratched for 2 runs. Behind impressive pitching and flawless defense all over the field for both teams, the score remained 2-1 into the 5th. The Elite then showed why they're the top ranked Georgia team in their age, as they opened it up with 3 runs in the top of the 5th, and another 4 runs in the top of the 6th. The Devil Dogs gave it their all but couldn't get to the Elite pitcher. With 2 outs in the bottom of the 6th the starter gave up a hit and walked a Dog which was enough for a pitching change, which allowed the Dogs to scrap for 1 more run and the game ended 9-2 in favor of the Gamers. After the game some felt that the Elite and the Dogs had played one of the best youth baseball games they had seen. Way to go Devil Dogs...we're proud of you. The Devil Dogs are now 12-3 on the season.
9U (B) Red Bulls:
Ben Arnold
Mordecai Benzo
Yannick Butler
Aaron DeCarlo
Creighton Dunbar
Alexandru Grama
John Edward Kosar
Noah McMahon
Cullen Riel
Everett Schroeder
Colin Spencer
Spencer Vaughn
Brian Young
8U (A) Red Devils:
Kate Banks
Reid Brosnan
Levi Clark
Keegan deMayo
Liam Ebbs
Braeden Harris
Stephen Holland
Nate Malkin
Ian O'Connor
Israel Rosseter
Jay Wilcox
Che Williams
8U DHYS Red Devils go 5-0 @ SOBC Tournament
The 8U Devils won the Strike Out Breast Cancer Tournament held in Douglasville, GA on June 14th & 15th, 2014. The Devils offense was too much for their opponents as they put up 79 runs in 5 games. The Devils defense, which has been solid all summer, was very stingy allowing only 40 runs in the tournament, including only 4 runs to the one seed in the championship game. The defense turned in a phenomenal performance including acrobatic catches in the outfield and turned a number of double plays, 3 in the championship game alone. The Devils put on a hitting clinic the entire tournament. The ball was hit hard all over the ball park, coupled with smart base running, the pressure was on. The Devils played 3 games on Sunday and escaped a tough semi-final opponent 13-12 in 6 innings. The Devils confidence grew game by game and they were not going to be denied as they pounded out a 19-4 victory and their first Tournament Championship. Way to go Devils!
8U (B) Blue Devils:
Arnberger, Jacob
Becker, Ryan
Booth, Nash
Borse, Jack
Forster, Greyson
Gini, Liam
Jones, Aiden
Keenan, Luke
Richarson, Stuart
Taylor, Jacorey
Tobias, Owen
Whitaker, Sam
Yulo, Gabi
7U:
Alex Balsamo
Griffin Bennett-Nguyen
Joey David
Oscar Epstein
Taylor Goldstein
Owen Hadelman
Egan Hadelman
Ari Harpring
Ellington Hodge
Aiden Matthews
Matthew Russell
Brian Tibbetts
7U DHYS Red Devils Finish Off a Strong Summer!
The 7U DHYS Red Devils finished up the summer strong at the All Star Baseball World Series in Douglasville, GA July 15-20. The Red Devils went 2-1 in pool played and advanced to the Gold Bracket for the first time this summer. During pool play the Red Devils lost a close one to a good Hobgood team, beat the Hunter Park All Stars, and beat the eventually Silver Bracket champion Lithia Springs All Stars. Our Gold Bracket game brought us against the East Cherokee Honey Badgers. The Red Devils gave the Honey Badgers all they could handle but in the end their bats were just too strong as they broke out in the 4th inning to take control of the game. The Red Devils received many complements from other team’s coaches on their improvement since the beginning of summer. All in all it was a fabulous weekend of baseball for the Red Devils!
This summer was truly a learning experience for the Red Devils. Having never competed in tournament ball, the Red Devils had a lot to learn. They practiced often and hard, never gave up, and supported each other as teammates. The players were able to see how hard work and determination can lead to success on and off the field. Congratulations to the 7U Red Devils on a successful tournament season!
