Oh well.......all good things, unfortunately, must come to an end.

Jax Beach made a good run at it but we came up one run short yesterday in the District Championships.

The tournament trail started out good enough. We placed 3rd in the Ponte Vedra Invitational out of 12 teams 3 weeks ago....not bad but we knew we could do better.

We won the Lake Lucina Invitational. 1st out of 9 teams. Things were looking really good!

Fernandina Beach hosted the Disrtict 5 tournament this past weekend. We won our 1st game 1-0 against Ft Caroline. We won our 2nd game against Ponte Vedra 3-1. Fernandina knocked us in the loser's bracket by way of a 4-3 victory Saturday morning. We had to play again that afternoon against Mayport, a 7-5 victory for Jax Beach. That left just us and Fernandina for all the marbles yesterday afternoon.

Fernandina Beach - 2 Jax Beach - 1

And that's it for Little League. I'll have to admit the sudden finality of it is taking it's time settling in. Hard to believe that after 7 1/2 years of serious involvement, it's over.

AAU and AABC, here we come!!

Deano

-- Deano (deano@luvthebeach.com), July 02, 2001

Answers

Deano.. who gives a fuck? I mean really, do we look like we fucking care you stupid ass?

-- Cherri (jessam6@home.com), July 02, 2001.

I'm sure this isn't Cherri......

Some little boys can act very tough behind their computers in their bedrooms, all by themselves. I'm not sure if it will help on your long journey to becoming a man though.

Good luck on getting there big guy! You have quite a ways to go yet I see.

Deano

-- Deano (deano@luvthebeach.com), July 03, 2001.

Pretty sure you're right, Deano. I've never known Cherri to cuss in her posts.

This piece you posted is kind of melancholy, in a way. You will have such great memories of the time you spent over 7-1/2 years with Little League.

But like you said, on to bigger (and probably better) things! Good luck. (And thanks for all the updates. I may not have responded to them, but I read them. They brought back such fond memories of when I was a kid and they wouldn't let me play -- it was that "you're a GIRL" thing.)

-- (PatriciaS@lasvegas.com), July 03, 2001.

Thanks Trisha!

There were a couple teams we came across in the invitationals that had girls on their teams. Players too! One little gal from San Souci knocked one outa the park at Lake Lucina.

We're hoping to keep these 12 young men together and move on up the ranks in the travelball world. We're having too much fun to let it end now.

Deano

-- Deano (deano@luvthebeach.com), July 03, 2001.

Deano, what do you think of aluminum bats? I'm a purist.

-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), July 03, 2001.

Lars

I'm a purist also. We used wooden bats all thru little league and beyond and we knocked the crap outa the ball.

I think the main problem with aluminum bats (as the kids get older) is that the fields stay relatively small. Aluminum bats tend to be a little bit 'hotter' as in the ball really comes off of them. Hence, they're somewhat dangerous to an infielder (especially a kid who may or may not be paying attention).

But on the other hand aluminum bats can last for a couple seasons before they lose their pop, where a wooden bat might last one pitch before it breaks in two.

Haven't been shopping for aluminum (hell, they're making them outa titanium now!) bats in a while until a couple weeks ago. Dude, some of them go for $300 a piece now, FOR ONE STINKIN BAT!

Shoot, I still play a persimmon driver! (1967 MT - the last year Macgregor made the keyhole insert on a lefty driver). Definitely a purist!

Deano

-- Deano (deano@luvthebeach.com), July 03, 2001.