Eight is Enough for a terrific Practice!

Eight Blue Jays put in an outstanding performance at practice Saturday, April 9 at Westbrook Elementary School. George Roggie, Sam Berman, Jeremy Robertson, Ethan Yu, Jake Schuman, John Wyatt, Aleka Frazier and Ava Curley showed that they are ready to have a great game Sunday with the Pirates. Argh!

April 9 Practice Report

Aleka Frazier put in an all star performance in every facet of the game! She played extremely well at several different positions in the field.

Above, she delivers yet another very accurate throw. She's really starting to put some mustard on the that ball!

Aleka possesses the grace of a gazelle and the tenacity of a bulldog! Above, she contributes one of the better highlights of practice, tagging out hard charging Jake Schuman before he can reach 3rd base. What a play!

Practice gave Aleka an opportunity to try out her new hot pink bat. She immediately put it to good use, smacking hits that kept the fielders very busy. We can't wait to see Aleka and her new bat in action in the game with the Pirates!

Ethan Yu improves by leaps and bounds every week! We love his approach to the game. Look at the way he stands in ready position before each pitch so that he can be prepared to either go get the ball or cover his base.

Here, Ethan makes an unbelievable catch during the pop-up drill. Way to go, Ethan!

Most hitters agree that Coach Steve's pitching is something of an acquired taste. After seeing a few less than stellar offerings, Ethan promptly began blasting the ball when the coach got around to delivering pitches in the strike zone!

Ethan smacked grounders and line drives to both left field and right field!

Sam Berman might have had the best batting practice of his young career in Saturday's practice. He not only made great contact, but also unloaded some fierce power! Sam delivered multiple hits to the outfield.

Sam demonstrated his usual aggressiveness in the field. He's always ready to play!

Here, Sam unleashes a superb throw from 3rd base all the way across the field to 1st base. What an arm!

Sam also contributed multiple catches to the team total during the pop-up drill. Here, he takes yet another ball to the chest for the Blue Jays. Thanks, Sam!

Jeremy Robertson turned in this highlight during the pop-up drill, using both hands to nab a tough fly ball!

Jeremy is another Blue Jay who is really improving his all around game. Here, he puts his mitt up and stands in ready position. This enables him to get a good jump on the ball so that he can make the play in the infield.

Above, Jeremy does what he does best, smiling in the batter's box before ripping yet another shot through the infield!

Jeremy did a great job during fielding and base running practice. Here, he rounds third and heads for home to score a run. Great job, Jeremy!

Ava Curley did a tremendous job in practice, paying close attention to the batter and chasing down well hit balls at shortstop and in the outfield.

Ava enjoyed a productive batting practice, too, slugging grounders and a line drive through the left side of the infield. She does a great job setting up at the plate, getting in the same batting stance every time so that she can wreak havoc on opposing defenses!

A real speed demon on the base paths, Ava chugged in to 2nd base safely and made the turn toward 3rd base on this play. Well done, Ava!

George Roggie has really been whacking the ball lately, and this at-bat is no exception. Take a look at George's focus and his smooth swing. That's beautiful! It's no surprise that he air mailed multiple hits to center field.

Here, George gets ready to make a play at 3rd base, where he caught a sinking line drive just before it could hit the ground. Plays like that are becoming George's specialty!

George prefers to play 1st base whenever possible. It's easy to understand why when you see him make great catches like the one he made on this play!

Fortunately, the Blue Jays have lots of good 1st basemen. Jake Schuman is one of them. Check out Jake's catch to get an out at 1st on this play. Impressive!

Jake was great on defense throughout practice. Here, he sets up to make another great play at shortstop. Later, he contributed three big catches during the pop-up drill.

Jake worked on leveling his swing during batting practice. This helped him to make more consistent contact and to send grounders and line drives through the middle of the infield.

A classic long strider, Jake can cover a lot of ground in very little time when he runs the bases. Here, he prepares to make the turn at 1st base and head for 2nd. Jake enjoyed a terrific practice!

John Wyatt looks like he really knows what he's doing when he stands in the batter's box. There's a good reason for that - he does know what he's doing. John's hitting skills are getting to the point at which he can crack a line drive down the 3rd base line in his sleep! His hits are awesome!

John's hard work to improve his fielding paid off in a big way in Saturday's practice. Playing at 1st base, John made an out when he caught a hard throw from 12-year old Max Johnson Fraidin, George Roggie's older cousin! Great job, John!

John was in the middle of the action all afternoon. He's giving his new mitt quite a workout!

Catch This!

The gentleman behind John in this photo is Chris Robertson. Thanks to Chris for catching on a muddy field during the first half of batting practice on a chilly day!

Steve Berman took over behind the plate for the second half of batting practice. You might notice that, much like his son, Steve is not afraid to get his knees dirty. Thanks, Steve!

Argh! Bring on the Pirates!

The Blue Jays will play the Pirates Sunday, April 10 at Pyle Middle School. We ask that everyone arrive at 3:00 so that we can warm up, set the batting order, and establish our fielding positions for the first inning. We will be in the field first because we are the home team.

We anticipate warm and dry conditions for the game.

The Fraziers and the Pearls offered to step to the plate and provide the post game snacks and drinks. Many thanks!

Go Blue Jays!

Let's have fun, do our best, and demonstrate great teamwork and sportsmanship in our game with the Pirates!

Coach Steve