Final Week of Fall Registration

This is the final week of Myers Park Trinity Fall Ball registration. Go to MPTLL.org and sign up before it's too late. Registration closes August 19th.

The fall season runs from late August through late October. It's an instructional program, with the main emphasis placed on teaching fundamentals. As discussed on this blog before, Fall Ball is a relaxed, fun season with no standings or tournaments. If you need more convincing, here you go.

Baseball and Girls Softball are available at MPTLL this fall. Click here for information on the various divisions of play. This year there will be new and improved 11-12-year-old and 9-10-year-old player pitch divisions, allowing those kids to play among their own age groups. This should create a more advanced league for older players and a better learning environment for younger ones.

Sign up online today.

Myers Park 14's Southeast Regional Update

The Myers Park 14-year-old All-Stars are preparing for their fourth day at the Southeast Babe Ruth Regional Tournament in Northern Virginia. The team lost game one on Thursday 11-1 to a good San Jose, FL team, but came back to beat Manassas, VA 5-4 on Saturday to stay alive in this double-elimination tournament. Caston Rudisill pitched a complete game for MP and Tom Hay Coggins delivered a clutch 2-RBI single.

Myers Park plays South Carolina today in another elimination game at 11:00 a.m. You can tune in and follow all the action on the Myers Park Twitter page. The updated bracket is here.

UPDATE:  MP beat South Carolina 5-2 on Sunday, but lost to Alabama 12-2 on Monday morning. It was a great run by this team. The league is proud.

MP 14's Car Wash Fundraiser on Sunday

Help send the Myers Park Trinity 14-year-old All Stars to the Southeast Regional Babe Ruth Tournament. The team is having a car wash fundraiser on Sunday, July 29th from 1pm-3pm at Randolph Park.

The boys will leave Charlotte on Wednesday for the tournament in Purcellville, VA. They will have a minimum four night stay. Proceeds from the car wash will help cover travel costs for players and coaches needing financial assistance.

You can help the team by having your car washed on Sunday or making a donation online. No amount is too small. Spread the word. Thank you for supporting MPTLL and the 14's.

Myers Park 14's Are Western NC State Champs

The Myers Park Trinity 14-year-old All Star team won the Western NC State Babe Ruth Championship in Matthews this week, sweeping two games in the finals in dominating fashion.  For the tournament, the team played seven games in four days, winning six, including the final five in a row. This is the first state championship for Myers Park Trinity in 60 years of baseball.

The title puts Myers Park into the Southeast Regional, August 2-5 at Fireman's Field in Loudoun County, Northern Virginia.   Myers Park’s first game will be Thursday, August 2nd at 11am against San Jose FL, a team out of the Jacksonville area.   MP fans can follow the team's progress on the MPTLL Twitter page.

The Southeast Regional will match up 12 teams from Alabama, the Bahamas, North Florida, South Florida, Georgia, Eastern North Carolina, Western North Carolina, South Carolina, Eastern Tennessee, Western Tennessee and Virginia. The winner will advance to the 14U Babe Ruth World Series in Murray, Utah in mid-August.

The 14's are managed by Mark Crowther. Coaches are Mark Mensheha, Craig Holder, Boyd Coggins, Bo Coggins, Mark Smith, Rick Hutchins and Trevor Beasley. Players are: Gardner Atkinson, Calvin Cara, Hayes Christenbury, Tom Hay Coggins, Parker Dennis, Michael Hawes, Sam Little, Matt Long, Antonio Misenhaimer, Joe McGoldrick, Kyle Pace, Henry Richards, Caston Rudisill, and J.J. Schacht.

The players will be holding a car wash fundraiser to help offset the cost of traveling and staying in VA.  Please support this group as they represent Myers Park Trinity next week.

Myers Park 11's Win District 3

The Myers Park 10-11-year-old all-star team captured the District 3 Championship on Thursday night with a 10-0, 4-inning victory over Weddington National on Wade Field at Myers Park.

The team blew through district play in four games, outscoring its opponents 51-2. The pitching staff allowed no earned runs and the defense was stellar all week. The championship game was highlighted by a 2-hit shutout thrown by Henry Merchant, an incredible 3rd-inning ending play from the hole by Patrick Alvarez and a double play by Khristian Ellington at 3rd base that set up the final strikeout.

When a team scores 51 runs in four games, obviously the bats are red hot, which was the case for Myers Park. The boys wasted no time, jumping out to a 7-0 lead in the 1st inning of game 1 over TOC champ Weddington American. That game ended 10-0 on a game-winning sac fly by Pres Cavenaugh in the 4th that drove in Ben Heaton.

Game 2 was a 22-1, 4-inning affair over Dilworth that included 2 home runs by Raul Beltran, 4 doubles by Ellington and home runs by Alvarez and Hayden Malchesky. Alvarez hit another home run in Game 3's 9-1 win over Weddington National. He didn't stop in the championship game, hitting a home run and 2 doubles. Malchesky also homered again, and Merchant had 2 hits and the complete game victory.

This makes three banners by the Little League Class of 2013. The age group won TOC banners at ages 9 and 10, and they now have the District Tournament banner they wanted so badly. With those three banners, they are the most decorated class in Myers Park Trinity history.

Now they will attempt to go farther into the summer than previous MP teams. They head to the league's third official NC Little League State Tournament in the past five years, following the success of the 2008 10-year-olds and the same group that won the District in 2010 as 12's. No Myers Park team has gone beyond the state semifinals in recent memory, the 1987 All-Star team being the last.

The 11's will head to Morganton today for a 5:00 State Tournament matchup with District 5. The tournament will be played at Catawba Meadows Park, only an hour and a half drive from Charlotte. If you cannot make the trip to Morganton, head to the Myers Park Twitter page for live updates on all the action. I will be live tweeting from games as I have all summer.

The boys hope to make a good run at States. On Friday, they raised money for the trip by hosting a car wash at Randolph Park. They are also raising money for the league and their trip online. This team is playing to win and wants to make it an extended stay.

District 3 Tournaments Set To Begin

The official NC District 3 Little League Tournaments begin Saturday, July 7, with four Myers Park Trinity teams in action. This time it's double-elimination, win and advance.

The 12's won their Tournament of Champions (pictured) and will go to Weddington to try to extend their summer. They begin on Sunday, likely with a huge matchup against the team they beat in the TOC final, Weddington National.

Myers Park is hosting the 11-year-old District Tournament on Wade Field. Our 11's have a good team and will attempt to get by TOC champ Weddington American in their first game on Saturday. If you would like to volunteer to help with the scorebook, pitch count or public address during any games, let me or Greg Heaton know.

The 10's will head back to Dilworth for their tournament and the 9's will venture up to new District 3 member, Lake Norman LL. Here are all of the schedules:

12-year-old District 3 Tournament at Weddington
11-year-old District 3 Tournament at Myers Park
10-year-old District 3 Tournament at Dilworth
9-year-old District 3 Tournament at Lake Norman

Good luck to all the teams. As usual, updates will be posted on the MPTLL Twitter account during and after games, so check there often. You don't have to be a follower, but it helps.

Myers Park Off To a Good TOC Start

After four days of play in the Tournament of Champions (TOC), Myers Park Trinity is on a roll. In the last two days of action, MP teams are 7-0 against their opponents.

In Steele Creek, where the league has entered two TOC teams, MP Red is having great success. The team is 3-0, thanks to quality pitching, solid defense and powerful hitting. Last night's 20-3 victory over Coul-Oak was highlighted by back-to-back home runs by William Hamil and Rex Brietz in the 4th inning. The team has enjoyed solid hitting throughout the lineup, with prior home runs by Alex Cherne (2) and Clay Richards. The hitting and catching of RaQuan McLendon has been another key to their early success. MP Red plays Lake Norman tonight at 8:00. The medal round begins on Thursday (6/21).

Also in Steele Creek, MP Blue dropped its first two games of pool play, but bounced back with wins over Mint Hill and Steele Creek with a total team effort on both Monday and Tuesday nights. The pitching of Kobe Mayers, Jordan Archie and others has been great, with big help from the catching of Harrison Flouhouse. The hitting was solid as well, led by guys like Jack Ahlum, Bennett Smith, Michael Bixby, Baker Jarrell, Flouhouse and Archie. MP Blue unfortunately just missed out on a tiebreaker scenerio that almost sent them to the semifinals. Great to see this team come back, though, and finish with a couple of clutch wins.

At Myers Park, the MP 11-year-olds are 2-1 with a 10-9 loss to Coul-Oak, an 8-4 win over Weddington National and a 9-0 win over Lake Norman. Hitting has come from all parts of the lineup at various times: 3 hits by Hayden Malchesky and two doubles by Alexander Donald in game 1; two RBI hits by McRae Gage and a 2-RBI hit by Drew Robelen in game 2; two doubles by Henry Merchant, and a triple and inside-the-park home run by Patrick Alvarez in game 3 (click on the picture above for a great shot of that moment). The pitching is getting better as the week goes by. Alvarez threw very well in relief on Monday night, and last night's shutout victory over Lake Norman was highlighted by a 4 2/3 inning, 35 pitch outing by Merchant, with Pres Cavenaugh and Donald in relief. The 11's play Dilworth tonight at 6:00 as they try to advance to the semis.

Over at Dilworth, our MP 10-year-olds are rolling along at 3-0 with big victories over Dilworth, Weddington American and Lake Norman. This team is really putting it all together with the pitching of guys like Ben Morehead, Crawford Wade and several others; the hitting of Jackson Krisko, Jack Shaw, Reed Bolin, Morehead and just about the entire lineup; and some great defense to back it all up. The 10's were off last night and have Wednesday night off as well. They play Dilworth again on Thursday at 6:00. The medal round begins on Friday.

Back at Myers Park, our 9-year-old team has also found success with back-to-back wins over Steele Creek and Dilworth, after dropping its first game to Weddington American. The bats have come to life, led by Harris Hollar and Harrison Bobbitt. The pitching has been solid as well, with Scott Hosmer, Hutch Bray and others on the mound. The work of Max Brietz behind the plate has been a big help to them. The 9's play Weddington American again tonight at 8:00.

Good luck to all of our Myers Park teams the rest of the way. Sorry if any deserving players have been left out above. It's hard to include all the bright spots on these great teams. Coaches and parents, please continue to send in scores and highlights. Some pictures would be great too.

Remember that TOC schedules are posted here. Scores for the 9's and 11's tournaments being hosted by MPTLL are being updated on the league's Tournaments page. And here are results for the 10's and 12's (incomplete).

The best place to get up to the minute scores and highlights from each game is our MPTLL Twitter page. I will be tweeting on all the live action as often as possible each night - whether you are a follower or not. You don't even need a Twitter account, but it makes it easier. Check it out here. And spread the word. GO MP!

TOC Updates on Twitter

I will be posting MPTLL TOC scores and updates on the league's Twitter account (@mplittleleague) throughout the week. Check it out and give it a follow for all the info.

District 3 TOC Schedules

The 2012 Tournaments of Champions (TOC) for the Myers Park 9's, 10's, 11's and 12's begin this Saturday, June 16. The TOC is the first of two scheduled tournaments for these teams, with the possibility of more. The second will be the official NC District 3 Tournaments, which are scheduled for July 7.

Below are schedules and more information for each age group. The first column of teams on each schedule is Group A and the second is Group B. Myers Park is hosting the 9's and 12's.


9-Year-Old TOC at Myers Park Trinity LL.  Results

10-Year-Old TOC at Dilworth LL - 1415 Princeton Ave.

11-Year-Old TOC at Myers Park Trinity LL.  Results

12-Year-Old TOC at Steele Creek LL - 13530 Choate Cir.

MPTLL's Nivens and Rice Award Winners