All-Stars Update (4)

Congratulations to Blake and the 8U Blue all-star team as they won the 8U Cal Ripken State tournament in Winterville this past weekend!! 8U Blue did it in style as they outscored their opponents 84-3 over six games in the tourney! Good luck to Blake and 8U Blue as they advance to play in the 8U Cal Ripken Southeast Regionals in Martin, Tennessee beginning July 12th.

Congratulations to Jacob, Matthew N. and the 8U Red all-star team as they finished runners-up of the PONY Piedmont Sectional in Garner this past weekend!!! 8U Red went 4-1 on the weekend with the only loss coming in the championship game to a strong Garner team. The runner-up finish advances Jacob, Matthew N. and 8U Red to the PONY South Region Zone tournament in High Point beginning July 15th. Good luck!!

Congratulations to Caleb and the 7U Blue all-star team as they won the NC AAU Beach Super Regional 8U tourney in Oak Island this past weekend!!! Yes, you read that correctly – 7U Blue won an 8U tourney!!! 7U Blue was the only 7U team in the field and came out on top. 7U Blue went 4-0 on the weekend and won the championship game by mercy rule 14-4 in four innings. Good luck to Caleb and 7U Blue as they start the 7U Cal Ripken State tournament in Wilson beginning June 30th.

The Capital City Tigers team also participated in the NC AAU Beach Super Regional 8U tourney in Oak Island this past weekend. While not getting the results they would have liked, the team played extremely hard, got better; and it was fun to watch them and the 7U Blue team root for each other during the games.

All-Stars Update (3)

Congratulations to Blake and the 8U Blue all-star team as they won the 8U Cal Ripken Area tournament in Hamlet this past weekend!! Blake and 8U Blue advanced to play in the 8U Cal Ripken State tournament in Winterville this coming weekend.

Congratulations to Caleb and the 7U Blue all-star team as they won the 7U Cal Ripken Area tournament in Wilmington this past weekend!! Caleb and 7U Blue advance to play in the 7U Cal Ripken State tournament in Wilson in two weeks.

Note: The 9U, 11U and 12U Blue teams of West Raleigh all won Ripken area championships this past weekend as well. 10U Blue has their area tournament this coming weekend.

Congratulations to Jacob, Matthew N. and the 8U Red all-star team as they won the Silver Bracket of the Top Gun Summer World Series this weekend. If you’re keeping tabs at home, that’s three tournaments played, three championships won for 8U Red.

All-Stars Update (2)

Congratulations to Blake and the 8U Blue all-star team as they went 4-0 and won the Gold bracket championship in the Top Gun/ORSS All Star Invitational in Winterville this weekend. Good luck to 8U Blue as they head to the Cal Ripken District tournament in Hamlet next weekend.

Congratulations to Jacob, Matthew N. and the 8U Red all-star team as they won the Silver bracket championship of the Top Gun/ORSS All Star Invitational in Winterville. 8U Red compiled a 3-1 record on the weekend.

Congratulations to Caleb and the 7U Blue all-star team!! In their first ever all-star tournament in the Top Gun/ORSS All Star Invitational, they went 3-1 on the weekend, secured the #3 seed in the Gold bracket in a twenty team field, lost in the semi-finals to a strong Winterville 8U team, while beating two other 8U teams and a strong Winterville 7U team along the way and finished 3rd in the tournament. Had they knocked off the Winterville 8U team they would have played 8U Blue in the Gold bracket championship game!! Good luck to 7U Blue as they head to the Cal Ripken district tournament in Wilmington next weekend.

Congratulations to Carter, Matthew D. and the Capital City Tigers team as they went 2-0 on Saturday and secured the #2 seed in the Gold bracket in the Top Gun Zone World Series Qualifier in Fayetteville this weekend. The Tigers finished fourth in the tournament.

All-Stars Update

Congratulations to Blake and the 8U Blue all-star team as they finished runners up in the Gold bracket of the Top Gun NC State Games Zone Qualifier tournament this weekend, compiling a 3-1 record.

Congratulations to Jacob, Matthew N. and the 8U Red all-star team as they won the Silver bracket championship of the Top Gun NC State Games Zone Qualifier tournament this weekend.

Congratulations to Carter, Matthew D. and the Capital City Tigers team as they finished runners up in their division in round robin format of the Top Gun NC State Games Zone Qualifier tournament this weekend, also going 3-1.

Caleb and the 7U Blue all-star team did not play this weekend, and will have their first tournament this coming up weekend.

All-Stars Selection

Congratulations to the following players who will be representing West Raleigh and the Riverdogs in all-star competition this summer:

8U Ripken Blue: Blake

8U Pony Red: Jacob, Matthew N.

7U Ripken Blue: Caleb

Also, congratulations to Carter and Matthew D. who have been selected to play on the Capital City Tigers, a team made up of West Raleigh kids who will play some local area tournaments this summer.

Stay tuned to the blog for periodic updates on these teams throughout the summer.

Closing Ceremonies

Closing ceremonies took place Friday night, which marks the official end of the spring 2016 minor league season.

Congratulations to Nolan Jones who won the sportsmanship award for the Riverdogs.

Tournament Game 4: Thunder 4, Riverdogs 2

A day after the Riverdogs played a great five innings but faltered a bit in the sixth; the Riverdogs surpassed that and played perhaps their most complete game of the season offensively and defensively. Unfortunately, the Riverdogs came out on the wrong end of the decision, losing 4-2 to the Thunder. The loss knocks the Riverdogs out of the tournament and ends the spring 2016 season.

The ‘dawgs struck first to take a 1-0 lead, then the Thunder came back with two runs in the bottom of the first to take a 2-1 lead. The Thunder later added a 2 run HR to go up 4-1. The Riverdogs had no problem hitting the ball; however a stout Thunder defense would not let the Riverdogs get into a rhythm. This was evident in the fifth inning when the Riverdogs had bases loaded with no outs and only came away with one run to make the score 4-2; and in the sixth inning when the Riverdogs had runners on first and second with no outs and came away with no runs. The Riverdogs defense rose to the challenge as well. Of the 4 runs the Thunder scored, three came off over the fence home runs. Therefore other than the Thunder homers, the Riverdogs outscored the powerful hitting Thunder 2-1.

The leading hitters for the Riverdogs were Matthew N. who was 2-2 with a double, single and a run scored; and Carter who was 2-2 with two singles. Jacob added a double, while Caleb, Bobby, Caden, Weston, Nicky D. and Nicholas A. all added a single each. Bobby scored a run, while Jacob and Matthew D. added a RBI each.

Defensively, Jacob and Matthew N. received special recognition from Coach David for their play in the middle infield. Nicholas A. was praised for his diving attempt at a fly ball in right field, while William received recognition for almost catching a pop fly at catcher for the second straight game. Finally, Caleb received the final candy bar of the season for his fly ball catch in the outfield.

The loss ends the minor league careers for seven 8 year olds and three coaches, as Blake, Matthew N., Jacob, Carter, Nolan, Weston and Bobby all move up to Burke field and the Rookie League, while Coach David Gray, Coach Jesse and Coach David Vestal will also be moving up.

The next outing is closing ceremonies on Wednesday night after the Minor League championship game, weather permitting.