Katy American fell last night to Bellaire 10-3 to end the All-Star season for the 11 year olds.  The Bellaire teams are rich with tradition in sending teams to the Little League World Series and were certainly favored in this game but the first 4 innings was anyone’s game.  Katy American jumped out to a 2-0 lead after 2 innings and confidence was high that we could not only compete against Bellaire but win the game.  Luke Klingler started on the mound and did a great job keeping their hitters off balance.  Bellaire scored 3 in the top of the third and the game was still a close 3-2 ball game after 4 complete innings.  In the 5^th and 6^th, Bellaire started to take advantage of  a tired KA pitching staff and put up 7 runs in the last 2 innings to end the game.  Katy American had other chances early in the game with again, 3 close plays at the plate that went the other way. Baseball is a game of inches and that very statement played against us the entire tournament.   But that’s baseball.  Considering how tough District 16 is, the 11 year olds All-Star run was successfull posting a 2-2 record with all games being competitive against very good teams.  I would like to thank the players for all stepping up and representing Katy American with the utmost character and I appreciate their tremendous efforts on the field.  It was truly a pleasure and priveledge coaching these fine young men. 

Coach Ruffeno 

An inspired Katy American team went to Bear Creek last night and eliminated Katy National 5-2 to advance to Missouri City LL and stay alive in the 11 year All-Star bracket.  A marvelous pitching performance by Larry Villarreal kept the Katy National hitters off balance all night allowing only 6 hits while striking out 6 and walking only 2.  Larry stepped up big as he pitched 4 and 2/3 innings of the most determined baseball of the tournament.  Jordan Wells came in relief in the bottom of the 5^th to close the inning.  Then Wells calmly came out in the bottom of the 6th and struck out 2 and got a ground ball out to end the game. This was a complete team effort with timely hitting and solid defense as KA was focused on STAYING ALIVE and moving on.   Dylan Moreau continued his hard work and consistent effort behind the plate supporting the pitchers as he has been doing the entire tournament.  Coffman (1), Wilson (2), Smith (1), Villarreal (1) all scored for Katy American.  KA moves on to Missouri City tonight at 730PM. Go Katy!!!

Another killer game went the other way last night as Katy American fell to Memorial Ashford 12 – 9 in a slug fest.  KA rang up 18 hits and never quit in this back and forth heart breaker.  Memorial Ashford kept the pressure on all night with good hitting of their own hitting safely 13 times and drew 3 walks  and also reached base on 3 errors which basically proved to be the difference.  Memorial Ashford threw strikes the entire game walking no KA hitters.  They also played great defense with no errors and threw 2 KA runners out at the plate from the outfield on 2 very close plays.   The bottom line is both teams had 18 total base runners in the game but they capitalized a little more than we did.

We play tonight against Katy National at 7PM in Bear Creek in an important elimination game for both teams.  Go Katy!!!

Katy American prevailed 5-4 in at killer, 7 inning opening round game against Bear creek last night.  KA registered 12 hits and struck out 13 Bear Creek hitters while playing solid defense to pull it out. Bear Creek only had 3 hits but with a tight strike zone by the plate umpire, Bear Creek logged 9 walks to stay in the game.  David Coffman came in the 2^nd and pitched an inspiring 4 1/3 innings to keep the game close. Great outfield play by Larry Villarreal in the 3^rd stopped an apparent Bear creek rally throwing out a runner at the plate from right field.  In the 5^th, Luke Klingler hit a 2 out 2 strike triple scoring 2 runs to give KA the lead.  Bear creek would not quit as they tied the game in the bottom of the 6^th to send the game into extra innings. Cy Payne took the ball in the top of the 7^th and shut BC down in order on 11 pitches.  Derek Smith started the bottom of the 7^th with a ripped single to left and reached 2^nd on a pass ball.  With 2 outs, Cy Payne laid a perfect surprise bunt single down the 3^rd base line scoring Smith on the throw to first to end the game.  Ruffeno (1), Villarreal (1), Smith (2), and Klingler (1) all scored for Katy American.