Power Pros Forum

B. Let Zach take it

Harold, who had a better angle on the ball, inexplicably deferred to his teammate Zach, who had to make an incredible effort to even get in front of the ball, let alone throw it.

Zach somehow managed to cut the ball off in the hole, and looked toward first for a couple seconds, waiting for something to happen in his peripheral vision.

Harold decided to cover third just in case, and Zach immediately rifled the ball towards him. Harold nearly dropped the ball, but managed to get the tag down. A cloud of dirt went up.

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“That being said, we do need to get back to a more concrete schedule the next two days. I’m sure many of you were looking forward to swimming in the lake, or perhaps going horseback riding, or learning archery.”

Several kids nodded. Others gave their support verbally.

“All of that, plus some bonus activities, will be taken care of tomorrow and Friday. There will still be some free time for you to relax and play games, but we do want to give you at least the chance to do some of these things.”

It was still raining, although it had lightened from the incredible downpour of the late morning to a light drizzle in the early afternoon, and many of the kids decided to spend time outside hanging out in the big field near their cabins.

After dinner, a big game of capture-the-flag was organized in the field, with Jaxon and Xander serving as the captains of the two teams — the red team, who wore red glowsticks around their necks, and the blue team, who wore green glowsticks around their necks.
if u can read this comment ur favorite type of cookie and “character limit”, you'll get a special reward! (do not have to be part of RPG to participate)
The next morning, the red team was allowed to cut to the front of the breakfast line, with Jaxon at the head of the line and Xander in the very back with his dejected blue team.

After breakfast, it was announced that horseback riding was on the schedule for the afternoon activities, with both arts and crafts and geocacheing available throughout the day.

Many kids retreated to the cabins to change into more appropriate clothing (i.e. jeans), but Xander went on without a care in the world, rocking a pair of boardshorts even as he trekked through the thorny geocacheing course and rode on a majestic palomino horse for the first time in his life.

Jaxon, meanwhile, had no jeans with him, and opted to stay out of most of the activities, hanging out near the arts and crafts stations most of the day and even once being pressured into making a friendship bracelet by a gaggle of girls nearby.

The following day was Friday, the last day of camp, and the campgrounds were transformed into an open house of activity stations. Available were stations for archery, basketball, gardening, swimming, and playing a variety of camp games including one last round of capture-the-flag.

As Anthony and Xander climbed out of the pool at five-thirty, dripping with water, they were greeted by Xander’s dad, who had apparently offered to drive the boys both to and from camp.

The two friends were incredibly worn out from the week, but upon reflection, they would both admit that it was one of the most fun things they had ever done.

(Xander and Anthony: friendship +10, XP +15)

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Anthony (PowerPro Jr) and Xander: you have both leveled up!

Level 4 rewards 20 points available to spend on stat upgrades! Upgrade costs can be found in the original post on page 1. Alternatively, you can bank these points for later use, as there may be other chances to use your banked points at higher levels

EDIT: Harold (Baseballteen9500) has also leveled up in the next update! You have 35 points to spend as you banked your points from level 3. Both Harold's and Anthony's current abilities can be found in the OP on page 1 as well

Upgrade TOP SPD by 5, please

“OUT!” the umpire bellowed. The Panthers immediately stormed the field to celebrate.

(All Panthers players: XP +5)

Their next game was in 14 hours, at ten o’clock the following morning against a strong team from Oakland. Everyone on the team, even Coach Williamson, gladly took the opportunity to go home and get themselves a good night of sleep before the intense semifinal matchup.

[Harold has also leveled up to level 4! (Baseballteen9500): you have 15 points banked, plus another 20 for the level up, for a total of 35 points. Upgrade costs are on page 1, or you can continue to save those points for the future if you wish]

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After a week’s worth of adventures at outdoor camp, Anthony and Xander returned home and found themselves bigger, faster, and stronger than before.

Anthony went outside to play catch with his brother Zach, and noticed that he was suddenly throwing a lot harder than he had been. In fact, Zach was having trouble catching Anthony’s throws, and had to tell his older brother to tone it down a bit so he could actually participate fully.

Meanwhile, Xander noticed an improvement in nearly every area of his game. He found that hitting the ball came easier than it had; he was running faster and covering more ground on defense; and his throws were stronger and more accurate, although he oddly did not feel much more power at the plate.

After the tiring week of camp, Xander wanted to just flop down on the couch and hang out for the rest of the summer, and luckily for him, his dad granted this wish, telling him that he was off the hook for having to do anything else until school started.

Anthony, meanwhile, had baseball camp later that month at the school, but would nonetheless enjoy his two weeks off. He got to go out with Caroline for the first time in several weeks, and took her to the park, where they enjoyed a nice picnic lunch he had prepared.

(Anthony: relationship with Caroline +3, XP +1, TOP SPD +5)
(Xander: CON +1, RUN SPD +1, ARM STR +1, FLD +1, E RES +1)

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The following day, the Panthers assembled for their semifinal game. One thing was off, though — Colton had called in sick, and was hastily replaced with a player from the practice squad, 7th-grader Jordy Crosler.

Coach Williamson lined the Panthers up like so:

(1) Eldridge cf
(2) Anderson ss
(3) Jones 2b
(4) Thorn dh
(5) Wilson 1b
(6) Ross 3b
(7) Terrell lf
(8) Wallace rf
(9) Harris c
(NB) Simpson p

Matthew took the mound for his warm-up pitches and noticed that his best friends Xander and Cody were both in the audience, sitting next to his parents and his little brother.

Xander was wearing a white tank top and basketball shorts. His bare shoulders were beginning to redden, indicating that he probably had not applied sunscreen that morning.

Cody was wearing his hockey practice gear, minus his bulky pads, as he had practice that afternoon and was going to have to rush to the rink after the game was over.

Matthew gave them a subtle nod of recognition as he uncorked his first warmup pitch, a fastball that registered at 54.6 mph on the radar gun held by an overzealous parent in the front row.

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Lake Lagunov and his family had just returned from a relaxing vacation in Myrtle Beach, and while it was back to work for Lake’s parents, Lake and his twin sister Megan still had plenty of time to hang out and relax before their respective camps — Lake had baseball camp in two weeks, and Megan had a month-long arts and theatre camp coming up shortly.

Lake was torn between whether he should call up a friend from school, go into town to try to make some new friends, spend time with his sister before she went off to camp, or do something else.

What do you do? (dishnet34)

A. Call a friend from school (Thurgood, Stanislaus, Harold)
B. Go somewhere/try to make new friends (Mall, Park, School)
C. Spend time with Megan (Play outside, Be lazy, Go into town)
D. See what else is going on
E. Go to the sketchy part of town and introduce yourself as a rapper

Let's go with C, and go into town.

wya baseballteen

Upgrade trajectory to 2, contact to 4, 10 to power, run speed to 5, arm strength to 4, fielding to 5, Eres to 4. That's everything

Lake decided to spend some time with his sister, taking her into town. They first went to grab a bite to eat, then headed for the mall. Megan quickly informed Lake that they were showing Finding Dory at one o’clock, and she wanted to see the movie for a fourth time. Lake sighed and walked to the movie theater, purchasing two tickets for the film.

The two of them had a great time together, although Lake spent quite a bit of money on his sister.

(Lake: XP +2)

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First up for the visiting Oakland Crushers was Xavier Willis, a speedy center fielder who was 2 for 7 so far in the tournament.

Matthew was one of those pitchers who claims he doesn’t think about the individual batter at the plate and just attacks every hitter the same way, although it would become obvious later on that this was probably not the case.

In any event, he got Xavier to slap a two-hopper to short, where Zach fielded it cleanly and threw across for the out. A two-out double was negated by a popout by cleanup hitter and starting pitcher Corbin Bassett, who was arguably the best pitcher the Panthers had faced.

Corbin started the bottom half by striking out Owen Eldridge on a spike-curve, but Zach clobbered the first pitch of his at-bat into the left-center gap. Willis cut it off at the fence and chunked it back in, but Zach slid safely into third base with a triple. This did not matter, however, as both Mat and Marcus struck out to end the inning.

In the second, the third baseman Andre Harper led off with a long fly ball to left field. Matthew hung his head, certain that the ball was gone, but a strong wind brought it back into the park and into Jaxon’s glove for out number one. Next up was catcher Colin Hewitt, who stayed patient and drew a walk, bringing up William Mickey, who knocked a base hit into center. Owen rushed in to field the ball, but bobbled it slightly. Colin noticed this, and took off for third, where Joey was waiting to apply the tag. Out!

A groundout followed to end the inning. In the bottom half, the Panthers loaded the bases with two outs for Owen, who hammered a hard grounder up the middle, scoring two.

In the third inning, Willis singled, but the next batter hit into a double play. Marcus blasted one over the left-field fence in the bottom half to make it 3-0, but the game was far from over.

First baseman Tre’ Fletcher led off the top of the fourth for Oakland. Matthew uncorked a fastball low and away. Tre’, a right-handed hitter, golfed it out to center field, where Owen was waiting to make the catch.

But it was not Owen that caught the ball. A young boy seated on the center-field hill grinned as he held up the souvenir for all to see.

Bassett doubled, and Harper drove him in with a single to make it a one-run game. Hewitt again singled to put two men on with zero outs.

Coach Williamson came out to the mound, but nobody was ready in the bullpen, and Matthew stayed in to face the bottom third of the Crushers’ lineup.

By some miracle, he struck them all out, escaping the jam.

In the bottom half, Maddie was plunked in the ribs, and she took offense, making a beeline for the mound and exchanging some nasty words with Bassett. Both of them were ejected, although it was Bassett who felt worse, having been shown up by a girl!

Coach Williamson made no qualms about his disappointment in everybody involved, but swiftly moved to replace Maddie on first base with a pinch-runner, who turned out to be Harold. Righty Tay Erkin entered to pitch for Oakland; he threw slower than Bassett, but was still a good pitcher with a solid curveball.

Josh bunted Harold over to second, bringing up Owen with one out. Owen drew a walk, bringing up Zach, who drew the count full before getting a fastball in his sweet spot (up and away).

He swung with all his might, but did not connect. A strikeout was recorded, and Mat fared no better, punching a weak flyout into shallow left to end the inning.

With the top of the order coming up, Matthew was surprisingly sent back out to the mound. The leadoff hitter Willis attempted to bunt for a hit, but popped it up, and Josh Harris put it away for out number one. Matthew walked the next batter, though, and Coach Williamson decided to call on his bullpen. Nick Robertson was called on to put out the fire, and Oakland also made a substitution, pinch-running reserve outfielder Jacob Smith at first base.

The first pitch was outside, but the batter flailed at it, allowing Smith just enough time to slide safely into second with a steal. The next pitch was a curveball low, and Fletcher again swung and missed to bring the count to 0-2. Robertson finished him off with a fastball high in the zone for strike three.

Backup infielder Mike Sherman entered to pinch-hit for the pitcher Erkin, but he rolled over a changeup and grounded out to third.

A series of substitutions resulted in a new pitcher on the mound, left-hander C.J. Herrera. Marcus led off the inning, and sent a Herrera fastball to the warning track but no further, where it landed softly in the glove of Smith (who had entered in center field) for the first out. After Dax walked, Joey was drilled in the leg, and limped his way to first before being replaced by a pinch-runner, who was the first out of the subsequent double play hit by Jaxon Terrell.

With Oakland down to their final three outs, Coach Williamson instructed two pitchers to begin warming up in the bullpen. Ug Li, the team’s only lefty reliever, was summoned along with righty Jace Williams to begin loosening and throwing.

Third baseman Andre Harper put a scare into the Oceanside supporters by drilling a first-pitch changeup to deep left field, but it cleared the fence on the foul side of the foul pole, and he could only muster a weak flyout to left on the next pitch. Colin Hewitt drew another walk to bring up William Mickey, who batted lefty and whose at-bat was therefore delayed by a pitching change, as Coach Williamson elected to play the matchups and bring in Ug to face just the one batter.

Upon seeing this, the Oakland coach replaced Mickey with a right-handed pinch hitter, infielder Ty Grissett. Grissett smoked a grounder through the hole, moving Hewitt to second, still with only one out.

Jace was called in to pitch to the next batter, another pinch-hitter named Eddy Allen. Allen struck out on three pitches, and hurled his batting helmet at the dugout wall in frustration, narrowly missing the head of pitcher Vince Kalpert, who was to start the next game (if there was one).

Jay Johnson was also pinch-hit for, and backup catcher Sammy Jones came in as the team’s final position player. Williams threw two fastballs for strikes before missing the zone with three splitters in a row, bringing the count full. He wound up and threw the payoff pitch.

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“*(censored)*! We were so close to winning!”

Matthew vented to his best friends after the gut-wrenching 5-3 loss. His frustration was legitimate, as he had pitched well to keep his team in the game, then watched as the bullpen gave up a 3-run homer to take the lead.

He was visibly frustrated, and Cody and Xander tried their best to make him feel better by offering to walk with him down to their favorite ice-cream spot. Matthew graciously accepted their offer, and the three boys enjoyed the opportunity to cool down from the hot summer day (okay, it’s Oceanside, so it was only like 76 lol) and talk about something other than baseball, as Matthew didn’t want to even think about the game that had just concluded.

After they finished off their cones, Cody disappointedly told the others he had to go to hockey practice, and left with his mom, leaving the other two boys to walk and talk on their way back home. Luckily for them, the baseball complex was only about a mile from Xander’s house, where the two friends crashed for the afternoon, hanging out and watching the Padres’ afternoon game on TV.

(Matthew: XP +3, STAM +1, Xander +4)
(Xander: Matthew +4)
(Cody: PWR +1)

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The Panthers did not take the final game very seriously, as Coach Williamson allowed everyone a chance to get in the game, even the practice-squad players. The Oceanside squad fell 10-7 at the hands of a team of stuck-up rich kids from the Hollywood area.

The rest of the summer went by in a breeze. The Panthers played a total of ten tournaments, placing in four and winning one, their final tournament, which was played primarily at the Walker Grove fields, giving some of the Panthers players a slight home-field advantage.

Harold Henderson wound up making 28 appearances and 15 starts, batting .273 with 1 home run, 10 RBI, and 9 runs scored. He mostly played in right field, but his versatility also netted him some playing time at second and third base.

Thurgood Stubbs only got ten at-bats, but recorded three hits, four RBI, and three runs in the small sample. He also served as the team’s top right-handed middle relief option, often coming in to face one or two batters and finishing with a 2.79 ERA in 24 games.

Ug Li went 2 for 8 at the plate, but also carved out a role in the pitching staff as a lefty specialist, entering a team-high 27 games and finishing with a 2.57 ERA.

Matthew Simpson stayed consistent as the team’s number-two starter, going 8-0 in his 13 starts despite a 4.34 ERA.

Others of note included Joey Ross, who slugged a team-high .589 with four home runs and 29 RBI; Owen Eldridge, who led the team with a .370 AVG and .442 OBP; and Maddie Wallace, who only hit .143 in her 23 games but had a .400 OBP due to 4 walks and 7 hit-by-pitches, as she was occasionally targeted for being the only girl on the field (and occasionally just the innocent victim of wild pitching).

(All Panthers players’ abilities have improved!)

The Padres’ annual youth camp kicked off in mid-June, with five Walker Grove seventh-graders in attendance, among a host of other kids from the area.

Throughout the week, everyone ran through a series of stations, drills, and fun games to keep them active and learning about baseball. On the final day of camp, they skipped these drills entirely and went straight to what the kids really wanted — scrimmages pitting the kids against each other.

They had been divided into four age groups for the station rotations, and stayed in those age groups to face off against each other. First up was the 10 year old age group versus the 13 year old group; the 13-year-olds predictably won, albeit not as dominantly as one might think. Next up were the 11s and 12s against each other; the 12 year old team won, meaning that all five Walker Grove players would get a shot to be the camp champs.

Pick an option (dishnet34, dustyfarmer, PowerPro Jr, GoTwins24, Kungfupandacam)

A. Option A
B. Option B
C. Option C
D. Banana

Hmm...I'll go with Option C.

I'll go with option A

I'll go with Option. B

Option C, please

Stanislaus chooses A

2 for 5... Not bad

although someone definitely should have picked banana