The 13U Greensboro Retro Pirates won the September Sizzler Baseball tournament held at Deep River Park in High Point NC. The Pirates, coached by Tony Nusdeo, John Olszewski, Chris Patrick, and Shane Lyons put it all together this past weekend to bring home the gold for the 1st time this Fall.

After a slow start on saturday during pool play, 3-2 and 10-3 losses, the Pirates were forced to play 3 games on Sunday to win the tournament.  After playing the late game on saturday night and finishing at 10:30pm the Pirates had to play the dreaded 9am Sunday morning game against the Kernersville Giants. It wasn’t much of a contest from the start as they jumped to an early lead and never looked back with a 14-1 victory. Led by the pitching of Cameron Lyons and Trevor Patrick,who combined for a 2-hitter. The Pirates blasted 13 hits total led by Patrick Callaghan, John Meeks, Lucas Olszewski, Brian Beckham, and Johordan Davis who had 2 hits a piece and Matthew Nusdeo had a 3 run triple to put the game out of reach.

They advanced to the semifinals against a tough Tops Baseball team. The Pirates jumped out front again as pitchers Davis and Danny Graves combined for the win while Nusdeo banged out 2 hits and Graves exploded for a 3 hit, 3 RBI, 3 run game that included an HR. Trey Ragan made some beautiful plays at second base to preserve the win.The Pirates advanced to the finals with a decisive 11-4 win.

The final game pitted the Pirates against the Greensboro Batting Center. This promised to be a hard fought game. The Pirates again jumped out to a big 6-0 early lead before some fireworks from the opposing team were set off as their coach was asked to leave the ball park after some accessive arguing. GBC did come back to make it 6-4 at one point. But there was no stopping the Pirates on this day. Lyons started the game on the bump with some gutsy pitching and gave way to Davis who got stronger on the hill as the day got long. The bats were on fire again as they banged out 13 hits again led by Davis’ 3 hits ( 10-15 on the weekend)and 4RBI and Lyons, Beckham, and Graves had 2 hits a piece. Jeremy Weaver had 3 RBI and  Olszewski chipped in with 2 RBI.Danny Graves came in the last inning to close out the championship game as the Pirates routed GBC 13-4.

The whole team contributed to this championship and the parents and coaches are very proud of how each one of them played their hearts out and always showed class and sportmanship while they were on and off the field at Deep River Park.

Great job Pirates!!!

Miss Babe Ruth Statue Vandalized, Stolen

Grasshoppers offer $1,000 reward for apprehension of thief

GREENSBORO –The Miss Babe Ruth statue, located at the southeast corner of NewBridge Bank Park, was stolen over the weekend, according to Greensboro Grasshoppers President and General Manager Donald Moore.

Since June 2008, the likeness of the popular Labrador retriever has sat next to the bench with a smiling Guilford the Grasshopper likeness.

“It is really sad that someone would steal the statue of Babe,” said Moore. “At every game, kids clamor to sit on that bench with Babe and Guilford. It adds such a classy touch to an already beautiful ballpark with our two most recognizable mascots sitting there,” Moore continued. “People come from far and wide to have their pictures taken. It is a sad day for our community.’

The fiberglass, life-size statue was custom-made by Fun Enterprises, LLC, of Beachwood, Ohio, and was bolted four inches into concrete.

“It was clearly a malicious act of vandalism, as her paws are still intact. We are already moving forward with having the statue replaced, but, unfortunately, it will take weeks, if not months to get a new one made. In the interim, we want to find the person who stole the statue, and we’re willing to pay $1,000 for information leading to the thief’s arrest and conviction,” Moore continued.

The Grasshoppers open a seven game home stand tonight, ironically with Master Yogi Berra’s Bark in the Park, dog owners are encouraged to bring their pooches to the game.  Please visit www.gsohoppers.com or call (336) 268-2255 for additional information.