This past weekend (including Monday, 11/06), the Weston Rattlers 10U "Maroon" swept the competition, going 3-0 (11-2 for the season now).  The weekend began with a friendly game against the 10U "Black" Team.  Christian Aragon of the Rattlers "Black" proved to be one of the best pitchers we've faced all season.  While we managed to get 3 runs on the board in the first inning, he effectively neutralized us over several innings by striking us out up and down our order.  However, equal to the task was Tommy Taborda, who went 4 innings giving up only 3 hits and had 5 strike outs.  In the end, it became a war of attrition, which eventually went the "Maroon" way when Choppy made a diving catch in center field (he enjoyed a dirt sandwich along the way!) and then proceeded to gun down the runner who was tagging at third (Evan Klugerman held his ground when the two players eventually collided).  The double play ended the 3rd inning and the team never looked back.  Rafael Amanau also kept the middle of the line up going with 2 strong hits (including a double) that evening.  To end the game, we turned another double play with Brett Kean, Tommy Taborda and Perry Littrell!

On Saturday night, the Rattlers visited the Miramar Canes putting Choppy (Freddie Sultan) on the mound for duty.  The Canes also had a very good pitcher against us as the two teams were locked up in a 3-3 tie for four innings.  Choppy pitched 4 innings giving up only 2 hits and striking out 10!  He also ripped a triple down the right field line his first time at bat.  As we've seen before, the Rattlers demonstrated good defense and held themselves in the game until their bats eventually came alive, and that happened in the 5th inning when they exploded for 7 runs and put the game away for good.  Just like the several recent games the team collectively hit about .500 again.  Danny Velez came through at the bottom of the order again, registering 2 important RBI's.  Our lead off man, Evan Klugerman went a blistering 3-4 with no strike outs and scored 2 runs with 2 RBI's . 

Finally, on Monday the 6th, the Rattlers "Maroon" defended their undefeated record at Tequesta by shutting out (5-0) a strong Coral Springs Panthers Team, who recently came in 3rd at the Triple Crown Fall Nationals (too bad we couldn't make it!).   The Team, once again, continued to demonstrate sound fundemental baseball in which all facets of the game were played with a high level of performance.  Tommy Taborda was very solid behind the plate, gunning down runners at 2nd and 3rd throughout the evening.  John Ham lead off the game with a rip/line drive into left field and helped set the tone for a steady performance by the hitters.  Perry Littrell and Freddie Sultan also hit the ball well, each getting 2 doubles.  Richard Labarca also kept his average steady by getting clutch hitting during the game.  Between John Ham and Danny Cepeda, the Rattlers only gave up 4 hits through the entire 6 inning game.  As a final note, once again, the Rattlers turned a double play where Brett Kean at 3rd tagged out 2 players in the same play!