Lily Wait is a staple of KC Ambush 06. She hit her 3rd career home run during an eventual dominating win. This was her first home run over the fence in an Ambush uniform. This was also the first home run for KC Ambush 06.  I’m sure there will be many more to come.

Words from mom…

“We call you our own little “Salvy”… the team parents like to refer to you as, “Babe Ruth”. 

Either way, you have big things ahead for you! 1st legit over-the-fence homerun as part of the Ambush family!  We couldn’t be more proud! Keep’em coming and you will make a name for yourself… Big bomb Lily!”

Congratulations Lily!!!

Saturday, May 5th – 2018, Katelyn Ravasini hit her first career home run (a 2-run shot) after many close calls to help pull KC Ambush 03 ahead for the eventual win during a 0-0 tie.

It was an awesome shot to witness and I couldn’t be more proud of her accomplishment in what hopes to be many more to come.

Not only was it HER first round-tripper, it was KC Ambush 03’s first over the fence round-tripper.  Us coaches had a personal side bet on who’d be the first out of a few that have come consistently close and my money was on her the entire time.

Enough from me: Here’s a message from mom:

“Katelyn, we are so happy and proud of you for hitting your first out of the park home run last weekend!  What a fun journey it has been from coach pitch in kindergarten to high level competition in 8th grade.  You have worked hard, you have overcome (numerous!) injuries, and you have grown into a great leader and competitor on the field. 

You have been blessed with amazing coaches and teammates that are like family to us.  We are looking forward to seeing your team compete this summer and cannot wait to see who gets the next long ball. 

Go KC Ambush!!   Love, Mom and Dad”

Congratulations Katelyn!!!

I had the pleasure of working with our Police Athletic League  (PAL) Panther players again and it was just as rewarding as the first time.  Something about a yellow ball and some open dirt (turf) that allows me to just be in my element – coach mode.

This time, it was to help out with more fundamentals with concentrating on hitting. The first time we practiced, we worked on a 2 strike approach drill and the girls struggled with the basic swing with many often struggling to just make making contact.  This time, we broke down the basics of the swing for them. From stance, load, toe touch and backside closing to the ball they seemed to grasp it really well.

Totally didn’t expect it; but got my 15 seconds of fame (actually the last 4 seconds) in the process. Check out the news story here

These girls did awesome. I constantly was reminded of how, “it feels weird” which was music to my ears.  When  I hear that, it means they’re implementing my teachings instead of doing it their same old “comfortable” way.

The girls picked up the drills really quick and when it came time for live BP it was a COMPLETE 360 from the other day. They were hitting the ball with authority the “weird way”.

The ultimate reward though, “Thanks for coming! I learned so much today!”

ANYTIME! #KCAmbush #PALPanthersSoftball

Long time no see… Boy! Do I have a DOOZY!

Yesterday Ambush 03 & 06 had the pleasure of finally meeting up  & practicing with Police Athletic League (PAL) Panther players. The meeting was in the works for a couple of weeks and FINALLY, yesterday was GO time!

The PAL is an KC police initiative to bridge relationships between civilians and police officers. I encourage you to view more information by clicking here.

We arranged for KC Ambush to meet PAL the Panthers at their new state of the art indoor practice facility for a joint practice with our 12’s & 14’s teams. More information about the KC Urban Youth Academy can be found by clicking here.

At first, it was the normal/ awkward meet the PAL coach and players  as we only had a practice plan  after a couple of weeks of back and forth emailing. As time went on it grew into something MUCH bigger than I had envisioned.

We were doing our normal drills and it took a little nudging on my behalf for our girls to start helping as much as they could. Before I knew it, they “took it and ran with it!”  They were encouraging, high-fiving, and volunteering help any way possible throughout practice.

After the combined practice, the look on the Panther players was priceless! There’s a REAL JOY in seeing people that are able to push themselves into believing they can do what they previously thought they couldn’t.

There was a couple of drills where you could tell they thought they would be overwhelmed but they freakin BROUGHT IT & made it look good while doing it for their first time. Before long, they were asking me to go again and again and… It was AWESOME!

I was able to push Ambush players and PAL players with the workout which was an added bonus.

The icing on the cake was the Panther players themselves actually asked us to join them for ALL of their practices.

It was VERY flattering but they have NO idea how much fun we (mostly I) actually had working with them.  I know in theory it’s supposed to be one sided and they’re supposed to thank and appreciate me for coming and working with them BUT I even more so appreciated them for allowing me TO WORK WITH them.

Selfish confession: I’ve been looking for years on ways I can give back through my passion (coaching softball) to anyone that would listen. This opportunity is PERFECT! It’s exactly what I’ve been looking for. The welcoming smiles on the Panther players faces was freaking AWESOME! I slept lightly all night thinking about how we could do more.

Coach Courtney, I know yo may not read this blog but THANKS AGAIN for the opportunity. You have no idea how much this meant to me as I started playing organized baseball right across the street from the current PAL building off of 18th & White.

#KCAmbush #PALPanthersSoftball

2018BudgetTemplate

Long time no hear…  Happy Holidays from KC Ambush to you guys.  Up above is a link to  download a budget spreadsheet I hand out every year to year to anyone that wants to get their personal finances in order for the upcoming calendar year.

Please feel free to use and share at your disposal. To sort the worksheet you’re in, press CNTRL-Q

Basically input your salary into every week for the month, input your expenses and everything is calculated for you real time. The first page is an overview of the entire year.  If you want to enter something that’s not in the drop down, you must change one of the categories in the first page to an expense you want renamed. Otherwise you can use “misc” for an entry.

If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Roger – kcambush@yahoo.com – 816.914.8280

Really! Not really…  KC Ambush had their first tournament of the fall 2017 season.  In the midst of fall league ball, I’ve been kind of worried about the product on the field known as KC Ambush 08.

To be honest, after the first game of fall ball the parents felt that the product on the field left a lot to be desired.

I had to send an email stating that even though they were worried about the girls performance for the night that they needed to keep their eyes on the prize.

We’re a new team that needs time to gel.  The league is for fine tuning and I really view it as just an elevated practice.  It’s basically used for putting the puzzle pieces together for the tournament season and to know what we need to work on.

That was approximately 2 weeks ago when we really DID look like The Bad News Bears out on the field.

Before league play, I warned the parents that we may win or lose by a lot but to not be alarmed.  Immediately after the first night, I had to email the entire team to  remind them that things will get better very quickly.  I believed it but wasn’t sure if they did or not.

We hit the last couple of weeks  really hard correcting the mistakes of what seemed like a disaster first night of league ball.

FAST FORWARD to this weekend. In my eyes, we’re an average C (rank goes A, B and C with A being the highest) with potential to play B once everyone gets on the same page and improves to where I think they should be able to. That usually takes about a year as we do A LOT of fundamentals a specific certain type of way.  Not to toot my own horn but all Ambush players minutely technically sound in all areas of their game.

Friday night we went 0-2 against some really good teams.  By the techniques they were displaying and athleticism of their girls, there’s no reason they shouldn’t have been playing  strictly B tournaments.  However, we played them both relatively close. It shocked me as I was expecting us to go through our growing pains against more advanced and talented teams.

That brings us to Friday night.  Next week is SO IN THE PAST! Saturday’s pool game the light bulb clicked.  Saturday, we won against a team that should’ve beat us and that put us in a different bracket from the bottom bracket.

Sunday I had to catch a flight so I had no access to the game or its updates.  I was then sent a link to the game updates and saw that we lost.  I figured we’d lost and was done for the day.  I then get a text claiming that Ambush is going to the Championship game.  At first, I thought it was a joke and stated I though we’d lost. They instructed me to check again.

I’ll be damned!  That was the moment I realized the game link was from the night before and we were indeed in the Championship game beating some really good teams on the way.  One actually had plans on playing in a B tournament for the weekend instead.

Now I’m watching our i-score gamecast religiously looking at us as we eventually win the Championship with a 3-1 score.  I heard reports that the girls played like a real team this weekend.

You have no idea how excited I am of this group to go from worst to first in the matter of 2 weeks.  My only thought is that this gives the girls a chance to KNOW how good they can be and will take practice even MORE seriously.  Really excited to see how they respond.

Oh yeah! Got a text today that we’re now ranked # 29 in the country and #3 in the state of Missouri in C ball.  The numbers are impressive but it’s really a numbers game as we’re no where near the #29th team in the country or #3 in the states at the C level.  But it’s more fuel to give these girls to work their tails off.  I’ll take it anyway I can get it as I’m walking around with my chest poked out even though I wasn’t there.

#kcambush #winning

This is KC Ambush ’07.  A feisty bunch that just took 3rd place (in the top flight) in the VIP Series Fall Kickoff tournament.  I knew they’d be pretty decent sooner or later but this is their 1st tournament of the season.

Soon after tryouts, we assembled the team and hit the techniques and fundamentals hard the Ambush way.  All weekend I was constantly reminded of how they’ve been paying attention to the little things we teach. From throwing motions, catching with 2 hands down to the very basics of our triangles we go over every practice… I was thoroughly impressed.

I really didn’t expect them to be so decent so quick.  I figured, we’d use this tournament as a tournament to see how we are as a team; to see our potential and get exposed so that we’ll know what we need to work on going forward.  That never happened.  I by no, means expected a 3rd place overall finish.  The girls are starting to take to our fundamental teachings and applying them in game situations.

For instance, while we had some down-time between games, we worked on slap footwork and hand positioning.  Low and behold, we came out the gate swinging as the girls were professional slap hitters logging base hits.  Now granted, we didn’t face the best pitching but the techniques they followed is what I’m looking for most in situations like this.

After the dust settled, the girls ended up losing 2-1 in a pitchers duel to Legacy 07 in the semi-final.  Legacy 07 came away victorious with a timely walk-off hit to score the winning runner on 3rd base.

We’re VERY proud of these girls as they really get what we’re trying to accomplish as a team.  They’re really buying in and it’s a beautiful thing to be a part of.  Can’t wait to witness what’s in store for these girls in the near future.  It’s all good in Ambush land!

#kcambush #winning

We’re about almost done with the yearly rat-race (tryouts).  KC Ambush 06 had their first practice yesterday and I threw a LOT at them in a short amount of time.

First we had a meet & greet in the outfield and one of the questions I asked them was rate yourself on 1-10…  First person off the bat ranks themselves as a 8.5.  Confidence was BREWING amongst the group.  There were a couple more 8’s while only one girl did a really good self evaluation of herself and rated herself an honest 5.  I hadn’t seen them at all so I was just wondering where they saw themselves.  I told them to remember their self-eval numbers as we’ll eventually revisit their self rating again in the future.

We got to warming up and I didn’t see ANY 8.5’s.  Still it was fun to witness their confidence so I’ll take it any way I can get it.  Whether they’re 8’s or whatever, they’re all on-board to relearn to do things the Ambush way.  Some caught on to drills quicker than others but all in all, they looked really good in a very short amount of time.

There’s a LOT of work on our plate but since this is the first time seeing these girls and how much they soak up technical training, I’m guessing they’ll excel sooner rather than later.

KC Ambush 07/08 split is going along quite nicely as well. We’re looking to fill 2 more spots on the 08 roster while the 07 team is completely full. They’ll start practicing the upcoming Monday and we’ll see how many “8+’s” we’ll have in that group as well.  Super excited to see these girls get going.  Should make for fun times ahead.

All in all, we still have a couple of holes to fill; Ambush ’03 open catcher position as well as a couple of 08 spots left to fill.  However, we’re full steam ahead with plans on all fronts as this is to be an exciting challenge.

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Go Ambush! #kcambush

Coming off our 3rd place finish in the previous 16A tournament, I gave our girls a 2 week break as we’ve been playing and practicing for 4 weeks in a row.  I figured, they’d come back a little rejuvenated but rusty.

Right out of the gates, they WERE a little rusty.

Our pitcher slated for the start got sick in pregrame warm-ups due to the heat (and nothing to eat but a poptart and donuts for the day).

14 year olds! smh!

So our other pitcher got the nod in the first game.

Small things a coach notices – That first game back although we looked rusty, we ended up winning 4-0.  I could tell the girls have been thinking a LOT about softball just in their style of play.  That’s where the rejuvenated part comes in.  I could see tangible differences in their game to where I could tell they’ve been doing a lot of mental reps over the last 2 weeks.

The second game was an all out DOOZY! I feel we got the bad end on a couple of calls butt here we were 1-1 with time expired in what would eventually become a 2.5 hour 12th inning game.  Our pitcher got a bite to eat and was feeling better so she was ready to start that game.  She did a SPLENDID job of holding them to 1 run in 5-6 innings of ball before she humbly informed me that she’s not feeling too well but she’ll give it another go.  I didn’t want to chance it and pulled her and the pitcher from the 1st game came in and pitched the rest of the way.

Mind you, this is in the heat of the day 2:30 and 4pm (12 inning) games.  The second pitcher already pitched the first complete game and came in and pitched another 6 innings in 95 degree/not a cloud in sight weather.  So with 2 outs in the 12th inning Ambush magic happened. I won’t divulge of the details but it was a thing of beauty to watch these girls grit it out to pull ahead 4-1.

As a side note: Millhouse Threats’ pitcher pitched the entire 12 innings until we pulled ahead. She deserves a HUGE kudos for toughing it out in that heat.  That kid did an awesome job of holding us to 1 run til the 12th.

Emotionally beat, at this point I’m very happy we didn’t have to play the next game in the losers bracket. Instead we got to go home. I don’t know if the girls could’ve played another hour.

That brings us to Sunday. The first game, we faced a very well coached Intensity-Craig team who had a great inning of softball against us with timely hits (and errors on our part).

We talked over our issues in our post game and came out the next game ready.  We won that game 5-2 and advanced to the Championship game.

We were to rematch Intensity-Craig and won the 1st game 6-3 and had to face them again in order to win the Championship (double elimination).

They beat us in the last game to win the championship but the way the UIC acted made it a miserable experience for both teams.

Here’s the situation (as accurate as I can tell it): It’s a long story. We’re almost at time expired I’m sitting on a bucket outside of the dugout closer to the catcher because the way Markey Park’s dugouts are situated, my catchers had a hard time seeing my signals (been doing it since the start of the 1st championship game).

Far as I know both teams parents have been mentioning to watch the batters feet. Nothing too hard, just commenting as parents do. This one particular play, my parents ask about a hitters feet. I can’t approach form the dugout so I call blue over to the fence and ask, “if he’s keeping an eye on the batters feet”.  The blue, says “yes. I was watching and proceeds to setup behind our catcher. Everyone is quiet and no one is talking anymore and ready for the next pitch. Out of NOWHERE, what I thought was a fan yells… “THAT’s ENOUGH! FROM BOTH SIDES! ONLY COACHES TALK TO THE UMP!”  My parents start yelling at the guy and he keeps talking.

I motion for my parents to just ignore the guy and let him talk. They stop and he keeps on going and walking over. *I tell him I’m the coach… he DARTS toward me as if he wants to fight. I tell him “Not to walk upon me”. He keeps coming to about 3 feet away and I told him to “GET AWAY FROM ME” as I’m still sitting on the bucket about to call the next pitch of a CHAMPIONSHIP game. He proceeds to tell me he’s the UIC and I make it VERY clear to him. *”I don’t care who you are, get away from me as we’re not even talking to you and this has nothing to do with you.” *He then tries to tell me to get in the dugout since I’m the coach. in so many (non-threatening) words, I tell him to get lost.

2-3 minutes later he returns again and to tell me he’s the UIC and he has the tournament director over there and wants me back in the dugout and to go talk to him. *In all fairness, the TD looked like he was just as shocked as I was when I walked over to him IN THE MIDDLE OF A CHAMPIONSHIP GAME and reluctantly said I should go back to the dugout just to appease head “umpire in CHARGE”.

By now, my mind isn’t even on the game as my players are still playing and I have no idea what’s going on. *Soon as the next inning takes place, the umpire behind the plate feels so bad, he comes over to apologize for the UIC’s behavior. *

The behavior he displayed spooked my players and parents and I’m sure the other team as well.

Totally uncalled for.

Even though our season has been up and down throughout the Spring/Summer months, I’ve been warning the parent’s that we’ll be taking our talents to a 16A tournament before the season ended.

It serves a couple of purposes.

For starters, we’ll get to see how we stack against competition playing 2 years ahead of our current age group (considering we’re a 1st year 14s club) and we’ll also get to experience stiffer competition against bigger people (we’re always the smallest team).

Ambush ’03 girls don’t care about size and they didn’t disappoint. We played some pretty good competition and pissed off a couple of teams in the process.  I went in with the hopes of winning one game for the weekend as a confidence builder for our squad.  I didn’t tell the girls that but I had that number stuck in my head all week leading up to the tournament.   No way did I figure we’d be anywhere close to bringing home some hardware.

First game of a 4 game Saturday, these girls hit the ground running and posted a 8-0 shutout. WHOAH! I wasn’t expecting that.  Not getting too ahead of myself so I curbed my enthusiasm.

The next game we were brought back to life and got manhandled 11-0. However, we had a crappy start to that game and that was the only game the other team one all weekend. I’d love my rematch chances.

So now I’m thinking we’re not too good nor not too bad.  Low and behold we jumped out against a pretty good team. They scored a couple of runs as well and we managed to notch a come from behind victory in our 3rd game for the day winning 5-3.

The 4th game the other team notched a come from behind victory and we lost by 1 on a passed ball to end the game.

That takes us into Sunday… We have to play the team we had the come from behind victory on the day before.  We’re a smaller team and I just know they want their revenge.  I hate those types of games.  In a pitchers duel until the last inning we jumped ahead 4-0 and they scored 3 runs to finish the game as we won 4-3.

The next game we played a really good Ambush game and came out on top 4-1.  Our pitcher for that game got the compliment of compliments (We forgot to tell her).  The opposing 3rd base coach told our coach that she’s the best pitcher they’ve faced in at least 3 weeks.  He then couldn’t believe that only one of our players is in HS with the rest, of course, being middle schoolers.

Then we got to Smithville Sting ’01 in the semi-final game. They put it on us really good and beat us 11-1.  I was happy with Saturday but these girls played Ambush ball almost effortlessly and came away with a 3rd place finish with pictures to prove it.

To top off the weekend.  Out of the blue, we received a invite to an invite only tournament which was awesome.

Now we’re prime for some much needed rest and relaxation after 4 straight weeks. The girls deserve the week off to heal.  Hopefully they don’t come back rusty.

#KCAmbush