11U Inside Sports KC Blues

A program that is looking to change the landscape in the Midwest is Inside Sports KC Blues.  The program is under the guidance of long time manager John Goetz.  The top team in the program is arguably the 11U team. The Inside Sports KC Blues 11U team will look to build on last year’s 2-2 finish at the Elite World Series in Orlando.  Last year the team became nationally recognized with top tournament championships including the Oklahoma-Texas Shootout, Super NIT in KC (sweeping the Elite 24 runner-up Houston Angels in the process), and capturing the Missouri-Kansas state championship. 
The team has added depth in both hitting and pitching this off season when they picked up Gage Clement and Jackson Longhofer from the Mac-N-Seitz Indians. Both are power hitters and pitchers that will provide depth to an already loaded hitting lineup.  Also new to the team is Luke Ritter who played 2 years up on the AAA Dragons team.  Luke led 12U Dragons in hitting and will also provide competition at shortstop and pitching for the KC Blues.  Brett Anderson is new to the team.  He played up last year as well.  Brett is a versatile player that can play most any position on the field.  His speed and hitting will add depth and competition throughout the lineup.  James Grandgenett comes from the KC Blaze organization where he hit #3 in their lineup. 

Returning to the KC Blues is their pitching rotation of Casey Kelley, Noah Croft and Connor Goetz. They combined for a record of 37-5 last year against top level competition.  Also returning is Eli Patterson who led the team in saves including saves in both victories at the Elite 24 last year.  His fastball is deadly causing other teams to look at their radar guns in disbelief.  Casey returns at the lead off spot where he led the squad in on-base percentage at 0.623, stolen bases and home runs.  The top two hitters on last years team return in Noah Croft and Tyler Garrison with 150 RBI’s between them.  Batting 0.530 and 0.489 respectively provided many nightmares for opposing managers.  Connor Goetz who batted 0.700 at the Elite and 0.425 in the regular season returns this year at 1B and pitcher.  Connor’s 59 RBI’s were third on the team. He returns along with Eli Patterson to form power throughout the lineup.  Griffin Robinson returns to anchor down centerfield and just might be the best outfielder in the Midwest region. 

This year the KC Blues have challenged themselves with an aggressive Spring/Summer schedule.  In their mind, the best way to get better is to play the best.  Therefore, they will travel to compete against the best teams in the nation.  They will compete in six different states in 2008 including three Super NITs (OK, CO, and KC) with a focus on returning to the Elite 24.
John is in his third season with Inside Sports.  Each year John has built on the previous year’s success with a goal to provide the best baseball possible to the youth in Kansas.  This past Fall his 11U team played up in the 12U age group.  The results were promising as it culminated in the Missouri-Kansas 12U State Title. 

The team is made up of players throughout the greater KC region that come together with one goal in mind and that is to win a national title.  TBS will watch the progress of Inside Sport KC Blues this year and will not be surprised if they climb to the top 10 of TBS Rankings.

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