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Posts Tagged ‘Joey Lippo’

One final swing for Joey Lippo!!

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , on January 21, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Joey Lippo at national baseball spring training. (Joe Lippo photos)

Joey Lippo at national baseball spring training. (Joe Lippo photos)

Coupeville Middle School eighth-grader Joey Lippo spent three days at national baseball spring training, the only player in his age group from Washington state.

The following is dad Joe Lippo’s first hand account of the adventure:

Final Day in Mesa.

Only a morning warmup today and the coaches were in “game mode” from the beginning of the day.

They called everyone by their first names, or their new nicknames.

The only Coupeville player present, Joey, AKA “The Most Interesting Man in the World,” warmed up with his bat. He was slotted third in the lineup.

He earned his nickname because he lives on an island, and likes sports teams from Washington and Michigan and none from California.

Then it was time for the 2-0 Black team to face the 0-2 Navy team.

This time, the Navy team brought their ace pitcher to the mound.

Joey, like the two batters before him, struck out swinging.

So began a pitcher’s duel so intense that a “long” inning consisted of four batters. Speed, accuracy, and a variety of curves, breaks, and other assorted cheese frustrated batters from both sides.

Joey didn’t see the plate again until late in the third, and the score was 3-1 in favor of the Navy team.

This time, he hit a short looper just over the pitcher’s head that the second baseman missed catching by a whisker.

The second baseman had an awkward throw to first, so he threw to second, leaving Lippo safe at first on the fielders choice.

He wouldn’t see the plate again, but he played good defense all over the field, including second base and left field. He threw two batters out from the second base position.

Ultimately, the Black team could not match the few hits of the Navy team, and the game ended 5-1 in favor of the Navy team.

Final stats for Joey — .400 batting average (4-10), .500 on-base percentage, two steals, two RBI, one strikeout, no walks and one error.

Spring training is over, but Lippo will bring a little more knowledge, a little more skill, and a whole lot of new drills back to Coupeville to pass on to the teams here.

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Hits keep coming for Joey Lippo!!

Posted in Baseball, Middle School, tagged , , , on January 20, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Joey Lippo (back row, far left), during the summer little league season. (Joe Lippo photo)

Joey Lippo (back row, far left), during the summer little league season. (Joe Lippo photo)

Coupeville Middle School eighth-grader Joey Lippo is at national baseball spring training, the only player in his age group from Washington state.

The following is dad Joe Lippo’s first hand account of the adventure:

Live from Mesa, Arizona, it’s 73 degrees and partly cloudy.

By “partly cloudy”, I mean “somebody might have seen a cloud. Maybe.”

Since the drills, conditioning, and education were similar or the same as yesterday (https://coupevillesports.com/2014/01/19/and-then-joey-lippo-got-a-hit-off-a-major-leaguer/), we can get right to the Main Event — Joey’s Black team vs. the Navy team.

He was put in to bat in the #3 slot, and his first at-bat resulted in a single into right field, just past the outstretched glove of a diving second baseman.

He advanced to second on a walk, and stole third on a passed ball (which scored a run), but a pick-off and a couple fly balls later stranded him there. The inning ended 1-0 in favor of the Black team.

The next time Joey saw the plate was in the third inning and the score was 3-1.

This at-bat was a little more stressful as the Navy pitcher was finding his groove. The count ran up to 2-2, and Joey stayed alive by fouling off two more pitches, then drove a single into shallow left field.

He was again stranded, on second base this time, but another run scored, and the inning ended with the Black team up 4-1.

On defense, Joey played shortstop, soaking up whatever was hit in his direction, throwing runners out at first and second, helping preserve his team’s lead.

On one particularly hairy play, a hard hit ball took a hard skip off the grass and Joey was just barely able to get a free hand up and bat the ball away before it rearranged his face.

Even so, the trainer was up and on her feet, and the spectators were cringing before everyone realized that he was OK, and had escaped with a slightly stinging hand.

His last at-bat was a hit that the pitcher knocked down and threw to first for the out, but also resulted in an RBI, running the final score to 7-1.

Joey’s stats through two days: .500 batting average (3 for 6), one stolen base, one RBI.

Not too shabby, considering the level of competition.

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And then Joey Lippo got a hit off a major leaguer!!

Posted in Baseball, Middle School, tagged , , , , on January 19, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Joey Lippo (right) during the fall ball season. (Teresa Besaw photo)

Joey Lippo (right) during the fall ball season in Oak Harbor. (Teresa Besaw photo)

Coupeville Middle School eighth-grader Joey Lippo is at national baseball spring training this weekend, the only player in his age group from Washington state.

The following is dad Joe Lippo’s first hand account of the adventure:

Mesa, Arizona. 0700.

That’s 7 AM to you civilian types.

24 kids aged 12-14, including Coupeville’s own Joey Lippo, dragged themselves out of bed, showered, ate, and then climbed on the bus to engage in national level spring training.

They arrived at the athletic compound, in the middle of an active orange grove, and were immediately in awe.

This was, after all, a professional field. The Los Angeles Angels do spring training here.

Dead center field boasts a sign that reads “420”, a distance that kids dream about hitting. There’s little comfort looking left or right, as those signs indicate an only slightly more reachable 369.

To make matters a little more intimidating, they were greeted by professional coaches and players as they got to the dugout.

The hitting coach for the Colorado Rockies. The catchers coach from the New York Yankees. An outfielder from the Detroit Tigers. The list would go on.

But it was time, and these coaches wait for no one.

At 9 AM (sharp!) basic warmups commenced. Catching, throwing, base-running, fielding, batting, stretching, agility and distance laps.

For three hours.

Then after a Jimmy Johns delivered lunch, the drills began again, with no let up. Kids were starting to wonder just what they had gotten themselves into.

Then, at 3:30, they were called in from various stations, and the inter-squad scrimmage began.

Navy vs Black, and the pitcher was none other than former Detroit Tiger Ernie Young, an eight-year MLB veteran. This was a “coach pitch” scrimmage, so he pitched from behind the net to every player.

Joey cracked Young’s first offering to him past the second baseman on his first at bat, then on a subsequent play, beat a throw to home for the score.

In his second and third at bats, two solid hits were flagged down by speedy infielders, preventing him from reaching base again.

All in all, this is not what these kids are used to. They are used to hitting a ball to the shortstop and beating the double play throw to first, or hitting to shallow right and getting a base hit.

Not here.

A double play ball is going to be a double play about 95% of the time. There are very, very few dropped fly balls.

It’s 10 hours a day of constant physical and mental challenges. We shall see if Joey survives the weekend…

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Lippo going to the Big Show!!

Posted in Baseball, Middle School, tagged , , , , , on January 13, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Joey Lippo (left) with fall ball teammate James Besaw. (Teresa Besaw photo)

Joey Lippo (left) with fall ball teammate James Besaw. (Teresa Besaw photo)

Lippo (far left) and teammates wielded big bats during the little league season.

Lippo (far left) and teammates wielded big bats during the little league season. (Joe Lippo photo)

Joey Lippo is on his way.

The Coupeville Middle School eighth-grader is quickly scaling rungs in the baseball world, attracting attention as he does.

Coming off successful summer little league and fall ball seasons, Lippo has been selected to attend a national level spring training program in Mesa, AZ Jan. 17-20.

The only player to represent Washington state from the 12-14 year-old category, Lippo earned his spot with a stellar performance at a tryout in Bellevue, where he beat out a field of 30 players.

His booming bat and slick glove both nabbed the eyes of scouts.

Coaches at the national event will hail from colleges at the D-1 and D-2 levels, as well as a coach from Team USA.

His father, Joe Lippo, was having trouble staying calm after the news came through. While his son has been attending informal morning practices set up by CHS players — the only middle school student to do so — the invite to Arizona is a major step.

“I can barely contain myself,” Joe Lippo said. “My entire extended family is only mildly surprised. I, on the other hand, want to make town square announcements.”

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