Line Drives Lightening 13U Team

Lightning Baseball is a non dad coached organization in which Line Drives utilizes its former Professional players as coaches.  Line Drives presently fields three teams in the 12U, 13U, and 14U age brackets.  Steve Ontiveros is the head instructor for the teams and once he returns from coaching in China he too will be part of training involved with each team.  Line Drives Lightning is going into its second Fall Season and we are looking forward to a successful 2008 Fall.

All teams will play in AZ Playball League and at least one tournament a month.

Fall Season is consider August 1 thru November 16

The 13U team will be coached by Mike Grace

Mike Grace is a former starting pitcher who played 11 professional seasons, 4 of which were at the Major League level for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Grace was a 10th round draft pick for the Phillies in 1991 and began his career in Class A Batavia (NY/Penn), where he went 4-3, 1.67 ERA.  An elbow injury in early 1992 almost ended his career, as he missed 2 full seasons after undergoing 4 surgical procedures.

Grace recovered and regained his earlier promising form in the 1995 season, going 15-6, 3.54 ERA for the class AA Reading Phillies.  He won the Reading pitcher of the year award while helping his team win the Eastern League Championship.  He made his Major League Debut that September, earning his first Major League win with a 1-0 victory over the LA Dodgers.

The 1996 season was bittersweet, as he started the year 6-0, only to have his All-Star bid fall short due to a sudden season ending shoulder injury on June 2nd.  He was 7-2, 3.45 ERA at the time of the injury, including a complete game shutout vs. defending World Champion Atlanta Braves (6-0) on May 12th.

Although he managed to rehabilitate from his shoulder set back to return to action '97, injuries finally took their toll on the right handed pitcher and ended his Major League career after the '99 season.  He went 16-16 with a 4.96 ERA over 4 seasons with the Phillies; a record that included 2 complete game shutouts.

If you are interested in trying out please give us call at 480-998-7673

Schedule Now
Individual Lessons, Cage Time, or Team Time online