coach2709

McKenzie Carter pitched the complete shutout striking out 15 and giving up one hit. The only hit was an infield hit and I don't think a ball made it to the outfield. Will Ward double twice and the Panthers finish their district schedule undefeated. The mercy rule went into affect after the sixth inning. Pikeville goes to 22-5 and East Ridge falls to 8-16.

The pitcher for Madison, IN was a good pitcher. He had alot of hop on the ball and a nice change. I saw a person with a radar gun in the stands. He will pitch in college. Anderson continues to pitch well, the Panthers didn't make an error and they are starting to get some timely hitting.

Griffin Hall is a junior

Game early got close in the end. Pikeville was leading 8-1 in the 5th when Griffin Hall was taken out the game. He had given up one hit and one run. John Mayo relieved for the next 2 innings giving up 3 runs. Will Ward started the 7th, struggled with control giving up 4 runs and Watson Ritchie ended the game. Hall looked good on the mound and the Panther bats are started to come around. Williamson pitched for Pike Central and did okay. His defense didn't help him. They didn't make many errors, but poor angles to balls in the outfield and positioning in the infield hurt the Hawks tonight.

The Panthers had alot of chances to score runs today. Three times they left the bases loaded without scoring a run. Anderson pitched well. The Watkins kid pitched okay for the Tigers in relief. I wonder why they didn't pitch Van Hoose.

Sloppy game both ways. Pikeville pulled away in the end. Mackenzie Carter started for the Panthers pitching the first 4 and John Mayo finished the final 3. Carter struggled with the strike zone, but threw the ball hard and finished with alot of strikeouts. The Panthers hit the ball well pounding out 17 hits and only committed one error. Pikeville travels to Perry Central on Saturday.

The game was played at Pikeville College due to the replacement of lights at Pikeville High School. Chase Huffman started the game and went 4 and looked good for 4 innings. He was relieved by Josh Staggs and Griffin Hall. The Panthers committed 6 errors in the game. This was the first chance for alot of new faces to hit the field for the Panthers with the 7 seniors lost to graduation last year. Umpiring was good for the most part. The umpire at first base tonight made some calls that left alot of people shaking their heads for both teams. One example was Pikeville has runner on first base with one out. The ball is hit on the ground in the infield. The fielder fields the ball and throws to second base. The Pikeville runner slides into second base and the shortstop for Woodridge falls down after making the throw. The runner slides directly into the bag. The umpire rules the runner obstructed the fielder and calls the runner running to first out, by the way he beat the throw. I don't think the call was ever explained to the Pikeville dug out. Woodridge's starting pitcher has signed with a Division 1 school. I believe it is with the University of Buffalo, NY.

The T for dunking in warmups is a safety rule. The National Federation determined that some players may try and impress people in the crowd with a dunk before the game. And the players have a few minutes before the officials come out of the locker room to show off for the crowd. If the player is a borderline dunker then this player may end up on the ground injurying his/herself by following. Does it make sense? No. But a rule is a rule.

I saw Shawn Hall call Monday night at Pikeville and I thought he did a good job. If your opinion is unbiased maybe they had a bad night. But, missing 6 free throws in the last 1:20 of the game and losing by 4 can't be blamed on the refs. So I think you are right the Blackcats need to rely on their experience and play through the bad calls when the refs are having a bad night. I saw an interview with a college football coach this year. And the media was asking him about pass interference calls that wasn't being called. His response was, "We can't worry about the calls we have to catch the football. My players shouldn't be officating they should be playing football." I think alot of players need to see that interview. Seems like these days players worry to much about calls not be called and try to officiate instead just playing.