Baseballguy1527

I have been going to high school basketball games for 30+ years all over the state. Student sections are much smaller and calmer now than they were even 10-15 years ago. They used to be ruthless to the opposing school and even their players. I remember several student sections would print out the roster from the other team and research their insults towards players. You see very little if any of that now, very few even make enough noise to be noticed. I like having a rowdy and even a little edgy student section at games. It makes for a great intense atmosphere which is what we used to have in the majority of high school basketball games. I am not saying use profanity or anything that would be deemed extremely derogatory but a little banter and harmless insults are fine in my eyes. Without fans and back and forth you do not have rivalries nor do you have this message board. The players and coaches on the floor should have the discipline to ignore the crowd and not getting caught up in the fan antics. That has always been a part of sports and should continue to be. There are ZERO excuses for a player to ever cuss at an office which is what appears to have happened in both cases on this thread the players were completely responsible for their actions on the court and the officials are going to hand out the consequences. I do not think you can blame school administrators or student sections for a player cussing at an official.

The 8th is loaded this year talent-wise. There are numerous D1 commits and multiple other levels as well.

7. Walton Verona 8. Anderson County

While Shelby returns both Cook and Griffin who are very good players. They lost their top three pitchers in the Collins twins and Marcum. Caleb Collins was one of the more dominant pitchers there was in the region the last two years. It is almost impossible to replace that. That alone would be enough to leave them out of my top 5. I agree with the poster above Travis Smith at Walton is one of the best arms in the region. You also have Woodford entering the region this year and they have been a force in the 11th region which may the best baseball region in the state. There are also rumors flying around here in Shelby County that Tyler White may not be playing this year for Collins which would be a big loss to a team that has some young talent returning. I also look for Anderson County to be much improved this year. They had a rough year playing a brutal schedule last year but were very young and gained a lot of experience. The Labhart kid can really hit in the middle of their order. Top Teams 1. Oldham 2. North Oldham 3. Simon Kenton 4. South Oldham 5. Woodford 6. Collins

I have been around the 8th region for close to 30 years now. The region tournament needs to be at Henry County. The 8th region is special because it is at Henry County and if it were moved it would lose a lot of its luster. There are people who have no school affiliation who attend the tournament every year that would no longer attend if it rotates. Moving the first round to home sites would be a terrible idea. There are kids who would miss out on a regional tournament experience by doing this. In my opinion that is not doing kids justice who work all year to make it to the region. Finally, Henry County by my count has had one legitimate region title contented since 2000. No offense to them but that has just facts really. Therefore, most of the title contenders are playing each other on a neutral site which makes for a great tournament style atmosphere.

I would guess that South plays a style that is hard to prepare for in one practice. Just a guess though.

It is not a 8th region Bylaw. It is actually a KHSAA Bylaw that states that all coaches have to agree to move the draw from 2:00 on Sunday. In this case, Coach Simpson from South Oldham did not agree to move it to Saturday. There has a big uproar amongst some of the coaches for not moving it. The Henry County AD even contacted Commissioner Tackett and he said that is the rule an not to move it of all coaches do not agree. While the Bylaw seems odd, and it probably should be a majority decision, it is the rule. The Henry County AD was just following it.

Good overview of the 30th. It seems like you feel Collins is the favorite in that district again. I would probably tend to agree with you for the most part. I do find it interesting they are moving to the two seed game format. I like the format they are using along with the 29th where you play the same team in the same week. I think that is the best way to do it if you doing two seed games. I tend to agree with you that facilities need to meet KHSAA standards in order to host especially the region. District wise the regulations are fairly loose I get that. I do not understand how requirements to host the region are not met. I think lights and field size and quality are the most important when you get to that level. That really bothers me in region play.

Just wondering what you guys think about the 8th region. I think it should be a pretty fun an competitive year. Here is my two cents for what it is worth. 29th - I think this is probably the toughest district in the region this year. Oldham and South both return a lot of talent from last year. South also returns some key guys from injury. I think the winner of the region could come from those two. I know North Returns talent and is always solid. I just think they lost too much pitching off last years team. 30th - Another tough district that I think is wide open this year. All 4 teams are capable of winning that district. I think Anderson and Collins are a little down from the past few year but will still be very solid. Collins probably has the best number 1 in the district with McDonald. I think Shelby maybe the team to beat in the district this year. They have a lot of talent returning off of a very solid team last year. Spencer also returns a lot of talent and could be a tough out in the first round with Lambdin on the heel. 31st - This district is interesting to me. They are typically the weakest in the region but have some good players and teams returning. Owen is probably the favorite this year with the addition of Dunaway from Trimble which gives them another good arm to add to everyone returning. Henry has pretty much their whole team back from a team that nearly shocked South in the first round of the region last year. Carroll has been the best in the district the last couple of years. They lost one of their big pitchers but returns the other one a long with a lot of talent. Gallatin has a new coach and pretty much returns their whole team. 32nd - I think this is Simon's to lose. They lost talent to graduation but do return some pitching and have a lot of young talent to choose from. They also have experience from two previous deep regions runs. Grant lost their stud from last year. Walton Verona has some returners back but I am not sure there pitching is there to be a legit region contender. Williamstown had their best season in a while last year and were fairly young. Your thoughts?

I like the idea behind it for arm health. It makes much more sense than the innings limit in that regards considering I have seen 70 pitch innings in the high school baseball I have watched over the last 20 years. However, I do feel like 120 is too high for a high school pitcher especially in March and April. I feel like 105 at most 110 is a good number for a pitcher in a game at this age if we are really trying to protect their arms. I also am concerned about how they are keeping track of this. Most coaches already keep track of pitch counts. However, this is giving them even more work. Verifying between innings is the best way to eliminate controversy, but I could foresee this slowing down games which in high school lets be honest can already be slow.

Who transferred to Owen from Gallatin?

In the case of the 8th region Simon Kenton has been a quality team but I actually think the 8th has become easier over the last several years. Not because of the addition of Simon but because of the subtraction of teams like Bullitt East, North Bullitt, and Scott County. These teams left when Simon Came in. It is hard to argue the 8th got tougher by losing three quality teams by adding just one.

That's a nice win for Gallatin.

Talked to the AD at Henry County today about the regional basketball tournament. I asked him about the baseball and he said they do host this year.

I agree with Simon have a very solid quad this year. They return a lot of talent and our the class of the northern part of the region. However, I believe the 8th region has a lot of quality teams this year. There are number of teams that could take the 8th Simon Kenton included. The southern part of the region is very tough with probably more overall talent than last year. South Oldham returns a lot of talent including their best pitcher. Collins and Shelby return probably the top two players in the region and are always talented. Anderson returns everyone off of a team that dramatically improved throughout last year and should have knocked Collins out in the first round of the district. I look for them to be a sleeper.