Butler went into Ballard tonight looking for some payback for a contentious 9 inning, 0-2 loss at home almost exactly one year ago. They didn't have very look far.

After chasing Ballard starter, Mercer, off after 2 innings by hanging up a 5-2 lead, freshman Brill settled in for the host Bruins until the top of the 7th when Butler erupted tacking on 4 additional runs for the statement.

Senior Bear 3rd baseman, Baker-Noren, led the way with 3 of Butler's 10 hits, while pitcher, Mader, went the distance scattering 7 hits and striking out 2.

Butler plays very solid defense, hits well, and can have effective pitching at times, but have been inconsistent. This is the kind of "W" that could help with confidence as they have 4 strong opponents remaining in PRP, Assumption, Sacred Heart and McCracken before the season's end.

Ballard's schedule, which was pretty soft early in the season, gets considerably tougher from here out with Mercy, Male and Scott County on the road, and Holy Cross (Lou) at home, all in a 7 day window.

I was not at the Butler game, but have seen a couple of Ballard games this year. I stand by the comments in my recent post that stated the Ballard defense has more holes than a whiffle ball, they make a lot of errors and lack a vocal on field captain calling out the plays. I bet Ballard had a lot of routine plays that resulted in errors last night.

 

When the regional games hit, I'd rank them in a cotton-mouth "one and done game" as: 1. Male, 2. Assumption, 3. Sacred Heart and 4. Ballard

 

Last thoughts:

 

Historically making in-season and in-game adjustments has not been a strength of the Ballard coaches, if you disagree, then why they have not won a state championship with their talent? Bloomer is a master of big game adjustments, like him or not, he will beat his with yours or yours with his.

 

The Ballard best defensive player has not been ready to go, unless that changes, the holes just get bigger in the big games.

 

Congratulations to the Butler kids and coaches, they went into #3 Ballard and really made a statement that they are a team ready to make a regional run. Good job Butler!

Interesting take. Well thought out, and not at all implausible. I wasn't at the game either, and got my account from speaking to 1 Ballard, 1 Butler parent and the seeing the Ballard GameChanger site.

Only 1 error was charged to Ballard, but I was told they were kind of kicking the ball around a bit. The biggest factor I was told was basically Butler came in fired up and chompin' at the bit, and didn't waste any time jumping on Mercer scoring 3 in tip of 1st then adding 2 more in the 2nd.

Butler's Mader is not a hard thrower by any means, so she wasn't blowing them by the Bruin hitters, but like I mentioned Butler's D is solid. After 2 innings the game kind of looks like it got away from Ballard, and the hitters didn't make the adjustments they needed to get back in it.

Kind of like Mike Tyson says, "Everybody's got a plan, until they get punched in the face".

As far as Region games go, a lot depends on the draw. I don't look past Ballard for one second. They have weapons, and if they all click, even for just a couple innings, they can really put a team in a deep hole. They'll be a 1 seed because Eastern and CAL are just bad, but they could draw either Male or Assumption 1st round since one of them will be a 2 seed.

Last year's Region 7 tournament was fan-freaking-tastic, and with Assumption, SHA, Manual, and Male all coming back stronger this year, I predict this year we'll see some pretty entertaining games.

The 7th Region Tourney will be the toughest test of the season for the teams vying for a spot in the state tourney. I believe Male is the favorite with Assumption and Ballard not far behind, Sacred Heart could also be a threat.

I would reeeeeaaaaaallllly like to see Male/Assumption in the final for selfish reasons on both sides.

Interesting take. Well thought out, and not at all implausible. I wasn't at the game either, and got my account from speaking to 1 Ballard, 1 Butler parent and the seeing the Ballard GameChanger site.

Only 1 error was charged to Ballard, but I was told they were kind of kicking the ball around a bit. The biggest factor I was told was basically Butler came in fired up and chompin' at the bit, and didn't waste any time jumping on Mercer scoring 3 in tip of 1st then adding 2 more in the 2nd.

Butler's Mader is not a hard thrower by any means, so she wasn't blowing them by the Bruin hitters, but like I mentioned Butler's D is solid. After 2 innings the game kind of looks like it got away from Ballard, and the hitters didn't make the adjustments they needed to get back in it.

Kind of like Mike Tyson says, "Everybody's got a plan, until they get punched in the face".

As far as Region games go, a lot depends on the draw. I don't look past Ballard for one second. They have weapons, and if they all click, even for just a couple innings, they can really put a team in a deep hole. They'll be a 1 seed because Eastern and CAL are just bad, but they could draw either Male or Assumption 1st round since one of them will be a 2 seed.

Last year's Region 7 tournament was fan-freaking-tastic, and with Assumption, SHA, Manual, and Male all coming back stronger this year, I predict this year we'll see some pretty entertaining games.

 

Regarding errors on the Ballard side, my sources said 5 errors for certain with a 6th being borderline if the game would have been scored correctly for Ballard. They must have a team dad or homer scoring it on game changer. Butler would have won regardless.

sounds about right.