It will be Ryle in 9th, Walton-Verona or Henry in 8th and Brossart the top Northern Team in 10th although Montgomery Co. will be tough to beat. Brossart, Ryle and Henry have studette pitchers

Holy Cross has talent, that is for sure. They have to make it to regionals first, they are a year away. St. Henry has not faired to well against the bigger schools but also has talent. It is hard to say the region is wide open when no one has contended with Conner or Ryle for the past 5-6 years.

Holy Cross has talent, that is for sure. They have to make it to regionals first, they are a year away. St. Henry has not faired to well against the bigger schools but also has talent. It is hard to say the region is wide open when no one has contended with Conner or Ryle for the past 5-6 years.

 

No one has contended with Conner or Ryle the last 5-6 years bc they have had by far the best pitching to go along with good players. They both still have good pitching but not as good as they are used to. Wide open might not have been the right words but I would not be shocked to see NCC, Boone, HC or St Henry win the region.

 

All in all I think there seems to be more talent in the area this year than in years past. The Boone County schools are still a little ahead but the rest of the area is catching up. Hopefully more and more girls start playing summer and fall ball. The extra 60 to 70 games a year can really help your HS team.

In single elimination regional tournaments a team can ride a hot pitcher to a championship. I think that gives St. Henry,Ryle,Boone,NCC and Conner the best shot. All have pitchers capable of dominating the tournament.

I would agree that the teams mentioned have good pitching but I do not agree that all of them mentioned have dominating pitching. With the pitching distance going to 43 feet, the defenses will have to be added to the equation. A few of the teams mentioned also have a solid defense but Conner has the most explosive offense in the region. It should be interesting.

It is yet to be seen what the added pitching distance will do. I think the added distance will hurt a power pitcher and help a finesse pitcher. None of these pitchers are power pitchers.

I can agree with the fact the pitchers are not power pitchers. I also think that if the coaches teach the kids how to hit the ball the other way, it minimizes the effect of the finesse pitchers as well. With that said, the pitcher/defense combo is going to tell us who the regional champ will be this year. There will be fewer strikeouts so the defenses will have to do their end.

I can agree with the fact the pitchers are not power pitchers. I also think that if the coaches teach the kids how to hit the ball the other way, it minimizes the effect of the finesse pitchers as well. With that said, the pitcher/defense combo is going to tell us who the regional champ will be this year. There will be fewer strikeouts so the defenses will have to do their end.

 

I think in the high level pitchers the 43 feet will help them more. (Not sure if there are any true high level pitchers in the area) The extra 3 feet will help pitchers drop, rise and curve ball move more. The pitchers that are thowing 50 mph with no movement are going to struggle. I agree that the defenses will play a big role, that extra 3 feet will help the teams that play small ball.

It will be Ryle in 9th, Walton-Verona or Henry in 8th and Brossart the top Northern Team in 10th although Montgomery Co. will be tough to beat. Brossart, Ryle and Henry have studette pitchers

 

Walton loses only one starter from last years squad. Look for them to continue to be a force in their district.

Walton loses only one starter from last years squad. Look for them to continue to be a force in their district.

Not trying to take anything away from Walton they are a very good team, but they have never won the 32nd and last year was their first runner-up in quite a few years.

You just can't rank someone ahead of Montgomery/Clark until they're beaten in the post-season. There are teams with the talent to do it. I guess we'll soon find out if they will.

 

This is what I am thinking about Conner and Ryle in the 9th.

The Boone County league is average at best. Boone, and especially Conner and Ryle are built around that league and the better players are recruited to play for the NKY Xplosion. As long as the volleyball and soccer coaches, or the perception is out there, say that all varsity players must play club nothing in NKY will change. Volleyball is Queen and softball will continue to suffer in numbers and talent.

The Boone County league is average at best. Boone, and especially Conner and Ryle are built around that league and the better players are recruited to play for the NKY Xplosion. As long as the volleyball and soccer coaches, or the perception is out there, say that all varsity players must play club nothing in NKY will change. Volleyball is Queen and softball will continue to suffer in numbers and talent.

I'm not real sure Volleyball is stealing much talent from softball. How many more v-ball players are there at your school that could play softball than vice-versa. I would say at our school there are just as many or more girls playing softball only that could be v-ball players than volleyball only that could play softball. If you take out the 2 catholic schools in the 9th, volleyball isn't much better than softball.

The Boone County league is average at best. Boone, and especially Conner and Ryle are built around that league and the better players are recruited to play for the NKY Xplosion. As long as the volleyball and soccer coaches, or the perception is out there, say that all varsity players must play club nothing in NKY will change. Volleyball is Queen and softball will continue to suffer in numbers and talent.

 

Here is my opinion on this and only my opinion. Many schools believe in playing all the sports you possibly can during the school year so this means 3 different sports. If you look at the girls who are getting college scholarships (Div I & II) from Northern KY most girls may play 2 sports but for the most part it would be 1 in high school and then they play year round for their club team. I just do not think there are many kids who can be really good playing 2 or 3 sports in high school. Coming from the outside (only been in NKY for about 6 years) it amazes me how far behind skill wise NKY is when it comes to fastpitch softball. I do not think you can blame volleyball or soccer. I think you have to blame the schools and the leagues for not promotiong the sport. Until the leagues realize Knothole or USSSA softball is not where you will see the college coaches softball will never be good up here. Also, until girls realize you can receive college scholarships playing softball I do not think the interest will be here. I know a lot of kids take pitching lessons or even hitting lessons. I am wondering how much these kids are paying because for the most part these people who are "teaching" are "teaching" it wrong. I have never seen any college pitcher be able to pitch bent over. I think these high schools need to have a freshman fastpitch team no matter how bad or good the girls are. This is the only way this great game will start excelling in Northern KY. The more girls you have playing the more girls who will want to start playing. I know of only 3 schools in NKY which have a freshman team, Notre Dame, Campbell County and Bishop Brossart.

 

I will say a lot of girls will not play due to the coaches. Even though Campbell County is not in the 8th or the 9th they had 50 girls tryout when I do not think they had 30 kids the past previous 3 or 4 years tryout each year. They got a good coach who teaches the game the right way and treats the kids well. He does not coach softball like baseball and this is how most coaches up here teach the game. I think each coach who coaches fast pitch should have to take the ASA classes for coaching and get ranked.

 

This is my 2 cents.

Here is my opinion on this and only my opinion. Many schools believe in playing all the sports you possibly can during the school year so this means 3 different sports. If you look at the girls who are getting college scholarships (Div I & II) from Northern KY most girls may play 2 sports but for the most part it would be 1 in high school and then they play year round for their club team. I just do not think there are many kids who can be really good playing 2 or 3 sports in high school. Coming from the outside (only been in NKY for about 6 years) it amazes me how far behind skill wise NKY is when it comes to fastpitch softball. I do not think you can blame volleyball or soccer. I think you have to blame the schools and the leagues for not promotiong the sport. Until the leagues realize Knothole or USSSA softball is not where you will see the college coaches softball will never be good up here. Also, until girls realize you can receive college scholarships playing softball I do not think the interest will be here. I know a lot of kids take pitching lessons or even hitting lessons. I am wondering how much these kids are paying because for the most part these people who are "teaching" are "teaching" it wrong. I have never seen any college pitcher be able to pitch bent over. I think these high schools need to have a freshman fastpitch team no matter how bad or good the girls are. This is the only way this great game will start excelling in Northern KY. The more girls you have playing the more girls who will want to start playing. I know of only 3 schools in NKY which have a freshman team, Notre Dame, Campbell County and Bishop Brossart.

 

I will say a lot of girls will not play due to the coaches. Even though Campbell County is not in the 8th or the 9th they had 50 girls tryout when I do not think they had 30 kids the past previous 3 or 4 years tryout each year. They got a good coach who teaches the game the right way and treats the kids well. He does not coach softball like baseball and this is how most coaches up here teach the game. I think each coach who coaches fast pitch should have to take the ASA classes for coaching and get ranked.

 

This is my 2 cents.

 

Would love to see all schools have freshman teams and or middle school teams but this area is just to far behind. IMO fastpitch is a great game but when you have pitchers that can not throw stikes or girls that dont have the basic skills it is really hard game to watch. Until someone steps up and puts together a good rec league for girls to develop and move on to travel then HS I am not sure it will ever get much better.

 

I am not sure the area needs great coaches to get better just more people that are willing to put the time and effort in. There is a lot of softball that is like baseball but just like in every sport you have different coaches teaching it different ways that does not mean it is wrong. My daughter has been lucky enough to play at a very high level and been to a lot of college camps and played against a lot of Cal. teams. Not all of them do things the same. Mike Candrea from Arizona sells videos teaching hitting one way than has his players hit another way.