Under the Lights

There are a ton of very good teams out there that practice all week in shorts EVERY week. Especially at this time of year. Most colleges and professional teams rarely practice in full gear. Being a good tackler has zero to do with going in full gear. Cooper is by far the most improved team in Northern Kentucky this year. I'd expect them to continue to improve next year. Rome was not built in a day and sophomores do not win football games at the 6A level. If they do get "mixed in" that is usually not a good sign.

Congrats to Carroll Co., Walton still getting used to playing tough games and will continue to improve.

14 and 28 aren't near the ability of #1. Cooper has improved leaps and bounds from last year and should be commended for doing so. Without #1, and improved offensive line play, Cooper would be in the same boat there were last year. It can be a team effort and still hand the ball to one guy 30+ times a game. Just ask Boone Co., they've done it and won the district for several years running. #1 gives them the best chance to win, why wouldn't you put it in his hands that many times? They aren't far enough along as a program to do anything else. Patience.

Now I know that Owensboro didn't have a great regular season, but they did make it to the state finals. Nearly every team that made it to Applebee's had 2 first or second team guys. Apparently someone forgot to tell the 'Boro that they didn't have any all state talent, being as they beat all those that did. Seriously, one honorable mention for the state runner up?

:lol: I don't even know how to respond to that.......

Despite being forewarned I'll attempt to humor your responses. You keep using this word "accountability" as if umpires have no one to answer to. I ask you what would you have done? Kick them out for blowing a call or having a poor strike zone in a game? With that logic there would be nowhere near enough guys to cover all the games. The fact of the matter, whether you want to hear it or not is this: Really good umpires usually leave the HS ranks for college ball. Some stay for other reasons (family, etc.) and yes, some are not as consistent as we'd like. But the only other option is to play less games, surely your not advocating that? Understand that JV games are places for newer umpires to learn and yes, to make mistakes. Trust me, if they were good enough already they would be on the plate in a varsity game (in a V/JV DH) or doing higher levels of baseball. Some do just enough to get by and some work to improve themselves, just like the business world. There are plenty of people in the work force that don't get everything right in their job every day, yet you are not calling for their heads? Do you suggest firing new hires because they aren't as good at their job as someone who has been doing it for 5 years? Numbers are down all over, do something to boost the numbers and the quality will increase. Having someone ready to take games from you is usually a pretty good motivator for umpires to improve themselves.

Excellent points made across the board. And thanks for the heads up! :thumb:

But that's just it, fewer and fewer people WANT to umpire. Of those even fewer stick it out past the first few years (where they are learning and make mistakes and are berated by every parent/player/message board poster). I'll agree that far too many young umpires are rushed along due to the lack of experienced umpires. But make no mistake about it, if you are the only person in town who can fix watches then it is going to be very hard to tell you that if you don't do a good job we'll replace you with someone else. It's not like there are a bunch of eager applicants waiting to be called out on message boards and be publicly criminalized for every action they take. Sometimes the choice is between a guy calling a varsity game that maybe shouldn't be, or not playing the game at all. Even the pro's miss calls every now and again.

Understood, but the chances of the base umpire being able to see that from the 3rd base side of the infield aren't very good.

No one is beating down the door to become an umpire from my understanding. As a result the quality has gone down in some areas. As you stated, you have been around baseball for a long time, maybe you can offer up your services and become an umpire? Or perhaps petition your local schools to increase umpire fees to draw out more qualified candidates in and around your area? And actually calling the 1st baseman off the bag at first in that situation isn't really the base umpires call. :sssh:

NFHS Rule 8-2 Article 6k If a baserunning infraction is the third out, runs scored by the following runners would not count. With two outs, if the base missed was the first to which the batter or runner was FORCED to advance, no runs would score. 8-2 Article 6h Tag Ups - If a runner leaves a base too soon on a caught fly ball and returns in an attempt to retag, this is considered a time play and not a force out. If the appeal is the third out, all runs scored by runners in advance of the appealed runner and scored ahead of the legal appeal WOULD count. Hope that helps.

1. My instinct says legal, HR, but I'll be interested to read the ruling on this one. 2. Runner is safe unless it was judged he made an attempt towards second base. 3. No runs count 4. Umpire Obstruction? Place the runner on 3B? All I know is that the field umpire is going to hear it from somebody.....

I really don't see a dominant team out of any of these top 10/11. Sure, CovCath is without a doubt the favorite at this point, but it think it is worth noting that there isn't a ton of separation between 1 and 10. Certainly not as large of a gap as there has been in years past. Should be a good year for baseball in NKY.

I would agree that Cooperstown is truly a nice place to play a ballgame. The only other thing that I would add to this discussion of the greatest game is that there are far too many coaches who put their ego's first and not the kids. I've witnessed 9 yr olds berated for making an error, cursed and screamed at in front of God and everyone. I've witnessed a coach getting thrown out of a game because he swore that a tipped pitch that was caught by the catcher meant it was a foul ball and the runner should return to 1st!! This is slowly infiltrating HS baseball and it is a shame that it happens on any level. Though it is primarily a summer baseball problem, there are plenty of coaches at the HS level who may coach the game the way it should be played, but sure don't set a good example through their actions. Nothing like the subtle nuances of baseball to get me going and ready for summer.

Who threw for Apollo? I'd love to hear some details on this one, anyone?