nkysoftball

Who else?

8 th region umpires.

Don't agree, I think the fans turned on Joker extremely fast, when it would be so beneficial to the program to be patient and hope he succeeds.

JMO, 5* football recruit comes in for a visit sees the Wildcat Coal Lodge then gets to see his dorm, gonna be a tough sell. Big time football players as well as big time coaches do not want to take a back seat to basketball and UK is one of the very few places in America where that happens.

Can't imagine a whole lot of top-tier coaches lining up to take the UK job. Not going to happen as long as the fans, administration and boosters are so infatuated with the #2 sport. The best thing that could have happened is Joker succeeding, can't understand why people can't get that.

The odd thing to me about that is she was Enquirer honorable mention both the year before and after. I realize her team had a very bad year, but the individual season she had should not have been overlooked.

I understand what you are saying about having to show the commitment. My point is that plenty of these kids are committed, but are not able to make these trips. Wouldn't you like to be able to play tournaments in Cincy,Louisville and Lexington and still have those opportunities? I remember reading a story in reader's digest one time about a man with a kid that was a field hockey player I think. He said he spent about $20000 over time and his kid ended up with a $20000 scholarship. I do understand competing against the very best, but wouldn't it be great if it was more convenient?

Agree with that, but they knew she would be playing in those tournaments and they would be able to evaluate her there. Here is my example for you and I am taking it too an extreme for effect. If the 2b at Cooper High School starts the season 28-30 with 25 home runs do you think these div. 1 coaches are going to ignore that because it was in KY high school softball games? I don't think so. These coaches knew who Kirsten was, the summer team just made the recruiting much easier. You aren't going to see college coaches at high school games. It is impossible to be in Norman OK or some other big-12 venue and Union KY at the same time. I understand the whole summer big tournament recruiting that is the norm now. Doesn't mean I like it, seems to eliminate a lot of very good players that are not willing or able to make that kind of commitment. That is one reason why the KHSAA has eased the rules for high schools.

What she did at Ryle was hard for even the top level Div. 1 teams to ignore.

Never said summer ball isn't the easiest route for recruiting. But if you think Kirstens career at Ryle had no effect on her college recruiting you are mistaken.

Agree with you somewhat, College coaches do not have the time, funds or means to recruit during the high school season. That is why so much of their recuriting is done in the summer. But if you think the only way she made it was through summer ball you are wrong. A player of her stature would have been recruited with or without summer ball.

I'll have to agree with SSC on this one. If it was just any old player that replaced her that would be one thing. She was replaced by arguably the best player in the country. My opinion is she would have been the ace on over half the teams in the power conferences. Just curious, why do you think she would be a good pitching instructor?

Nice season, good to see there are still a couple Northern Kentucky travel teams.

I don't know. Try convincing a 14 year old girl that getting hit by a 50 mph fastball is a good thing.

Saw umpires in college games call strikes on girls that were hit by pitches several times last year. If the batter toes the line and leans just a little they will be in the strike zone. Still a tough call for the ump, but I like the rule.

Advantage power hitters. Stand on top of the plate and let it rip.

I count about 15 teams in the area, counting the 9th region as well as the northern half of both the 8th and 10th that either had a new coach this year or will have a new one next year, not a lot of stability for sure. Not sure you could say she ran the program into the ground, her teams won 83 games in her 4 years. Whether it was because of her or the team that was built for her is debatable.

I have also read or heard of these: Wisnieski Boone County MT. St. Joes Stewart Lloyd Thomas More Spencer SK Pikeville McClure Grant County Berea

Ginn, Walton Player of the year Crupper, Ryle Finke, Notre Dame Halcomb, Conner James, Dixie Morgan, SK Salzer, SH Sims, Conner Smith, Ryle Thacker, Walton Williams, Brossart I think the Enquirer got it right.

I'm with you Crazy. This is a 10-u rec practice, not a Bear Bryant preseason conditioning program. The most energy any of these girls will put out will be running over the hill at Lincoln Woods to pick up an overthrow. Now if mom sends a sack of McDonalds and a supersize Coke with them there might be a problem.

Any insight on this redtruck? Seems odd she would leave a position she seemed to really want only 4 years ago.

I would think they would want to see their daughter play.

I agree with you it is about the route the kids(and parents) choose to go to the next level. I have seen a lot of games at each college level and there are a lot of the girls at the lower levels that could play higher and some of the teams are pretty solid. The Lindsey Wilson team from this year would have given most of the KY D-1 teams a run this year. Sorry about the error about signing, I knew that just wasn't thinking at the time.

For approximately 99.9% of the girls playing softball in Kentucky, when Div. 1 recruiting is being done is insignificant. Your daughter is the exception, not the rule. I am guessing that only your daughter and Allen signed to play college softball before their Senior year. There are many, many girls playing college softball from this area and only a couple at the D-1 level.

SSC, I've always thought that the 16U division is the better division. Most but not all of the 18U players are either Freshmen or Sophomores to be in college and unless it is the very highest level the local teams have a lot of trouble fielding teams with reliable players.