Texas Leaguer

Because the Mailes are not hurting for money. Mr. Maile can afford to write the check to send him to most any school he wants to attend, so $50K in that sense is nothing. He's going to college. His arm and his bat are serious, but the still has to improve his overall catching game. He's going to play against a different breed of player at UK. He's gonna see more speed and skill than he's ever played against before.

He is by all accounts a good kid, a good HS player, a good student and has a great work ethic on and off the field. But he won't play Division I ball unless he can find a place to walk on somewhere. He lacks the speed to play at that level. He probably can play NAIA or Division III. I agree that he won't be a SS because of arm strength. Second base or left field are probably his positions.

It is a great story. Most people could not even begin to appreciate it.

The latest rumor since that one (LOL), is that Nick is now going to play for a team in Florida. This would make sense.

Did he pitch in the regional and if so, who did he pitch against and how many innings?

There are other things, as well. Respectfully, we just disagree.

The Kenton County Schoolboard has been the problem. That concession stand/press box/team room/rest room was totally funded by the baseball team's parents, boosters and coaches until the end of last season. Then, the school board in a weak moment of generosity decided they would buy the doors for the place, only because the the rest of the structure would not deteriorate. They have taken on the rest of it as of this year, but couldn't seem to get it done in time for this season. Parents and coaches have searched for donations of money, materials and services over the years. Most of the structure was built by parents with the exception of brick work and electrical. It has been a 4-5 year project. It started out to be a $30,000 project with a lot of the materials, including the brick and lumber being dotated. When the school board got wind of it, they insisted the brick must match that of the school. All of a sudden, it was fast becoming a $70,000 project. Then, Fisher Homes offered to furnish the materials and build it if they could store some building materials on Scott's property (by the bus storage lot) for a given amount of time while they finished development of a local subdivision. Again, the school board said no. Is it any wonder why people despise elected officials and politicians like they do?

I say this respectfully, but the better question is what kind of pitching does Harrison have over and above Brandon Martin? My hat's off to Martin with what he did in the regional, but they could be in trouble if he's the answer every time the pitching question comes up. You have to be able to hand the ball with confidence to more than one pitcher. You can't count on rain outs all the time.

Thanks for the clarification on the infield. Watching the games down there last year, I thought it was brick dust. It makes for an attractive infield. Bermuda would not be my choice for any baseball field. It's a rhizome grass meaning it spreads laterally by the horizontal growth of shoots beneath the soil line. Generally speaking, you need to install a metal edging beneath the soil line to contain it or resign yourself to kill unwanted portions topside as they occur.

Absolutely. 170 pitches? Unless he was throwing a knuckle ball at 50 MPH, they should deal with the coach ASAP. You can't do that to a kid's arm!!!

350 to dead center.

Montgomery County has a good field, as well. The regional was held down there last year and seemed to have a nice facility. That red brick dust on the infield was a nice touch. I've never seen Clark's facilities. What are they like?

No problem with it at all. I appreciate your effort. Thanks to you, we knew what was going on.

GS, it's called an 'inning'. Thanks for the updates.

Scott also has graduation set for Friday.

Who do you think deserves Coach-of-the-Year in Northern Kentucky? My pick is Coach Sanders from Bellvue.

So, you pick everything correctly? It was an educated guess and thats' all it was. They do it in Vegas every week.

With all due respect, Adkins and Adams didn't pitch that badly and neither did Verst (?) from Brossart. The umpire forced both teams to serve it up. No corners, no low or high strike zone and 25 - 30 mph winds blowing out to left center the entire game makes for a lot of offense. I think both Adams and Adkins will be fine, although I am concerned about Adams. From what I hear, the coaches may have over-pitched him (pitches per game) during the middle of the season and he appears to have issues with his velocity again. Here's hoping he gets some rest and is ready for the regional.

I've never seen a HS game like it. The wind was strong on ground level all afternoon, but obviously stronger given more altitude. Anything hit semi-hard with enough altitude had a chance to find the fence. Two or three of the HRs were crushed, but if not for the wind, some would have been long outs or just extra base hits. From my perspective down the first base line, Adams fouled a pitch off extremely high over the first base dugout that looked to be 2-4 foot out of play and THE WIND blew it back into fair territory where it was caught (a great play by the Brossart first baseman to hang with it). The home plate umpire definitely influenced the situation with an extremely small strike-zone. The pitchers were having to groove everything to get a strike, consequently resulting in a lot of walks and a low number of strikeouts.

He was injured last year. He couldn't pitch or play the field. All he could do was DH and really didn't get that going until mid-season. It will be interesting to see if he can win it due to the fact that although Scott is a NKY school, they play in the 10th region. We're fortunate to be able to see a lot of good players here in NKY. None of these schools are near as large as the schools in Louisville and Lexington and therfore, don't have the numbers that those schools boast.

Zac Adams of Scott High School now has 9 homers. He hit 2 against Boone Monday and added another against Covington Holy Cross today.

I have to agree with you, St. Henry's is the best around NKY after all consideration. They really work at it to the point that it's almost a labor of love. Boone has a nice infield in terms of playability, but the dimensions of the outfield and essentially the fence cause it to pale somewhat. This is not to say that it's not a good venue, because it is. However, allowing the football team to practice on the baseball field is insane. Scott has great potential, but fall short in a couple of areas. There's a depression in the grass right behind shortstop that can retain water after a shower even though the infield appears playable. The infield needs to be lightly watered and rolled, particularly the edges of the infield grass. The fans venue is another sore spot. Scott's baseball team has been raising private funding and donations for several years to finish the concession stand/press box with no help from the school board until this year. Therefore, the fan's venue has suffered. Covington Catholic has a nice playing surface but could use a better fan venue down the 3rd base line. But all-in-all, we're pretty fortunate to have pretty good venues here in NKY.

I agree with your take on it. We start teaching players at an early age to STAY IN THE BOX. As they get older, they know to look for the hook when they see the ball thrown at them. Turning at the last moment to protect themselves is a last resolve effort to avoid injury and should be respected. I think the key is did they lean into the pitch. I have also seen umpires change their approach when an obvious pattern was developing.

The 2 homers by Adams were shots. The first was a line drive that got out of their quickly. The second was a towering drive. Despite all this, base running miscues cost Scott 2 runs. In addition, base running cost Boone 1 run, as well. But that's part of the game. All you hope to do is learn from it.

I would agree with Adams, Farris, Elliot, Maile - maybe Nichols at Dixie. I'm not certain about his stats because the Dixie doesn't turn them in to the Enquirer, but he's a fine pitcher.