cards1b21

While I agree with your argument about the winner coming down to who is playing well at the end, I strongly disagree that it is impossible to determine this early in the season, which teams have the capacity to be playing championship baseball at the end of the season. In my original post, I left out the teams that have don't even have the capacity to compete with the top tier teams. I'm sorry if your team was not on the list but unfortunately, if they weren't, I don't feel like they have a chance at all.

In the 13th it is down to Williamsburg and Middlesboro which are supposed to play today according to KHSAA. I checked out last year's result for the 13th and Middlesoro not only won, but they ended up making it to the Final Four.

So as of 4/5. who do you think should be in the discussion as a real contender for the 13th region title? South Laurel (1-4)- terrible start but have had several key injuries that have really hampered them. I expect them to turn things around dramatically when they return from their road trip. North Laurel (3-3)- Of their 3 wins, their best is a win against a pretty underachieving Corbin squad. However, they have played each of their losses close, including a 5-7 loss to PLD. Clay County (5-1)- I do feel that this record is a bit decieving as they really haven't played anyone. They lost to Corbin, and two of their wins are over Leslie County, whom Harlan County also beat. Middlesboro (3-4)- They started the season off well by beating Corbin 15-6 but looks to have hit a skid while in FL. Not knowing anything at all about those teams, I would imagine they were good teams. Corbin (4-4)- Good wins over Rockcastle and Clay but beaten by 13th region foes Middlesboro, NL, and KC. While there may be a few other teams that could be spoilers, I don't think anyone else outside of this list could win it. Agree or disagree?

SL will definitely be back when they get healthy. They were missing 3 starters against Somerset. Abd Middlesboro beat Corbin 15-6 at Corbin. Corbin is 1-2. How are they in the top 5 right now. At the very least, Middlesboro is ahead of them.

Perhaps you are right. Regardless, the box score said Middlesboro also made 5errors. So the, "Corbin just didn't play well" bit doesn't look like it will fly considering Middlesboro didn't play well either. It looks like Middlesboro can flat out hit this year though.

This was quite a win for Middlesboro. Perhaps Corbin was a little too relaxed or over-confident. Any other details?

I don't know about should win. They definitely have a chance but not really any more of a chance than SL, Middlesboro, or NL.

In my opinion, Ledington, Harris, and Powell are far and away the best coaches in the region and fittingly, they should all have their teams in serious contention by the end of the year.

Off the top of my head, I would imagine that the Pratt kid from Middlesboro would be one of the top returners. He is the lefty. I remember him coming in to pitch as a freshman in the regional semi's against us a few years ago; tough. Harlan Co. has a young pitcher coming back as well, although his name escapes me. He is a righty, throws 79-81 with a decent curve. If he plays, the Griffin kid from Clay County is pretty tough.

I would think that anything less than a regional championship would be slightly disappointing for this bunch. They return a whole lot of kids that performed very well last year and had a very solid JV squad last year. The question will be if Ledington can step in and get the job done.

I think they've drawn each other the past 3 seasons in a row.

That blind draw is the most ridiculous system there is. And Clay County played a schedule last year that was a bit misleading (not real strong).

And when I was in high school, our program listed me as 2 inches taller than I was and 20 pounds lighter. My buddy says at least 5 of those kids on the roster are no longer playing this season. He said Mike, Davis, Frost, Lewis, and Helton are no longer playing. He also thought it was pretty funny that the basketball already had about 25 kids out for open gym and the baseball team had about 15 kids out for long-tossing.

Bell graduated every player of decent quality. I mean EVERY player. I know Middlesboro has Partin and Pratt coming back, with Partin being arguably the best hitter in the region. I can agree with your top 5 but I would predict that the NL fans will want to replace HC on that list.

I am close with a Middlesboro parent and there is no way that they have 40 on their roster. My friend tells me it is closer to 30. That is after having the Frost and Helton kid quit, and the Witherspoon, Foister, and Kyle kid being kicked off the team. Also, the Powers kid is the starting safety, Poore a starting CB, Patterson a starting CB and Poe and Johnson are starting DL- so that techinically means you are losing 10 starters. He also told me that while their middle school team has good specialty players, those specialty players at all 7th graders. He also said there is probably only 1 8th grader coming up that will be able to contribute for the next few years. I honestly get the feeling that the support would come back if Roark wasn't there. It seems like so many people in that community are so against him that they don't even want to go support his team.

See my previous post, Middlesboro has had unbelievable talent between 97-05 and an unbelievably weak district as well. Not hard to win games with that combination. Roark is a decent coach at best.

If I remember correctly, that game was a close one correct? Did they even pitch their ace? That's how much respect they had for Harlan County, they didn't even pitch their ace. Now I think that was a bad decision on their part, but they didn't lose because of their pitching, they lost because of defensive errors. By all means, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure they made 5 errors and 2 or 3 of those resulted in runs. After beating HC two out of three games, ONCE BY THE 10 RUN RULE, I think they proved they were better. Are you seriously saying that HC is the man? Now that's funny right there, I don't care who you are. I know I would rather face HC any day of the week than face Middlesboro- that's all I'm going to say and I'm entitled to that opinion. I will go on to apply that principal to SL, who is the man in this region. Until they're beaten, they're the man. And they return a lot more talent than you all are giving them credit for.

Well since this is a new season, those seasons don't matter very much do they? I do know that Bell County will be laughable this year. They lost every starter but 2 and they don't have anything resembling a pitcher. Middlesboro beat Harlan County 2 out of 3 games last year, including one by the ten run rule. That is how Middlesboro is ahead of Bell Co and Harlan Co. going intothis year.

I've been to three of their games at Bradner this year and the crowds have been downright embarrassing. To say that the student side is full is quite the stretch. About the next few years, I'm pretty sure all their skill players at the middle school level are 7th graders. I know the Edwards boy is for sure. The downfall at Middlesboro has been that the coaches don't know how to deal with the players....period. Roark has led a program with no discipline for years and that has finally back-fired. Crawford and Mike do nothing but yell at the kids. They can't have any fun. You can argue all you want but Roark is simply not a good coach. He got bailed out for about 10 years when there was a huge flux of talent at Middlesboro. Who couldn't have won with those kids. SL DOMINATED Middlesboro last night.

I would say the top 5 are: 1.South Laurel T-2. Corbin T-2. Middlesboro 4. Clay Co. 5. Harlan Co/North Laurel

I'm just saying what I heard from a teacher down there. I've never actually heard that Roark was going to be fired but I have seen Middlesboro gradually slip in prestige over the last 3 or 4 years.

Kenny Roark is definitely on his way out down in Middlesboro. I heard they looked pitiful against Green County and that Roark's son and one of the other coaches' son were the main focus of the offense. One is a freshman WR and Roark is the QB. They put up 7 points and that was because of the RB. Maybe Roark should try something a little different this week. I'm saying: Mboro 14 LCC 32

I do remember Saylor being a good pitcher. Teams didn't want to draw them first round just because of him. I don't really remember his defense at all which leads me to think it may not have been quite as good in my opinion. Harris did pitch for Middlesboro and pitched well but he isn't one of the BEST players I don't think. He was an above average high school pitcher. I guess if we are including 2000 graduates then you also have to include: Harper- Rockcastle- P Skidmore- Middlesboro- P/CF Wynn- Middlesboro- P/3B Sorry about leaving those off Middlesboro people.

I thought about adding several Corbin players. Kyser was good, as was Mahan and Bram Hoover.

Alcoa's athleticism was unmatched. That's not to say that Bell isn't an athletic team. They were just not on the level of Alcoa. In regards to coaching, Bell didn't move the ball well in the second half and Alcoa did. That has a lot to do with coaching adjustments.