keepitreal

District game 4/1/13 Boone Co at Connor Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 R H E Boone Co 0 0 0 4 3 0 1 0 8 9 4 Connor 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 0 5 8 5 W: #20 NICK INGRAM L: #29 Brady Smiley

Who pitched for Cooper?

I am a little concerned about the number of these new bats breaking. I have heard of 3 in the NKY area so far this season and witnessed one of them. It is my understanding that they are breaking off at the handle. Are these just "defects" and if so, why are there so many defective bats? I question the safety of the new BBCOR bats.

Ok, anyone who has followed Boone County High School basketball over the years realizes that there has always been a bigger fan following for the girls team versus the boys team. The girl's teams have a long history of producing excellent teams and talent. Even before Nell came in 1985/1986, you had Ben Coffman who also coached very good teams. The girls team has made it to the state tourney 11 times previously and the latest being in 2010 (before this year). They have won all 11 first round games played at the state tourney and made it to the semi-finals multiple times. The boy's team, on the other hand, has only made 3 state tourney appearances in over 50 years and have never made it out of the first round play. So I would guess it has a lot to do with the history and success of the teams. Girl's basketball has always drawn more fan support at Boone County as far back as I can remember and rightfully so based on their success over the years. It may not be the right thing to do, but unfortunately that is the way it goes for any sport. The better the team's history, the more fans you draw. As far as this year's fan support at the Regionals, does anyone think it had anything to do with the horrible tornados that hit our area on Friday night? I know a lot of people's family and friends were directly affected by these tornados and some may have been volunteering to help out these people on Saturday and Sunday versus attending a high school game. I think we all need to stope and realize there are sometimes more important things to do with our free time than attend a high school game or argue on a website as to why student's weren't in attendance at these games.

Here are some interesting facts/stats from ncca.com on the new bats which are significant IMO: Division I batting average, scoring and home runs per game in 2011 resemble the wood-bat 1970s more than they do recent years. Division I teams in 2011 averaged 5.58 runs per game, well off the record 7.12 in 1998 and below 6 for the first time since 1977 (5.83), which was just the fourth season of the aluminum bat in college baseball. Home runs left parks at an average of .52 per team per game in 2011 compared with .94 last year and 1.06 in 1998 (also the peak year for that category). That resembles wood-bat days, too (.42 in the last year of wood in 1973, and .49, .50 and .55 in the first three years of metal). Batting average in 2011 was .282, the lowest since 1976. Earned-run average, on the other hand, was its best (4.70) since 1980 (4.59). FOR THE FULL ARTICLE, see below: http://www.ncaa.com/news/baseball/2011-07-26/new-bats-are-hit-some

Unfortunately Blake Hart has real issues when it comes to maturity both on and off the field. Unless he gets a handle on his temper, it will get the best of him. This kind of behavior is embarrassing to his teammates and should not be tolerated by any high school coach regardless of his talents. I hope, for his sake, he is able to get some real help with his behavior/temper issues and mature into a player with ALL the skills needed to proceed to the next level. No college will want a kid who throws tantrums like he has displayed on the field regardless of his baseball skills.

I agree but I believe the point that should be made here is the sophmores and the freshman at Cooper, although decent players, would more than likely not be playing varsity if they attended on of the other 9th region schools in the same class. Because Cooper is a young program trying to build from their current talent pool, these boys are getting the opportunity to play at the varsity level. There are young sophmores and freshman at Ryle and Boone that would definitely play varsity at Cooper this year if they attended that school and I believe that is the point that is trying to be relayed here.....correct me if I'm wrong. I'm not trying to take away from the talent of the young boys playing varsity at Cooper, but we have to keep in perspective that this is a young team with no where near the talent pool available to them as the other more mature 9th region teams. Cooper has improved from previous years and that is to be expected as they get a larger number of upper classman (Juniors and Seniors). I expect in a few years that Cooper will be a tough competitor in the 9th region since the underclassman are getting more exposure to playing at the varsity level at such a young age that they wouldn't have received if they attended one of the other schools. This should prove to their advantage in years to come.

Agree Cooperstown! HHS is not the only NKY high school with this rule and I know of several that have had this rule in place for some time now and it's not an issue. If a kid takes baseball seriously, then missing Spring Break to play on his high school team his senior year (or any year for that matter) should not be a difficult choice to make. It's baseball season and it's a CHOICE. If your kid chooses Spring Break over baseball his senior year (or any year in my opinion) then that may be the answer he is looking for as to what is a priority in his life at this time. If your kid truly loves the game of baseball (or any sport), then you would have more of a problem trying to MAKE him go on Spring Break or a vacation. Life is about making difficult decisions and there is no better time than the present to teach kids this lesson before they leave home. If Spring Break fell during football or basketball season, those coaches would have the same rule, I'm sure. Being on a competitive team of any kind is a committment and parents should be the first to encourage this committment.

I am new to this website and very disappointed as to the amount of bashing of coaches, referees and players that goes on in these forums. Although I've not seen many Ryle games this year, I did happen to attend the regular season game against Boone and the District Championship game against Boone and I agree Ryle has some very talented young woman but they are missing one key piece of the puzzle that makes a team complete.......a couple true post players (or even one would have helped). This just isn't something a high school coach can control (in most cases). If you have no big, strong athletic girls try-out for the team, then you have to go with what you have since recruiting players in HS is illegal (again for most). For this reason, from my understanding, Ryle has had to convert Jenna Crittenden to play a post position when she was actually mostly a shooting guard/forward in the past. If she is having an off game underneath, they have no one who can replace her in the paint and then Ryle can't get their shooters open on the perimeter. Ryle has some really good outside shooters but unless you can get the ball down low and score to open up the outside game, it's not too hard to defend this team. And when you have to play a team with a post player like Moss without any true post players to help defend her, the outcome isn't going to be a good one regardless who is coaching the team! Oliverio is an excellent coach and even more important, a very good person with the best interest of the girls at heart. Let's do what's right and quit bashing her and everyone else (players, referees, etc.). I commend Oliverio for the ability to motivate her girls to come back from a large deficit against NCC and make a game out of it. This isn't the first time I seen her be able to motivate her team to come back from a deficit. The regular season against Boone was a good come back game as well and they actually got the win that time. It's not easy to motivate a bunch of girls once they fall that far behind in a game! The girls start to shut down, deflate and give up completely unless you have a good coach with excellent motivational skills and Oliverio has shown she definitely has that! So, let's give credit where credit is due and quit blaming or trying to find blame. That would be a welcome change on this site in general!