463DP

I know MNH hitters well and those numbers even though may be hard to believe, sound legit. Those girls are extremely gifted and as good as you'll see. Kaylee has committed to Alabama and may be the best hitter in the state even as a sophomore and not far behind her if at all is Mallory who has committed to UK. This team has 6-D1 commits in their starting line up...SIX!!! Most of us don't have six true D-1 players in our region! Just a great group of kids that happen to be phenomenal athletes as well! If you get a chance to watch them you should take advantage of it. They play the game the way it should be played and although they are exceptional athletes, they are still very humble and hungry.

Pool Play Schedule Friday Field 1/Pool A Field 2/Pool B Field 3/Pool C 6:00 Mercy Academy v Green County Louisville Butler v Central Hardin Scott County v Hendersonville, TN 7:45 Owensboro Catholic v Anderson County Oakland, TN v Madisonville North South Warren v Union County Saturday 8:30 Mercy Academy v Owensboro Catholic Louisville Butler v Oakland, TN Scott County v South Warren 10:15 Green County v Anderson County Central Hardin v Madisonville North Hendersonville, TN v Union County 12:00 Mercy Academy v Anderson County Louisville Butler v Madisonville North Scott County v Union County 1:45 Owensboro Catholic v Green County Central Hardin v Oakland, TN Hendersonville, TN v South Warren Field 4/Pool D Field 7/Pool E Field 8/Pool F Friday 6:00 Louisville Male v Holy Cross (Louisville) Bullitt East v Woodford County Assumption Academy v Allen Co Scottsville 7:45 McCracken County v Daviess County Christian County v Paul Dunbar North Laurel v Oldham County Saturday 8:30 Louisville Male v McCracken County Bullitt East v Christian County Assumption Academy v North Laurel 10:15 Holy Cross (Louisville) v Daviess County Woodford County v Paul Dunbar Allen Co Scottsville v Oldham County 12:00 Louisville Male v Daviess County Bullitt East v Paul Dunbar Assumption Academy v Oldham County 1:45 McCracken County v Holy Cross (Louisville) Christian County v Woodford County North Laurel v Allen Co Scottsville No one pulled out. Had over 70 teams apply for entry. All entries were confirmed with payment by September 15th of last year.

Neither Ashland nor East Carter requested entry. Would have probably accepted either program (based on recent success of Ashland and Montana pitching for East Carter). But without interest from their programs nothing we can do. Again, we would like to have representation from that area.

The dates are March 20th-March 21st. As far as the remark about the northern/eastern Kentucky teams that did request entry; it was not meant to slight the teams from that geographic area at all. The comment was intended to state that the few teams from that area that did request entry, were not perceived to be the "top" programs from those areas. Again, we would love to add some power programs from those areas (ie...North Laurel was added for 2015) but they have to request entry in order for them to be added. This tournament was formed to try to bring as many of the top programs in the state to one venue regardless of region affiliation. The state tournament, while the true pinnacle of high school sports in the state, does not necessarily have the best 16 teams in the state. There are a lot of years where two or more top 10 teams in the state are from the same region. This tournament was formed to allow those teams to have a chance to compete against the other top programs in the state. Elizabethtown has the best venue in the state and it is centrally located to allow minimal travel costs for any team across the state that chooses to enter. Unfortunately we can only accept 24 teams (based on the current format) and I always try to add one or two top programs from out of state to allow our Kentucky teams to compete with the best from surrounding states (last year Soddy Daisy from the Chattanooga area and this year we added Hendersonville from the Nashville area and Oakland from Murfreesboro area). My only suggestion would be to ask your coach to submit request for next years tournament. The open invitations for requests are sent to every head coach in Kentucky via email in April. Once all of the requests for entry are made, final selections are made in August. We'd love to have better representation from both northern and eastern Kentucky.

71 teams requested entry (Brossart did not request entry). The tournament committee narrows the field to 24 teams based on tradition, previous year accomplishment, returning roster and geographic location. We were looking to try to add a couple teams from northern and eastern Kentucky this year but very few requested entry and those that did make the request were not of the caliber of team that the committee thought would be competitive with the other programs in the tournament. Would love to have some strong representation from all areas of the state.

Pool play schedule is set for the Big M Chevrolet Softball Tournament in Elizabethtown: Friday Games: Pool A 6:00 Mercy v Green County 7:45 Owensboro Catholic v Anderson County Pool B 6:00 Butler v Central Hardin 7:45 Oakland TN v Madisonville North Pool C 6:00 Scott County v Hendersonville TN 7:45 South Warren v Union County Pool D 6:00 Male v Holy Cross (Louisville) 7:45 McCracken County v Daviess County Pool E 6:00 Bullitt East v Woodford County 7:45 Christian County v Paul Dunbar Pool F 6:00 Assumption v Allen Co Scottsville 7:45 North Laurel v Oldham County Saturday Pool Games: Pool A 8:30 Mercy v Owensboro Catholic 10:15 Green County v Anderson County 12:00 Mercy v Anderson County 1:45 Owensboro Catholic v Green County Pool B 8:30 Butler v Oakland TN 10:15 Central Hardin v Madisonville North 12:00 Butler v Madisonville North 1:45 Central Hardin v Oakland TN Pool C 8:30 Scott County v South Warren 10:15 Hendersonville TN v Union County 12:00 Scott County v Union County 1:45 Hendersonville TN v South Warren Pool D 8:30 Male v McCracken County 10:15 Holy Cross (Louisville) v Daviess County 12:00 Male v Daviess County 1:45 McCracken County v Holy Cross (Louisville) Pool E 8:30 Bullitt East v Christian County 10:15 Woodford County v Paul Dunbar 12:00 Bullitt East v Paul Dunbar 1:45 Christian County v Woodford County Pool F 8:30 Assumption v North Laurel 10:15 Allen Co Scottsville v Oldham County 12:00 Asumption v Oldham County 1:45 North Laurel v Allen Co Scottsville Top two teams from each pool will advance into a single elimination tournament to begin at 3:30pm.

Last year this tournament was the premier event in the state and we believe the tournament just got stronger. We had over 70 teams apply for an entry and we had a very difficult time narrowing the field of teams to just 24 teams. We took several things into consideration when trying to decide on the field of teams. Strength of returning players, previous year results, program tradition were just a few factors we tried to look at when deciding. We think we have a very strong field again and our hope is to continue to bring this level of competition every year. We had several college coaches stop by last year and we hope to get more out to the park if their schedule allows. This was a pleasant surprise that we had not thought about until they began contacting us asking for schedules. We will email most Kentucky and a few Tennessee colleges the schedule prior to the event. Format is the same as last year with only a minor change. Teams will still be divided into six pools of four teams and the top two teams from each pool will continue into a single elimination bracket play. The difference is the we extended the time limit from 75 minutes to 90 minutes so team can get more use from their game count. The field of teams selected and that have accepted the invitation are: Scott County McCracken County Louisville Male Mercy Academy Owensboro Catholic Madisonville North Hopkins Christian County Central Hardin Woodford County Assumption Paul Dunbar South Warren North Laurel Bullitt East Oldham County Holy Cross (Louisville) Anderson County Louisville Butler Union County Green County Daviess County Allen County Scottsville Oakland High School, Murfreesboro TN Hendersonville High School, Hendersonville TN Pools have not been decided yet. Going to a really good early test for many of the states top programs and a couple of powerhouse programs from Tennessee.

The 5th region won 14-6. 8th was missing a few players and it wasn't played like a real game (bunting runners over etc). It was just to celebrate the accomplishments of these great young ladies on both sides. Both teams had a tremendous amount of talent and I think all involved really enjoyed the atmosphere of playing at Ulmer Stadium. Very good crowd of parents, fellow coaches and fans of the game. Everyone cheering on the great play of all of the players involved.

The 5th vs the 8th all-region game will be held tonight (Tuesday June 17th) @ 6:00pm at Ulmer Stadium. The game will be one 9 inning game. There is no gate fee so if you want to come out and watch some softball, it should be a great time.

The 5th region players have been selected but the 8th region is still in the process. The 5th region will be represented by the following players: Kelsey McGuffin-Central Hardin, Jessica Nall-Central Hardin, April Pence-Central Hardin, Mariah Bryant-Central Hardin, Taylor Thomas-Etown, Callie Sondergard-Etown, Sarah Beth Hundley-Etown, Brianna Scott-Green County, Kayla Bale-Green County, Peyton Gardner-Larue County, Brigitte Skaggs-Larue County, Kylie Benningfield-Marion County, Jordan Thomas-Marion County, Paige Dabney-Campbellsville, Alex Newton-Bethlehem & Hannah Howard-Taylor County. Jamie Goodman of Central Hardin will coach the 5th region.

As the season is winding down and the post season awards are given out, I wanted to invite everyone out to Ulmer Stadium @ the University of Louisville on Tuesday June 10th at 6:00pm when the All-Region team from the 5th will play the All-Region team from the 8th. It will be one nine inning game and there will be a ton of talented young ladies on the field representing their respective regions. Come out and watch some great players!

I have no knowledge of what happened in this particular situation. I do however agree with Coach Murphy's quote. Bottom line from a coaching perspective, as a coach you not only have a responsibility to teach the game and the fundamentals of the game but to also teach life lessons and instill discipline to your players. Unfortunately, as a coach, the biggest issue always seems to be with the parent aspect. Your typical parent (not all parents) always see the good in their child and ignore the bad. Again, not wanting to group all parents in this category, but most of the parents if asked to keep the scorebook, would score a hit for their daughter when it should have been ruled an error. This is why as a coach it is always smart to keep parents at arms length. Now this brings me back to the life lesson's and discipline part of the coaching responsibility. IMO, the player that is deemed "uncoachable" usually doesn't have the structure or discipline in their personal life. This player typically comes from a family that has parents that always question any supervision their child gets. They will question playing time, they will question strategy and they will even question the grade their child gets. This is the same parent who says the reason my daughter has detention or failed a test is because the teacher doesn't like him/her. This is what Coach Murphy was referring to in his quote. This type of parenting is setting your child up for failure down the road. In MOST cases, the reason your child failed a test or got detention is because she didn't study or misbehaved. It has NOTHING to do with your child's teacher disliking them. If your child has a question about playing time or anything else related to sports, have THEM approach the coach and ask what she can to do to get more playing time. But as a parent, the LAST thing you should do is talk about the coach behind the scenes with other parents or even worse with your child. Let them learn the best way to deal with adversity is to face it head on. At the high school level, your child is old enough that you shouldn't fight their battles nor should you want to. Allow them to mature and learn life lessons. They will become better players, teammates and people down the road. Now I know nothing about this particular situation, however if 10 players and 3 coaches left a program, it seems to me that something is seriously wrong with the program and the AD should look into it. But without knowing the circumstances, I don't know what to think. All I know is I feel sorry for the kids that are involved.

Lots of high profile teams attending this event. Some key match ups from across the state will happen this weekend to perhaps give some an idea of where teams stack up against the better competition in the state. Some key Friday night games: 5:30pm Central Hardin vs Mercy 5:30pm Scott County vs Louisville Eastern 6:00pm Greenwood vs Louisville Male 7:00pm Livingston Central vs Woodford County 7:00pm Owensboro Catholic vs Paul Dunbar 7:30pm Henderson County vs Soddy Daisy, Tn Some key Saturday morning games: 8:00am Lafayette vs Soddy Daisy, Tn 8:00am Mercy vs Livingston Central 9:30am Madisonville North vs Louisville Male 9:30am Oldham County vs Henderson County 11:00am Greenwood vs Madisonville North 11:00am Scott County vs McCracken County 11:00am Christian County vs Assumption 12:30pm Central Hardin vs Livingston Central 12:30pm Oldham County vs Soddy Daisy, Tn And that is just a few pool play games. After that the top two teams from each pool will go to a single elimination bracket. I have a feeling that is when things will get really interesting. All games are at the Elizabethtown Sports Park 1401 West Park Rd. Elizabethtown, KY. If you have a chance to come out and watch some great high school softball.

One of the coaches at Elizabethtown High School. You can email RodneyChancey@aol.com.

Next spring there is going to be a high school softball tournament at the Elizabethtown Sports Park in Elizabethtown, Ky that is going to feature the best group of high school softball teams, at least in recent memory. They will be taking a total of 24 teams, six pools of four with each team playing each team in their pool once and the top two teams from each pool going forward to a single elimination bracket. The teams that have committed as of right now: Greenwood Scott County Owensboro Catholic Bullitt East Central Hardin Madisonville North Hopkins Christian County Livingston Central Male Lafayette Henderson County Woodford County Louisville Butler Assumption Green County Daviess County Elizabethtown Soddy Daisy, Tn

Definitely safe!

We played at the complex last year and it is VERY NICE. They don't host a lot of fastpitch for some reason, they do more baseball than softball. They have 3 quads; one quad has 2 fields that are 200' and 2 fields that are 210' and the middle quad has to skinned infields but the fences are 250' but the other 2 fields in the middle quad and the other quad have grass infields. We have played at all of the "nice" parks from Indy down to Birmingham and this is by far the nicest facility. Covered seating, warning tracks, bull pens and a black screen in centerfield (I think they call it batter's eye) on each field. They even had stadium style seating on some fields. I heard they spent like 29 million on the entire facility. I heard the reason they can't host a national or high school championship is they don't have a pressbox on any field. It would be a shame if that is the case but that was the rumor when we were there. Plus I heard the city was pretty hard to get along with as far as scheduling events there. I guess we can hope it works out.

I think the polls have to be turned in by Monday before the poll is released so if this is the case, this poll would not reflect any games played this week. As far as your other insight, I have seen several of these teams play. Manual is a very good team, not sure what happened against Butler, but they are definitely worthy of a ranking in the 20 range. I have not seen Oldham County yet, however we all know you can not move a team in the rankings ahead of another team just because of a head to head match up. If that were the case, Holy Cross should be ahead of Oldham County. I have seen Central Hardin play and they are a good team as well. Again, in my opinion, they are worthy of a ranking in the 20 range. And I think Bullitt East is a very good team. Granted their schedule hasn't ended up being very tough yet but prior to the season it looked stronger with Dunbar, ACS, Ballard and Sacred Heart all early in the season. Now it hasn't proven to be real tough but they played Ballard close and won every other game. Plus they pass the eye test...they can play. Can't wait for the Male/Eastern game either...

I never suggested that a high school team shouldn't be challenged. However, please don't take that out of context. Being challenged and being demolished are two totally different things. I have said all along that teams should play other teams that are at THEIR level. Don't play as you say "cupcakes" but don't allow your ego to get in the way of a wise decision by scheduling the #1 team in the state just so you can say "yeah we played the best in the state" even though they beat you 25-0 with their JV team! And yes, I feel the same way about school and classes; challenge yourself BUT if you struggle in pre-algebra, don't take calculus the next semester because you are setting yourself up for failure and why you would ever do that to a kid is beyond me. There is nothing wrong with taking classes or playing teams that are at your level, regardless of whatever level that may be. As far as kids being left behind that want to play college... Well as unfortunate as it may be, my answer would be yes, there are several cases where a high school program does not have the kids, coaching nor the contacts to help a player get onto a college team. That is why travel ball is so important. Get on a high level travel team that will play in the right tournaments and showcases, go to camps and get hooked up with a coach that actually has some contacts. This will allow your daughter to get recruited regardless of how bad her high school team is. I've always said smaller schools are hard to coach at because they have such a limited number of players. The coach is left with having to keep, in some cases, players that have never played the game. So the entire off-season and spring, the coach has to spend his time teaching the absolute basics and teaching the girls to protect themselves rather than getting into advance skill development. It is like if you were a teacher and you had 20 kids in your class, 10 are ready for algebra but you have 10 that can't do simple subtraction yet, as a teacher you have to teach at the pace of the slower group. Now obviously that is why they don't put this broad of spectrum of students in the same class, but coaching at the high school level you sometimes don't have a choice. You do have a broad spectrum of players...so you must make sure your players can, at a minimum, protect themselves. You may disagree with everything I have said but I will stand by my comment that playing the best teams is not necessarily a good thing. You should push your kids, on the field and in the classroom, to be the best they can be but don't make goals so unrealistic that they are guaranteed to fail. Teach them how to win and achieve realistic goals. Setting them up to lose a game 25-0 is demoralizing for the kid and this is done so a coach can boast about how they play the best around...its a joke and the joke is on them.

So you think it is a good thing for Bellevue, Ludlow, Dayton & Newport to schedule Greenwood, Scott County, Mercy Academy, Ballard etc because it will make them better in the long run and for the post season? What post season? Approximately 1/2 of the schools will play in a region tournament with only 16 playing in the state tournament. Some of these smaller, less talented schools, don't need to schedule up. They aren't making a run at any title so their coach should schedule teams that they can compete with...regardless of level. This is still a game and not all kids are looking to play college softball. You should treat players like your daughters, an extension of your family; so don't put them in a situation where they will be embarrassed. You are not only embarrassing them, but you are also embarrassing yourself and your school. These are still just kids... Now travel ball is different to a degree. If your goal is to get the players ready for college ball or if you are chasing a world series or national title, you should play the type of teams or versus that caliber of player that you would expect you will need to beat to achieve your goals. But for high school, we all know that most of them are out there because their friends are doing it, they have nothing better to do or maybe the parents have told them to do it so they don't have to babysit them after school. Regardless of why they are out there, as coaches we should take care and responsibility to teach these young ladies life lessons on top of softball fundamentals.

My two cents: Your district schedule is set so you have to take that part out but the rest of your schedule, you should schedule according to your level of play. For instance, you know if you have the pitching or hitting to compete with certain teams. It doesn't help your girls if you schedule teams that have a pitcher throwing 60+ mph if they will never see 60+ mph in your district or region. My suggestion is to set your schedule up with some games you will probably win, some games that will be a toss up and a few that you will probably lose unless you play great (but you have a chance). But I would never set up a schedule with games that you will win or lose no matter what. Neither team will get anything out of those games, as stated earlier in this thread. Keep in mind especially if you have a young team, you have to teach them how to win. Don't let your ego get in the way and say we are going to play anyone and everyone and allow your girls to get run ruled every other day. No player wants to be part of a team that doesn't have fun and getting killed will hurt their confidence and possibly make them want to concentrate on another sport rather than spend their spring playing the #1 and #2 teams in the state to get killed. Not all high school players are focused on playing in college so as coaches, you must remember at the end of the day, its still just a game. IMO, the worst thing you can do to a player is put them in a situation where they are guaranteed to fail. Instead of that, let's teach them how to win but don't send them to a gun fight with a pocket knife. Again, just my two cents but I'd say you schedule according to the level of your team and try to keep them competitive. No lopsided wins or losses unless you have no choice with district teams.