Baseballinmyblood

I'm not 100% sure. However, I do know the Sectional tournament did a lot to weed out the weaker teams. The reason it was so successful is because of the three game series. There wasn't a chance of a one game fluke upset. The better team always would go and once you got there you had to win three games to win it, and because of the sectional you always had strong teams. Granted, the mountain team on average would be weaker but you would get the better team out of the mountains. The only other way I know to make it stronger would be to do a "Super Sectional" tournament the week before the state tournament at UK or EKU or somewhere like that. It could again be another 3-game series and then the next weekend you could play four team single elimination for the state championship. That way the four best teams in the state would have their #1 and #2 pitchers available for the semifinals and finals. Another way that will never happen is to make-up a selection committee that is made up of sportswriters from around the state to pick the best teams in the state. One thing I like about this is that it would force teams to beef up theur schedules. I know this will never happen but I still think it would be interesting.

So you don't know who to call either. Assigning secretaries have zero power. They assign games, and if they do try to assert power the umpires will complain until somebody new comes in. I'm also not talking about from fans perspective. I am saying from a coaching perspective and administrative perspectives. You couldn't be more wrong. There isn't anybody to call. The KHSAA doesn't have anything setup for oversight, and that is who you would call. I've actually heard straight from a KHSAA representatives mouth that they do not assert oversight with umpires. Guess who else knows this? Umpires. So they know they can get away with about anything anymore. One guy didn't even know pitchers go by pitches now instead of innings. It's different in other states. I just worry it could get worse before it gets better. Don't get me wrong you all may have it figured out in Northern KY. I don't see a lot northern KY games. The rest of the state is terrible.

The top half of the bracket is the worst I've ever seen. 6 out of the 8 are average teams at best. There are 50+ other teams in the state that are better. I agree with the seeding. That is one way to fix it a little bit.

Trinity is going to have to play Scott County in the second round, and then you look down and notice PRP and Johnson Central are also in the same bracket. Rowan? Boyle? GRC? Knox? Marion? All in the same bracket. All average to slightly above average teams. Most are very average. I can't believe how "watered down" the state tournament is now. You end up having the championship game in the second round. We need to fix this somehow.

I actually did state your rule and everything you listed is absolutely true. So I appreciate you listing it for me. Explain for me what happens when someone wants to complain about an official? Where do they go? I'm not talking about the assigning secretary because they have no authority. All they do is tell them where to go. You still haven't given me the name of the local organization umpires belong to? How does an umpire get held accountable when there is nobody to call? That's why altercations happen on the field. That's the only thing I've been attempting to say.

I would say whichever assistant coach has been there the longest would get $2K but head coach on average probably will see around $5k. The most I've ever heard in Ky was at a private school in Louisville and that was $10k. So you can only imagine what the football guy made. I'm also saying in the course of the summer and taking on fall ball as well would get you $15K, but not just from March - May.

What is the organization? I've never heard of a local one.

I'm sorry I didn't realize you wanted those answers. They are always adjusting rules for how coaches approach umpires and I agree with all of them. I don't think it's a good example for the kids and it's not the way to teach them to resolve conflict. The only time I ever get involved is if I think one of my players need to be "taken-up for." One rule is how they addressed the assistant coaches being able to argue, which they can't now. If they are thrown out then the head coach is also punished. So they put the head coach in charge of controlling his staff which is correctly done. I agree with the rule. As far as the other things you mentioned, the strike zone should not change. Each hitter should know where a strike is and what is a ball. They are taught this at an early age. Regardless of what kind of pitch is being thrown or the movement it has, it still should always fall in the same perimeters in order to be called a strike. There shouldn't be different perimeters.

I'm sorry I am wrong on that. However, I've seen their checks, and 98% of all officials in our region work atleast 5-6 days a week during the season. So if you do the math. Five days, 7-inning game and 5-inning game each night, $120+ for each night, and that equals $720 for 6-days and $600 for 5. Sometimes they can make more with tournaments and things like that and then you add in summer and travel ball, and their supplemental income is pretty good. So it wouldn't be hard for an official to make $15K/year of supplemental income compared to a couple thousand for coaches. The training for coaches is much more significant too.

I stand corrected. He is definitely a rare breed in KY. He should be an example to the rest.

An official can make $120+ in one night doing varsity/JV. So if he works most nights and weekends during the season he is bringing in $800+ A week. Coaches make around $.50/hour when you average everything out and they still find time to go to conventions and trainings. They can organize those things the same way every organization does. Your attitude is why the officiating in this sport has gotten significantly worse over time. I'm also not sure where some of you guys got your information, but the officials in KY do not go to clinics or trainings and I challenge you to prove me otherwise. I have had several umpires tell me they haven't done anything since their initial test to become an umpire.

They need to put some effort into the ones they have. We need an oversight committee, and a way for these umpires to get better every year. They do that with coaches. An oversight committee will give coaches a place to voice concerns. Right now, all they have is an assigning secretary, which is pointless. Just "scratching" someone doesn't help the situation. A committee can hold these guys accountable, they can have a convention every year to find new ways to get better, and it will also cut down on "on-field" confrontation because coaches will know they have a place to go if something isn't right.

That's my point. Umpires get so upset when coaches argue balls and strikes, but they cause it by making balls and strikes a judgment call. They should be trained better in knowing what to look for on each kind of pitch and it should be automatic at this point on what a strike is. They put all these rules in to make sure coaches don't get out of line with umpires, but they don't put the same effort into making sure umpires are more qualified. These coaches get judged on wins and losses which can be decided by one bad call.

Nobody should have to adjust. These officials should be trained enough to know when a strike is a strike and call it a strike. Kids are taught to swing at strikes, not balls.

It is very easy to pad stats in high school, especially if you are trying to get a kid noticed. It wouldn't be hard to turn a "fielders choice" into a "hit," or an "error" into a hit as well. The downside when you do crap like this is it screws future players when it comes to being recruited. Once a college coach shows up and finds out all those stats are very inflated, he's likely going to mark that school off of his list to recruit from.

What Shawn Hall has done at Johnson Central is really impressive. Baseball coaches get paid very little in eastern key and you usually have to rely on former players to makeup a coaching staff. Even then you are lucky to have two or three assistants that are there everyday. Compare that to a head coaches with six or so coaches and a completely separate JV team, and it puts into perspective how good you have to be to compete. Practice looks a lot different with 30 kids than it does with 15.

Does anyone know who the new coach will be at Frederick Douglas?

That seems awful weird? What was the reason? I thought he got "Coach of the Year?"

Are you sure St. Henry is open? I haven't heard the first thing about that.

So much for stability at st. Henry

If I'm not mistaken there was a poll last season that ranked all the schools in the state top-to-bottom. Not sure their resources on how they made that accurate, but I do remember seeing the list.

I think you know better than anyone how much of what you said is made up. Jobs that were open in the past are irrelevant due to he was already coaching little league and had no interest. Once again, the Pikeville remark is completely fabricated and can't be confirmed by anyone.

I wasn't talking about Boyd. That job wasn't even available anyhow. You know exactly what I meant and how fabricated it is. You really need to move on from this. Your buddy didn't get picked. It's over and done. The process was done correctly for once in high school sports, and the outcome proves it.

There was also another dominant lefty from KY a few years earlier than Woodie, Steve Hamilton. I know some people don't consider him being from KY, but he was born in western, KY somewhere. He ended-up going across the Indiana border to play his high school ball. However, he was apart of some really good Morehead State teams. He played several years in MLB for mostly the Yankees. I never faced him, but as a kid, I remember watching him play for MSU. He was huge. He was close to 6'8" and was a scary individual on the mound.

Brandon Martin was one of the most impressive kids to watch pitch live. He was so smart and a very good athlete. I'll never forget that game he threw in the state tournament against Lexington Catholic. In my opinion, probably one of, if not the best game in the history of the state tournament. Martin v. Champa/Maronde. Catholic underestimated Martin and didn't think they needed to use Maronde, so Champa started the game for Catholic. It was an amazing game to watch. It ended-up going 9 innings, and there wasn't a pitcher that threw in the game that gave-up an earned-run. Martin threw the entire game, and they all combined to strikeout over 20 I think? That's a guess though. I still feel terrible for the shortstop from Harrison county. After intentionally walking the bases-loaded to set up the double-play, Martin gets a routine ground ball that was going to end the inning. Unfortunately, Harrison's shortstop booted it, and the winning run scored. That kid had played a great game at short the entire game, but that one play cost them. You would have thought Catholic would have learned their lesson, but they overlooked Lawrence in the semi's that same year. They got a whooping put on them by a kid that only broke 80 MPH maybe twice from Lawrence. However, the LC pitcher(not sure on the name) had pinpoint control hitting his spots that day. Catholic couldn't do anything with him. I believe he shut them out too? Catholic must have learned some lessons that year, because I think the following season is when they won it all?