jr92

After a week and a half removed from the event and talking to players, coaches, and fans who actually witnessed the game, I can "tell the tale", and let the reader make his own opinion, as nothing can really be done about it. The situation: Wolfe County at Breathitt County. 6th inning. Wolfe led for most of the game, but Breathitt fought back, tying the game and eventually taking the lead. in the bottom of the sixth inning. They had runners on second and third with two outs and two strikes on the hitter. On the next pitch, the batter checked swinged (swung???????????), strike three. The home plate umpire raised his right arm, calling strike three. The catcher didnt handle the pitch very well, and dropped the ball. The batter, realizing the ball had been dropped, started to run to first base, but the Wolfe County catcher picked up the loose ball and put the tag on the runner. The same home plate umpire who called strike three then called the batter out on the tag. The Wolfe County players ran off the field and huddled on the first base line to talk. (This included the OUTFIELDERS, so as to give you referance to the time frame). The home plate umpire, at that point. went to the huddle, broke it up, and told the players to return to the field, that he had called the check swing a foul tip, no strike three. After a protest by the Wolfe County coach, play resumed, and, of course, the batter, who had really struck out, hit a gapper, driving in two runs, and effectivley ended the game. Most baseball players I know will produce when given four strikes. I have described he above incident as accuratley as I can. The Wolfe County catcher swears the batter did NOT foul tip the ball. The batter tried to go to first base after the check swing, indicating he KNEW he had thre strikes on him. There was NO appeal to the base umpire, to the umpire-in-chief made the call on his own. I know there is no time frame on an umpire changing his call, other than when the next pitch is made, but this is rediculous. The bad thing, is that there was really no recourse that the Wolfe County coach could do. KHSAA informed him that there is no appeals process for high school baseball, but they would talk to the umpires to get more information. Big Deal! N

Wilder pitched for Jenkins, and was outstanding. Probably threw 65% curve balls. His excellent fastball set up his curves, which threw the Wolfe hitters off-balance all night. His approach to the game was the exact opposite of the way most pitchers throw. Wolfe fell behind 2-0 in the first, and fought back, led by the bottom of the line-up. Chris Johnson, Dustin Drake, and Joe Ray Oliver all had RBI singles, and Wolfe led 3-2 after 5 innings. Puckett hit a two run bomb in the sixth, and Jenkins added three more in the 7th to put it away. Dustin Drake pitched six outstanding innings for Wolfe, but probably ran out of gas late. Walked a couple in the 7th, and a couple of defensive lapses by the Wolves did them in. Jenkins appears to have a pretty good team. They don't have a lot of great hitters, but the defense is solid and they have very good pitching. Puckett is a bon-a-fide franchise player. When he pitches, Jenkins has a chance to beat anyone they play.

Knott County certainly didn't look like the type of team that some of the scores of their earlier games might suggest. I thought they played fairly well. They played pretty good defense, made a couple of errors that hurt them, but over-all, looked pretty good. Mullins pitched for the Patriots and did a nice job. You can bet that Coach Hammons will have this team getting better and better as the season progresses. Wolfe County didn't hit the ball real well, but played a good game. The gloves were very good. Deron Terrill made an outstanding catch in center field for the second night in a row. Dustin Drake took the mound for Wolfe, still a little weak from the flu bug and 7 pounds lighter to boot. D-Drake was simply outstanding, pitching a complete game, allowing five hits, while striking out 8 and walking only one. Sallie, Terrill, Tyler Phipps, and Joe Ray Oliver each had two hits for Wolfe.

The Bartley kid certainly hit quite a shot. Congratulations to both him and Menifee on a nice win. I feel the big difference in this game was the defense played by the middle infield of Menifee County. They made several outstanding plays, taking a few basehits away from Wolfe. They looked like a completly different team in game two. Wolfe County came away from this game beaten up pretty badly. Starting pitcher Tyler Hayes had to leave early when he pulled a leg muscle. Dustin Drake had the flu pretty badly and although he played with a lot of heart, probably should have stayed home. He got sick a couple of times on the field, and several times on the way home after the game. Dustin is Wolfe County's shortstop and number two pitcher. Centerfielder/catcher Deron Terrill somehow got his finger stepped on during the game and suffered a hairline fracture. He will be able to continue playing, but will probably be in quite a bit of pain for the next few weeks. The most costly injury happened early when catcher Chase Nickell got hurt in a collison at home plate when the runner failed to slide. (Coaches, remind your players constantly, that they MUST slide on a play at the plate. While this rule is for safety reasons, any out/safe calls, warnings, or ejections made by the umpires are useless to the players who get injured on the play.) Nickell was taken to the hosptial and diagnosed with a stained ACL. They say he should be back in a couple of weeks. I hope they are right, but that seems pretty quick to me. He is on crutches right now. It is going to be hard to make up for losing a player that is your number one pitcher, best catcher, and clean-up hitter. Hopefully he, and the rest of the Wolfe players get well in a hurry. Not many teams can overcome losing four key players.

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Wolfe took advantage of a lot of walks, and a few errors by Menifee to take game one. They didn't really knock the cover off the ball, as they scored 18 runs on something like 10 hits. Freshman Kenny Broughton had three of them, and senior Tyler Phillips had a couple. Zach Sallie pitched for Wolfe, getting the win in his first start of the year. He threw the ball well, but had trouble with his control, hitting several Menifee batters.

This play didn't really happen, I just saw a game where the game-ending run scored from third, but the defensive team or the runner on second didn't realize it, and that runner was thrown "out" at home. The umpire even called the runner out, then saw the score was 10-0 and called the game. That made me wonder what would happen if the lead runner was appealled and called out. And yes, I too wonder what would be going on in a baserunner's head to cause him to miss home plate when there wasn't even a play being made on him. Saw it happen twice last year, once on a wild pitch. The runner trotted in from third, and promptly stepped right over home plate and went to the dugout. Everyone at the ballpark saw it, and of course, the runner was out on the appeal!

Saw an ending to a game this week that made me wonder what would happen in this senario: Home team is leading by 9 runs in the bottom on the fifth inning with runners on second and third. There are less than two outs. The batter singles to the outfield, scoring what appears to be the game ending run. Everyone else is caught up in the acton; however, and the third base coach sends the runner from second home, who is thrown out by the visiting team. The visiting team appeals the lead runner, claiming he missed home plate. The umpire calls him out. Question: What about the second runner who was thrown out? My first instinct was to say he should be returned to third, as the game ending run who apparantly scored "froze" everything, so his run or out would not have counted. But the more I think about it, if the lead runner missed home plate, the umpire would not call the game over due to the 10 run rule until the visiting team left the playing field, then an appeal could not be made. So I guess this would be an unusual double-play. Is this the right call?

I see that JB lost two close games to a pretty good Prestonsburg team on Saturday. Anyone have any stats or details on these games?

Wolfe County still has not been on their field yet, but has been outside every day this week. The ground is very wet, and they would damage the field to the point of effecting every home game if they practiced there, so patience is paying off, even if the players are getting a little antsy. Tomorrow looks good, but I still can't see the field being dry enough then; oh, well, maybe Friday!

Wolfe County hasn't been able to be on their field a single time, so far. Simply been far too wet. They have been outdoors probably a half dozen times. The pitchers and outfielders have been able to get some decent work in, but the infielders desperately need work, and the hitters need to see some live pitching. There is only so much you can do on an open field,(especially when even IT is too wet to work on!), and even less you can do in the gym, which, based on the weather reports is where I guess most everyone will be for the better part of next week.

Very well spoken! I agree 100 per cent.

The umpire cannot call a runner out for missing a base without an appeal from the opposing team. The appeal has to be both on the specific runner and the base he missed. In this instance, if first base had been appealed and it was the third out of the inning, no runs would have counted. No runs can score and the last out of an inning if it is a force out.

Im not sure, but I think there is a ruling that disallows any 'trick' plays used to deceive runners. I guesss it would be the umpires discrection to not allow any such plays to happen. Im not really sure, thats just what an umpire told me last year.

Yes, I think the "hidden ball trick" has been made illegal in Ky. high school baseball.

Of course, if the check swing was ruled a third strike, (and third out) it would be a moot point other than determining who would lead off the next inning for that team (and scoring puposes). I should amend my post by saying the runner would out regardless of whether the pitch was a ball or strike IF THERE WERE LESS THAN TWO OUTS.

Runner out, regardless of whether the pitch was a ball or strike. If the pitch was ball four, the runner at first would be allowed second base, but when he overslid the base, he is fair game and subject to being tagged out by the defense. The ball is not dead on a walk. Something interesting would be if the runner was running and MISSED the base on ball four! Of course, in that case the runner would be given second base on the base on balls, but it would be a strange play.

I also thought it was well played. Knott used three pitchers, all did a nice job. The Hall kid wore Wolfe out with the glove at third base. He is a very good player. Wolfe made some very nice plays with the glove also. Shawn Tyra and Brandon Campbell made diving catches in the outfield, and Dustin Drake looked very smooth at shortstop. Warren Oliver, who pitched a 5 inninng no-hitter last week, pitched a good game for Wolfe going six innings. Wolfe County was hit very hard by gradulation last season and is very inexperienced at most positions on the field. They are very young, but have improved their play every game so far this season.

If I recall correctly, she played 3rd base against us way back in the 20th century. Very quick and had a great glove over there!

Hey Prof, I almost forgot about that, played against her way back when, she was a heck of a ball-player! The Noble girl is a heck of a player herself. What amazes me besides her talent is her maturity. Plays like someone much older than a 7th grader!

I find it kind of strange that one of the reasons originally given for using metal bat as opposed to wood was to save money(too many broken wooden bats, I guess). Of course, science intervened as it has with other sports, such as golf and tennis, and suddenly, everyone has to have the newest bat with the most "pop", which not only is potentially dangerous, but also winds up costing MORE money for the baseball team. The 400-500 dollars spent on the newest ultra plasma or whatever they are calling it, would buy a whole bunch of wooden bats, and let the kid's natural talent determine who wins games, not who has the most money to spend for equipment. How about having science enhance our sports with this radical idea: make metal bats simulate wooden bats??? I'm sure the technology is there; it could make things safer for our kids, level the playing field somewhat, and save some money all in one fell swoop!

Breathitt jumped out to an early 11-1 lead. The Lady Wolves fought back, cutting to margin at one time to 4 points. The Ladycats used their size advantage well, and maintained basically a ten point lead most of the game. They scored the games final 7 to make it a 17 point victory, which I guess is a little misleading. The Noble girl for Breathitt had an outstanding game, finishing with 18 points. She also had a bunch of rebounds and steals, handles the ball well, and plays very intelligently. Not bad at all for a 7th grader! Good luck to both teams in the region.

Yeah, I understand that a certain coach is not in the least pleased that his field is not close to being ready to play on this year. I feel for him; been there, done that! The old field at Wolfe County is, to be honest, horrible. The "dirt" infield is a mixture of gravel and glass, making sliding both painful and dangerous. (Got a lot of bad memories" hitting the dirt" playing softball there.) During the early spring the infield was usually a mudhole, and late spring/early summer, when the weather was drier, the field became hard as a brick. The outfield was rutted with tire marks as the field was often used as a parking lot for horse shows. The outfielders had to be careful to not step in the ruts or risk turning an ankle. In addition, the fences were woefully short, 280 down the lines, and maybe 295 to center. It seemed the wind was always blowing out, especially to right field, so anything hit in the air had a chance of becoming a home run. Of course, there were no lights, scoreboard, very little seating or parking, and the concession stand, restrooms and dugouts were all terrible, to say the least! As bad as this field is, it was actully considered to be an upgrade over the old field we had when I played back in the 70's (Gosh, I hate showing my age!) I wont even go there unless someone wants to share some old (unpleasant) memories about that old place. The new field is ready (still has some work to do, but is certainly playable) and is very nice. The kids are chomping at the bit to begin our first full season on it.

Ah, the memories! As I recall, having played right field there a couple of times as a visitor, the library also was uphill from the rest of the field, near the road. In addition, it was very shallow, probably only about 250 feet from home, so the right fielder had to basically play on the back porch of the library. Any ball hit in front of you that you had to charge, running downhill and then having to suddenly stop created a lot of adventures for the right fielder!

"Where ever OJ goes they are contenders right out of the gate". The Cincinnati school that OJ attended is, year in and year out, one of the top HS programs in the country. Huntington High, WITHOUT OJ is as good as anyone. So I guess, as good as he is, if the coaches at these schools will simply get out of his way and keep him out of trouble (at least at Cincy, a hard job in itself) then I guess he would make a great program even better. Id like to see what he could do for a weak program, single handed. (And that does not count his stint at Rose Hill, that while he was indeed very young, brought an entire team of talent with him for WV every day to help out.