americanman

Good point. I don't know why he would want to or why Williamsburg would want him to umpire or referee any of their games. It would seem like that is just sitting up a situation for problems to occur. Anyway, IMO he called a bad 1st. game but you can't really put the loss completely on his shoulders. If Williamsburg had hit the ball better they wouldn't have been in the situation where his calls would have made a huge difference.

He was fine in the 2nd. game but then again there weren't any close calls in the 2nd. game either. I agree with Football Fan. For the umpires sake more than anyone else's he should not be calling Corbins games. He went to school in Corbin, graduated from Corbin, lives in Corbin, and probably works somewhere in Corbin. There are enough umpires in this area that someone else could easily take his place. He could have called the Whitley/South Laurel game. I heard some parents commenting that there had been issus with him when he called a basketball game at home for Williamsburg. It seems like he doesn't have much luck with the Williamsburg fans.

In a game as close as the 1st. one was, those 2 calls made a big difference in the outcome. The only reason Corbin wasn't whining is because they won.

Yes, he is. Especially considering his age. I think that by next year he will be one of the dominate pitchers in the region. My only worry is that next year, after Barton, Williamsburgs pitching goes way down.

The umpire in the field made a horrible call on 3rd. Williamsburgs baserunner had slid into the base when Corbins 3rd. baseman received the ball, bent down, and made the tag. The kid was on the base before the 3rd. baseman even had the ball. The field umpire made the call instead of the home plate umpire who had a much better vantage point. The coach, who was standing right on top of the play, disagreed with the call and was ejected from the game. As did a 2nd. coach from Williamsburg and a parent who were both ejected from the game also. The coaches were allowed to return for the 2nd. game but the parent had to watch the game from the outfield fence. By the way, Williamsburg won the 2nd. game 7-0 with Barton on the mound. Both Barton & Shelley pitched great games as did the pitchers from Corbin. It looks like the District could be wide open to whichever team shows up to play.

Does anyone know when the tournament will be played? The district tournament is May 19-22 at South Laurel.

Does anyone know when and where the 13th. Regional Tournament will be played this year?

Williamsburg and Corbin play a district doubleheader tonight at Corbin. Any thoughts?

South Laurel won the first game 5-3 in 10 innings. Williamsburg won the second game 3-1. Shelley and Barton were on the mound for the Jackets.

Williamsburg hosts South tonight a home. Any thoughts on the game? Rumor has it that 8th. grader Jared Barton hit the ball out of the park in last nights practice.

Williamsburg has some nice individual talent. Pettit, Cunningham, Teague, and Taylor should give Coach Robinson a good base to work with. I think that his resistance to looking at the whole picture will hinder Coach Robinson in his quest to have a successful season. Until he drills it into his players heads the importance of playing as a team, and takes the steps necessary to make sure this happens, I am afraid that Williamsburg will see no more wins this season than the last. Poor shot selection, not passing the ball enough, and selfish play cost the Jackets more than one game. I watched the Jackets throw away the lead in several balls games when all they had to do was protect the ball and let the clock run down but instead poor shots were taken & missed allowing the other team to recover the ball, score, and win the game. There was more importance placed on individual stats than on overall team performance. It may seem that I have a problem with certain players but that is not the case. What I have a problem with is when the same mistakes are repeated time and time again and no attempt is made to correct them. Coach Robinson needs to realize that he has a responsibility to the whole team not just one or two players. If you take a look at the teams in this area that have had success, let’s take Corbin for example, when Madison Johnson was guarded heavily in a game and unable to get off his shots he passed the ball to an open teammate instead of throwing up a shot on a wing and a prayer. Coach also needs to look at developing some of his younger talent. My advice to the Jackets would be to get the team into the gym over the summer and work on passing the ball, looking for the open shots, and aggressive rebounding.

Nice athlete and a nice kid. He suprisingly doesn't have an attitude like some of the better athletes can get.

Barton pitched several innings last night. IMO the kid done pretty good. I'm sure that someone will correct me if I get the facts wrong but Barton started the 2nd. game and pitched until the 5th. inning. The Jackets were ahead 6-2 at that time. Conlin came in to relieve Barton and the Colonels scored 5 runs in the 5th. and 1 in the 6th giving them an 8-6 lead. Conlin pitched well but the Colonels had already seen him once last night because he was sent in to relieve Shelley in the 1st. game. I don't fully understand why the change was made because the Colonels had not hit Barton that well. Nerves seemed to be a big factor with the Jackets in the 1st. game. Base running errors cost them greatly.

Whitley wins doubleheader at home. 1st. game Whitley 2, Williamsburg 0. Surprising outcome.

That is where a parents responsibility comes into play. I know how many innings my son pitches and how many pitches that he has thrown. If he is close to his limit or goes over by a few he does not pitch anymore until his arm has had time to rest. The wellfare of the player should always come first to coaches and if it doesn't then as a parent it is your job to step in.

I considered that possibility but Shelley only went 5 innings on Monday and although he threw alot of pitches I was told that he has thrown previously with only a couple of days rest. He hadn't pitched for several days prior to Mondays game and only went 5 innings then. I know that we can only guess what the coaching strategy was against Cumberland and there's a possibility that Williamsburg would have lost regardless, it's just frustrating and a bit sad for the seniors on the team to miss out on another trip to Applebees when throwing Shelley or Barton might have made the diffference the game. Nothing against Lynn Camp or Barbourville but I think that Cumberland is a stronger team and the coaches might have been able to get by with pitching Teague or Moses Friday night.

Williamsburg defeated Middlesboro Monday night 8-7. The game went 10 innings and began over an 1 1/2hr. late due to the fact that the umpires went to Middlesboro instead of Williamsburg and had to make the trip back to Williamsburg. The game ended a little after 11:00. Williamsburg played Harlan in Harlan on Tuesday night and defeated the Green Dragons 11-5. The game against Cumberland was their 3rd. The team was tired but that was not the reason they lost this game. Williamsburg pitched 2 pitchers that although are good, solid players did not have any experience this year pitching from the mound. I do not understand why, with the 2 starting pitchers available to pitch, the coaching staff choose who they did to pitch this game. I think that the game would have had a much different outcome had different pitchers been used.

I heard that one of Williamsburg's starting pitchers this year is an 8th. grader and that he also starts in the field when he is not pitching. It is not because of small numbers because Williamsburg has upperclassmen on the bench. The kid is just good. Do any other schools play 8th. graders on varsity?

What challenges are you referring to? As far as I know everything seems to going well for the Jackets and Coach Stricklin.

Yes, Shelley and Comparoni both hit well against Harlan. Sorry that I left them out earlier. They both played well defensively also.

The Yellow Jackets move on in the All A Tournament with a solid win over the Harlan Green Dragons last night. Pitcher Brandon Conlin went all 7 innings. The Jacket bats were hot with hits from Hurst, Moses, Teague, Barton, and R. Moses. Williamsburg will be back in action Thursday night against Cumberland.

Williamsburg advances in the All "A" Tournament. The Yellow Jackets take on Harlan tonight at 5:30 in Harlan. Good Luck Jackets!

Every year someone gets ousted in the District. That doesn't mean that Williamsburg never achieves anything. They have gone to Applebee's Park 2 years in a row in the All A. That means that for 2 years in a row they have been in the top 8 in the state in All A play.

I have to commend the coaches for recognizing young talent and cultivating it. The Jackets starting pitcher, J.T. Shelly, will graduate this year and the coaches need to look ahead to next year. If you concentrate only on the seniors on the team what happens next season? Coaches need to keep in mind the players that will be returning next year in order to keep their programs competitive.

Eighth grader Jared Barton turned in a good performance on the mound for the Jackets. Mark Comparoni's bat was hot with several solid hits and one out of the park homerun. Williamsburg played good defense and hit the ball well. A few bad throws showed up here and there but these should go away as early season jitters settle down. So far, the Jackets are looking good. The infield works well together and communicates with each other.