goallout25

The game finished a little before midnight. The heat index for this one was quite comfortable. It was warm but nothing near the heat of Monday, plus the breeze made it a great late afternoon at the ballpark and by the time the second game finished up, there was even a bit of a cool breeze under the lights. The final is tonight at 7pm.

As far as I'm aware, Vaughn threw 6 innings on Monday for Bourbon so he would be available to come back tonight after the obligatory 2 days rest. (3-5 innings - 1 calendar day; 6 innings - 2 calendar days; 7-9 innings - 3 calendar days). Mullins and Norman are both unavailable on the mound, but aside from that it looks like the rest of the staff would be available. On the Clark side, it would appear that everyone not named Withrow would be available on the hill for them. Should be a good one.

I agree. Three players on that team accounted for 71 of those HRs (Shon Walker - 29, state record; Dion Newby - 21; Brad Allison - 21). Interestingly enough, that team did not win the state tournament (Lafayette was the 1992 state champion).

Harrison County holds 4 of the top 5 single season team HR totals (1st - 105 in 1992, 3rd - 78 in 1997, tied-4th 63 in 1998 and 1993) with East Carter being the other team on the list (2nd - 89 in 1999).

Saw where Bourbon Co. and Clark Co. are suspended in the 6th inning until Saturday for the district championship (per KHSAA scoreboard). Any ideas on the score of this game at the time it got suspended?

This argument can rage on and on. The best teams in the region won't always make it simply because of how the districts are drawn up. At the end of the day if you want to win the regional tournament, which is the goal of a great majority of these teams, you have to beat quality teams. For some, the opportunity to beat those teams arises earlier (for those in the 33rd and 35th) than others (those in the 34th and 36th) and may even arise twice. Do teams get an unfair advantage at times because of how the districts play out? Sure. I guess when you look at it, the design of the regional tournaments isn't to have the best 8 teams (hardly possible) but to have the best two teams of each district play advance, which will then most likely lead to the best overall team winning the region. Doesn't always happen, but that is the design. Personally, I'd be in favor of having the district and region be comprised of 4 teams (seeding would be imperative as the #4-#5 game would serve simply as a play-in). Then you have a 4 team double elimination tournament in the district and only take the 4 district winners and play another 4 team double elimination tournament for the regional. At least then, you would find out who has the best overall team and not the best #1 pitcher. Obviously, weather concerns make this many games difficult, but that seems like a more ideal concept than letting runner-ups advance while still allowing for everyone to have an equal shot to compete.

Phenomenal baseball game. Exactly what you would expect a district championship to be. Great game. Great win for the Camels.

No clout, just thought it was interesting with all the other things that played out during the course of the game.

I don't disagree. That's just the reason I heard about why the games were flipped.

Scott-Silver Grove were slated to play the first game at 4pm with Calvary-Campbell Co. due to follow that one at 6pm. I believe Scott was unable make it to St. Mary's by 4pm (my guess would be due to transportation issues with the bus) so they agreed to flip the games.

For what it is worth, I thought the obstruction call was ruled incorrectly and should have been a no-call. As dd734 said, it appeared the runner saw the fielder in his path and ran into him hoping to get a call that he was ultimately (rightfully or not) awarded. From my vantage point, it appeared that the fielder was just attempting to get up after being on the ground after the throw and not obstructing the runner intentionally. But had it been a no-call, the runner would not have attempted to advance to third after the contact, so you'd have a runner on 2nd with 1 out with Rebholz, Kramer and Teegarden coming to the plate. I'd still like Campbell County's chances to score a run in that situation. I also believe (and from my vantage point) that the shortstop for Calvary made a great diving "short hop" pickup in the bottom of the 7th with 2 outs and the bases loaded. It didn't look like a catch from where I was seated. The effort on the play was incredible though by the SS. Still a good chance if it is a short hop, that he throws the runner out at first, but I just didn't see it as a catch. Great play nonetheless. It was easy strategy for Calvary to walk the bases loaded every time that they did and it worked out to perfection in the 7th and not so fortunate in the 8th. The HBP was a HBP. His feet never moved but his shoulders turned/"made an attempt" (all that is required by rule or interpretation of the rule) to get out of the way. My own personal take on that rule is this. If the batter is standing in the batter's box and a ball is pitched into the batter's box area. He shouldn't have to move. I know that isn't the rule, but I wish it was. The other interesting rulings were the two balks calls (both obvious balks admittedly from both teams) that resulted in hits on the pitch. Umpire calls a balk on the Calvary pitcher, who continues to throw the pitch and the Campbell County batter hits a check swing single to left. Umpire calls a balk on the Campbell County pitcher, who continues to throw the pitch and the Calvary batter hits a home run to left that would have made it 7-5, Calvary, in the 6th. High school rule says that a balk is a dead ball once called in both situations the runners move up one base and no pitch is recorded. Great opening round game for the district though. Hard fought on both sides. Errors were costly to both teams and they both fought to overcome them. Congrats to Campbell County and great job by Calvary.

Any idea how the other seeds play out in thie District?

Hard to make the assumption that the double play ball would have then been a single. Pitch way different with runners on 2nd and 3rd than with runners on 1st and 2nd, so to say that that same ball would have been hit in that same place is pure speculation. As for not bunting, Teegarden has been squaring the ball up like crazy lately and I'm sure the Campbell County coach went with his gut and decided to let him hit away in that situation to drive in a run. It simply didn't work out tonight and that's the risk you run when you roll the dice. For the record, Pujols would NEVER bunt in that situation, EVER.

Just my opinion from a scoring standpoint, but if Best was going to attempt the inside the park homerun regardless of whether or not you think the CF bobbled the ball, then wouldn't that still be an inside the park homerun? It was always my belief that you cannot assume a relay play would end in an out, so if he was going to go anyway, the fact that he made it would result in an inside the park homerun. For the record, I believe he would have made it regardless. It appeared that the hustle Best was showing around the bases did not match the hustle going after the ball once it got past the CF.

Yes.

They don't make too many men like Murph. He truly loved the game of baseball. I had the pleasure of both playing against him and coaching against him. I enjoyed the talks we had about the game. It was something that he was passionate about and he was always willing to offer an encouraging and uplifting word. He loved his family, the Mason County Royals and baseball. May God bless and watch over his family in their time of grief.

Catcher was told at a game I saw tonight that he was going to start "opening up the strike zone" after the 3rd inning. I have a problem with this statement for a couple of reasons. First, there is no need to mention this to anyone even if that is in fact what you are going to be doing. That, in and of itself, tells me that you are already not doing your job correctly. Second, as a hitter, how do you know what to swing at when you come back up to the plate? Don't you spend the first few hitters figuring out what the umpire will be calling a strike and what he will be calling a ball? That is part of being a great hitter - you are a student of the game. So if you are doing your homework and know the umpire's strike zone before you step up to the plate in your first AB (unless you are a lucky enough to be the leadoff guy), those same pitches that you were recognizing as balls early, you continue to take and now he calls them strikes. That could be a problem late in games when in fact the hitter was doing his job by observing those distinct parts of the game. As a coach, all we ever ask for from umpires (and this has been mentioned in this thread previously) is that he be consistent. I don't care if the pitch is 6 inches off the outside corner. If he calls it on my hitters and calls it on their hitters, then what is my job? It's to tell my hitters that they better be swinging at that pitch or else they will be rung up. And it's to tell my pitcher to throw to that spot because it will be called a strike. But to "open up your zone" or "shrink your zone" early and late in the game is absolutely asinine to me.

It is true that you can buy 3-4 wooden bats (if not more) for the price of a single metal bat. However, a single metal bat is going to allow you to make it through the entire season before that bat is retired, if not longer. With young kids learning to hit with wooden bats, they could go through a multitude of wooden bats therefore increasing the cost, especially when the inside fastball that they used to swing at with a metal bat and flare into the outfield for a hit now becomes nothing more than firewood. I'm all for wooden bats across the board (especially since they separate the men from the boys as far as true hitters go), but when you can buy 2-3 metal bats to serve as "team" bats for an entire season, there is likely going to be additional costs that someone is going to have to bear. That could mean less kids going out for the team because their parents can't afford to cover the cost of bats and which could also mean that some of the smaller schools may not have enough players. Does the school then have to pony up money for the extra costs or should that fall on the kids? Just throwing ideas out there. In the end though, the safety of pitchers and players outweighs all cost issues and that is something that I am sure will be considered by all making the decisions.

Lafayette has always been a nice field. Coach Langston and all of his staff does an excellent job with their facility and with their players. Great job Generals!

If it was going to be a ball anyway and therefore a walk with the bases loaded, then what is the big deal about awarding a "free" run?

Does this mean that the coaches will actually have to be in the coach's box to start? Since we all know that the first and third base coaches rarely stand in them. And what happens if a field has no coaches boxes marked on the field?

That little number 3 next to Elder's name obviously means that a lot of people around the country think that they are pretty good. I'd say they are the best team in this area without much debate. This game is relatively close because it is a rivalry game and it's Colerain. It's pretty much always a competitive game.

Bunning graduated from St. X in Cincy.

Just so you are aware, even the top draft picks spend time in "rookie ball in the middle of nowhere." But I do agree that it MAY not be for 2 or 3 years and playing SEC ball is a going to be just as competitive, if not, more so.

This, I believe, is the key. Competing against the best teams is one thing for confidence, but getting blown out by the best teams, in my opinion, can be detrimental to confidence.