goallout25

I too have seen players with gloves that have a red label on a black glove and the coach has just made them color it in with a black marker to eliminate the problem. I'm not sure that many people are aware of this rule and it seems that umpires (especially in the postseason) like to nitpick the rules a bit more for some reason. I don't see why a color is a problem unless it is white or grey but if it is in the rules it is the rule and I agree should be called all season long.

This rule would make no sense to me just for the simple fact that if the catcher is up the line, a runner is able to run through him, but if he is at the plate then there must be a slide. So does not allowing hurdling protect the safety of the players? If that was the case, then the runner should not be able to run through a catcher who has the ball away from the plate area and up the line. I personally think that if a catcher is going down to make a tag on a player then the runner should be able to hurdle the catcher to get to the plate. But that is just my personal opinion.

Bad calls occur all the time. And sometimes it takes the mentally strong teams to be able to overcome those and just focus on getting the next hitter because the call is not going to change. This applies for big school vs. big school, small school v. small school, or big school v. small school. You have to put the calls behind you.

My opinion would be that if the catcher is up the line and the runner leaps the catcher to avoid the tag and/or contact with the catcher, then he should be called safe. As long as he is not tagged.

There were two plays at the plate in separate innings. The one where he was crouching at the plate the runner slid in and was visibly out. On the play where the runner leapt over the catcher, the tag looked a little more questionable.

Coach Myerhoff shared the opinion that the runner was not tagged and was safe because he was heading towards the umpire at the end of the inning only to be drug by his shirt sleeve by an assistant coach back to the dugout.

I think his last name was Miller.

Ludlow never seemed to recover from this. The missed call at second only cost Ludlow 1 run, I believe and at that point it was pretty apparent that they were not going to touch Weis.

Seemed like this was Coach Myerhoff once again attempting to make things happen and try to steal a run or two! Unfortunately, Newport was awake for those both times.

I thought that the pitcher for Newport did a good job for most of the game. If I understand, he is a young pitcher who pitching in his first regional game at Champion Window Field against last year's state runner-up (albeit an entirely new look runner-up) did a great job of keeping his composure and seemed to keep Beechwood from making solid contact aside from the back-to-back triples to lead off the game. If he keeps working on his game, he has the potential to develop into a pretty nice pitcher over the next few years.

Those are the kinds of things that will drive a coach up the wall. Luckily for Dixie (and that player!) they were able to regroup and push a run across in the bottom of the 8th!

Allen stays in and the Dixie outfielder catches that fly ball, we are likely looking at a scoreless game through 9 innings. (isn't that when the starters have to come out of the game?) Allen and Nichols looked virtually unhittable tonight.

Those pitches were very very VERY close. I'm not sure how you lay off them, but the call seemed to fall the way of the Colonels tonight. Big calls however because that would have been out #2. Instead a run scored and the second crossed the plate on a sac fly that would have been the third out of the inning had those pitches gone the other way.

Agreed. The walks just seemed to put the pressure on Ludlow to make plays and force the issue and some of the balls that snuck through were when Ludlow had the infield up in an attempt to keep the game from getting out of hand.

After the rain delay, I thought that Newport came out flat and the two runs that Beechwood scored right away seemed to kill what little energy they may have had. Key moment in the game was when Newport had bases loaded and no outs (not sure the inning or the score) but the Newport hitter hit a line drive that the short stop made a nice leaping catch on and doubled the runner off second. They got out of the inning with no runs scoring and seemed to cruise to the victory from there. Had that ball been a little higher the game could have been a little more interesting. But it wasn't and congrats to the Tigers on advancing!

Very solid performance by the Cov Cath defense. I will second the opinion that anything hit into the Cov Cath outfield tonight found a glove no matter where it was hit. Those guys can definitely cover some ground!

Weis was very impressive today with the 9 strikeouts in 5 innings. His breaking ball today was virtually unhittable. Seemed like Ludlow just walked too many hitters today and didn't make some plays they needed to in the field. When they didn't, Ryle capitalized by getting the clutch hits.

I also thought that this was the best game of the day. Nichols was better than even I could have tried to advertise him after seeing him pitch in the regular season. He pitched an absolute gem! I didn't find the game to be that sloppy with the exception of the dropped fly ball in the outfield and an errant pick off attempt. I believe that these were the only errors of the game. All of the pitchers were on their game today and it took a chopper up the middle to win it for Dixie. Fantastic baseball game to watch as a fan. Of course I've always been a big fan of the pitchers' duels because it makes every single play matter. Congrats to Dixie on the win and to Highlands on a good season!

Sorry meant Dixie. Not Beechwood.

I do not have the opinion that Dixie is a regional "contender". I do however believe that they have the ability to win a game with Nichols on the mound. Given the field and the district winners that Highlands could have drawn in Ryle, Beechwood, or Cov Cath, I agree that they got the best draw that they could have gotten. I was just expressing the opinion that it still isn't an "easy" draw, even if they are from the 34th district (which I too agree is the worst of the four area districts), because on any given day, especially with a team's ace going, anyone can beat someone else. Highlands, of all teams, should know this.

However, when it is all said and done, a district champion is still a district champion no matter who you play and no matter what your record says!

I believe that Beechwood takes the win over Newport with not too much effort. Elliot may throw a few innings but that may serve beneficial to get his feet wet for this years regional and the second round game. I do believe that Ryle has the pitching depth and offense to withstand Ludlow who may be able to keep it close if they can play solid defense. The only way Ludlow can win is if York is VERY good and it is a low scoring game. I like Ryle. I'm going to take Dixie over Highlands. I believe the emotional lift of scoring 6times in the bottom of the 7th to win the district will carry over for one more game, especially with Nichols on the mound. If Highlands does not throw Allen and Dixie gets on the board early it could be an early exit for the Blue Birds. I think that a Bleser-Krohman first round game has the pregame hype to be a low scoring game between Cov Cath and Boon just like the Cov Cath and HC district game did with Bleser-Ryan. I think the lineup of Cov Cath will be enough for them to get the big hits and make it out of the first round. Does anyone know how often it occurs that all district winners advance in the first round in the 9th region? I know it didn't happen last year.

I was at the game and feel as though Hammonds was losing it on the mound as well. While a few of the runs he gave up were unearned, he did look like he was losing his gas in the 6th inning, which most likely prompted the pitching change because he wanted a fresh arm to close out the last inning and you cannot anticipate the walks, especially up 5 runs. Personally, I think that with York on the mound that Ludlow can be dangerous and people should watch out for them anyway. Not saying they will win but that they could make things interesting. As for Dixie, with Nichols on the mound I believe that they can be dangerous as well and may have a bit better lineup to support him. However, I'm not sure what their pitching depth aside from him is. Again, not sure how far they can make a run but definitely could give someone a scare.

I agree with you as well. I would definitely have him hitting up in the front of the order based on what I've seen and what I know of him. I can only guess or hope that would be the thinking of the coach.

I agree. When I saw them play, he hit in the 9 hole and had a triple, double and single. Seemed like he was wasted in the bottom of the lineup though because no one was able to get on in front of him. However, it is always good to have a solid 9 hitter to turn the lineup over.