cooperstown

Are you assuming there's no way your boys could be playing in that game? You should leave it to other people to count you out. :lol:

Guessing they would try to put them on 2 1/2 hour increments, which of course, never seem to work out. So maybe 12:00/2:30/5:00/7:30? Still kind of late to be starting that last game.

Cov Cath didn't get a bad deal either. Easy first round draw and then face the winner of two teams that are also not deep pitching-wise. I see a CCH-Boone finals matchup and, if so, would go with Boone because they are a better hitting team.

I am not quite as impressed with Dixie as are you. I would have them the clearcut 4th #1 seed. Outside of their 9-0 loss to Boone a week ago, NCC finished the season fairly strong, including some quality wins over Ryle, PRP, and Harrison County and also played Jeffersontown tough (12-7 loss).

Neither Conner or Beechwood would be a very appealing first round matchup when the alternative is Newport or St. Henry.

Well then, lucky for you, since there's now no way you could see them in the first round given you are both #2's. No, you'll have the good fortune to match up with either Boone, NCC, or Dixie - all far more palatable opponents than Newport. :lol: Newport is 7-15 without a single quality win (beat Dayton 2x, Villa, HHS, St. H, Bellevue 2x). Guarantee there isn't a single #1 out there hoping to draw Newport or St. Henry over you or Conner . . . .

That's outstanding.

All the more reason to classify. If you're trying to protect Silver Grove, the only way to do so is to classify and put them in the smallest class you offer to allow them to play schools closest to their size. If Silver Grove still can't compete in whatever your smallest class is, that's a shame, but it's the best available option out there for them. You simply won't find a system that allows for every single school to be placed in a competitive environment for them because there are some schools - both large and small - that just don't have and never will have quality baseball programs. The fairest thing to do is lump together the schools based on their enrollment size.

Perhaps KHSAA will never consider the change unless enough people start talking about it/giving it some thought. :sssh:

To me, the difference is that with an obviously weaker opponent you have the option to either throw #2 or throw #1 and hopefully get him out after an inning or two if your team can put up a quick lead. If you face one of the strong teams in round one, you have to start your ace and unless you're lucky enough to open up a huge lead, you stick with him all the way through. Maybe it's just personal for me regarding the choice of throwing/hold back ace in a tourney game in anticipation of the next round games. I got caught once or twice saving my better pitching looking down the road at the next round and was then left trying to explain to parents/other coaches why my top pitchers were sitting on the bench when we got eliminated. So I just take the position that you can't win a game you're not playing in. You may not have your best to pitch, but anything can happen in baseball and sometimes the slower, junkball pitchers can really screw up a good-hitting team anyways.

Just out of curiousity, how many PA's and how many strike outs?

Tough call. You lose this game and you will face either NCC/Boone/Dixie in the first round. Any of those opponents will be very, very tough. You beat CCH and you have a 2 out of 3 chance to face a weaker team (St. Henry/Newport). If this game was played today, I can certainly see value in throwing Bertke a couple of innings (hopefully keep pitch count down) and still retaining the option to bring him back on Monday. If this game doesn't get played until Saturday, it becomes a much riskier opinion. Probably why high school coaches get paid so much money . . . .

Guess that depends on the specifics of the game - inning, score, where at in lineup, etc.... That's always the big question in these games - throw the best you have to ensure you live to play another day or hold someone back to improve your chances in the next game and risk getting knocked out with this pitcher on the pine. Need to have situations like this so we all have something to debate on BGP . . . .

I'm sure you would know better than I. How deep do you consider Boone's staff to be? What are the names in order beyond Teegarden and Laumann. I know (think) Brodsky is #3, but I'm just not personally overwhelmed with him. Pretty big dropoff from #2, whoever that is (Teegarden or Laumann). I don't think any team is particularly strong hitting-wise, so I would agree that Boone is as good as anyone on an average day. Boone will be a tough out. Biggest concern is if they draw the #2 from the 35th. Not that they can't beat them, but it'll be a test.

Correct. The #1 cannot play the #2 from their own district.

Who have they surprised this year? What would you consider to be their signature win? Who is a tough team that they've stayed close to this season (maybe 5-0 loss to Beechwood?)? What have they done recently that gives you the impression they are "starting to put it all together"?

36th District: HHS: 6-29; one "quality" win (Boone) Dayton: 6-16; 0 quality wins Newport: 7-14; 0 quality wins Bellevue: 11-16; 0 quality wins Total: 105 games played - one quality win 34th District: Villa: 2-27; 0 quality wins Lloyd: 14-14; one quality win (Dixie) Ludlow: 6-10; 0 quality wins St. Henry: 8-14; two quality wins (Campbell, CCH) Total: 87 games played - 3 quality wins So, yes, allowing these teams to play amongst each other for a spot at regional is tantamount to a "free pass." I'm not talking about an underdog team that pulls off the big upset to advance. That happens on occasion and when it does, it's great. The teams from these districts aren't "upsetting" anyone. They're simply beating another very weak team and allowed to advance to a tournament of the "best" teams by virtue of their unbalanced district. The "beat the best" mantra is naive and overly simplistic when it comes to a one-and-out baseball tournament. Baseball, probably moreso than any other sport, can be dominated by a single player (pitcher). There isn't a ton of top quality pitching around these parts, so when a team is afforded the opportunity to save better pitching because they benefit from facing a much weaker opponent in the first round than another teams, it skews the advantages and has a potentially huge affect on later round games. I said I wasn't going to go down this road. You baited me. So I'll end it on this: CCH is best positioned to handle a tough draw if they do not get either Newport or St. Henry by virture of their deep pitching staff.

CCH may have the most pitching depth, but I don't know that depth will play a huge role with the way the schedule is set up. I'll take BC's and NCC's top 2 starters over anyone else.

33rd - #1 Boone, #2 Conner 34th - St. Henry, Dixie/Ludlow winner (finals seeds TBD) 35th - CCH, Beechwood (final seeds TBD) 36th - NCC, Newport (final seeds TBD)

The draw is usually on Sunday morning. Yes, there will be four games at the Freedom on Monday, semis on Wednesday night, finals on Friday night. Monday's pitchers will be able to come back on Friday. Pitching rules are: If a pitcher pitches 3 to 5 innings in one (1) day - one (1) calendar day of rest beginning with the following day. If a pitcher pitches in 6 innings - two (2) calendar days of rest beginning with the following day. If a pitcher pitches in seven (7) or more innings in one day, pitcher shall have three (3) calendar days of rest.

Great post. Very insightful.

Unfortunately, it is that very foundation - one that includes a rule that every other school in NKY baseball program has (play ball on Spring Break or don't play at all) - that apparently prevents some of the top athletes at HHS from participating and taking/keeping HHS baseball to the next level. You can do all the right things and coach better than anyone in the state, but you ultimately have to have enough quality baseball players to compete at the same high level as some of the other programs in the area.

Bronx - good post. Bird - silly response to bring up football.

Will this make Bertke eligible?

Classify. Honestly, I didn't start this thread to criticize in inequality of the districts in the 9th region or debate the merits of class seeding. Allowing one of St. Henry/Ludlow/Lloyd and Dayton/Bellevue/Newort/HHS a free pass to the region is unfortunate and I'll never be convinced otherwise. The ultimate ramifications of this inequality will be seen in regional tournament play when someone is lucky enough to draw one of these teams in the first round. Great topic for another thread IMO. I allowed myself to go down this path in response to the "only the best survive" comment, which is a bit simplistic IMO. I really just wanted to talk about the teams that are in the tournament. Ryle is not one of them, so no need for me to talk about them. I really like NCC. I also like either of the teams in the 35th (CCH, Beechwood). I think their district championship game will be a war. The truth is the I always seem to want to not give Beechwood the credit they deserve, but ultimately end up writing how I should not have overlooked them. I should just save some of my past posts and re-copy them to save time. Boone is very interesting with Teegarden and Laumann on mound. The draw will be HUGE.