cooperstown

As expected, an absolutely thrilling championship game between the Raiders and Tigers. Both teams played their hearts out and displayed some excellent baseball. These are two very good and very evenly matched teams. If they played 10 times, there's a good chance they'd split 5 and 5. This game just happened to be one of Ryle's 5. Neither one of these teams would ever run-rule the other - too much solid pitching and defense for that to happen. Any claim otherwise is silly. As for the game, Ryle went up early 4-0 and looked to be in control, but Beechwood stormed back in the 4th with 4 runs of their own. Both starting pitchers (Ziegelmeyer for Ryle and Hyde for Beechwood) pitched solidly, but the fact of the matter is both these teams can also hit and they each gave up a few hits and earned runs. But overall, they both did their job and kept their team in the game. The teams exchanged zeros in the 5th and 6th innings and Ryle blanked Beechwood in the top of the 7th. Lonnemann in relief for Ryle was lights out, as he's pretty much been all year. (For the season, Lonnemann had 32K's and 1 walk - absolutely unheard of at this level). The bottom of the 7th was set for some big-time drama. Ryle's first hitter was retired and the second hitter (Ast) walked on what was admittedly a close ball four. Dorne, Ryle's fastest player, pinch ran for Ast. Ziegelmeyer had a long at-bat against Beechwood's reliever, fouling off numerous pitches, before eventually scorching a shot off the left field fence. Dorne made it all the way around and scored. There was a play at the plate, but it was not really close. Ryle walks off with a repeat championship, while Beechwood is left knowing they are an excellent club and definitely championship-caliber themselves. The fans saw some first-rate baseball in this one. Congrats to Ryle Head JV Coach Jim Demler, who snagged his 6th regional championship and and 4th in the past 7 years. Ryle's 2013 team was also his 8th straight team with 20 or more wins. They actually tied the JV school record with 26 wins (26-6 overall record). The man knows how to coach - and frankly, can still pitch with just about anyone half his age! He is, however, an extremely lucky hitter. :sssh: Any 3-run HR he is alleged to have hit off his assistant coach in an intersquad game was pure, unadulterated, blind luck. :lol2:

While Ziegelmeyer may not have been the sharpest he's been all season, he still pitched very well and did so on less than his normal rest between starts. He was victimized by a couple of fielding miscues by the Raiders' defense. Ultimately, both he and the Beechwood starter did a nice job in a very tense and tight championship game. Maybe not a "pitching duel", but not sure saying they were "roughed up" is necessarily accurate either. Ziegelmeyer, a freshman, had nothing short of a stellar pitching season this year. He was also the one who hit the walk-off rope (and it was an absolute rope!) to end the game. His JV career is over and he will go on to great things his next three years for Ryle baseball. Congrats Zig!

Not much tougher, but I'm guessing they consider their recent 1-0 loss to Ryle a pretty tough game. :sssh:

Didn't exactly turn out to be a run-rule win against Scott and they will not run-rule Ryle tonight.

Actually, Freedom's field is open on Sunday and Clint Brown has offered to let it be used for the championship if needed, however, waivers would need to be gotten from both KHSSA to play past Saturday and from Boone County Superintendent for Ryle to play on Sunday. My guess is the second waiver will be the more difficult to secure. :ohbrother:

Ryle beats Conner in the West semi-final by a score of 17-3. Tough game to end the season for Conner, who is about 100x better than what they showed today. Conner had a ton of errors and walks today that allowed the Raiders to run away with this one. Congrats to the Cougars and Coach Aylor on a fine season. And big time congrats to the Raiders, who have pushed their season record to 25-6 and advanced to the championship game agaisnt Beechwood tonight at Dixie at 7:00 (weather permitting).

So it's wrong to play games after church? And isn't there a separation of church and state issue that applies here? Boone County schools prevent their kids from playing sports on Sunday because they have decreed that church comes first? (It does, btw - no issue there - but public schools should not be dictating such). I guess Kenton County isn't nearly as religious since their teams can make use of Sundays. I understand not scheduling events regularly on Sunday, but I believe there needs to be exceptions that allow teams to play during special situations - tournaments, when bad weather has forced no other options, etc... Games can always be started after 1:00 p.m. to give familes time to attend church.

Ryle has won 6 straight and 11 of last 12 and is clicking on all cylinders. They have a ton of pitching available for tonight's game. Not surprisingly, I will go with the Raiders in this one. I most certainly do not expect Beechwood to run-rule Ryle as predicted a few days ago by another poster. :sssh:

Sounds like a great game. So much for Beechwood run-ruling Scott as predicted by a poster in another thread. :sssh:

I am told that under KHSAA rules the high school regular season officially ends Satruday night because there are some districts that will start district playoff on Sunday. There can be no games, other than district playoffs games, as of Sunday without a waiver from KHSAA. Don't ask me why it should affect JV games - I don't have a clue and don't agree with it. Something I did learn tonight that I found interesting is that NKY is one of the very few - perhaps the only - area in the state that even holds an end-of-season JV Regional tourney. Even if they were to get a waiver from KHSAA to play on Sunday, the Conner/Ryle winner will have an issue because, barring some special blessing from the Superintendent , Boone County schools cannot play any games on Sunday (in any sport). Now all these kids play on summer teams in various sports (basketball, baseball, soccer, volleyball, softball, etc......) that play on Sundays and Kenton County doesn't have an issue with their school teams playing on Sundays, but it's a big, bad, evil no-no in Boone County. Makes zero sense.

Just as well - Ryle was going to run-rule them. (totally joking. Gotta have fun once in a while. :lol2:)

I'm sure he knows that. I think Coop forgot to add the smiley face icon in his response. :thumb:

If games aren't played tomorrow, it's over. Exactly why they need to schedule in such a manner it leaves some type of backup dates and not schedule the finals to be on the last possible date at 7:00 p.m.

Cold.

Saturday's weather looks dicey at best. Scattered thunderstorms throughout the day. I don't understand why they would schedule the tourney in such a manner that it leaves no room for a backup date. The tourney final is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Dixie tomorrow. It gets rained out and it's over. Don't schedule off days during the week and plan to end this thing on Thursday or Friday night so that at least you have a possible out in the event of bad weather. Am I missing something here?

Without special dispensation fro KHSAA (which isn't going to happen), the tournament must be completed Saturday. Not only would KHSAA need to approve games on Sunday, but Boone County Superintendent would also have to approve one of the Boone County teams (Conner or Ryle) playing on Sunday (which won't happpen either). Best bet is to hope for good weather on Saturday - currently a dicey propostition.

Ryle v. Conner postponed until tomorrow at noon at Ryle. Let's hope we get this tournament in. Has to be finished tomorrow. No games permitted on Sunday.

They are going to run-rule a team that just beat them 1-0 a week ago? And while Ryle had a very, very good pitcher on the hill that day, he was not even Ryle's #1 overall pitcher. Beechwood, while no doubt a very good team, will not run-rule Ryle (should that matchup occur). But thanks for the corkboard fodder to get the Raiders fired up. :thumb:

No, that was Tyler Smith, another kid who has had a stellar season pitching this year.

Ryle defeats Boone County by score of 11-6. Will play winner of Conner/Dixie on Friday night at Ryle at 5:00.

Ryle JV is 22-6. But no sense quibbling over one win. :lol2:

Cooper v. Ryle game (assuming Cooper defeats Villa) will be played on Monday, May 13th at 4:30 at Florence Freedom.

Ryle game to be held at Ryle on Friday.

Unless there has been some last-minute change, this is correct, as it matches the handout of the draw that took place at NCC last week.

Hitting wasn't all that common for Ryle either. :lol2: Just three hits for Ryle as well, but two come in 1st inning with big one being RBI single by Craven. Great performance by both pitchers - Smith has been lights out for Ryle all season.