cooperstown

I honestly don't know if Forbes will be starting in LF or not. He's certain to be one of the leading candidates to do so. Baumann in CF and Clarkson in RF are locks. And Mason will definitely be on the field somewhere. Pretty certain Coach Roesel considers this one of his deepest teams in several years.

Not questioning you - I'm sure you're right, but this seems crazy to me. A strike - absolutely. Two strikes on one pitch? Silly.

So you're saying they loaded up with a bunch of cream puffs early on to pad their record? :lol2:

I am certain Mason will be starting somewhere. Got to have a stick like that in the lineup. Might see time at 1B, DH, and OF, as well as on the mound. Not quite as familiar with Crane. I won't say you're wrong about him starting last year in regionals, but I don't think he was. I know he's highly thought of by coaching staff.

I believe they altered their fee policy to make it a much better option for the teams using it. I'm guessing that has some to do with it. Personally, I absolutely love the place, though I just think a baseball field should have dirt on it somewhere.

Congrats to NCC and Mustangs! Pre-season polls don't mean a lot, but it's still cool nonetheless. I think as the season plays out, we'll see quite a few more teams from NKY added to this list.

Ryle sould have an outstanding outfield with Forbes, Baumann, and Clarkson and a host of other very good players who will see some time out there. The starting three will have a ton of speed and some very strong arms. As far as pitching goes, you'd have to give the nod the NCC with their two big arms returning.

Got it. Missed the part about not throwing the pitch. So if he doesn't throw, he gets an automatic strike, but if he does throw he gets whatever the pitch is?

Not sure it's an automatic strike. It is what it is - be it a ball or strike. Of course, the reality is that upon illegally stepping out of the box, the strike zone just became much, much larger.

He's there as well.

Nice, very clear explanations. I always explained the hand motion for a slider as that of opening a door knob. Definitely supination and puts a lot of strain on the arm/elbow, most certainly in younger age players.

Something about that little white ball always brings me back.

Yes, See, Sander, and Welch all part of the team. One of Ryle's deepest squads in several years.

Upcoming week of weather, save Monday, is absolutely horrible - lots of rain and highs in the 30's all the way through the weekend. :irked: Sure is an advantage for those teams that have access to a turf field, as it looks to be a while before anyone is getting on a real ballfield.

A Ryle player will not be cut until he has been evaluated for at least 3 practices.

The turnout at Ryle this year has been impressive. Easily the largest number of kids trying out in many years. Believe I counted somewhere around 70+ kids at the 8, 9, and 10th grades and around 35 more at the 11th and 12th grades. Have to believe this will translate into some very good teams with some depth.

Thanks! I'm sure I will. Enjoy seeing the improvements that place has undergone over the past few years and the Tigers normally put on a good show as well.

Ryle's actual playing surface plays about as well as anywhere. I very much disagree that it's always wet. We've mixed tons and tons of conditioner into the dirt over the past few years and it drains very nicely. However, I very much agree that the wind is always an issue there. I was told that Ryle is one of the highest points in the county, so just not much chance for the wind to get knocked down. The seating - ugh!!! Just no money in the budget to buy some more decent seating. Trust me, we've looked into it. A decent set of stands will easily run $10K. And also agree on the lack of decent concession setup. One day maybe these things can be fixed, but it's a slow process. The baseball program literally gets no money from the school, so not a lot of capital to do major projects.

Haven't been on the site in a bit, so I'll fire off a post that maybe will get someone worked up. Time for Ryle and CCH to actually do something come tournament time if they want to be ranked pre-season as anyone's regional favorite. Safe to say that year in and year out they have more than a fair amount of talent and are always extremely competitive, but they simply haven't gotten the job done post-season. They have - what? - one regional championship between them since 2006?? Almost hard to believe really. Speaks to the highly competitive environment in the 9th region. NCC is going to be one tough out this season with their returning pitching!

Ryle will be extremely deep this year. Not claiming they are loaded with one stud after another, but there will be a lot of very talented players on this squad. There are (give or take one or two) some 33 juniors/seniors competing for spots this year, which is a larger turnout than I've seen in quite a few years. I look for Hoard and Bellew to be the real deal this year on the mound and there will be a fair number of nice arms filling in behind. A pitcher that could offer some solid innings, but didn't throw last year, is Tyler Mason (lefty), who also happens to be a very solid hitter. All in all, though, I would agree that this is going to be a brutally competitive district this year, probably moreso than any recent year. Totally agree with Clyde that the district seeding games won't have quite as much meaning this year because (unless one of the four teams just doesn't pan out this year for some reason) #4 could very easily upset #1. It's going to be a fun year!

You struggle with verb conjugation.

UKFan#1 - your team was better. Your team won. You were right and others were wrong. So let's try to win with a little class, eh? Losing with class is tough for anyone. Winning with class shouldn't be all that hard.

No. Beating this current Ryle team does not validate your point. Beat Conner and Boone and it will have more value. If things do not improve vastly at Ryle, all you did tonight was beat a team that might end up with as little as 3 wins. Hoping very much that is not the case, but it was not a positive game to watch from a Ryle fan's viewpoint.

Ryle's offense is simply not good right now. If you put that little emphasis and work on a passing game, there is nothing there to draw on during times when you really need it. Certainly if you're blessed with a stud running back, which Ryle is currently not, you lean heavily on the run game. That makes sense. But Ryle simply doesn't have the type of running game that they can announce to the other team they intend to run the ball 90% of the time (or more) and get away with it. Beyond that, I guess I'm not sure why you would do so anyways if your intent is to go downstate and win a championship. I think it's been pretty well-established that you are not going to knock off either of the Louisville powers with a one-dimensional attack, be it running or passing. There simply needs to be some type of balance. I have to believe there are sufficient athletes at a school of 1600 students (Ryle) to have some type of meaningful passing game. Hard to say if they don't have the right people at certain skill positions or it's a problem with the overall schemes - maybe both - but they need to diversify and make an effort to establish some type of passing offense to help out what appears to be just an average running offense.

He's not a QB. No offense, as I'm sure he's a nice athlete, but hard to believe he's the best QB option at a school with 1600 students.