turnin two

Lipscomb has 3 top level starters. I imagine Holt (RHP) will start the game Monday. They hit the ball fairly well throughout their lineup & have good speed on the basepaths. They dont have alot of power hitters but have at least 4 or 5 who can hit it out at the any moment. They are very young in the infield and at catcher (4 sophs start in the 5 positions) and that tells on them occasionally. Ezell appears to be a team that has gotten hot in the last 3 or 4 weeks. They hit the ball ALOT better in the front end of their order. Not as consistent as Lipscomb in that case. Their best pitcher is #12 (RHP). After that, most are offspeed pitchers. Ezell doesnt have the depth that Lipscomb has but on a given day, they are the type team you leave the park wondering "how did we just lose".

TSSAA.org has the schedules for Regions. Many of the teams are still TBD but you can pencil in who goes where after today's final Districts are determined.

No reason, whatsoever, for Overton to pitch Johnson vs Antioch. Antioch is very, very bad. They just happen to be second best in a horrible district. Overton will win in a run rule game easily. Pitch Brian Moore, win in 5 innings and let Johnson have another day rest.

Delmonico at UT was the first I ever saw do this when he'd bring Todd Helton off first base to pitch. I never saw an umpire stop it at the college level and I've seen it numerous times throughout the country since. If it doesnt delay the game, (coaches are allow two visits per inning and total of 3 per game before having to change pitchers) I dont see any problem with it. Some kids need a couple extra throws to get loose. Otherwise, do away with bullpens.

Obviously Brentwood didnt have enough pitching to get out of the losers bracket. FRankly I thought they would beat Ravenwood, but I knew winning 3 games would be tough for any team. Few HS teams have enough pitching to play 5 games (what Brentwood would have to play just to get the the championship game) in that few of days.

I dont think none of the losers have enough pitching to beat Overton or Franklin twice so I will say Overton vs Franklin for the championship and I will predict Franklin will win.

I have had sons who have played in both AAA and AA. I have seen both very closely. There is no comparison between the DEPTH of pitching in the two levels. AAA is much tougher, night in and night out, than AA. My son's AAA district of 7 teams during his senior yr had 18 kids who went on to pitch at a college level. My other son's very good AA team probably saw no more than 5 pitchers who went on to pitch at college. That said, it doesnt mean that AA and A dont have outstanding pitchers because they do, but the 2s and 3s usually arent as good at AA and A levels.

Power starts at the feet. "Squash the bug" with the back foot. Teach them to get on the ball of their foot when they turn on the back foot. Back knee should bend at behind the front knee and front leg should be straight on impact. Take the knob of the bat to the plane of the ball. Keep barrel up. Keep hands inside the ball. Never, ever teach "hit it out front" unless its an inside pitch. Getting hands out too fast will result in numerous strikeouts later on when changeups and breaking pitches become the norm.

Agree, like how many Mock Draft stories do we need to read for crying out loud? Here in Nashville, the City Paper started doing more HS sports but they have now regressed to more Titans, Preds, Vandy and other colleges. They do have a nice story today about the Franklin/Overton game last night but that is one of the few stories this week involving HS sports. The Tennessean has started the corner page summary every day about HS this year and that is a big improvement. They need to do alittle more.

If this is all Ward Gossett has to worry about, then life must be real good. Teams dont play in tournaments unless they want to. If coaches what to play all those games and burn up pitching this late in the HS season, let them go. I think tournaments early in the year are good, but playing so many games (5 or 6 in 3 days) can be tough this time of the year with districts coming up.

Headley pitched the first 5 or 6 innings for Franklin and Grude came in and finished..

BOC caved in to the football coaches. The "dead period" beginning JUly 30 to Mid August is interesting. Just so happens to coincide with football preseason camp. Fall baseball does offer another opportunity for good athletes to play something other than football. Alot of potential football players pass on FB and just play baseball. It is a stupid rule. Yes some restrictions should be in place but those should be from about Mid Nov through the holidays. 6 weeks off to rest arms, etc is plenty. More time is available if a kid wants to shut it down in mid Oct. After Jan 1 everything should be a go! This rule will subject more kids to injury.

Does anyone have a schedule for this weekends Bruin Classic in Brentwood? Usually some good teams from around the state there.

BGA won it 6-1 over Elmwood. BGA 3-1 (lost only to Lipscomb) Elmwood 2-2 (lost onlyt to BGA twice) Lipscomb (2-2) Lost to Elmwood & Columbia Columbia (1-3) Lost to BGA, Elmwood and Lipscomb

Lipscomb vs Ohio @ 5pm BGA vs Columbia @ 7pm Friday Lipscomb vs BGA at 12 Lipscomb vs Coumbia @ 2:30 Columbia vs Ohio @ 5 BGA vs Ohio @ 7 Sat Consolation Game @ 12 Championship Game @ 3

You must be one of those booster club presidents whose son is playing because of it that they are talking about earlier. Or you're kin to him.Sounds like unless Columbia produces a several Mickey Mantle-types, ole Pickle will get in the state tournament the same way I do-as a spectator! Good luck with him since you love him so, but history is history and nothing I've posted about Pickle's Franklin experience is not true.

Yes, he won the regular season. He had unbelievable talent at Franklin and probably at Columbia too as evidenced by two major leaguers. I can assure you he had little to do with Turnbow throwing 90+ mph as Turnbow was a horse before Pickle was at Franklin so do begin the "he developed them" arguement. Franklin only had about 2,400 students during Pickle's years there so he had plenty of talent. Again, he never won a district tournament game there so he cant be considered too good of a coach in my opinion. Sounds like his lack of success in tournaments has continued at Columbia. Also, there were alot of people at Franklin glad to see him go.

About the only thing correct you stated was I dont care for Pickle. My son wasnt one he cut. He never attended Franklin High or played for the guy. How do you know Pickle didnt have his player hit the kid? It happened in 1997. It did, trust me. Everyone there knew what happened. Ask Pickle how many games he won in the district tournament as coach of Franklin. I'll tell you. NONE. He lost the first game every year. That is the record. Check it. I agree with the guy who named Frazier at Shelbyville. He is a very good coach. So is Powers at Riverdale.

Coaches who dont play the "political game" run the risk of getting fired in the end. Everyone needs friends sometime, especially coaches. There is always someone who has political clout that wants the coach fired and if he doesnt have supporters, he's done for sure. Playing less talented players with more popular last names occurred in the first game ever played and will be here at the last game played. The secret I tell people is for any child to work so hard and become so good, they have to play you. If you're "just as good as", you'll end up 2nd team to the booster club president's kid.

If Pickle has class now, he sure found it in Columbia cause he was low class at Franklin. The year before Centennial opened, he cut all the kids (freshman & sophs) who were going to be zoned to Centennial the next year. It wasnt their fault the city grew so fast that we needed another high school. And they (fresh & sophs) didnt have a choice to stay either. Franklin High was overcrowded already, did he really think 3,000 students could go to school there? He also told his pitchers to hit one of the kids who transferred to Centennial that he cut. Do his teams still meet at the pitchers mound after the game and Yell "KTA" for Kicked their toe Best thing about Pickle is even with future major leaguers (Turnbow), kids with babies (Martinez and Sanders) and alot of other good players, I dont think he ever won a district tournament game at Franklin. His teams were eliminated every year the first game. That's hard to do even if you try to lose. To put him down as one of the better coaches is a complete joke.

Brentwood Academy, Goodpasture and Lipscomb all finished 3-1. Centennial finished 1-3.

Lipscomb has a very strong soph class. They start 4 sophs (3rd, short, 2nd and catcher) and have a couple others who are key reserves. If they continue to improve, they will have a very strong team for 2009.

Pope John Pauls field in amazing. Money can do wonderful things if its used right. Credit all the coaches who have worked like heck to get their fields in top shape over the years. Its not an easy job and takes alot of hard work if you dont have alot of money.

My son attends one of the private schools and he started in the first grade. No coach recruited him. Most of his teammates either started in the 5th or sixth grade. No recruiting involved with them. And none are on scholarship either. No they arent like public schools, but dont lump them in the same class as the BA's of the world either.