JC#1fan

1. Jeter vs. Finch was live so if he could have at least touched one he might have knocked her of the mound 2. watched UT vols play baseball today and the fastest pitch recorded was 84 mph (better get your guys down there if they are throwin 90) 3. Don't know if this article has been posted, but it comes from UT's website University of Tennessee softball signee Cat Hosfield of Murfreesboro Riverdale High School suffered a fractured left ankle in two places Friday night during a game in Ocala, Fla. She will miss the rest of the season. Hosfield, who holds the nations single-season high school strikeout record with 659, will have surgery to reset the ankle according to The Tennessean and expects to be out at least 12 weeks. The state championships are in nine weeks. The newspaper said the injury occurred on a pop-up slide on Hosfields double in the top of the first inning against Forest (Fla.). When Hosfield attempted to bounce up, her metal cleats gripped the dirt and second base and did not give. It all comes back to the metal cleats,Riverdale coach Jeff Breeden told The Tennessean. Before the injury, I liked us having them. This young lady's high school career and chances of competeing in the state championship are over, due to the new cleats. They do perform better, but are they neccessary for adolesants and is this type of injury really worth it?

Absolutely right! As the old saying goes: "thats why we play the game". If I am correct Johnson city paper had Unicoi ranked #1 in upper East Tennessee, Elizabethton #2. M West, Cherokee, M East, and JCHS all ranked in top ten, but most way down the list. Cherokee hammered Elizabethton and Elizabethton hammered Unicoi and Unicoi shut out Cherokee. This is case in point about rankings, they just opinions with no way to know until the dust settles. However they are part of the sports world and what makes watching this sport as it progresses so much fun. With that said, here is JCfans list form upper East Tennessee districts: (I know I will leave someone out, so don't get offended) 1. Morristown West (until someone beats them around here they are there to stay) 2. Morristown East ( might be the one to beat West) 3. Rutledge (Until someone beats them period) 4. Unicoi (the next 3 are playin tag right now all with losses to each other in some combination, beat Cherokee Friday night so they move up) 5. Cherokee (If you have kept up with the schedules you see why I have them here) 6. Elizabethton (beat Unicoi earlier in season, but lost to Cherokee) 7. Science Hill (here because they beat JCHS in a close one) 8. Jefferson County (They will move up if they play like I heard they played the last 3 innings against G'ville) 9. North Greene (the unknown, who just keeps winning) 10. Cocke County (put them in the top ten because they are playin hard and winning games) what a turn around from past seasons. Don't know if they won a game last year, but they are above .500 this year and finished 2nd in Anderson County tourney. I can't wait until Cocke County and Greeneville meet, although they are behind the other teams in the IMAC right now they are extrermely close in talent and guts. These games may be the IMAC games of the year. if you look how close they are in talent.

How did we get here from catchers blocking the plate? Any way I have seen umpires enforce a one foot rule, but don't know where it comes from. I know this is supposed to move the game along, but one foot rule has been enforced while letting the pitcher stand behind the mound and do wrist snaps into the glove for what seems like forever. Don't make sense to me.

I agree catsbacker, but one of the problems is that this is not a habit that can be fixed overnight. Competitve pitchers at the high school level have been throwing since they were probably 8 or 9 years old and this is a serious habit that they have been allowed to learn. I would say that 90% of pitchers do not do this intentually. This is the reason as stated earlier that it affects them when it finally gets called in high school or college. The worse case senerio that I have seen in the past few years, and I have seen it in more than one game, is allowing the pitcher to throw like this all game until a runner is on third then call the illegal pitch with no warning and send the runner at third home scoring the potential winning run. I have seen this happen several times over the past few years, you talk about devistating a young pitcher. TSSAA needs to get a handle on this and make umpires call this consistantly one way or the other.

Muey impressive statman. I hadn't considered evaluating the team schedules of the teams opponents and who they played and who they played,........ That is why coacht is so great, a great forum that supplies us with accurate stats and freedom of speech to boot.

touchee' my friend! I am very impressed with the ladies at West this year. After the beating I took over my last post I may have to move M'town just to feel "wanted". Congrats lady Trojans.

Yep DZ things are getting excited now. JCfan glad to see someone with a little passion for something on this post, but I think I need to clear some things up. It was said I only pointed out the "negative" aspects out, but the post made by ERCD not only pointed out things they thought I meant negatively, but made no mention of the postive things I said and made most of the postives into negatives. If I have ever offended anyone (parent, player or coach on this forum I apoligize), it is not my intention. I hope to clear some things up here by explaining some of my comments. 1. The beachball and mack truck comment was not that the players were not good (in fact I called them experianced, go to type players, forgot to mention that ERCD), but intended to be a dry comical reference to the way they are performing previous to the last post(If you ask any one the top three batters I would bet they would tell you that they are not performing up to their expectations (I can say that because of all the bats hit in the dirt, helmets pitched to the ground and looks on their faces after a poor plate appearance) They know they are better and I also said I had confidence they would recover. Looks like the beach ball comment challenged the top three and proved my theory right, if they are on base they will get batted forward and score(probably the difference in the game to my understanding). The softball evidently looked like a beach ball last night. 2. Somehow you confused my statement about Cosmo hitting a home run as derogatory, I said that as a compliment to her because right now she is hitting the ball as good as anyone on the team. My comments were in fact defending one of our own from comments made by King about one of our pitchers giving up "yackers" and shouldn't be pitching in competitve games. 3. Yes we do have five pitchers, but only three have thrown varsity games and that was sort of the discussion at the time. I mentioned all three girls in positive light, but here is the truth. Pitchers get all the glory when the team wins, they have to be able to take critism when they don't(just part of being a pitcher) 4. Yes to pin a loss on a kid is not a good thing(sorry my comments were taken this way and I personally apologize to any player that feels I was pointing them out). I used a couple of examples of plays that could have been worded better, but my intention as you said was that the team as whole were making mistakes that was costing them games. 5. This is not the college world series, I never said it was, But we are not playing tee ball anymore either. Most of these girls are playing not only pride in their team, but hopes of playing at the next level (ask them what their dreams as a player are ). You are correct they have to walk before they run, but at some point they have to jog. 6. I didn't start the "pitchers duel" thing, that actually was said in context to the comment made about our pitchers. These girls are a team, in a pitching rotation. I simply called King out for starting what was said about the rotation. 7. The coaches comment comes out of right field (an appropriate softball pun) I said that coach M was doing the right thing by rotating the pitchers. How is that a negative remark? 8. If the line up comment was about West, how can anyone argue that she shouldn't be in the lineup(I think she has struck out only three times this season, putting it in play is definately a positive). I don't make 'em, can't make 'em, but as I understand it these types of forums are for "discussing" the game. Having fans like me has nothing to do with success, in fact it looks like they got a little ticked off and showed off last night. I believe in them no matter what they have done in the past, I know they will recover and show who they really are, as I said it is better to play good late than play good now. ERCD I am sorry you were upset with me, but I absolutely am glad to see someone who cares enough to defend them. As my name indicates I am JCs number one fan not any player, coach, or parents, but the whole group of individuals. I do love my lady Pats and wish them nothing but success. GO LADY PATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't know where the term "flying" comes from, but here is the simple answer to all these questions. To crow hop, leap, or fly both feet must leave the ground. Both feet leaving the ground by definition in all sanctioning bodies is illegal and very easy to see and call. I could see some latitude to a pitcher where a hole is "dug" out in front of the mound,but this leaves an area for conflict in the rules. This is a call that will hardly ever be called and I personally don't understand why. As with the earlier post, I agree inot calling this only hurts them at the next level. This is evidence of poor fundamentals being taught at an early age as with any other habit they are harder to break than eliminate when first learning to pitch.

I agree West has a tough schedule, but have you seen Cherokee and Greenville's schedule. Kinda makes you wonder about Coacht's ranking don't it. Greeneville( North Greene, Sullivan South, and Daniel Boone) Cherokee (Sullivan South, Volunteer, Johnson County, and Elizabethton) are their non-conferance games. Oh yeah! The Blackman Blaze pounded the mighty GPS Bruisers the other night and who the heck is University School?

To early to tell who should be on the mound in the big one. Remember Science Hill field is about 180' at most (Cosmo freshman catcher for JCHS got one to). Leon is throwing well, but hard to compare. Leon relys on throwing the hard stuff and keeping it low and away)a good strategy) and Hill relys on speed change and pitch selection, I think she has five different ones( can't throw 'em if they don't call 'em. Hill's best pitch is a inside breaking ball, I've seen every game and don't think she has thrown it yet. Hill has thrown the tough ones so far Soddy Daisy, Blackman (who beat GPS 7-4 who beat M West 10-2), and M West who is on fire right now. Only comparison between the two is against Seymor. Leon got the win 8-2 gave up 1 "yacker" to them. Hill also got win against Seymor 2-1 no "yackers" , but did give up 1 unearned. One gives up 1 run and the other gives up 2 within four days of playing the same team looks pretty even to me. Can't argue that Leon can take care of business ( you hold East to 1 you have done your job), but East is the only big one she has thrown. Cocke County (who stroked the ball off of Leon, good D kept them off the board) and Stone Memorial (loss 3-1 for Leon all three unearned) are not Soddy, M West, and Blackman. (remember Helton is the only one without a regular season loss G'ville 6-1 and Pigeon Forge 9-1)Coach M is doing the right thing throwing all her pitchers to get a feel for them and keep everyone guessing who they will see on the mound. Starting a pitcher's duel on a team is what everyone wants to do anytime there are more than one good pitcher on a team. Both ladys can get the job done!!!! I think having two pitchers that can get it done ain't a bad thing. A good estimate is a run for every error you make, three catcher errors in Karns game probably did make the difference in that one. I assume that is the Powell reference you made King we haven't played Powell, but did play Karns and lost 5-4 Karns (on three errors , two at the plate) and Karns lost to M west 3-2, shows they ain't a push over. Lady Pats schedule is as tough as it gets and definately harder than anyone in the IMAC. Who else has played or will play Maryville, William Blount, Farragut, Soddy Daisy, Blackman, M East, M West, Cherokee, Rutledge, Science HIll, Karns. not a lot of fluff there All we hope is tough games play off in the tournament when it really matters. GO LADY PATS!!!!!!

Q: Who throws 90 mph in high school baseball around here? A: Only the pitchers in ksgovols dreams. P.S. its not all about the speed to the plate, but the return speed from the bat When figuring reutrn rate using distance and speed comparing the two different games the ascpect ratio of baseball to softball is a staggering 4 to 1 in rate of reutrn in favor of a softball pitch compared to a ball pitcfhed from a baseball mound These are the figures used for this calculation: 40' distance at slightly low estimate of a 60 mph pitch ( most competitve high school pitchers throw low 60s) to baseball pitch of 75 mph a good average of high school pitchers from 60' and a comparitive return rate off the bat of 100 mph for both figures.

All I can say ohyea is Oh! yeah. You are correct about the team effort, but the first three are the first three for a reason. These are experianced, go to type players and for the team to advance they are the first ones that have to step up since Potts and Johnson already are (freshman Cosmo ain't doin to bad either). It doesn't do any good to have your number 4 and 5 hitters (johnson and Potts respectively) stickin the ball with no one on base. Tonights game against Cocke County (which is playing the best ball I have seen them play in years) is a case in point. JCHS down after two innings 1-0. Why? no one on base when number 4 and 5 hitters come up. Eventually JCHS got to Wyrick(I hope I spelled this right) in the fourth and put the game away 6-1. THIS IS A VERY TALENTED JCHS TEAM, BUT THEY ARE NOT PLAYING LIKE IT. Congtrats for the win tonight, but this is a game that JCHS should win and believe me JCHS fans were not feeling it early in the game. THursday night sends JCHS back to the duckpond and if they play as they have lately, there may be more trips aroud the pond. With this being said I have faith that the girls will respond, and it is better for a sleeper to peak late than early.

TO avoid the tag. it happens all the time .Why do you seem so suprised

JCfan is still here. I have been on a mission trying to find our offense and that BIG D that was so prevalant early in the season (I think they left it in the parking lot at Soddy Daisy). It must be like March "In like a lion and out like a lamb". NO one can make much sence out of the line up. West batting .367 can't find a spot on the field. Hyde now Johnson a experianced senior catcher is at third. Peterson batting .050 is on first. The first three in the lineup can't hit a mack truck with a beach ball. Only consistancy is from Potts and Johnson. Pitchers are throwing well enough to win, but hard to throw night after night with no run support. 3 consecutive losses by one run to teams that should have been cake walks the way they played earlier. Its frustrating for the girls, the coaches, and most of all JC#1fan. As is always I love my lady PATS, girls it will come you have to be able to push through this stuff. If you can get a handle on yourselfs and focus there will few teams that can handle you in MAY (WHEN IT REALLY MATTERS) GO LADY PATS!!!!!!!!!!

Who cares about the baseball diamond on this forum? That's what the BASEBALL link is for on the boards section. It is not the same game except that they have four bases, in fact baseball is played at half the speed of the girls game (no time to bobble one here). When one of your precious little boys creep half way up the line they are still 45 feet away not thirty 30 like in the girls game and don't lay down a load of crap about the ball being hit harder either, watch a couple of competitive games and you will know what I mean. Shots to third and the mound require much faster reaction than the boys game. There is little difference from 40' to 43', but a world of it from 60'. I know I've pitched from both. Why do you think the "matchups" between pro softball players and pro baseball players have made so much noise over the past few years (i.e. Jeter vs. Finch) Jeter never touched a ball off her. This is a little off subject, but it addresses the fact that every point you and catsbacker make somehow ends up referring to baseball. It is evident that you two are more concerned about the game than the girls, by the way these are still "little" girls otherwise they would be called adults (which can be considered "big" girls.

As quoted by catsbacker there is only one way to slide "If you are taking your foot to the bag", one option is to always slide past the bag and grab the bag with the hand. Unfortunately, most high school coaches don't have the knowledge to teach athletes to steal a base never the less how slide correctly because they are really teachers not coaches. With that said, catsbacker, vols, have you noticed the increase in severity of the injuries noted in this forum. A slip in the outfield and you turn your ankle (out about 3 to 4 days) As noted here these injuries are broken bones, torn ACLs, and completely seperated foot tissues. These are potenitial career ending and life changing injuries and you dare to poke fun at them. Earlier you made comments that these "people" have never played or had boys that played. I am a male and I have played this game (from baseball to men's softball) since I was 6 years old. I also have coached competitive fastpitch softball (from league to school ball to college exposure) for 15 years. If it is all about winning and better traction then by all means wear the metal spikes they do perform better. (That is if any of your athletes make it through the season without injury) If it is about the safety of persons that aren't even adults yet then rubber is the choice. As with most high school teams the athletes are required to wear the same cleats as the rest of their team, in our case the coach decided on metal cleats, so the decision is not the athletes to make if they want to play. As everyone else knows high school ball is dead, if your kid wants to play at the next level she had better get good grades and play travel ball, its the only place she will get seen.

Very interesting indeed, with West's speed and slapping you would think they would be the last to complain about the front of the box. As I have heard it the front of the box goes away next year, anyone else heard that. I stand corrected about the venue for East vs JCHS it is at Frank Larino. Couldn't resist the Hurricanes blowin into town bit. Anyway, tommorrow night and friday should be interesting.

These are excerpts from the online TSSAA handbook. I think they make it pretty clear. Once a student's name is listed on the school eligibility report, if a student participates in an independent game in that sport before the season has closed or his/her name has been removed from the eligibility report at the request of the school principal, the student shall be ineligible as explained below. Any organized game in which players not registered with TSSAA participate ??“ regardless of whether admission is charged - is considered as an independent game. Violation of this rule will render the student ineligible for 25% of the number of contests allowed in that sport by the sports calendar or for the remainder of the season in that sport, whichever number is the least. Violation of this rule a second time in the same sport in the same season will render the student ineligible in that sport for the remainder of the season. A student's name may be removed from the school's eligibility list upon written request of the principal. After such a request has been filed with the state office, a student may then participate as an independent without penalty. If a principal requests the state office to remove a student's name from the school's eligibility list, such student may not again be certified during the season of that sport Q. May a player participate in a scrimmage, practice game or game with an independent team after being registered with TSSAA in that sport? A. No. The student shall be ineligible immediately in the sport in which the violation occurs. Q. Is it a violation for a registered athlete in baseball or softball to practice with an independent team? A. No, provided he/she participates in practice situations only (batting practice, infield practice, etc.), provided no game situations are involved. Q. A student is registered on the girls??™ softball team with school A. The student then participates in an independent girls??™ softball game. She then returns to school A??™s softball team where she plays three games. The coach of school A determines that the student has played in an independent game and reports the violation to the state office. What is the penalty? A. School A has played an ineligible player for three games. The three games will be forfeited and disciplinary action will be taken. The student is ineligible for nine games. (If a student participates in three contests as an ineligible player, the three contests will be forfeited, disciplinary action will be taken against the school, and the student will be ineligible to participate in the next nine contests or for the remainder of the season, whichever is the least.)

Congrats Lady Trojans!!!!! Lady Trojans are gettin er done this season so far, after losing 7 seniors last year this is very impressive. Hurricanes blow in to Dumplin Valley Thursday night, should be a good one. Cherokee a loss, Hurricanes a loss, JCHS a loss. Here a loss, There a loss, Every where a loss loss.(except for Lady Trojans) IMAC race heatin up already. Every game will count this year. GO LADY PATS!!!!!!!!!

Alas, Lance does not know all. Cherokee vs. JCHS not until April 7. However; I agree Hurricanes blow the Trojans away tonight. It will be a extremely good game though, but to much muscle for the Trojans.

Ralph and Karen coach adults who get to make decisions for themselves. This forum addresses the needs of children and their safety. I have coached upper level softball for 15 years and never seen an injury due to a player hanging a rubber cleat.

Tell that load of horse hockey to the young lady who's high school career is ended. By the way her injury had nothing to do with "technique" or being cleated. I agree with some of your other "rule" changes(exspecially the double first base). Would definately make more sense than going to metal cleats. Oh! by the way there is nothing "positive" that can outweigh a injury like what was sustained by this young lady. And you have to slide with spikes up to keep from "hanging" them. Moving the mound back only creates more hit balls up the middle. I could go on and on , but that doesn't get to the point which is "Why is TSSAA so quick to amend things that are "less" safe for these kids(remember they are still kids), and so quick to amend things that are detrimental to their developement as players(ie the 50/50 rule)? Decision making in the TSSAA seems to against the overall good of our young athletes.

Here we are first of the season and already we have a tragic case of why metal cleats are not needed. Cat the young experianced pitcher has now ended her high school career , and we we are talking about technique? Come on this young lady is just the first of several serious injuries we will see due to metal cleats. Almost had another instance at Soddy when runner slid in at 3rd cleating 3rd baseman and hanging her cleat as well. Scary moment for both, fortunately both ended up returning later.

JCHS vs Marion County W 9-1 JCHS vs Blackmon L 9-1

JCHS looked like they just crawled out of their sleeping bags tonight. Offense hit the ball(right to somebody), but could never find that "MAGIC" they have been working lately. Defense played alright , but seemed slugish. Hill threw everything but the kitchen sink, and West was just all over it. Smart base running and playing that "short" game will do a lot for you. M. West hit the road running tonight, just to much for Lady PATS. Oh well I quess there is only one undefeated IMAC team now. I satd it was going to be a bumpy ride this season. Good job Lady Trojans! Good job Lady Pats, keep your heads up cause it ain't over to the fat lady sings and that ain't yet.