gtrip10

I was told he broke his wrist while catching over the weekend at the Lookout Classic. As far as who will start for them tomorrow, I have no idea to be honest with you.

To clarify something, Polk and the Chilhowee Middle School team did scrimmage two days in a row a couple of weeks ago, but it was VERY laid back. Both teams used their own pitchers to pitch to their own batters, and mainly the only reason why they did it is so that both teams could use the field. They really didn't keep a score, and plus both teams pretty much used it as batting practice rather than an actual scrimmage. As for the other question, my uncle Bill is not helping with the high school team, as he is the coach for the middle school team. And as for Polk County's varsity team, they were downed 7 or 8 to 1 tonight at Polk against Tellico. Denny Perrine pitched for Tellico, and while the Bears did hit the ball, Polk made a lot of errors. It has become evident to me that losing Thommy Davis to injury will have a HUGE impact on the team.

No offense to anyone, but both wins came against Sequoyah, and the win yesterday was far from impressive. Pick up some wins against Meigs, Walker Valley, and Central, and then talk about how great you guys are.

Hey D.J., who'd Tellico pitch tonight? Just curious.

I personally think this is a game that Tellico needs to win in order to show the district that they are for real this year. I think that in order for Tellico to win this one, they must get their bats going early and often and try to manufacture some runs. Central doesn't have the bats that they've had in the past, so they'll have to make up for it in the field trying to keep Tellico off of the basepaths. This could be a close game, and if Central plays a sub-par game, Tellico might sneak this one by them. To answer the second question, Central had two basketball players missing against Polk (Daniel Nicolo, Beau Brown). As for how good those two were, I really don't know because I didn't stay for the B-team games last year when we played Central. Hearn pitched against Polk for a few innings, and I would assume he would start in the infield if not on the mound. Good luck to both teams today.

I'd say Denny Perrine, Dustin Hearn, Dave Mason, and Pat Dye, in no particular order.

I just talked to Coach Adams (Polk Co.), and while he said the field in Benton is unplayable, he told me that most likely this game will be played today (3/16) at Central at 5:00. Good luck to both teams.

Although I do not know too much about Oliver Springs (Except for location), I do know a lot about Polk Co. and Sequoyah. I do not agree with you on them being terrible (terrible is such a harsh word), but I will agree that neither team should be talking smack, especially considering some of the teams in their district they'll both face (such as Walker Valley).

Five years ago, when Polk County defeated Sweetwater to capture the district crown. Central has then proceeded to win it five years in a row.

My completely unbiased view of the teams is that Central will most likely be a tough team to beat as always, and that will be especially true when they play at Central. Only two teams in the district beat Central last year at Central, with those teams being Walker Valley (district champs) and Meigs Co. (state finalist). I do not think the loss of Shamblin will hurt Central too bad, because as good of a coach as he was, it was mainly the talent of his players (Matt Hensley, Jaime Martin specifically) which carried them to back-to-back Spring Fling appearances. To summarize, Shamblin's departure probably will not have too much of an impact on Central this year, as they will probably still compete for the district title this year with defending champs Walker Valley. Of course as always, there are my personal opinions, so take them for what they are worth.

First off, there are seven teams in 5-AA, and second, Greenback isn't one of them. The key to this whole topic as these are only Preseason picks, as anything can happen during the season. As for my preseason predictions, here goes: 1. Walker Valley. You have to give the back-to-back district champions the respect they deserve. They did lose two great pitchers in Murray and Linden, but they still have Pat Dye, and with Turner at the helm, they'll be tough to beat. 2. Meigs County. They went to the state tourney last year, and although they did lose their ace Nathan Brown along with leader Andy Mason, they will still be tough to beat. If Dave Mason can stay healthy and can bring the team together again this year, they may dethrone the Mustangs this year. 3. Sweetwater. This will be the sleeper team this year, as they were tough down the stretch last year. I don't recall any of their players by name, but I do know they played great last year as a team, and could be the surprise team this year. 4. McMinn Central. Although they are overcoming the loss of their head coach (to Walker Valley, I think) and some key players (Tom Prosser being the most significant loss), they are still McMinn Central, and will be a tough team to beat at home. It was tough to pick them below Sweetwater, but I think the rebuilding process with a new coach might take a little while. 5. Polk Co./Tellico Plains (tie). My former teammates are going to hate me for picking them this low, but it'll be a tough season for the Wildcats this year after losing 6 starters last year. Look for a junior on Polk Co. to step up and be a standout player (although I won't do any name dropping). As for Tellico, I've heard that they didn't lose too many players, so they could pull some upsets whenever Perrine is on the mound. 6. Sequoyah. I really do not know too much about Sequoyah, other than the fact that they were the only team in the district to not play us a tough game last year. They could be good this season, but only time will tell. I apologize to the teams in which I did not mention a star player, as I do not know as much about these teams as the others. These are only my predictions, as I could be dead wrong on all of these. Many people didn't pick Polk Co. to be a strong team last year (my senior year), and we surprised alot of people. So as good as these teams seem to be on paper, it all depends on what they do on the field. Good luck to all this year, as it seems to be another great year of District 5-AA baseball.

Josh Ellison...He just has the handles and passes to make a awesome point guard but his shot is off sometimes. When his shot is on he is unstoppable (ok maybe not but close).

Congrats to both Meigs County and McMinn Central for making it that far in the district, and for playing a great game yesterday. Good luck to Central next year, and good luck to Meigs in the region. I'd love to see you guys end up beating Walker Valley, because they are the team to beat, and you guys on the Meigs baseball team have always been class acts to me. Good luck next week in the region tournament.

I'll do the talking here. The only time most of us at Polk County check coacht.com is when we are in computers class. I am basically the lone exception because I have a cable connection, so I can get on here in no time. Since we haven't been in school this week, I am probably the only member of the team that has checked the boards here. So I will respond to this post. Central hit our pitching, and we didn't hit theirs. There's your "excuse." We had maybe one error against Central, so it wasn't unearned runs that cost us. They just hit the cover off of the ball, and they put it in the right places. We played great defensively, but they just hit it by us. So we have ended our season, and you guys (Sweetwater) have also ended your season, so why don't we end this post because it is starting to get out of hand.

Hey man, thanks for all of the recognition and thanks. I personally have waited a long time for this year, because I knew that my senior year we would have a team that could get things done. And while we haven't exactly played to the best of our abilities, we have done things this year that haven't been done in this county in a long time. Our season isn't over yet (unless the rest of the week is rained out), and hopefully we have some more wins left in us. But once again I say thank you tkyle87 for being one of the few people to show us respect and congratulating us on a great year. My hat goes off to you. Good luck to all.