Gabby

I've watched a lot of baseball over the past four or five years, and I have mixed feelings! Traveling baseball has become so expensive because of the tournament fees, practice field fees, faciltiy fees, gate fees for parents, motel fees, gasoline, meals, etc. However, I actually feel that traveling baseball is played better than high school baseball, perhaps due to better overall talent in traveling baseball and even better coaching. The good thing is those that can afford to play usually get to play, even with daddyball. There seems to be more teams and more opportunities than in high school baseball. There are less preconceived expectations about players. The high school football star isn't given preferential treatment. Most often, players are allowed to play based on their performance. In high school, I have seen some really good coaching and some really bad coaching. Often the team that has the least coaching seems to do the best. That is, sometimes coaches are thinking too much and trying to pull off trick plays that fail more often then they succeed. Most high school coaches have a lot of confidence in a few players and not much confidence in most of the players. I have watched the same players make the same outs (rally stoppers) without making them or the coach making an adjustment. That said, I hope everyone has good and rewarding summer season.

Dobyns Bennett defeated Science Hill 6-2. Dobyns-Bennett will host the number 2 seed from district 2; Science Hill will travel to play the number 1 seed from district 2.

Dobyns-Bennett defeated Science Hill 7-5 in the winners bracket of 1 AAA on Monday to advance to District Science Hill eliminated Boone 13-0 in the elimination game to advance to District. Dobyns-Bennett and Science Hill are extremely evenly matched. Each beat the other by a run during conference play, and although DB hit three homeruns in the tournament matchup the winning runs scored on two errors in the seventh. One of the errors, if not made, would have been a double play to end the inning with both team tied and Science Hill coming to bat in the bottom of 7th. Dobyns-Bennett plays Science Hill tonight depending on the weather to determine seeding. If Dobyns-Bennett wins tonight, Science Hill will be the #2 seed. If Science Hill wins, then they do it again on Thursday night. Dobyns-Bennett probably pitching their #1 (Quillen) while Science Hill pitched their #1 last night. Science Hill sets up nicely for Monday regardless who they play out of district 2. Craig will be well rested having pitched two relatively easy 5-inning mercy rule games (gave up 3 hits total in two games). Quillen pitched an easy opening game, and came in relief against Science Hill for a relatively easy inning on Monday. Regardless of the outcome tonight, Quillen should have plenty of time to recover by Monday. The four teams in district 1 & 2 are pretty evenly matched. I don't think it really matters who plays who. I'll be shocked if each game isn't a nail-biter.

1 AAA Round 1--Saturday Science Hill 11 Sullivan Central 0--Central eliminated Dobyns Bennetts 18 Volunteer 0--Volunteer eliminated Daniel Boone 2 Crockett 1--Crockett eliminated Sullivan South 5 Tennessee High 2--Tennessee High Eliminated Round 2--Sunday Science Hill 4 Daniel Boone 3 Dobyns Bennett 8 Sullivan South 5 Round 3--Monday Science Hill vs. Dobyns Bennett Daniel Boone vs. Sullivan South

Science Hill beat Ooltewah 6-3 in 7 inninigs. Tied 3-3 after 6 innings. Ooltewah 2B bobbled ground ball with bases loaded and two outs (SH 4-3). Next SH hitter singled (SH 6-3). Ooltewah shut out in their half of 7th.

I watched a tournament in Mufreesboro this past weekend. In a three game series, there were 7 home runs hit. I watched Riverdale play (they hit two in the game I watched), and I don't believe they are going to play much small ball. They were huge! They looked like a bunch of college sophmores. Yes, there aren't going to be as many homeruns hit off the brand, but for the good, strong hitters they are still going to hit their share of homeruns.

Game 2 Dobyns Bennett 8 Boone 4 Science Hill 6 Crockett 0 Sullivan South 12 Sullivan Central 1 Tennessee High 6 Volunteer 3

How did the AAA conferences do on Monday In the Big 8: Sullivan South 5 Dobyns Bennett 4 Boone 8 Sullivan Cental 6 Crockett 14 Tennessee High 2 Science Hill 11 Volunteer 0

There is hitting speed, above hitting speed, and below hitting speed. Above hitting speed in high school is 88 or above. Below hitting speed is below 80. Hitting speed in high school is 82-86. The top teams in state often have two pitchers that can go consistantly above 88 or least have pin point control if they throw less than 88. The first four hitters on most good teams can hit and prefer to hit fastballs 82-86. I heard a good hitter say last year that he was glad to get into the regional playoffs so he could see pitchers that threw harder!

Science Hill lost some good players last year: Norris, Carter, and Thompson. But they usually come up with some new faces. Although, Norris and Carter are gone, the pitching staff is still very deep with 5 or 6 arms anchored by Will Craig that are among the best in the conference. Will Craig will remain a force in the offense and Heath Lloyd will cetainly be consistent. If a couple of seniors step up, Science Hill should be ok at tournament time.

Until someone dethrones Farragut, they will be the team to beat. In 1AAA, Science Hill lost its security blanket, Daniel Norris, but have a bunch of good arms returning--Craig, Sweeney, Lloyd, Campbell, Pope, and Blanton. Each would be a 1 or 2 on most other teams. Craig will probably be the go-to guy. SH lost some bats to graduation. This will be a good year to be a freshman or sophmore at SH because of the opportunities. Pitching will be good; offense and defense are the question marks for Science Hill. Hard to say about the rest of 1AAA. Dobyns-Bennett has some good bats, but questionable pitching. Boone was gutted by graduation. Volunteer, Central, South, Tennessee High, and Crockett will struggle with their pitching.

You can see committments at http://www.perfectgame.org/College/CollegeCommitments.aspx?grad=2012. Look under Tennessee.

The Johnson City Press reported that Hunter's leg isn't ready yet. I also noticed that Buddy Godsey is out for the season, and that Zack Howard will be out 3 to 6 weeks. With the departure of Jaylen Allen and Shannon Hale, it seems that Science Hill is not going to have a lot of experience going into the season. I haven't heard much about the other basketball teams in the big 8 with the jamboree coming up. Is Big 8 basketball going to be as weak as Big 8 football this year? With the injuries at SH, is DB going to dominate? I don't look for much out of Boone, South, Crockett, Central, Volunteer. Could this be the year for Tennessee High?

Science Hill is returning a plethora of good pitchers from last year. Everyone talked about Daniel Norris last year, but Science Hill had 8 or 9 pitchers that would have been tops on most schools in Tennessee. Will Craig is a junior that throws in the 90s along with senior Matt Pope. Seniors Andrew Sweeney and Cody Campbell probably throw in the high 80s. Seniors Heath Lloyd and Bennett Blanton throw in the mid 80s.

My son has been using the DeMarini Vodoo BBCOR this summer, and it seems to do fine. He hit his first BBCOR homerun Tuesday night in a fall league game, but he is not a big power hitter. He hit his last homerun two summers ago with a BESR bat (2009), and several in batting practice last spring. I don't know how much truth there is to it, or if it is just getting use to the BBCOR, but there seems to be about a two week break in time for the bats. Several people that I have talked to have said the same thing. There aren't going to be as many homeruns or rockets hit this spring, but if you hit the ball on the sweet spot, it will still jump. He hit around .350 in 118 at bats this summer using BBCOR and wood. There aren't going to be any cheap homeruns off the end or brand of the bat. Should be a good year for pitchers to challenge hitters!!