Gabby

Well, I found the field! I was quite surprised in the way the game progressed. I had expected Science Hill to have strong pitching and a strong defense. I was not so sure about their hitting. I knew nothing about Tennessee High. Daniel Sharp pitched (third on the depth chart) for Science Hill, and Sharp was not sharp. He walked several hitters and hit several others. When he left in fifth, Tennessee High was leading 6-4. In the sixth, Science Hill got runners on first and third when a tailor mades double play ball was hit to the shortstop (Payne). Payne got in a hurry and bobbled the ball and got no outs. SH scored a run. Later in the inning, with the bases loaded and no one out, a soft, little tap was hit back to pitcher. The pitcher missed the ball. SH scored another run. The next hitter struck out. With the bases loaded, McKinney hit a triple. When the inning was over, SH had scored 8 runs (SH 12, Tenn. High 6). If the players had just made the routine plays (these were not hard plays), Tennessee High would have been sitting in the dug out leading 6-5. But Sciene Hill made it interesting. They brought in a sidewinder. (My son who plays with SH has not been impressed by these sidewinders. They don't throw that hard, they don't have any good breaking pitches, and they don't have good location.) The sidewinder walked three (walked in a run). SH ended the game winning 12-8 with the bases loaded. Overall, it was a very poorly played game. Each team had about 4 errors. There were a ton of walks. Both Science Hill and Tenn. High were peppering outfield fences. So much for SH good pitching and SH good defense. McKinney was 3 for 4 (2 home runs and a triple) with 6 RBIs and Jim Ashburn hit a no doubter to centerfield. So much for those weak hitting toppers.

Where does Tennessee High play their baseball games? I don't recall seeing a baseball field at the high school. I thought I would go watch them and Science Hill play tonight. Thanks!

Science Hill is hot right now. Over the last month, they have been playing real well as a team. They play eight deep. The defense is relentless. Odem is by far the best player on the team. He is listed at 6'4", but is more like 6'6". He has long arms that make him play like he's 6'9". He is agile and can play any position. He dribbles, passes, and moves well without the ball. He is a match up nightmare. Guards are too short to guard him and wings and posts are too slow to gurad him. He can shoot from anywhere--pro 3-point, high school 3-point, in the paint, and slam. He can be physical or he can finesse. He can take over a game. Chris Smith is a 6'3" guard/wing. He's a pure athlete (state champion tennis player) that can shoot and drive. If you respect his shot, he will drive. If you play off he will shoot. A very good defensive player. Isaac Kinley is another pure athlete about 6' guard or wing. He is fearless on defense and usually draws the best offensive player from the other teams regardless of their size. He is relentless on defense. If you forger about him on offense, he will hit the open 3-pointer. Larry Smith is a 6'5" post. He is quick but not too physical. He lulls teams to sleep, scoring most of his points in the 3rd and 4th quarters. Zack Jordan is listed at 6'5"; more like 6'2" or maybe 6'3". He is the most improved player on the team. He has become the enforcer and is very physical in the paint. There are three or four other role players that are mainly tenacious defensive players. They are all about 6' or less but are quick and get most of their points on transition. I hope this helps. What is the scouting report on the team that Science Hill is playing?

Each of your comments have made this year's basketball season more enjoyable. Having a son in Science Hill, I sincerely hope that they get some good breaks. At the state level, the eventual winner must get a break whether that be a call or an unheralded player stepping up. I hope that you all will be around next year. I know that all the coaches have already started preparing for next year.

The SH JV beat East 4-2. Both pitchers did a good job. SH just had too many weapons for East--a little faster and a little better hitting. Pretty good game to watch. Not too many players' or coaches' errors. The SH Freshmen beat East 7-4. SH pitchers started out a little whobbly, but shut East down after the first inning. SH outfield and hitting was a little weak. East pitcher did a good job for four innings and ran out of steam. The second East pitcher had trouble getting the ball over the plate.

I know that a win or loss doesn't mean much at this level, but over the long haul building a winning tradition early does. The win or loss doesn't bother me, but not playing good, fundamental baseball does. There's a lot more than throwing, hitting, and catching the ball. Throwing to the right base, hitting behind the runner to move the runner to third, anticipating where the play is going to be, not taking the bat out of the better hitters' hands will not lead to a winning tradition. I know that the lower level football and basketball teams spend a whole lot of time on the fundamentals. I only wish that baseball would too. A sacrifice bunt with one out early in the game early in the game with your better hitters is not good baseball.

Science Hill JV lost to Tennessee High JV 11-8. TH scored 8 runs in top of seventh. SH coaching was really bad. The first batter for SH got on base and SH sacrificed with their number 2 hitter. The first hitter is extremely fast, and the second hitter had a single, double, and home run in his next three at bats. They left the pitcher in in the 7th until TH was one run behind and the bases were loaded. The first pitch from the new pitcher was a wild pitch. I know I am a little old but it was hard to recognize what game the coaches were playing. Science Hill freshmen lost to Tennesse High freshman 6-5 in six innings. Game called because of lateness. Again, wrong players playing wrong positions and not playing very fundamentally sound baseball. SH threw to the wrong base and didn't make the fundamental plays.

My son has played in two 17U tournaments at Science Hill. Contace the SH Athletic Director Turner for more information.

My son played in a basketball tournament at the Palace this weekend. Let me say it was hot. We all know that if the Palace is full Monday it will be really hot. There is no air conditioning in the Palace. I would like to be there Monday, but my son will be playing freshman and JV baseball against Tennessee High.

These are the players that I have listed so far: P- McKinney, Science Hill; Norris, Science Hill; Freeman,Archer,Krebbs C- Reed, Science Hill; Deloach, David Crockett; Lockhart,Sullivan South; Millsap 1st Base- Patterson, Science Hill; Connell, Daniel Boone 2nd Base- Loughry 3rd Base- Massey, David Crockett; Hyden Shortstop- Crawford, Dobbins Bennett; Payne, Tennessee High; Mathews; Roberts Left Field- Gaby Center Field- Jones Right Field- Ketron Designate Hitter- Parker, Volunteer My son is a freshman at Science Hill this year, so I will be watching several SH baseball games. I know several of the players one year ahead and behind, but not many juniors and seniors. It is nice to know who are the players to watch, especially from other teams. Also, it gives me a gage to see what I need to have my son work on.

Who are going to be the best players at the different positions? P C 1st Base 2nd Base 3rd Base Shortstop Left Field Center Field Right Field Designate Hitter Who will lead the league in hitting? home runs? ERA?

I noticed that Jaylen Allen, a freshman, scored 11 points for Science Hill.

What's the scouting report on the Tennessee High freshman/JV teams. They play Science Hill on March 9 in Freshman/JV double header. Last year's TH freshman team had a good left hand pitcher. Is he still there? The SH freshman team should should have good hitting and pitching. They are slow a foot though which hampers their defense and base running. The defense is hampered mostly by mental mistakes. The freshman pitching and hitting should help the JV team. And the sophmores field the ball very well, so the JV team with a sprinkling of Freshmen should be a solid team. The freshman team will depend upon their pitching and hitting to carry them.

It is obvious that Farragut has a good program, but Science Hill should be pretty good this year. They went to state last year and only lost 3 players from last year's team. Two of those three weren't integral to the team. They are returning three solid pitchers, McKinney, Norris, and Sharp. They are defensively strong. The question mark is their hitting. Fortunately, their pitching and defense should somewhat relieve weaknesses in hitting. Most of all, I am ready for baseball to start so that we can see how good these teams really are. Right now, everyone is good.

Being the Science Hill advocate, I guess I should reply about last night's game. I don't think that SH played all that good; I think Tennessee High had a bad game. Tenn. High accomplished what it set out to do with respect to slowing the game down. Unfortunately, Tenn. High couldn't throw the ball in the ocean last night. I told a friend around the third quarter, Tenn. High must be shooting about 10% (I think that shot 28% for the game). Tenn. High slowed the game and played pretty good defense. Unfortunately, they got in the slow down game and couldn't get out. The Tenn. High fans were begging the TH players to shoot the ball in the third and fourth quarter, but TH shown no sense of urgency. SH starting playing deliberately trying to extend the defense in order to open up the inside. I told my friend that SH should give the ball to TH. TH was doing a better job of stalling than SH. Odem pretty much shut down TH best player. Odem is listed at 6'5", but I think he is taller. Given his wing span and quickness, it's hard for the smaller point guards to see anything, much less pass or shoot. In the game that TH won against SH, TH out shot, out rebounded, and out hustled SH. SH had a terrible game, and TH did everything well. This time SH had an ok game, but TH had a terrible game. Regardless, good luck to all the big nine teams this weekend.

Don't forget every Tennessee's favorite: Steve Spurier from Science Hill. He was all-state in football, basketball, and baseball. The problem I have with ending basketball sooner is the weather. It is still pretty cool in East Tn. I would like to see the baseball season extended, though.

I have a freshman son that has some baseball ability. He led his eight grade team in hitting, hits, and obp. He was 2nd in rbis and third in doubles. He had the third lowest era on the team. During the summer, he had the game winning hit (a 2 run home run) to win the USSAA East Tn. 13U AA State Championship. Which are the best showcase camps, and what should I look for in such camps. Thanks.

Since there are very few juniors this year, many of the jv players are also playing varsity. So, the jv often works with the varsity. Sometimes the freshmen team work out with the jv team. The varsity, jv, and freshmen run the same offensive and defensive patterns, so freshmen and jv are interchangeable and the jv and varsity players are interchangeable.

Science Hill 9th grade was undefeated. DB played SH well in semi-finals, but ran out of steam about the middle of the fourth quarter. DB led at the half. The score was 45-42, and then it was 64-42 in about a three minute stretch. I believe the final score ended up 71-47. Tennessee High lost the first game by 16 (51-35), but it was close until Devo fouled out early in 4th quarter. The 2nd game was cancelled due to the bad weather a couple of weeks ago. All the other games were essentially blow outs. The starting 5 for SH freshmen also play JV. Three players (Zack Howard, Jaylen Allen, and Hunter LeVeau) start for JV and suit out for varsity (play very little though). The SH freshmen are relatively tall, fast, and athletic. They're not a very good outside shooting team, but they are a strong defensive team, getting a lot of transition baskets. The second team is the better shooters and better man-to-man defenders, but not quite as quick and adept at ball handling. The freshman team has 17 players. My son plays for 9th grade and was talking to one of the freshman county players that had 12 players. The county player asked how many went out for SH freshman team. My son replied about 40. My son asked how many went out for the county team, and player told him he was looking at them. The Tennessee High freshman team only play freshman basketball. I agree that the best freshmen on many of the teams are playing JV. Compartively, the freshmen teams this year didn't have as much talent as the 8th grade teams last year. And SH played their best freshmen much of time just to get playing time. Counting the finals of the JV tournament, SH JV lost 3 games--Morristown West, Tennessee High, and Dobyns Bennett. The JV lost to DB by four in OT in the finals. I think the other games were relatively close too. SH only has two juniors playing basketball, so next year's SH varsity will mainly be composed of this year's freshmen and sophmores.

Congratulations to the Science Hill ninth grade for defeating the Tennessee High ninth grade 41-34 in the finals of the ninth grade tournament. Tennessee High continued to play Science Hill better than any other team in the conference keeping the game close. Science Hill ran off to a 10 point lead, but Tennessee High went ahead 17-16 midway through the 2nd quarter. The game was back and forth until the middle of 4th quarter when Science Hill opened up a 10 point lead and held on for the 7 point victory. Jaylen Allen led Science Hill with 14 points. Science Hill had no answer for Devo from Tennessee High other than foul him. Fortunately for Science Hill, Devo only made 2 of 8 free throws, or the game could have been much closer.

I talked to some Kingsport parents last year that said DB would be weak this year. I heard they did not field a 9th grade team last year. At the end of school last spring, the baseball coach had potential prospects from Ross Robinson and John Sevier working out to see if there was any talent he could use this year. Ross Robinson has a good team last year, but their pitching was suspect. I also heard that T Porter (one of Robinson's good players) moved to North Carolina.

My son is looking to play at the next level in travel baseball. He hit over .500, was 2nd in doubles and RBIs, and led his eight grade school team in stolen bases and OBP. He was 1-1 with a 2.20 era in 10 innings as a pitcher. His best position is 1st base, but generally plays in the outfield. He will be available in mid April. Willing to play with a team on an as needed basis.

My son is on the SHHS freshman team. They have about 10 really good players with various talents. Jaylen Allen is the most athletic. He can drive through a brick wall and has hops. Zack Howard is a six foot point guard who is hard to stop and can get hot. Hunter LeVeau is a 6'2" post man that seems to always be open. They have seven players that can play tenacious defense. Most of their points come from the defense. The rests of the points come from offensive rebounds. They are not a real good outside shooting team, but they have two non-starters who can shoot the three pointers with the best of them if left unattended and allowed to spot up. Any one of ten players can take over a game, so you can't concentrate on any one player. The eight grader, Will Adams, is good defensively and is a much more consistent outside shooter than any of the freshmen. Adams tends to be foul prone as does Jaylen Allen. Shannon is taller, but not as agile and as quick as the freshman postmen. The team that gives the freshmen the most difficulty is the Tennessee High freshmen. Their big post, Devo, is more physical than most of Science Hill's post. When Devo is in, Science Hill brings in Bennett Blanton who is the more physical post to pound with Devo. Devo is foul prone and has to take a breather ever so often. When Devo is out, Science Hill makes hay. If he fouls out, Tennessee High seems to lose some of their spirit. I think Coach Cutlip can't wait for the opportunity to have the eight and nine graders matriculate onto varsity. I wouldn't be surprised to see between 7 and 10 freshmen playing varsity next year, but I agree the year after that Science Hill should be the strongest with speed, size, and shooters. But at this age, it is hard to say who is going to grow and who will not, who will blossom, and who won't. I've seen several can't miss athletes in middle school that couldn't even make the team their senior year.

I saw the Science Hill/Tennessee High game, and thought that Tennessee High outplayed SH in all aspects of the game--out hustled, out rebounded, out shot, etc.-- for the first three quarters. Tennessee High definitely overguarded Josh Odem, but Josh was also cold from the field and the free throw line. SH continued to over rely on Josh and continuted to shoot three pointers and miss. In the second half SH started driving to the goal and starting coming back, but SH continued to shoot too many three pointers. Every time they would drive they would score; every time they shot the three pointer they missed. Sometimes coaching logic evades my simple mind. The last quarter, SH played smothering defense forcing Tennessee High into several 5 second calls. The high point of the game for SH was the kid at the end who stepped up and made the three free throws to send the game into overtime. In OT, Tennessee High came out and outplayed SH, just as they did in the first three quarters. SH kept fouling the point guard who kept making his free throws. Again, the coaching logic evaded my simple mind. Although my son plays basketball for SH and I am biased toward SH, I thought Tennessee High outplayed SH. SH relies on smothering defense and the three point shot. A methodical, physical team that plays good zone defense and has a reliable point guard is going to give SH problems during the season. That was Tennessee High on Friday.

I was at the Walton game and for the most part SH played about 10 players. Others came in very briefly. Jaylen Allen was in for about 25 seconds. I thought Walton had the better team. SH point guards made about a dozen turnovers. So much, that Odem started playing point guard. Walton's stud player fouled out in the third quarter. Walton had the ball for the last 1:35 in the first over time and couldn't score. The next day, one of Walton's player got fouled hard going up for dunk. On a later foul, Walton's bench emptied and every bench player was booted from the game. This gave the other team 18 technical foul shots. I think they made 10. It also left Walton with only four players. One player later fouled leaving only three. Walton still won by 10 playing the other team 3 on 5.