CoachJV

Punctuation, punctuation, punctuation Sportzfan. My 3rd grade edumacation won't allow me to understand this. You have some very good thoughts here that I think are of interest to a lot of people. I don't want to see your post overlooked due to readability.

I meant #2 on that list in the Chattanooga area. Sorry if I stated it wrong. By my numbers they had 218 between them. Thomas had 222 through the last I could find. I'm just saying they didn't do too badly. We can hire Bill James to come in and do a breakdown of win-shares, relative team strength, etc.,etc.,etc. but the discussion here was that Mount Juliet would NEVER be back to the Coffee County classic. I am asking for a clarification of that statement and asking if it was because they felt like they would play weaker teams here.

Never is a long time. We hope they come back...they are a great team. Great fans. Maybe I missed something...a close call that I didn't see that MJ felt like was a home cooking deal...I don't know. If it was I didn't see it and maybe I just don't remember...I have slept since then but I don't see what they have to be mad about. I understand how it angers a coach to get beat by a team that they don't feel like is in the same league as them. I have been there. If I live long enough I probably will again....but sometimes teams turn out to be better than you think they are. That is what I think happened last year. We got over looked some. I won't lie...when Martin stroked the home run off our freshman lefty, I thought "this is going to be ugly". I did not figure Casey Vincent was going to have the game she did but she kept the ball down and kept them off balance. She walked 2 and struck out 7 giving up 2 runs to a very strong team. Mt. Juliets pitcher, Shelby Morris (now at ETSU) struck out 5 and gave up 3 runs to CC. I'm not saying that as a bragging daddy, I'm just saying that as those are the facts of the game. Maybe Casey was fresher because she and Kristin Swan were pitching every other game. That's just good coaching in my opinion. I think developing a pitching "staff" instead of one pony is just smart but that's another thread. I don't know any stats on Morris but the Chattanooga Times post stats on their "best of preps". According to their results from May 9 of last spring, and compared to my numbers, the pitching staff of Kristen Swan and Casey Vincent would have been #2 in strike outs behind state champ Holly Thomas (Tennessee Tech). Again, just facts. In my opinion they got beat by a better pitching staff and better team. I'm not saying this to run down Mount Juliet. I am just saying that I don't see why they wouldn't want to come back to the Coffee County Classic. We had good teams, good food, good music. Plenty of hotel rooms and places to eat. We would love to have them back as well as the other great teams we have coming in.

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One of my most prized possessions is a video tape of the Blackman game where Kristen started, then Casey came in. Great plays by Shelby Davis, Leslie Keele, Tiffany McCormick kept us in the game and then at the end in the 10th inning Blackman walks Vincent to load the bases and bring Swan to the plate. I have Casey on video pointing back at Swan saying "Finish it, Finish it". At which Swan stepped to the plate and Drove...I mean DROVE in the winning run. I think she would have hit that ball no matter who was pitching. She just was not going to be denied. If you take one of those great kids out of the line up that win probably does not happen. Each of them including the kids in the dugout had a piece of that win. My opinion...all of them are leaders. They are what sport is all about. I have no doubt each of them will be successful in anything they do...and that is far more important than softball. This thread started about pitchers so I will finish with that. Speed of fastball, pitches, etc. All those are great abilities. By far, in my opinion, the most important talent is the ability to not poison a team. There are a lot of great talents out there that don't have this. We are lucky..we have two.

No.....I am afraid catcher won't be an option for CV....Unfortunately her psychiatrist says that it would not be good for her 2nd, 3rd and 5th personalities to be within 5 feet of any opposing team members. Her 1st personality wants to be a pastry chef (thus the constant need for dough) but her 4th personality believes she is a super hero and the mask conflicts with her self image. Oh well, thus is the life of the parent of 5...I mean 1..... /ph34r.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":ph34r:" border="0" alt="ph34r.gif" />

Poor Kristin and Casey may not see the mound this year in varsity play. CC has a junior transfer from Florida that is 6'2 throwing in the low 70's named Ima Wojodubokowski. She led her Florida Sun Coast league in strike outs and hit batters. The way it looks both Swan and Vincent will be sitting in the dugout polishing Ima's shoes. Poor kids...maybe they can sell tickets and watch everyone else play.

I just hope Mt. Juliet and that NOITALL guy come back. /popcorneater.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":popcorneater:" border="0" alt="popcorneater.gif" />

I have been wondering about all the age groups. That is one thing I like about some of the other organizations. They do a good job of posting results. By the way...we found out that they had a web cam on one of the fields. It was neat to be able to watch some of the games. We were texting to find out who was playing on that field and then we could watch it. We could see well enough to tell what was going on.

Now I am just a dumb old country boy, and no disrespect intended to these fine ladies, but I would like to specifically ask how many names were submited from Coffee County? I hope we were not just afraid to make someone mad so we only submited one. Specifically in my opinion, with the record we had and the teams we beat, it is a joke to me that players such as Leslie Keele and the Lawrencburg pitcher are not on this list. It looks pretty funny to me that Lawrenceburg and CC finished ahead of Riverdale and got so few names on this list. If no one wants to state this information publicly feel free to send it through the message system, I would really like to know. If it all boils down to playing in a "bigger market" maybe we need to re-think some things.

She is a fine young lady as well as well as a great athlete. She was in our Coffee County Youth Leadership group last year and I was very impressed with her as a person. I don??™t remember exactly what their group project was but I think it involved working with one of the local rest homes and some of the folks staying there. I do remember seeing the pictures from their group project and seeing her interact with the folks at the rest home on our group visits. I agree Lucky she is the real deal...both on the field and off from what I saw. Her parents and Tullahoma should be very proud of her.

Lunatic?.....you won't get many arguments..... /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" /> but then all of us are to some degree.

The negativism (sp) of picking the loser is probably what is costing MrNO some of his popularity. I hate the politically correct movement as much as anyone but when you say Team X is going to win not as many folks get mad. If you say Team Y is going to LOSE.....grand ma is going to come after you with a skillet.... I wouldn't do it that way....but a lot of people like to read it. Sometimes controversy sells tickets. What is the old story about the first lawyer in a town almost went broke...until another lawyer came to town and opened up shop....?

Hang in there Lucky. The girls and familys love what you do for us all, and we appreciate it. People don't know all of what is going on if your life but you have a lot of friends that wish you and yours nothing but the best.

So is that the reason Coach Kirk has been so successful at Soddy? Is he more open to people questioning what he does? He probably invites input from local travel ball coaches just to make sure he is on the right track. /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />

I still think we have some folks trying to shift the focus to an argument they can win to get their way. Faculty, non-faculty...in a perfect world.....I think these posts are starting due to losing....If they were 12-0 I don't think there would be much of a debate....but that is just my opinion. Having said that....I don't agree with everything the coaches are doing or have done. Who does? (Oh I know my wife agrees with everything I do....yeah that's funny) They would probably also agree they are not perfect but if we want to debate let's debate what matters. They are now playing .500 ball. Does that satisfy me? NO....I teach my daughter we play to win. Not be second. I don't want to do well...I want to dominate but these kids are getting better. My unofficial numbers show them hitting better each game. That is why I keep numbers myself. I don't have to wonder and I don't have to ask. If you just look at the pass/fail of wins and losses, you might miss the trend that will matter at the end of the year. To the girls I would say, keep it up! Good things are going to happen if you hit the ball. To the coaches I would ask the question, What can you do different so they come into the season hitting better than they have this year, and what can you do to insure they continue to improve? To the parents....uh oh...love you all but I have to ask...are you sure you are evaluating apples and apples? I really don't think this team is worse than years past.....but I think everyone else is getting better. More off season work...more visits to hitting coaches....pitching coaches...etc. I would ask Lucky and some of those guys to give us an honest evaluation of how this team would have done against the CC teams of five or ten years ago. How do the pitchers compare? How do the hitters compare? Team speed??? Are we going backwards as some have suggested, or have we simply let others out work us for the past couple of years? Are the stakes higher? Maybe I am wrong.... I think I remember ERA predicting about five years ago that girls softball would get more and more competetive...that as people realized there were opportunities for scolarships out there that more and more kids would do pitching lessons, hitting lessons, trim down to one sport, etc. There is money out there on the table...who wants it? A lot more people than it used to be.....and by the way.... someone is always watching...we had people watching this weekend that scout for colleges. We have kids that are as athletic as anyone but nowadays that is not enough. Now they have to be good athletes, get good instruction AND work on it year round. I hate that part. I really do, but it is the reality of the situation. So for my money we have a choice to make....be satisfied that they are having fun...being successful 50 percent of the time, staying out of trouble.....or do we want to go for that next level. Ultimately it is the girls choice but there is no free lunch. BE AWARE OF WHAT YOU ARE ASKING FOR IF YOU WANT MORE! If you think just getting a sweet female faculty coach that played a little college ball at Motlow would do the trick....Well I can't use the words here that I want to use. Ask me about kids puking in trash cans, batting practice in a thunderstorm, kids swinging a bat until their blisters burst and their hands bleed. Do they want it that bad? I'll be honest...I wouldn't...it is not worth it to me....but that is me...not them. I think these guys have the knowledge to allow the kids to get there....I don't see anything wrong with what they are teaching. It is solid...The hitting is real close to what I have seen taught at Alabama...and Alabama has been leading the nation in hitting. What I don't see is I don't see it sticking.....are we undoing it on the way home talking about what idiots they are? Keep in mind that has a negative effect at the plate for the kids. They don't forget what we say.....even though they act like it. I am not innocent of that...I have done it......and I was wrong. I think...and again I might be wrong...but I think...that if we commit to being the best we (and that means all of us) can be, this can still be a very good year.

I agree??¦.I don??™t think these posts are really coming from parents of kids on the team, rather someone of a younger group or kids that did not make the team this year. Most of this group of parents has never had a problem speaking their mind. The girls and coaches are frustrated. There is still a lot of softball left to play.

Amen to that CHS4life....she is a great player and a great competitor. We look forward to seeing her pitching at UT. Get well quick Cat.

Let's not think we have him converted just yet.....)))) Does Mr.No have any details on the Columbia and Lawrence Co. game? Is Lawrence Co. that good or did Columbia have a bad night?

MrNoirAll, I speak for JayV..not CC...I think you misread what I said. I said my opinion was we did not adapt fast enough to win. I also said the umpire was consistent. I don't blame him at all. I hope he umpires some of the travel ball games I am involved in as a coach. I will already know what to expect and maybe the other team won't. That would be an advantage to us....Next time we should know what to expect. But maybe we won't. By the way, I think I understand your name now....the key is the "NO"....it is not that you "know" it all...it is that you want to say "no"...to all.

Columbia 5 CC 1. We had a bad first inning...gave up five runs. The last six innings CC won 1-0 but that doesn't count. I scored CC with 6 hits and Columbia with 5.....Both pitchers adjusted to the umpires strike zone by the second inning and setteled down to work well. I can't fuss about the umpire...he was consistent both ways. The home team got to figure out what the strike zone was first and it bit us. That is part of the game as well. A lot of times people see a score of two teams in one game 1-0....then the same teams play later and it is a 5 to 6 affair.....Check your umpire....and again, that is just part of the game. If the pitchers are throwing to a shoe box the teams should score a lot of runs. If they have more "real estate" to work with, a good pitcher is going to take advantage of it. We heard Coach Acheson talking about TTU's game against Alabama last season.....it was a good example. They beat BAMA 2-4 on Saturday....and lost 19-10 on Sunday...no typo. Different umpire.....his words not mine. I have heard it said that softball is a game of constant adjustments....I see the coach telling them the right adjustmenst to make...if they buy in they can win. I still have faith in these young ladies. They will be fine.

Turbostats for us....we started using it for travel ball and now we just go ahead and use it whenever the daughter is playing school ball. We use the PDA but we also keep a book. The wife is not comfortable with the pda and it can get a little tedious at times. It is a huge help on the travel team when it comes to scouting other teams. The pro series will do a lot of pitching data that helps our kids know what is probably coming in what count. I wish it was where we didn't have to do that but if other teams are doing it to us, and we know they are, we don't have a choice. Hope this helps.

Good post ERA...I agree...it is early. I think CC is having a little frustration right now....but that could be a good thing. If they weren't frustrated I would be concerned. What I do think is positive is no one is into the blame game. They appear to be looking for answers to the little things it takes to get to the next level. We dropped the opener to Blackman 3-0....Frankly I think they are better than people give them credit for. Like Cat their pitcher is throwing some serious heat with good movement. Of the 83 pitches that I had her throwing, only 38% of them were fast balls. If you can throw movent pitches for strikes with that kind of speed, you are going to be successful. We had an error or two as we discussed in an earlier post and I understand the young lady that jacked the home run has spent a good bit of time down at Ravenwood Farms but she wasn't shoveling horse manure.... Tullahoma......, we were in it and I think we can get there. The girls have to get used to that kind of speed, but I think they will. Siegel,... Kristen proved to me she is a big time pitcher. I think great things are ahead of this young lady if she keeps working like she has. I don't know what her plans are after high school but I think she will be playing for a good while if she wants to. Bolton,....Freshmen pitcher on our side...what can you say...too many walks. (She is mine so I can say it) One little thing happens and they don't tie it back up...That plus Terry and Casey are still learning each other. I saw a couple of times on full count Terry call a pitch and Casey's brain gears start turning...."just how much plate do I need to get here"....oooops....I think they will work that out and we will need the extra pitching down the stretch. She is hard headed like her mother but I think Terry and Kenny have a chance of bringing her around. My money is still on CC to win the district. Will it be easy? Nope. Will everyone get what they want or will some have to give in for the good of the team? Nope.That is why it is called a team. Will the coaches make mistakes along the way? Of course...we are all human. Wasn't there a football team that started a little slow last season that made a big splash at the end? Giants maybe? And once again MrNoitAll....there is no whining here. Opinions are expressed as such, nothing else. We will have to wait until this is over to see who was right. I will tell you that I try to base my opinion on fact and data. If I quote you a stat or state it as a fact I can show you the data. Last thing and I have to go back to work...on the Crimson post both sides are a little bit right. I think Terry would agree with no outs and two on, we need to score that run, but in Terry's defense they wern't swinging away with no outs. The next hitter up was a slapper. She was out to the catcher on a pop up and I bet no one responding to these posts could have done any better. Mine couldn't have....Jones put that pitch right where she needed to to get the result she wanted. We will get another chance.... Keep fighting ladies. We are going to start working on doing the wave in the stands Tuesday night. I haven't heard from Elvis yet but he may be back. /motorbike.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":motorbike:" border="0" alt="motorbike.gif" />

Wow MrNoit All....all that information and you didn't get the score? It makes me wonder if you were really there. Did you stay for the cash drawing at the end? See all those college scouts in the stands? Don't tell anyone but it was reported that Elvis was seen lurking under the bleachers. He rode in on his Harley. /motorbike.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":motorbike:" border="0" alt="motorbike.gif" /> It was a 2-1 ball game. Well worth the price of admission. Well worth planning on going to the next one in Tullahoma. My amatuer scoring had only three hits each off two great pitchers. I had Swann of CC with 8K's and Jones of THS with 5. I show CC had 3 errors to THS's 1 that I would attribute to early season jitters and CC playing a lot of different kids at infield positions during the play days. Daughter is a freshmen at CC but we know a lot of girls on both teams. They are all good kids and played a heck of a ball game. It was the kind of game that makes both teams better. If one team works at getting better and the other doesn't this could flip, or turn to a blow out at the next one. Before you come back about whining, Tullahoma won. No excuses. Come vist us April 8 in Tullahoma. Bring some friends. Stop and eat on the way home and fill up with gas. Metropolitan Coffee County needs the tax revenue. It will benefit both Manchester and Tullahoma.

I thought my mother in law was the only person afraid to go into Manchester during Bonaroo. She stocks up like the end of the world is coming for this week so she does not have to venture out. We may all be that way some day, but if you are not in that boat you should be fine. My wife is in town now heading to the school and she says trafic is not bad at all. The first year caught us all by suprise but every year after that it has been not a big deal. Come on down and enjoy the games. Anyone that can handle Murfreesboro traffic shouldn't have trouble here. Get off at 105 to be safe and if you run into a little traffic double back and take Spring Street for about a mile then look to get over to highway 55. If you get lost ask someone...most of us locals don't bite.)))