FPFanatic

Once again, this seasonal leadoff tourament looks to be a showcase preview of the upcoming season. Likely pre- season picks for state championships are Lipscomb in AA, Cumberland Co. in AAA, and St. Benedict and Brentwood Academy will challenge in Div. II. If Goodpasture is there, then the Class A pre-season pick will also be there. Not to mention that Hartselle and Decatur are always teams to beat in Alabama for their state championships as well. Other teams that will have a say in the outcomes are Greenbrier, Beech, Riverdale, Dickson in their respective classes.

Congrats Amanda! Good for you, There are many of us who have appreciated your hard work and work ethic over the years. Good things happen to good people.

std, "beloved home of the ex-vice president" come on now, that has nothing to do with anything. on second thought, if it was the home of the president now, less American lives may be lost in Iraq (since we digressed from softball). lets support our troops and bring'em home. we don't want another Nam.

antywan, apathy has set in. not really. there was one reply, but it is now gone. plusmembers apparently don't care about this non-issue. after 2/16/04, there probably would be a nine mile long thread about it. there are a few plusmembers from coffee co, but I don't recall any from riverdale - except for the new coach. anyway if the transfers did happen, riverdale will be the team to beat in their district, while 8AAA is now up in the air. also, the transfer process is no big deal, as long as no rules are broken, and knowing of ERA, I'm sure everything would be above board anyway. so, there are no dragons to slay, or mountains to be made out of molehills, or even owls to hoot at in this situation.

Deadeye, you are dead-on with most of your observations, that's why Cumberland Co. should be the favorite in AAA this year. They have the pitching, defense, offense, depth, and chemistry to win it all. No doubt all the years playing together in Dixie, Little League, USSSAA, etc. have prepared them well. That's why generally the smaller areas that have done this fare well in high school play. As you know, it is a little bit different in the bigger areas where they don't have this strong local feeder systems. There, the best players play travel ball wherever and tend to specialize in one or two positions. That's why the stronger travel teams generally fare better in the national higher level tournaments. As I have always said, kids need to be playing, it doesn't matter where, as long as they are playing and having fun. My hat is off to all those teams. Speaking of Crossville, you mentioned a Gold team that your daughter played on. I recall the Cyclones and Baby Dolls from last year, but I did not come across an 18-U team from Crossville this summer, was there one out there this summer?

I was beginning to wonder if anyone from Clarksville was going to say anything about the mess up there. Thanks for piping in! (lol) From the latest newscast tonight, this is what I understand has occured: schools have been delayed in starting in Montgomery Co. until Aug. 27 due to the alleged $7M shortfall. Also due to this shortfall, all assistant coaches have been released which leaves only one coach per sport. Also, out of town football games have been supposedly cancelled. Coaches have met and decided to boycot their jobs. Also, band and other extracurriculars are included in these cuts. Booster clubs and the YMCA were asked to help take up the slack, but they all said they could only do a little bit, not take care of the whole problem. I find this whole situation amazing. I see that with the Ft. Campbell troops being deployed, the sales tax funding would be reduced, but on the other hand, a ton of federal money should be going into these schools like it is in other places such as Tullahoma and Oak Ridge to name a couple. Hopefully, rational heads will prevail in Montgomery Co. and instead of making the drastic cuts in athletics and other extracurriculars, they will do a Bredesen and cut everything across the board about 10%!(lol)

http://www.fastpitchsoftball.net/Tournamen...our`tourID=4979

brentwood blues, 18-u "a" team, coached by ben tyree, probably best team in mid-state.

I see what you are saying Coacht, could I only ask that the AAU board be broken down between basketball and softball, that way more people could contribute to their sport of interest? After all, there are probably more different non-high school boards listed on here than high school boards (lol)

no doubt Breeden will improve the Riverdale program, no question they have the talent. the only thing is though, its a little different world in the 'boro, with a lot more distractions and competition for the focus, drive, and attention that was commanded at Coffee. not to be 'dissing either place, there are a lot more differences between the two than just 30-40 miles. anyway, Riverdale may be the team to beat now in their district.

It appears that this new format for this website has finally cut out a lot of the riffraff that we see from time to time on this forum. On the downside, the only problems as I see resulting from these changes are that it is going to be pretty boring just reading only the posts from the Plus Members (lol), and also the free flow of information has been stifled, which is the main concern I have. Summer softball, as I understand, was not the reason for this forum. However, the majority of high school players play summer softball now days. I don't want to go to the AAU forum to see about summer softball because it is predominately basketball, and I have no interest whatsoever in anything but softball, as my screen name attests. I really wish everyone would pay the $12 a year just to get to interact about softball year round. It would be well worth it to be a gift for the avid affectionado of the sport.

Another spin on this subject, earlier this year the principals in TN voted to once again split the private and public schools in 2004. If this happens, everything in A and AA changes, there will be more of the rural, country schools at State due to the restructuring of all the A and AA districts. AAA should not be effected much if any. Anyone have the latest info on this situation? also, AllisonE, although Hume Fogg loses a lot of players, they should be in contention again. With a strong young pitcher, plus the program is in a very good stage of development, they will be one of the ones to watch.

With the championships of 2003 winding down tonight and tomorrow, look ahead to who might be there in 2004. Some of the teams there this year are graduating a lot of players, and others are losing some great players; still others will have mostly everyone back. Who will be at State in 2004, and why? I'll start with the easy picks, Goodpasture, they lose two seniors but have replacements ready. Lipscomb, Rhodes will be back, that's all they need. Cumberland, as I understand will have mostly all back. Beech, loses a few seniors, but was loaded with a jr. class full of talent. Rossview, only had one senior. Also, 9AAA should be back in form with mostly all returning at Hendersonville, Mt. Juliet, Wilson Central, and Lavergne. Not sure about some others that lose a lot of talent like Soddy, Dickson, Maryville, Coffee, Greenbrier, FRA, Boyd, BA, Father Ryan, Ezell, Brentwood.

your are correct junkie, and both of these girls played a lot of travel ball. I know also a girl that played high school ball and she played just a little travel ball that has signed, so it works both ways. on the other hand, it would be hard to imagine someone not playing either to sign a softball scholarship; although with creative recruiting, anything could happen.

since you put it that way!

cumberland co. is too good, we got to keep them in the middle tn bragging rights area!

I wouldn't be crowing, pure ump (lol) That mantle of best fastpitch in the state passed over to middle tn a few years ago, besides, does cumberland co. really consider themselves to be a chattanooga team?

good job greenies, now hurry up and take care of business, we need ashley burton on sunday for the sting!

no need to get testy mrebel (lol) your points of reference are to the 9-12 age group. totally different game in the older groups as you may know. to each his/her own, everyone has their own opinions, but most people on the softball board opine that fastpitch is a great game and deserves equal consideration on all levels as baseball and the boys sports. if you prefer baseball, I don't mind at all, but it is not the better game IMHO. have a good day, fastpitch rocks! nuff said

good article about greenbrier in today's tennessean. that, megan walls, take 9 just like her and win any game any where!

don't forget dickerson and phillips. that's two of the best in the state coaching all this talent. other teams with great talent may not be able to put it all together, but these two coaches are pulling all the strings in the right places this year. not to say they can not be beat with an all-star at every position and more on the bench, but it is not out of the realm of reality for a forrest or a boyd to beat them. anything can happen.

Maryvillerebel, The reasons you say that girls are discriminated against are the very same reasons that fastpitch is a better and more skillful, thus more difficult, game than baseball. The larger ball has more movement, thus harder to hit. Pitching distance is shorter, thus harder to hit. Basepaths are shorter, thus harder to throw out runners. Rules on stealing or leaving early are different, thus the need for 3 umpires.

only on coacht.com can you get an argument over where east tennessee is and where middle tennessee, you have got to luv it actually, the breakdown of the state (by most circles), has been that the tennessee river divides west tennessee from middle tennessee, and the cumberland mountain range divides middle tennessee from east tennessee, glad I could help how cumberland co. got in the chattanooga region is a mystery since it is way up on the hill

UAH is looking for players. Wednesday, June 4: 11:30 Admissions MeetingsWednesday, June 4: 1:00-3:00 Softball Tryouts Interested seniors need a letter from their hs athletics director stating it is ok to tryout and an unofficial copy of their hs transcript. Interested juco players need an unofficial copy of their transcript. For questions and directions and to register please email Les Stuedeman, Head Softball Coach at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. stuedel@email.uah.edu

early prediction for state: greenbrier over lipscomb, based on how they have gone at it all year.