WmBlGovs

I understand that if Blackman wins, they will host the semifinals. What if Oakland wins? Being from East Tennessee, I believe that Maryville will win over Science Hill. Would the higher seed (Maryville) host Oakland? People around here have argued both ways...Maryville would travel only if Blackman wins, as well as Maryville will host if Oakland wins. What do you folks in Middle TN understand about this?

Believe you are right about Coach Blevins, Neil. Some of the teams from 3-AAA that have won their district or came in 2nd over the past few years include Karns, Powell, Central, and Halls. Don't know who won when or who the coaches were. Maybe someone from 3-AAA can help out here. But my point was to show that each year there seems to be 4-5 teams who are in the hunt, unlike some districts where one team always wins. Lately, I have to admit, Maryville has been the dominant team in 4-AAA, but several of their championships came when other teams (William Blount, Farragut, Heritage, for example) actually had superior teams in my opinion.

Middle of football season, I know, but so what? i was thinking about how balanced our district has been since the new milienium. Would like to know other districts results, especially 3-AAA in Knoxville. Teams like Gibbs and Soddy Daisy always seem to win their district, but I think that Region 2 (3-AAA and 4-AAA) have always had 4-5 teams that could win any given year. So... YEAR CHAMPION COACH RUNNER-UP 2000 William Blount England Maryville 2001 William Blount England Farragut 2002 Maryville Hawkins William Blount 2003 Maryville Hawkins Bearden 2004 Farragut Moore Bearden 2005 Bearden ??? Maryville 2006 Farragut Moore Heritage 2007 Maryville Hawkins Heritage 2008 Maryville Hawkins Farragut 2009 Maryville Hawkins Farragut 2010 Maryville Hawkins Farragut 2011 William Blount Leatherwood Maryville 2012 Maryville Allen Bearden Other 4-AAA teams during this span...West, Lenoir City, Catholic, Sevier Co., South Doyle have not made it to championship game. But, William Blount, Maryville, Farragut, bearden, and Heritage are usually pretty strong teams.

Not all William Blount fans believe that you have to take a knee. I was so embarrased that night when grown ups were yelling "TAKE A KNEE' to the Rebel players while the player lay injured on the ground. I guess that "what" is respectful is in the eyes of the beholder. My kid got in trouble for saying "Yes" instead of saying "Yes Sir" to one coach and for saying "No" instead of "No Mam" to a teacher. I would bet that some of the Maryville faithful who say we won't take a knee to anybody would be the first to take issue with someone(like my child) not saying "Sir" or "Mam". Congratulations Maryville on another trip to State. We'll be pulling for you.

Softball12, I respectfully disagree that talent alone got Maryville the championship last year. Maryville only had two players that would have started for WB or Farragut...Blanco and Chancli Connatser, and Connatser would have played first, not pitch. I do not personally like Coach Hawkins, but he had an outstanding district tournament record over time, often with inferior talent, and certainly not always one of the two best teams in the district, but Maryville was always competing for the championship, it seemed. (and won the last four in a row.) Coach Allen may be the best coach ever, but he is still an unknown quantity. Maryville will be a very good team this year, but I don't believe that they will finish in the top two. Let me quickly add that Connatser would have been WB's #2 pitcher behind Tuck, and would have been Farragut's #1, maybe.

Look for William Blount and Farragut to rule 4-AAA now that Coach Hawkins is no longer coaching at Maryville. Heritage and Maryville will still be tough contenders, but this should be WB's year. (Well, actually, last year was until the district tournament.) Maryville's reign is finally over.

Three good and very capable teams. On any given day... Can anyone tell me about the WB and Maryville game yesterday? How did we play? I know that Maryville usually plays good ball during the postseason, but I really thought that this was our year. Could someone who was at the game give some insight and details.

All good teams, but William Blount beat Maryville twice. Farragut beat Maryville the other day by 8 or 9 runs. (I know that Maryville is still a very good team and anybody can have a bad game, but I question your having Maryville as your number 1 team.) I also believe that Farragut should be included. They are a very dangerous team. William Blount has done much better than I ever thought they could this year with a new coach and no seniors. This really could be the year of the Lady Govs.

The beginning of this season has been really good. WB is off to a great start. I don't know how many times we have beaten Farragut in softball, but we did beat them in the district championship game in 2001.

Congratulations to our Lady Governors for making it to the gold finals. It's good to have William Blount back on the softball map again. New coach seems to be doing an excellent job. Saw in the paper where we beat Maryville the other day. Great job girls! Speaking of them, who pitched Maryville's game against Creekwood? I heard that Connatser did not. Any body know why she didn't pitch agaist Creekwood?

Maryville almost always looks terrible in preseason games. I think it is part of Coach Hawkins stategy. Come tournament time, I'd rather play ANYBODY but Maryville.

I agree that William Blount looked good. They will be a factor in the district race this year.

I believe that the Conatser kid from Maryville is the best in the Knoxville area and one of the best in the state. I think that she is senior and signed to play at some college, but I don't know which one.

While I'm not really surprised by the outcome, even though I was guilty of some wishful thinking, I never expected us to be shut out. Congratulations Maryville on your win and getting 1st in the district. We'll keep on battling and getting better. Maybe next year we'll make it a much closer contest. Still very proud of the Govs for fighting till the end. By the way, I may be in the minority, but I don't think that it is necessary for a team to take a knee when there is an injury on the field...it may be an act of courtesy, but Maryville always exhibits good sportsmanship whether they take a knee or not.

This is high school football, not the NFL or some major college paying coaches millions of dollars. Leave the coaches alone. How immature to attack a high school coach on a message board like this one. The coaches will do a good job if we support them and give them time to implement their system. And if we still don't have the success we want, then remember...this is high school football!!!

Congats, Coach Hawkins.

In AAA, I agree that Riverdale, Beech, and Soddy Daisy are very likely to be at state next year. Someone said that Knox Central would be a darkhorse, and that is true. I think that Maryville will also make it back with Connatser pitching.

I agree...let them play. A couple of thoughts. 1. Great athletes will still be great athletes no matter how many sports they play, and will still be great athletes even with a minimal amount of practice at each sport. 2. Terrible athletes will still be terrible athletes no matter how much they practice or how many sports they play. It's all the ones in the middle that benefit from excessive practice (done right).

I can think of several reasons why a coach would bunt with two outs, with or without a runner on third. 1. If facing a strong pitcher... if you can get the bunt down, it beats a strikeout. 2. Fast batter...same effect as a slapper, especially if 1st and/or 3rd basemen are playing back. Many bunts become hits. 3. Defense commits more errors on bunt play than any other in softball. 4. Gets in defenses heads...can make a difference late in game. 5. Makes game more intersesting.

I hera what your saying "Turnadouble". good answer. /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />

I think I got your point. I agree that a coach should not get onto a player if the coach called the bunt+steal and the runner got doubled up because the bunter popped up. However, we will have to agree to disagree on base runners not taking a quick glance towards the batter when stealing. I think that the runner should always do this. But again, coaches have reasons for what they do, and spectators like to speculate and second guess the coaches. Coaching is not easy. I don't won't your job!!

As a spectator, not a coach, I am intrigued by some of the coaches answers about having a straight steal. Do you coaches instruct your batters to never even swing at a pitch if the steal sign has been given? What about steals with two strikes on the batter? To my way of thinking, having a good bunter bunt while having a runner steal is no different than those situations...or the hit and run. But then again, maybe that's why you are the coaches, not me.

I disagree. A fast runner stealing while a good bunter bunts usually gets the runner to 3rd base. Also, the defense is sometimes put in an awkward situation because they don't expect the batter to bunt while a runner is stealing. I've seen both runners be safe on this play. All runners should be taught to check where the ball is hit if a steal is on, whether the batter bunts or swings away. Yes, there is a risk involved...but that's what makes the game more exciting and unpredictable. I certainly wouldn't call a coach an idiot for trying such a play.

As if this district wasn't already tough enough. Another good vetran coach. Between Coach Moore at Farragut, Coach Hawkins at Maryville, and Coach Dowling at Heritage, and now Leonard Sams at Bearden, WB has its work cut out. I think that our own Coach Mitchell can hold her own against them. Welcome Leonard.

Maryville could make it. They won our district tournament last year (over Farragut and William Blount) and made it to the sectional round. Don't remember who beat them, but I think they have most of their players back, including their top pitchers. They beat us rather easily last year. They are always pretty darn tough. (I think there are 9 teams in District 4-AAA. Maybe only 8)