HSsportznut

That is exactly my point! Private schools can get kids that public schools cant get. You pay your way to a school where you can play! And as for bad schools, crime rates, etc.....at least you have a private school to go to. There are no private schools in roane county. Rockwood and Harriman are not havens of low crime rates! At one time, Roane County had one of the highest rates per capita of unsolved murders in the nation! They have their share of druggies, rednecks, racists, dropouts and deadbeats just as ALL public schools have. The difference between ppl like you and small town citizens is that they cant afford to send their kids off to private schools! They have to take their chances in the public systems! Also, I never mentioned the word recruiting! Why is it whenever this debate starts that private school proponents started yelling we dont recruit? I NEVER MENTIONED THE R WORD! And I dont think you recruit. No one said you did. But I am also an old travel ball coach and I know for a fact that many players that I coached over the years went to private schools because of athletics! That is a fact. I know of numerous parents that came together in travel ball and because they had the financial resources sent their kids to the same private schools in order to have good teams. I know coaches that have been offered more money than teachers are paid just to go coach at private schools! A couple actually took the offers. I also know a VERY successful high school coach (with more than one state championship on his resume) that was offered a coaching job at a local private school and a doctor there was going to pay him the same amount that the school was going to pay...basically double salary. But he had the decency to turn it down. I am not saying you guys do things like that, but I know ones that have! In east tn some of the best athletic facilities are on the campus of private schools. Lots of players that have the funds go to those schools. Public schools dont have the funds to build them. Also, why do so many private schools win so many state championships in different sports....especially at the smaller school levels???? Is it just a freak occurence of nature? HARDLY!!! Dont play the hard work card either! Public school kids work just as hard as the privates do. What an elitist statement to make. So kids and parents at private schools are just harder workers? That takes the cake! I believe that private school parents say stupid statements like that to try to make themselves feel better because they know what a big and unfair advantage they have over the small public schools! I have noticed that the public/private debate is hardly a factor when you are talking about the larger schools. The large schools have enough kids that they can overcome the stacked talent you find on privates. So they can compete with them. Its the small schools that have an unfair disadvantage. One more thing, dont ever play the "I am paying for what you are getting free" card!!! That is the dumbest statement ever made on coacht!!! NO ONE IS MAKING YOU PAY!! That is purely voluntary on your part!! If some one forced you to send your kids to private school then I would have sympathy for you! I didnt have the funds to send my kids or grandkids to private school so dont go bellyaching over the fact that you have to pay....its TOTALLY your choice! I thank god you have the resources to do it. Most of us dont! The bottom line is no matter how you want to frame it, private schools have an unfair advantage over public schools! Whether its facilities, academics, coaching, or anything else. Publics arent on equal footing!

If this were major league baseball, all the effort you expended in compiling this data would mean something. But since these schools dont play each other or the same opponents then this is meaningless. Remember the old saying, statistics lie! You can take numbers and make them say anything you desire. In this case how can you compare margin of victory when they havent played the same teams or faced the same pitchers? If you give up 10 or 15 runs to a team and your ace is on the mound its different than giving up 10 or 15 runs with a jv pitcher getting a start! Rockwood for example rested their top pitchers (plural) in a game earlier in the yr in order to give some younger guys some work to prepare them for the state, They gave up 15 runs in a single game! That ran up the runs against and margin of victory numbers. However, next time they faced that same team they pitched one of their better pitchers and he pitched a one hitter. So even with the same two teams, the numbers are hard to compare because of factors like who was pitching. Some times teams will save their best pitchers in games that count and throw off in non-district games. So stats like margin of victory or runs allowed or runs scored means very little. Rockwood was 18-3 in single A games but 2 of those 3 losses were to Harriman that is also in the state tournament! The other loss was to coalfield which beat rockwood and harriman in the regular season and was one out away from the substate when a dropped fly ball on what would have been the final out cost them the game. The quality of the opponent plays a major role in subjective stats like margin of victory and runs allowed and winning percentage of opponents! Last year rockwood scored 10 runs or more in every district and region game except one and they scored 9 in that one. The vast majority of their games lasted only 5 innings due to the run rule. Last year I am sure if you had done a similar examination of statistics, the tigers would have looked like the best team in the state! In fact Rockwood was undefeated against single A opponents until they went to the state last yr. That didnt guarantee them a ring!!!! Last yr Rockwood had two players that made all state. One hit 18 homeruns and the other hit 9 or 10. This year they have hit 10 and 5 respectively. Have those players gotten worse? Homerun statistics say yes.....but in reality, each one has played better overall this year than last. The homerun numbers are down because ppl pitched more carefully to them this year and also pitched around then when the opportunity existed. Bottom line: numbers are fun to talk about but games are won between the lines, no team has ever lost a game because they looked at the statistics and said "We give! The numbers are against us. We wont even try!"

Thank you for proving my point! You said "Well lets just say this yes kids can come from places all around the town of jackson." Have you ever been to Rockwood? Harriman? Coalfield? According to the US Census Bureau Jackson has over 61,000 people living there! Rockwood has 5,774! You have 3 private schools and 4 public schools, Rockwod has ONE school period. Anybody with half a brain can see that if you have a talent pool of over 61.000 to draw from and your opponent has a pool of less than 6,000 then you have a MAJOR advantage!!! And the number of schools in the town doesnt diminish that fact, because private schools arent zoned! Any kid that wants to come there can and there is nothing to stop them....they have total choice. Rockwood is a public school and can only draw from those kids zoned for the Rockwood High School. The same is true for their next door neighbor Harriman. Harriman has 6744 according to the census bureau. So if you combined the two towns of Rockwood and Harriman, you would basically have 12,518 kids to choose from.....which is still over 48,000 less kids to choose from!!!! DO THE MATH. Privates have an advantage that Publics cant overcome very often. And if you want to compare kids...... Beau Mayton - since birth Zach Breazeale - since birth Colden Cooper - since birth Bryant Allen - since birth Shane Doughty - since birth Zach Duncan- since birth Curt Boston - since birth Tyler Skidmore - since birth Chase Clem - since birth Matt Hill - since birth Taylor Treadway - since birth Cody Wampler - since birth Brandon Green - since birth Now break it down, 100% of Rockwoods starters are rockwood kids, no transfers that came in from out of town! Thank you for adding credence to my "tirade". /smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" /> I dont have a Harriman source but I imagine they could supply similar results. Thats where the private school crowd misses the boat....they dont understand that having the ability to reach anywhere is such a HUGE advantage. But it is! Imagine how good Rockwood could be if they could go to Harriman and pull in some of their best players or vice versa. Public schools cant do that, privates can.

Well they played LV in the regular season and Rockwoods number two pitcher beat LV's ace. In that game LV made some mistakes late that turned the game in Rockwoods favor, but thats high school baseball. Everybody makes mistakes and if they are made at the wrong time, they can cost you a game. So they are basically 1-0 against one of those 1-6 teams already this year. I can tell you this, if Rockwood plays good defense and hits the ball like they are capable of hitting, they can beat every team on that 1-6 list. But turn it around, how many of those teams could maybe beat more than ONE of those 1-6 teams? Your statement is probably true about every team on the list depending on pitching matchups, errors, etc etc. And since most of these teams dont play the same competition or each other, its impossible to say who can beat who...thats why they are gonna play it on the field! There will be a champion that wins this tourney and it could be anybody....baseball is all about whos hot, whos not, who is getting great pitching, who is fielding the ball good, who has luck on their side and most of all who is hungriest for it. No one can predict who is going to be lucky next week and as far as the other factors go, hot streaks change on a weekly basis! Take Rockwood for example, the University High team they beat had won something like 9 or 10 straight games coming into the sectional contest but they ran into a rockwood team that was mad after suffering a humiliating loss to arch rival harriman. Rockwood fans tell me that UH had better pitching than what Rockwood saw in the region. But the Tigers had their backs to the wall friday night and came out of the box angry and jumped on UH early and put them on the defensive from the start. Also, experience is a huge factor. Rockwood went undefeated in district and region play last yr with a starting lineup that included 9 juniors and one senior. They rolled into the state thinking they were going to continue that kind of domination and wound up losing 2 out of 3 games they played. This year they are returning 9 of the 10 guys that started last yr and are more humble and also know that no one is going to lay down and fear them. There is no replacement for experience! If any team thinks the tournament is going to be a piece of cake they are in for a rude awakening. I know from reading the comments that Cascade fans were making just a week or so ago, they thought that the championship was just a foregone conclusion and everbody else was just wasting their time. But a funny thing happened on the way to their coronation!

I read in the Knoxville News-Sentintel that they were 28-6 but my friend who is a rockwood dad tells me they are 27-7. Also he informed me that Rockwood plays in the LV tourney each year and that is how the two school have become good friends. He said it is a mutual respect thing that has grown out of yrs of competing against each other. He said last yr in the state that the two teams fans cheered for each other (they were in different brackets). I think that kind of sportsmanship should be honored and not made fun of. As a roane countian (who has witnessed yrs of Rockwood/Harriman wars) I am curious to find out how the two of them act when they go to the Boro. They are in different brackets. Will harriman fans cheer for rockwood (and vice versa)? Also who will Rockwood fans cheer for when Harriman plays LV? /huh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":huh:" border="0" alt="huh.gif" />

Hmmm, maybe they should just give Jackson Christian the trophy! Just kidding! It is suprising to me that most of the so-called experts are picking either Richland or Summertown as the favorites. I have heard that Jackson Christian is not the threat that they were last yr....but we all know that is conjecture. Its true Rockwood might have a time beating a team twice, but its not for certain that they would have to play any team twice. Check out this scenario: If rockwood beats JC in game one, they move on and play for arguments sake, Summertown. If they beat Summertown, they will end up playing the winner of the loser bracket which lets say turns out to be FC. If they beat FC that would put them in the finals against a team from the other bracket who lets say for the sake of argument has one loss already. If they beat that team they would be state champs by only playing the minimum of 4 games and never played any team twice!!! I seriously doubt that scenario will happen.....but this is tournament baseball and you never know what could happen! Thats what makes this so much fun.

Before you write off the east, you should be aware that the best team in the entire state (and one of the top 10 in the nation) is AAA Farragut from right here in knoxville. In fact, AAA, Bearden which is Farraguts next door neighbor went 33-5 (3 of those losses were to Farragut) and didnt make it to the state because Halls, another Knoxville team beat them in the playoffs. Halls then lost to another east tennessee team in the sectional. In single A ball in east tennessee, Lookout Valley can play with anybody. Rockwood beat LV earlier in the season in a barn burner, so dont overlook the tigers. They also beat McMinn Central (a AA team that made it to the sectionals) twice this year. And even Harriman whose 17-17 record may not be as impressive as those west and middle TN teams beat Rockwood 2 out of 5 times they played including the region championship game. It may be that the competition in the east is tougher or that the teams play alot of games out of their classification. I know Rockwood did this yr. Also I believe that Jackson Christian and Friendship Christian are private schools (correct me if I am wrong) and everyone knows they have an advantage over public schools. I am not going to get into all that here, but if you have ever visited LV, Rockwood, or Harriman, you would have noticed that they are sleepy little towns that only have a small population to draw from and its hit or miss as to whether any good athletes are born there or not. Unlike private schools that can pull from a wide area and across county lines. There are Roane County kids that go to private schools in knoxville (which is legal as long as you can pay the tuition and get to school each day) but there are NO knoxville area kids that drive to Rockwood or Harriman or Midway or any other public school in Roane County to play ball for them! The point I am making is that if your talent pool is limited only to your small community, then you are at the mercy of fate as to whether or not you get any good athletes. A private school (even the ones that dont recruit or offer scholarships) can pull kids from multiple cities, towns and counties! This gives them an advantage that small schools cant compete with. That is a fact and as long as the TSSAA allows it to happen, public schools will be at a disadvantage and they have to live with it. With that said, I think west and middle fans had not get too overconfident looking at records or bragging about the past. Ever year is different and occasionally a small east tn team will come in their and blow the doors off the mighty west and middle teams. Ten yrs ago, Coalfield (which is tiny compared to Rockwood and Harriman) won it all. So go ahead and write off the east, consider them an easy win but dont get on here and cry if you get ambushed by one of them!

You cant look at scores from games that were played earlier and tell much of anything. You have to know who pitched for each team, where the games were played, who was might be on a hot streak (or struggling) at the time, any special situations that existed at the time, etc, etc... I know that some teams dont pitch their top guys in potential matchups with state teams early in the season just so they can keep the other teams from seeing their ace too early. Its never easy to pick a favorite because there are so many factors that affect a baseball game. Unlike basketball and football where the most talented teams normally can be depended on to win, baseball is all about pitching. A weak hitting, lesser talented team can have a pitcher get hot and shut down a better team on any given day and pull an upset. There is never an automatic win in baseball. Good pitching shuts down good hitting. So you never know what can happen. Thats what makes baseball the greatest sport out there! Speaking of pitching, my rockwood friend tells me that last year in the state the teams that made it to the end were the ones that were loaded in quality pitching. The jackson christian team that beat them twice pitched 4 different pitchers in the first 4 games and each one was about equal with the others. If you have a stable of good pitchers, you have an excellent chance of going the distance!

Not too far off on your picks! Harriman just won by 1 but Rockwood rolled by 8. Congratulations to Roane County, you now have two teams in the state tournament! All the recent name calling and finger pointing between the two schools could be put to an end in a Rockwood/Harriman state championship game!!! Now wouldnt that be one for the record books??? I dont have a source from harriman, maybe bluedevil fans can fill us in on how that one went, the winning pitcher, clutch hitter etc. My Rockwood source phoned in updates and from what I could gather it sounds like the tiger offense which had been sputtering with only 7 runs scored in their last two games broke out the bats in a big way. They scored 8 and apparently from what I gather were threatening to score nearly every inning. Meanwhile, Zach Breazeale mowed down University High hitters with very little trouble all night. When you pitch a shutout in a Sectional game that is quite an accomplishment! I also heard that Rockwood's defense turned in some sterling defensive plays. Sounds like the tigers are out of their funk and getting ready to play state tournament level ball. Things will get tougher from this point on for both teams, but hopefully with TWO county teams in the tourney we can make some noise in the Boro!

I say way too much on here, especially since I dont have a dog in the fight. But I hope what you said is true and harriman fans and rockwood fans will unite and cheer for each other if you both go to the state. You guys dont know how lucky you are to have a chance to go.....WE NEVER HAVE A CHANCE. It puts a "burr in my saddle" to read posts where all you guys do is whine and moan about calls or plays in games where you WON!!! Then you get on here and run down other players and teams and fans. You are ALL acting like spoiled brats! I can say for a fact that the person who called harriman fans trash was a kid.....I know him, I know the nickname he uses. And for the unsportsmanlike play you have been harping on for post after post, last year harriman pulled a trick play on Clem and its quite possible that it is the reason why he came to a stop in the game the other night. Last yr he was stealing and harrimans catcher threw a popup into the air by second base. Clem was safe but looked and saw the second baseman running under the ball and catching it. Thinking that the batter had hit the ball, he headed back to first and harriman got him out! One of the best trick plays I ever saw! Its possible that when he headed down to second the other night and saw the second baseman running up to catch a popup that he was thinking that it was happening again and froze! I am not saying that is what happened, but I am saying he got burned last yr and it may have been a factor. I would imagine that a play like that would be something that you would always remember! As for AJ, did you read his post? What is a senior doing getting on here, calling out ppl, getting all wound up in something from the past? As I said earlier, this is the time for senior leadership and focus. Harriman starts several young guys including at least one freshmen. They need seniors to stand up and lead not get down in the mud over a game from earlier in the week! Going to the state is a lifelong accomplishment that they can tell their grandkids about! I havent seen one Rockwood player on here calling out harriman ppl. They went to the state last yr and know how hard it is to get there and how tough the competition is. Sometimes this is the only chance you ever get. I dont know AJ personally but have seen him play for years. I imagine he is ever bit as good a kid as he is an athlete. But even good kids can run their mouths....and as I posted earlier, the comments he made were removed...so someone must have straightened him out. Also, I would love to meet you, I have been involved in baseball for many years and have NEVER met a fan that hadnt at least ONCE yelled that an ump made a bad call or missed a call on a pitch!!! You belong in Cooperstown! /roflol.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":roflol:" border="0" alt="roflol.gif" />

You would have been better off not posting what you just said and let it drop than to have said this. Never has yelled at an ump? NEVER???? EVER??? That is one amazing fan! I personally believe that every fan that has ever watched a game has at one time or another yelled at a questionable ball or strike call. And from all the umpiring that comes from the harriman side, its hard to believe that she is not one of them! Did she yell at the ump about the call in question??? Something tells me she did.....because she is yelling about it on here. She has taken a kid that has the cleanest reputation in Roane County and single handedly tried to make him look like public enemy number one! There is NO EXCUSE for that! Also, I noticed Mr Johnson has removed his redneck remarks from the posts....apparently a coach or another wise adult made him do it! However his remarks are still on here because they were quoted in another post. It is less than 24 hrs to the biggest game of the yr and harriman ppl are still wallowing in a game played on tuesday!!!!!

AJ did you read my previous post? This is exactly what I am talking about.....players and fans are focused on a meaningless game now instead of the game of THE SEASON to this point. NO ONE IS CALLING YOUR FAMILY NAMES! Your team is young and inexperienced when it comes to state tournament play. Instead of running your mouth about stuff that is meaningless I would suggest that you concentrate on leading a young harriman team to victory tomorrow night! Dont make a win over Rockwood (a team that has beaten you 3 out of 5 times) be the focal point of the season. Drop it and focus on the sectional. Beating Rockwood meant ZERO. Beating Hancock Co. means going to the state!!! Cant you understand that! Be a senior leader. I bet your coach would freak if he knew you were on here talking trash about a game that was played two days ago instead of concentrating on winning the biggest game of your career!!!!!! I hope that someone will help you get your head on straight before you blow this one! Your win put you in the easiest game in the state sectionals in single A and instead of focusing on it and sealing the deal to the state you want to keep caring on about stupid comments made to do just what it is doing: DISTRACT YOU! I would expect a freshman or sophomore to be that easily distracted but not a SENIOR! Show some maturity! Why do harriman fans and players act like they lost the last game? Learn to win with dignity and let the losers cry and moan on here!

I agree with you and the ump....this needs to stop and the fans forget it and move on to tomorrow nights games! If you lose tomorrow the season is over and you will have missed a once in a lifetime opportunity....I know, my team never goes!!! But I do feel compelled to say a few things based on some of the garbage that the baseballmom is saying on here. First of all, I know who some of the ppl are who are posting on here. The one that called harriman fans "trash" is a barely literate player on the rockwood team.....his grades are not exactly honor-roll-like, and knowing the kid, he uses the word trash in a different way than us older ppl use it. With that said, he shouldnt have said it. But he didnt mean it in a way as to say anything personal about the kind of ppl harriman fans are. He was referring to the way a select few of them (bad apples) carry on and act. And everyone here knows (if you have ever been to a game anywhere) that if one loud mouth makes an #### out of himself, the whole crowd gets the blame. So I would suggest that harriman fans take what he said with a grain of salt....in my opinion (knowing the kid myself) he didnt mean it the way that its been taken by some. It was a bad choice of words pure and simple. Secondly, Clem is one of the nicest, most mature 18 yr olds that I have seen in any town or school in Roane County or elsewhere. He is being portrayed on here by vicious attacks by a person that obviously has a personal vendetta against him. You cant find a more respected kid on or off the field than him and to get on here and rip him like the one person is doing is shameful.....as Took said earlier for an adult to get on here and degrade an 18 yr old kid is unbelievable! Please show some maturity and not act like one of the bad apple fans that were mentioned in the paragraph above! Comments like you are making on here with your personal attacks is making readers of this post think that the trash comment is true about Harriman fans.....and we all know its not! So GROW UP! Let your son win win the battles...dont try to win them for him! ENOUGH! Tomorrow night, as I said in a previous post, is an opportunity for harriman and rockwood to BOTH go to the state and give roane county two teams in the state! Why dont you guys focus on that instead of trying to relive a game that was totally meaningless except for home field advantage for the sectional. I do think harriman benefitted from winning....in fact, if they had to travel, I think they would have been in deep trouble. They are a young team and UH would have beaten them there. UH is a much stronger team than Hancock Co. and I think Rockwood has a better chance of winning on the road than a younger harriman team would have. Also HC has used up their only good pitcher, so harriman has a great chance to make it to the state. UH has better pitching and Rockwood is in for the fight of their lives, so all Roane County fans should be cheering extra hard for the tigers.

As a Kingston fan I can say that I have seen both sets of fans not only this year but for several years and I have to side with rockwood on this one, some of the things that some fans from harriman have yelled this yr and others was flat out bush league! Thats not to say that rockwood doesnt have some bad eggs as well, but as stated earlier by a blue devil fan, there are some rather rowdy harriman fans that shout some things that shouldnt be said during a game. I dont think rockwood went into the game thinking they would blow out harriman since the biggest margin was last week in the district championship when rockwood won 7-2. Also, Harriman beat rockwood at rockwood earlier in the year so I dont thing the tigers were expecting to blow them out now. This has been a nip and tuck series this yr and before harriman fans get too full of themselves it should be pointed out that even though they beat rockwood last night, that on the year rockwood has beaten them 3 times to harrimans 2! And harriman lost all three of those games at home! If the tigers and blue devils played 10 more times this year, I would pick Rockwood to win the majority of times. The blue devils and their fans had better not get too puffed up over winning last night because they were 0-3 at home against rockwood and will being playing at home in the sectional which may or may not be to their advantage! Rockwood and harriman know each other so well that its hard for either team to have an advantage over the other.....but when harriman plays in the sectional they will have no previous knowledge of their opponent and could get knocked off if they go into the game still thinking about last nights victory.....so harriman fans would do better to quit living in the past glory of last night and better get their teams heads on straight. So you had better let last night go and start getting ready for a tough sectional game.

I took off from work to drive down to Rockwood and watch the game along with alot of other people from Roane County and I say hats off to the Blue Devils. You have the best coach in the county and it always shows come tournament time when the devils take the field. There is no doubt that Rockwood has more overall talent, but last night belonged to the devils. Last week was all Rockwood and this week was all Harriman. Seems like that scenario has played out year after year after year in this Region! Rockwood got a gift from Coalfield in order to even be in the game last night and it looks like that the effects from the previous night were still in effect. If they dont get it out of their system, they could be looking at not making the state this year with all their talent. I saw them play earlier in the year and they were killing the ball. I think they beat my yellow jackets something like 16-1 early in the year then struggled to beat us later on. I noticed that Rockwood has used different batting lineups in the last few games that I saw in the district and region. When you see a team that is shuffling guys around this late in the year that is a sign of trouble. Lets hope that they get it fixed and that both teams can go to the state and represent Roane County in the best way possible. I would bet that not many counties, especially small ones, will have two teams in the state tournament!

This whole thing about Clem is a running joke on these boards!!!! IT IS A JOKE!!! Some kids are having good natured fun with it!!!! GET A LIFE!

District MVP comments were total sarcasm, please try to separate the kids kidding about stuff from reality before you show your ignorance by commenting on a joke! Clem is not even the MVP of Rockwood's team! He is probably only the 4th or 5th best player on Rockwood so again, dont show your ignorance by making a big deal out of comments that are jokes! And as far as Harriman fans goes, I happened to be at the game when Harriman beat Rockwood in the regular season and all I heard was terrible things being yelled by Harriman fans. And I am not a Rockwood or Harriman fan, I dont have an ax to grind either way. But Harriman was winning the game and their fans were yelling insults during the game and I kept thinking to myself why are they saying these things, they are WINNING! I even heard one Harriman fan yell (AFTER THE GAME) (AFTER HARRIMAN HAD WON) "Good thing the tournament isnt going to be in Rockwood this year, you have to come to Harriman, it will be a different ball game there"! Well he was right! Rockwood kicked their butt twice and won the tournament! The reason I bring that up is that Harriman fans cant seem to ever win or lose with class! Do your boys a favor and support them with the dignity they deserve and not get on here and call out other players mistakes or act badly when you are winning. Your team has so many quality players and top notch coaches, they deserve fans of equal caliber!!

I have seen harriman play 5 times this year and in those games they had one homerun and one good hard hit liner to right center for a single. Every other hit they got in those games (and they had a ton) were all bloopers over the infield, well placed rollers between infielders and bunts! Harriman is not a team that bashes the ball but they can flat out get on base with an assortment of the above mentioned types of hits and they keep their opponents on their heals and if you make a mistake they will make you pay. Also, errors are what separate the championship teams from the pretenders. Coalfield made an error that cost them an upset win tonight also. If you want to make it to the state championship contender level you have to make the routine plays.

Rockwood's pitcher gave up fewer hits, had more strikeouts and only gave up one earned run. I was at the game and both pitchers pitched well. Coalfields pitcher gave up a bomb over the center field fence! Rockwood's pitcher did not give up a homer. In my opinion, the game should have been tied 1-1 at the end of regulation. However, what most ppl are forgetting is that after the bad fielding play by Coalfields right fielder that tied the game, Coalfields pitcher lost his control and gave up a game winning liner into the right field gap! Had he maintained his cool and concentrated on the rockwood hitter and got him out, the game would have went on! And Coalfield fans may not like this, but the best team won.....maybe not the best team on the field tonight, but the best overall team. Rockwood has more offense, and a better pitching staff overall. When you go to the state you have to be able to score runs and you needs TONS of pitching.....you cant win the state with one or two good pitchers.

Thank you, we are all now dumber for reading that! The great Yogi Berra said the thing that makes coaches and teams winners is talent! Guess he needs to go to your school of baseball excellence to be properly informed. If you dont have talent, you are not going to win games. So I'm not so sure what your statement "talent isnt half of what wins games" means. What percentage is it? Maybe you should tell sports writers to quit ranking recruits on basis of their talent. Apparently you dont need it to win. "My way or the highway", that is stupid, I never said that. Calling me the "great all knowing god of baseball" shows a great deal of "sense of maturity, sense, and grammer" on your part and I am flattered but there is only one true God (John 3:16). I do want to thank you for putting me in my place. In the future I will be more careful of what I say on here now that you have shown me the light. By the way, it is spelled GRAMMAR not grammer. OOPS, that must have been my anger management problem flaring up! LOL

Well they will need him. My friend tells me that Rockwood is in for a LONG dry spell in baseball. I watched our middle school pound their middle school something like 12-0 this week. So I can definitely speak to the middle school talent and from my friends comments, apparently there isnt much talent left once the seniors leave.

I didnt say wartburg could beat farragut....that was said in a mocking manner.....and as far as undeniable logic, what you just said is not undeniable logic...it is WILD SPECULATION....BIG DIFFERENCE! Cascade does not have "plenty of kids just as good as momo"...give me a break, what have you been smoking? Cascade does not have one tenth the talent farragut has so please dont be making wild and speculative statements....it doesnt make you look any smarter!

My Rockwood source says that they are looking for a teacher/coach. So if your guy is not a teacher he wouldnt be a candidate. When we played Rockwood I was told that 13 guys had applied for the job (and that was several weeks back). There were local candidates (including a rumor that our coach at Kingston had applied), guys from all around the area and even a guy from GA and one from FL. Whoever they hire will have his job cut out for him. ALL the talent graduates this yr (they have 13 seniors, 6 of whom have signed with colleges) and only two juniors (only one of which plays)! Their is very little if any talent in the pipeline so whoever takes the job is not inheriting a championship caliber team like Rockwood has been known for in the past.

That easy out hit the 50th of his career the other night! And I was present when he smashed a tape measure shot over the RIGHT field fence earlier in the season! You should apply for a scouting job at the Major league level!

I'm sorry but that is TOTALLY wrong. I have coached travel ball in the knoxville area and have seen Farragut and Bearden's number 4 starters. They are good kids and talented pitchers in their own right but I know for a fact their are several pitchers at the AA and A levels locally that are much better pitchers. There are some top notch pitchers at the lower levels. However, there are not as many on each team. There maybe only one per team at the smaller levels while in AAA their are more than one per team. But dont think just because the school is bigger that it has better INDIVIDUAL talent than a smaller school. The Doughty kid at Rockwood hit 18 HRs last year and even though they are single A he can hit them against anybody! I have seen him play travel ball with Knoxville's best and he batted clean up on those teams and was the top power guy. Would he hit 18 at the AAA level? Probably not, but he would hit as many or more than any of the other players at that level. His reputation has hurt him this year. Teams are deliberately pitching around him rather than give up bombs like last year. I know our team pitched around him when we faced Rockwood this year. Also, one of his teammates at Rockwood (Breazeale) has signed with a 4 yr school as a pitcher. He also played travel ball for Knoxville teams and was one of the best if not the best pitchers on those teams. So dont think because a school is big that its players are better. The size of the school has nothing to do with the quality of the individual athletes just the quantity.