#12fan

I think Unaka has to be the the favorite going into this year. They are a completely different team from last year. They are loaded with offensive talent. There should be at least three lefties at the top of the line-up who can all fly and the rest of the line up can hit with power. You won't run into a weak hitter in that line-up all the way down. They're sound defensively, the only question will be their pitching. A talented freshmen will be the anchor and if she can step up, I believe she takes them to Murfreesboro. Good luck to all.

As painful as it is, I'll have to agree with Statman. I would so love to see Elizabethton take control of this district but it won't happen this year. I saw Unicoi play last fall. They are fast, have great pitching, and as always, they can hit. Good luck to everyone in the district.

Under ideal circumstances, the high school athletes would have good teachers AND good coaches. My hope is that in the near future, that's what will begin to happen. Softball has grown as a sport in TN in the last 6-8 years especially with Monica Abbott and others in the spotlight in Knoxville. I hope that when some of the girls who have played college softball graduate and come back to TN school systems to be teachers and coaches, they will gradually take the place of the math teacher/fall sport coach etc. who is forced to coach softball and they will be there to coach the girls because they want to be there and they're excited about coaching. Not because they're forced to do it. It would also help to get high school softball players to the next level because their coaches hopefully would have some contacts at that higher level. The way it is now, very few high school softball players are getting exposure to college coaches unless they play travel ball. College coaches want to see how well the girls play against the best competetion and like it or not, at least for now, that's at the travel ball level.

Solomon: I've been meaning to ask a few questions myself of those who do not favor the split. The number one question is WHY? It seems to me that the split could make most everyone happy. Let the publics & privates play each other during the season, but at tournament time the publics play against the publics & the privates play against the privates. No more debate, no more public/private debate forum on Coach T.. Issue settled. Why are you guys so dead set aginst this? Of all the forums on this thread, I've yet to see some one from your side (the dark side-lol) answer this question. Is it ego? Do you find it necessary to beat up on all of us little publics who have no money & very little education to claim the state tournament title to make it bona fide?

I just heard the results. Midway wins 7-2. Close game until Midway broke it open in the sixth for the final score. Congratulations to the Lady Rangers on a good season. They made it further than anyone expected.

The final score was 8-2 and I stand corrected - Unaka travels to Midway. Sorry for the confusion.

Congratulations to Univ. High on their Region I championship. Looks like O.S. comes to Johnson City & Unaka travels to Washburn.

Univ. High / Unaka postponed until 3:30 p.m. tomorrow

Unaka / Univ. High postponed until 3:30 p.m. tomorrow due to weather.

I think nobody likes a bragger!! /tongue.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":P" border="0" alt="tongue.gif" />

Dist. 1A winner is Univ. High / Runner up is Unaka. Unaka now travels to either Washburn or Jellico (I think) with the runner up of those two traveling to Johnson City to take on Univ. High. More than likely, it comes down to Univ. High & Unaka for the Region Title.

I noticed in the paper today that Coach Hardin took blame for the loss to Unicoi saying that he didn't have his team ready to play. I think that's probably an understatement. While Eliz. was off on spring break practicing only one time, Unicoi was out playing one of the toughest schedules they've ever played & facing some of the best pitching in the state of TN. It's the same old story in my opinion. Eliz. has the athletic ability to compete with anyone - including Unicoi - but Unicoi has the dedication to the sport. They are more willing to work & sacrifice to get the job done. Even though I am an Eliz. graduate & would love to see the Lady Cyclones take this away from Unicoi, right now at least, the advantage belongs to Unicoi.

I'm just curious. Did the Cyclones not play or practice all week?

Shouldn't you be in class young lady? /tongue.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":P" border="0" alt="tongue.gif" />

Tell your wife I really appreciate her work. My daughter plays softball at Austin Peay which is about 350 miles from my home so I really enjoy reading about AP. Coach T's college website is now on my favorites list!!

A friend of mine who works at JC Med. Center wouldn't be specific because of patient confidentally laws but said that it looked like she was going to be fine. As of last night she was concious & alert & was eating, drinking, etc.

Just curious about the scores from Fri. or Sat. games.

I was under the impression that University High lost 5-6 players to graduation also. I know their pitcher (whose name escapes me right now) returns but very few position players. Can anyone fill me in?

Swingaway & std have both made some valid points here. The truth is that coaches are just like anyone else. Some are up front about what they expect from a player before entering a program & some are not. My daughter plays D-1 softball & her coach was very up front about what he expected from her. On the other hand, Sarah Fekete who graduated from UT last year is a classic example of a prospect who was not told what to expect up front from her college coach. SHE HAD NEVER BATTED FROM THE LEFT SIDE IN HER LIFE BEFORE GOING TO UT. Ralph Weekly handed her a video tape of slap hitting & told her to learn it or she was OUT! It did make for ill will but to her credit, she had the work ethic and the drive to succeed and she made herself into the D-1 batting avg. champion last year as a lefty slap hitter. Different kids do leave programs for a variety of reasons such as grades, behavior issues, or lack of playing time and some kids just don't have the work ethic to succeed at that level. I believe that the best things you can do to prepare your child for playing in college is playing ASA gold softball where you're facing the best competition in the country, which only makes them better and letting your child know that once you have the opportunity to play in college, you must make good grades and know that whatever sport you play, it's more like a job in college. You must stay dedicated to it or you will not succeed.

Although I've only seen them play one game, this might be N. Greene's year in the conference. I watched them play in the Unaka jamboree against Unicoi Co. & I was very impressed with their defense. Also, their pitcher seemed to have improved from last year. Unaka is young this year having lost 5 seniors to graduation. Defense seems to be their main problem right now but that will improve as the year goes along & rest assured that Coach Hicks is aware of the problem & they are working hard on it. Unaka's pitching is good so far & their hitting is coming around. This should be a fun matchup to watch this year. Go Rangers!!

I already can't wait to see these two teams go head to head this year. I've not seen Eliz. play yet & Unicoi looked strong as ever at the Unaka jamboree. Should be another great year for this rivalry. One thing I'm curious to know about Elizabethton. Do they have any slappers to bat from the left side? I know they have good team speed but if Coach Hardin could turn around a couple of his speedsters & have them batting from the left handers batters box it might help him with getting more runners on base to generate runs.

Again, I've accidentally stumbled across one of my favorite subjects on this thread. ETSU is famous among Tri Cities area coaches of all different sports for lack of interest in local athletes. (and they wonder why football - or any other sport for that matter, can't draw a crowd there - THERE ARE NO LOCAL ATHLETES PLAYING THERE!!!) I actually did some research on this last year. There were 14 athletic programs altogether at ETSU for men & women & 17 local athletes (from Greene Co. east) playing on these teams. Baseball however had 9 of those players. Take those away and you have 8 local athletes playing on 13 teams. ETSU complains because they can't get local support and guess what, with a record like that THEY DON'T DESERVE LOCAL SUPPORT!! You'll never convince me that there aren't quite a few local athletes that could help ETSU in a lot of different sports but I guess they'll keep looking in other states for their athletes. I could go on & on about this one.

Can someone who was at the Eliz. - Unicoi game tonight fill me in? I heard that Eliz. was down by about 10 points with one minute remaining & won? WOW!! How did this happen & did S. Greene win? - Congratulations to the Lady Cyclones!

Good Luck Lady Rangers!!

Krich, You left out one very important element of this game. The mental side. Unicoi now believes that they can beat the Cyclones and I'm not sure they believed in themselves that much before the Dist. tournament victory having lost several in a row to the Lady Cyclones. It is imperative that the Cyclones come out & dominate early in this game. The longer they let the Blue Devils hang around close, or lead, the more dangerous it becomes for the Cyclones. As I stated earlier, Elizabethton's guards had better step up their game. IF they will do that, it will be a Cyclone victory. GO LADY CYCLONES!!