TrueFacts

District starts this week. After watching all the teams in the district play and multiple games for most here is my prediction and reasons. 1) Blackman 2) Smyrna 3) Riverdale 4) Siegel 5) Oakland 6) Lavergne Blackman is short a pitcher or two in the bullpen but they are playing good baseball going into district play. Not as much depth but the coach is getting a lot out of his players. Streaky hitting team and that could hurt them if they don’t get some consistency throughout the lineup. Smyrna has more talent than they have had since joining the district. They are a streaky team and have had some big wins lately that will give them confidence. Riverdale has a monster lineup. May be the best overall hitting team I have ever seen in the district. Past their number 1 they throw batting practice and are below average on defense. They lost their second best pitcher which will hurt them a lot. I got ripped on here for saying this before the season started but based on some of their recent losses pitching and defense just might be important after all. Siegel just might compete for third. They are pitching well after losing everyone and have had a couple of pitchers step up. Playing good defense as expected. What will hold them back this year is hitting and bullpen. Good starting pitching but not great bullpen. I think they are really one year away from being at the top. Oakland is just way too young. They have some talent but need time to develop it. Really not much else to say about this team other than it just needs innings and time. Lavergne is a surprise. They are playing good baseball going into district. I just don’t think they have the depth to compete down the stretch but they are going to win games. Don’t count on a sweep when you play them like years past. They are pitching well. I saw one of the Mitchell brothers is working with them so that explains why you see such an improvement on the mound. So there it is. Let’s play ball and get a Rutherford county team to state this year.

Same reason some schools adhere to rules like zoning, transfers, dead periods and some do not. No one really enforces the rules.

One of your top 3 will be last place after all of their wins are changed to losses. When someone calls out others on following the rules they should make sure their own toilet is clean or stuff flies back on them eventually.

I hope who ends up there are the kids that are suppose to go to school there. If a coach is any good at all they will take the kids they are suppose to have and win with them. If they are having to look for players out of zone then they must not have much confidence in their ability to coach.

Here is the logic behind my objective opinion through watching teams and talking sports in this county before 7AAA existed. Riverdale coaches do a great job with hitting. It is not new that hitting has always been the signature of a Riverdale team much like pitching and defense is the signature of a Siegel team. I have no emotional ties to pitching but understand the game. If you watch any good coach speak they will say that pitching and defense wins championships. Riverdale had the most depth at pitching last year and came in second place. That is fact not opinion. Siegel had less depth and talent but got more out of staff, played good defense and came in first, also fact. Revis and Parker are best at coaching pitchers and Messer is best at coaching hitters. This is fact. Emotional ties and holding grudge, interesting view because I have an opion that seems to differ from yours. I am a fan of Rutherford county sports but like to follow baseball more than others. I do have ties but not to Riverdale and not sure why that even matters. I am passionate that kids should attend the school they are zoned and have seen that get very complicated over the years. If you read my posts then you also know I believe that needs to be addressed in all sports. I am guessing by your post you must be a coach. And as you say we can be experts on here and see what happens on the field. Good luck to all teams this season and a State Title for Rutherford County is long overdue.

This is really a 2 part question. 1. Most talent 2. who will win Most talent 1. Riverdale - Best overall talent.Deep with hitting. Fielding a question. 2. Smyrna - Plenty of key players returning and good group of young players to fill in key spots. 3. Blackman - Lost some bats last year and starting pitching. Young players will need to step up. 4. Siegel - Desimated by graduation last year. Good talent up the middle. Depth will be a big question. 5. Oakland - Again got hit hard by graduation. Will be very young. 6. Lavergne - Still young and will be improved over last year. Pitching depth will be big question. Who will win 1. Smyrna - They play with a chip on thier shoulder and will win this year. They have a talented team and will play together this year and not have the mental breakdowns of years past. Play hard nose brand of baseball and this will be thier year. 2. Blackman - Not as talented as past teams but the coach gets the most out of his players, escpecailly pitchers, and they play hard for him. They always seem to be competitive regardless of talent gaps. 3. Riverdale - This team always makes me scratch my head.By far the most talent but they have been very talented the past few years and can't get over the hump. Great hitting team but seem to always play scared. Not very good at managing pitching. They play to win series and not titles. 4. Siegel - They are the best coached and he get's more out of his players than any other. Best pitching coach by far and makes average staffs great. They would be higher because of that but just don't have the depth this year. They will be back at number 1 next year. 5. Oakland - This will be a rough year for Oakland and they will be playing a lot of young players.They have some talent but not battle tested. It will be interesting to see how the young talent develops and they could be very good in the next 2 years. 6. Lavergne - This team will be better than last year. They have some talent but depth is the problem especially at pitching. They will have a rough time again this year but will surprise some people with a few wins. To sum it up. Riverdale has talent to be a state team but strange team to watch play and don't think they will reach thier potential. Blackman will get most out of what they have and be in the mix even with less talent than past teams. This will be the year Smyrna makes a run. They have the talent and will put it together this year. The rest are just too young and do not have enough experience. They will be rebuilding.

I suppose my comments were the cause for the thread to get locked hence my hesitance to join and participate in the discussions. I will tone my comments down however still feel that real discussion should take place even thought the topic OR comments may be controversial. Riverdale is by far the best team in 7AAA and possibly the State. The gap between them and other schools in the district is not close. Parity may start to creep in over the next couple of years but for now they are the dominate team. Blackman and Oakland are getting the most out of the talent they have. I would predict that Blackman will make Friday night's game much closer than the last one at Riverdale. The tournament should be fund.

Being a huge sports fan I have watched the boards on Coach T for a long time as I have watched all sports in Rutherford County. I chose to stay on the sidelines but feel it is time to jump in the game and get involved in the discussions because this is a huge issue. This is not a basketball problem only and in fact basketball is effected less than other sports. There are 3 pitchers that LIVE in the Blackman zone but go to other schools on waiver. One is a sophomore at oakland and 2 are at Riverdale, one sophomore and one junior. There is a player that should be at Lavergne but is at Oakland. There is another player that should be at Siegel but again is at Oakland. At least one football player that I am aware of, and I am sure there are many more, is at Oakland and should be at Riverdale. These are just to name a few. There are more I know of and probaly twice as many that I don't but you get the point. Are these all legal, I have to assume they are or they would not be playing. Don't you think the schools and coaches would love to have the kids that are suppose to be on thier team? How much better would their team be? Example, Blackman would really like to have the big junior at Riverdale pitching for them. Siegel would like to have the middle infielder at Oakland. I hear those coaches don't really appreciate them being there anyway so why are they there when they could really help thier ZONED school and be appreciated??? The answer to that question might start the road to correcting this problem. I have seen Riverdale Girls play. Regardless of how they all got there they are the most talented high school team I have seen. Say what you want but this score is the example of a much bigger problem with athletics in Rutherford County and not weather 16 year olds scored a bunch of points or not. This has to be fixed at the administration level or it will be a topic on coach t forever.