tonybologna

Greenback then turns around & loses to Grace Christian (Knoxville) 3-2 after beating CAK. If one thing is for sure about them they are inconsistent as a team.

Elizabethton in Class AA whom I also placed in the sleeper category just got upset bigtime by a 6-15 Jeff County team. It was close but a loss is a loss. The final score was 7-6 Patriots. A bad loss for the Cyclones. I know in high school baseball a team with a true ACE pitcher can beat ANY team on a given day but this is a MAJOR upset. Glad it wasn't a conference game though for Betsy.

I don't know whether Greenback should even be in the "sleeper" category to be honest. They made the semifinals of the Class A state tourney last season with most players back so me placing them as a sleeper might be a bit ungenerous. LOL!

https://www.johnsoncitypress.com/Softball/2019/04/17/NET-softball-stats-SH-s-Bennett-an-all-around-threat.html?ci=stream&lp=4&p=

https://www.johnsoncitypress.com/Baseball/2019/04/17/NET-baseball-stats-D-B-s-Thurston-among-HR-leaders.html?ci=stream&lp=5&p=

Yeah, I saw that. East Hamilton has lost 4 of their last 6 games. They are ranked #5 in this latest poll but I would guess next week they just might totally drop out of the Top 10 in Class AAA. Bradley Central might jump into the poll next week as well even though they have 8 losses (17-8).

I just wasn't sure if you was talking about Greenback or William Blount. I didn't think you were talking about William Blount but you mentioned them in that previous reply so I wasn't sure. As far as removing Greenback as a sleeper. I'm not ready to do that myself. They certainly don't seem like the team that made the semifinals of the Class A state tournament last season. Like you said though basically ever player is back from that team. The thing about baseball at the high school level & above is if a team has 2 ace type SP's you can never count them out. I will go as far as saying even 1 ace type pitcher will work for certain teams that have the hitting to back up the 1 ace/dominate SP. I do agree with you though about Greenback seeming to not look like a contending or sleeper team at this time but I can't remove them just yet from my sleeper lists. Thanks.

Which team are you talking about? Is it William Blount or Greenback? How you worded your reply sort of confused me on which team you might be saying is a sleeper. Thanks.

Here are my picks from the latest Poll: Class A: Gibson County & Trinity Christian are my top 2 favorites. Sleepers are Gordonsville, Greenback, & Lookout Valley. Class AA: Covington & Greeneville are my top 2 favorites. Sleepers are Elizabethton, South Gibson, & Creek Wood. Class AAA: Collierville & Farragut are my top 2 favorites. Sleepers are Houston, Mt. Juliet, & Clarskville. Div. II-A: CAK & CPA are my top 2 favorites. Sleepers are Tipton-Rosemark & USJ. Div. II-AA: Baylor is my clear favorite. Sleepers are MUS & Ensworth. If I had to pick the Champs for each class as of right now they would be as follows: Class A: Trinity Christian Academy (TCA) Class AA: Covington Class AAA: Collierville Div. II-A: CAK (Christian Academy Knoxville) Div. II-AA: Baylor

Yeah, I posted East Robertson as one of the favorites in Class A. I didn't have either Clarksville or Rossview in my top 5-6 in Class AAA but I could see Clarksville making a run in the postseason but if they run into either Farragut or Collierville I see them going down.

Farragut just beat Collierville in this game by a score of 3-2. These 2 teams are clearly the best in Class AAA. One game doesn't change my mind that Collierville is still the slightly better team. They are both really really good teams though.

Thanks for the information but whoever is responsible for posting scores for the games from this Waverly Diamond Classic tourney posted nothing after posting the initial Pool Play & schedule for the Pool Player winners & losers(April 5th was last post). There was not one single score provided even for Waverly which is the FB page you linked me to. That's crazy! I seen the same problem from the Tribe Classic baseball tournament. Someone from the Tribe Classic said the games would be updated & posted in real-time from a FB PDF file but they weren't provided in real-time at all. I let them know about it too & what I thought. If they aren't going to provide what they say then don't post things saying otherwise. Thanks.

Does anyone happen to know where to get the brackets and/or Pool Play schedule for this Waverly tourney? I googled for it but couldn't come up with anything as far as a 2019 schedule. Thanks.

Do you have an official schedule for the 2019 Brentwood Invitational softball tournament? Thanks.

From what I've seen through ~1st month of the season thus far I have my Top 3 teams for each classification (A-AAA). They have changed back from my previous post that was very early on in the season after only a couple of games played. Class A 1. Gibson County 2. Trinity Christian (TCA) T-3. Loretto T-3. Greenback Class AA 1. Stewart County 2. Greeneville 3. Greenbrier Class AAA 1. Collierville (I think heavy favorites to win AAA state title) 2. Farragut T-3. Houston T-3. East Hamilton Others that could play a factor in the postseason in each class are as follows (no particular order): Class A East Robertson, Eagleville, & Lookout Valley Class AA Elizabethton, Riverside, & Loudon Class AAA Summit, East Hamilton, & Powell

I know & saw what I read from a post. She was discredited for being a Class A player but yeah you're right we must move on down the road!

I agree that in most high school teams players don't have that killer instinct to down right take over & win games. I'm talking about the star players & not the role or just good players. For instance, a James Wiseman type player. There are a select few & mostly not players from the state of Tennessee that do have that killer instinct. That either comes from the coaching they receive and/or their parent(s) have them living a life with that type of passion for the game.

The high school I attended & graduated from (Sullivan North High School) won 2 Class AAA state Championships when I was in 6th & 8th grade(1983 & 1985). Those 2 State Championship teams had 3 top notch aces. Darren Nottingham, Chad Smith, & Freddy Neeley. They also had 2 other pitchers that could close out games in Chris Frazier & Todd Wells. These 2 different Championship teams never gave up more than 4 runs in any postseason tourney game. I remember both Nottingham & Smith pitching over 100 pitches each in consecutive games to win the state title in 1985. I think strongly any really good team can get by with 3 solid SP's & only 1-2 good relievers/closers. That's my opinion based on old school baseball. Of course, this wouldn't be the case for college or MLB but for high school baseball I really believe a Championship team needs only 3 really good SP's & up to 2 really capable relievers.

Why 6 pitchers? I played high school baseball & have also coached middle school baseball as well. When I played in high school we only had 3 legit arms. 2 SP's & one that could start & would also close games or pitch long relief if needed. You don't need 6 pitchers to be a contender. That goes for Class A-AAA. I know times have changed since I was in high school (1986-1989) but I still follow & go to high school baseball games. In my local area I don't know of a SINGLE team that has 6 legit pitchers. I know a select few teams have 3 legit starters & 2 legit relievers but those type teams are few & far between at ALL levels.

I seen them play all of their games in the Arby's Classic. When they won that tourney & done it without Pember playing except for some of the Championship Game I knew this team would make the state tourney. I didn't know for sure they would win it but I knew they had a good chance in doing so.

Yep. This conference is pretty good from top to bottom. The #7 team can beat the #1 team on any given day/night. I'm really starting to look @ Daniel Boone now as being a huge player in possibly being the surprise winner of this conference. They were picked 4th.

http://www.timesnews.net/Baseball/2019/03/16/Vikings-favored-in-Big-Seven-baseball.html?ci=stream&lp=12&p= This conference is typically a 2 team race between Science Hill & Dobyns-Bennett. This season however there are 4 teams capable of winning this conference. Tenn. High has been given the slight nod. Both Science Hill & DB are right behind. The 4th team & my darkhorse pick to be in the Top 3 possibly is Daniel Boone. I think DB is going to end up 2nd. I think Boone will give both Science Hill a run for 3rd. I do think Tenn. High will win the conference but it's not going to be by much. If TH doesn't end up winning the regular season then I could see it be between DB & Boone. I think Science Hill just might finish 4th overall.

http://www.timesnews.net/Baseball/2019/03/17/Cyclones-favored-in-Three-Rivers-baseball.html?ci=stream&lp=6&p= Elizabethton is a pretty heavy favorite to take the conference. Having made the state tournament in 2018 & also having quite a few players back from that team makes them a serious threat to return back to the state tourney. They have 2 aces on the staff in Evan Carter & Corey Russell. These 2 are also their best bats as well. However, Betsy has an all around solid pitching & hitting team. They have lost 2 games here early on in the season but I don't feel like they will lose too many more for the regular season. I doubt they will lose over 5 regular season games unless they fall apart or have key injuries. They do have Science Hill & Dobyns-Bennett from Class AAA on their schedule so these games could be 2 more losses because these 2 schools are traditional Class AAA powerhouses.

http://www.timesnews.net/Basketball/2019/03/18/University-High-heads-the-Watauga-Valley-baseball-pack.html?ci=stream&lp=1&p=1 In my opinion, Sullivan North is the darkhorse to possibly win the conference. I think it will come down to them & University High. I have seen North play once already vs Providence Academy. Their strength is pitching (SR Hunter Dingus is their ace) but have 3 solid bats as well in Zack Scott, Hunter Dingus, & Brayden Wilhoit. They will play solid defense because Coach Dixon for North has always preached on playing solid defense to keep them in & win games.