LUVBALL

I've been reading these threads and I just have to give my opinion. What in the world are you guys thinking, talking bad about the EHS baseball program which is in better shape now than it's been in in years. Coach Payne is a very knowledgeable coach who came into a program with a lot of talent. He also brought with him a lot of discipline and experience. By making the kids get their hair cut, by making them dress the same in practice, he is bringing Cyclone pride up to a higher level. He came into the program not knowing anybody and the kids earned their positions and his respect and it definitely paid off last year. If any of these kids want to play at a higher level, he is teaching them how to do that. You hear about so many kids that go to college and play and quit after the first year because they are not mentally ready. He is preparing them for the future. I stand behind Coach Payne 100% and think he is doing a fantastic job. Who are we, or any of these posters on here, to question this man when things are heading in the right direction? As far as the Jr. Babe Ruth situation, I have to agree with GLee. I saw first hand the abuse of the facilities. I've helped pressure wash the dugouts after they've been used as urinals. I've witnessed more than once, cars dragging the infield, equipment damaged and missing from the pressbox, the concession stand being trashed inside and the toilets being intentionally stopped up. Sorry guys, but that's ridiculous. Why should the EHS city school system be responsible for Jr. Babe Ruth to begin with. I agree they need a place to play, but if it's going to be county and city players, it should be some kind of joint effort instead of the burden being strictly on Elizabethton High School. As far as it being the only facility with lights so they can play night games, exactly who pays the electric bill for this? Just wondering. I hope Alexander and Payne stick to their guns and maybe we will see improvement.

Imagine that - Softballfever going with Unicoi!

Black Messiah, The forum topic reads "UNAKA SOFTBALL". Us good people in Carter County and surrounding areas can fight and bicker among ourselves just fine without your help. So, how can I say this in a nice way? Well, here goes, MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!!

Hey MJ2273 - I don't think it's fair to cut down any of the girls that go to either school. Megan is a great basketball player and would have been at Elizabethton too if given the chance. Musick and Heaton are both great kids that decided to play at Unaka for whatever reason - their decision. A lot of the girls off of both teams are friends and I think that's great. It makes for fun competition. As far as the redneck comment, aren't we all rednecks? I just think we need to keep it clean - noone gets hurt but the girls and nothings worth that. I'll bet cha a lot of these girls will end up playing college ball together one day. Go Cyclones and Rangers - you're both winners in my book!

Way to go Cori! Make East Tennessee proud. Would love to see you girls come home with a State Championship. We have faith in you and know you can do it. You've worked hard and nobody deserves it more. Oh yea, congratulations on signing with Tusculum!! Will be reading about you in the papers!

I believe the team total was 12 homeruns this year. Two over in the district. This is a great improvement over last year since we only had one the entire year and that was in the district against Unicoi.

I agree with you jaws. In high school ball, faster pitching and new bat technology means harder hit balls. Ask any third baseman. I dont ever remember Elizabethton hitting homeruns like they did this year. You can tell that some of those girls have worked hard on their hitting in the off season. The old saying stands true, hard work pays off.

From what I've read, the freshmen and sophomores are the ones making the errors (the paper said 8 in the johnson county game alone). Some of those middle school players have quit due to being knocked down to 3rd string. All I'm saying is it's a very big adjustment from middle school to high school ball and a lot of these girls are just not ready. It's a lot easier to hit a 35 mile an hour pitch than a 55 mile an hour pitch especially when some of these girls have never been taught how to hold a bat right. I hope these girls don't give up and keep trying because they have a lot of talent. As far as Petrowski goes, she made a very wise decision staying with bball because she has a very bright future there at the college level. EHS has a great group of kids and I wish them all the best of luck whether it be in softball, basketball or just life in general.

The Cyclones had a very good hitting team this year but errors did kill them. A lot of the errors that occurred were by players who have been playing those positions since middle school. No excuse for them - they just never learned the fundamentals correctly. EHS's feeder program has never been adequate and it's hard to start teaching the girls once they reach high school age. I was told by the parent of one of the girls that left middle school to attend a different high school that the reason was that their self confidence had been torn apart and so they decided to try something different. EHS did finish 3rd in the district in extra innings and the girls played hard against a good Johnson County team. They should hold their heads high and come back ready to fight next year. The conference this year was very strong with a lot of games going into extra innings. I'm glad to see softball picking up in this area. Good luck to Unicoi and Johnson County in the Regions. Does anybody know who made the all tourney and all conference teams?