quittalkingandplay

D-B also threw their #1 against South, and he and D-B's defense surrendered 10 runs. I suppose that Ritz "wanted to beat South so badly that he pitched his #1 against them and conceded" to Boone the next night (who also scored 10 runs while D-B scored only 1).

Alabama has not offered Ashlon Adams. They are down to a handful of slots for their '09 signing class and he is not on their board.

The question was not why did Joyce not pitch on Wednesday night, but why is the Kingsport coach skipping Joyce on Friday night when it would be his "turn" to pitch and instead pitching Burton on short rest (the reporter on the Kingsport local sports website says that Burton pitched on Monday night against Morristown).

According to to a Kingsport Internet press account of the D-B loss to Science Hill in the Regional Championship game: D-B will likely start Bo Burton. "I talked with him today and he seemed to be fine,'' said Ritz of his star pitcher, who got the win Monday at Morristown West. Tyler Joyce will be in reserve Friday at South Doyle, if needed. "I pitched him an inning tonight just because he hasn't gone in a week.'' The people up in Kingsport, including their coaches, have talked all year about their two "aces", Joyce and Burton. Why would the Kingsport coach skip Joyce's turn and pitch Burton on short rest? Who will be the starting pitcher for South Doyle?

"It's usually a close game when we play,'' said Science Hill coach Bill McKinney. "We have each won a blowout, but I expect this one to be close.'' "They played us pretty good last time,'' said D-B senior Bo Burton, who pitched and hit the Indians to a 5-1 victory at Morristown West on Monday that keeps the season alive. "I think we might have come into that game overconfident. But we're definitely back to a level playing field now and ready to go.''

I saw on a Kingsport website account of D-B's games with Collierville and Farragut that D-B threw ##1 and 2 starters in those games, and that D-B's #1 starting pitcher lost the Farragut game. Did Collierville and Farragut also throw regular starting pitchers, or did they use younger pitchers and save the top pitchers for conference games?

Come on guys, this article is not serious. It is quite clever and funny, but is clearly a "tongue in cheek" commentary on the recent rumors about Spurrier leaving South Carolina for Alabama.

That "one person" was the team's best defender (always guarded the best offensive guard or ballhandler), most dependable ballhandler, and team leader (captain)-- a "glue guy" that coaches and students of the game appreciate and teammates like. They didn't lose much in the way of scoring, but given the spotty defense, unforced turnovers, and lack of fundamental play so far, he might have "helped anyways."

No, it doesn't matter now. Just comes across as excuse making at this point. D-B did not play particularly well against WB and did not appear to play with any urgency or emotion. Still, in the end they had a chance with the ball on the 5 yard line and 4 tries to line up and push it across. They did not. And, this is the team that has been talked and talked and talked about since they were in grade school -- they were "special" and would win state (not just get there; they would win!). Waaco and others who have posted are right. It's as if somewhere along the way, the coaches and adults around the program (and maybe some of the players) forgot to actually watch kids play, watch the games, and watch other teams -- to objectively compare. They just kept drinking the koolaid and kept talking as if talking would just make it so. If this team were really good enough to win state, they would have dominated games that were actually close. Don't mean any disrespect to the players. I'm sure they are a hard-working bunch. They should be proud of what they did achieve -- undefeated in the regular season is a real accomplishment. The loss against WB is only embarrassing because of the years (literally years) of talk about winning a state championship. Why not just play every game to win and be proud of wherever the team ends up -- without all the talk?!

My recollection is that he played baseball after high school, first at a junior college (Cleveland State, I think) and then at an area four year school (Tennessee Wesleyan or Lee).

Examples of what seems to be delusional thinking, excuses, and misleading spin and self-promotion from those involved with the Kingsport D-B baseball program, starting with the head coach, all excerpts from an article by a fellow named Ron Bliss on his local sports website following D-B's 1-3 showing at the SportsBelle tournament in Knoxville: Mike Ritz comes to Knoxville to play good competition in the Sportsbelle Tournament each year. The trouble is his Dobyns-Bennett team's reputation usually precedes them and they see everyone's best pitching. This year was no exception as the Indians saw outstanding pitching all weekend long and wound up losing three of four games -- including the final game of the weekend for them on Saturday when Memphis Bartlett took advantage of the Indians' depleted pitching to break open the game with five runs in the fifth en route to an 8-2 victory. The game had no significance, other than it gave both teams a fourth game on the weekend. Rain put the organizers so far behind that there was no champion determined. At the end, they just played games to fill out. D-B opened the day with a solid 13-6 victory over Knox Webb in a game in which it started No. 1 pitcher Tyler Joyce and followed with No. 3 pitcher Brad Mayes, but then lost to what is probably the best Class AAA team in Knoxville in Bearden at Bearden, 10-4, and then to a solid Bartlett team in the nightcap that started at 7:30 p.m. "That's the most baseball that we've played in one day,'' said Ritz. "It wouldn't have been so bad had we not had to play Central on Wednesday in a makeup game. That left us a little short on pitching for this tournament.'' The Indian bats that were missing in action Friday afternoon showed up to beat one of the Spartans' best pitchers. They scored seven times in the third inning to chase A.J. Kirby-Jones and then, after Webb scored four times off starter Tyler Joyce to close within 7-6 in the fourth, D-B answered with four in its half of the fourth to push its lead back to 11-6 and added two more before it was called due to the two-hour time limit. "That was a good two-out hit by Wes Jones,'' said Ritz of the hit that fueled the rally. "I thought we swung the bats much better. They pitched their best pitcher against us. He's been striking out everyone down here, but we hit him like he was nothing. We also saw Seymour's No. 1 and Bearden's No. 1. That's okay. That's why we came down here. The kids need to take it as a compliment. When people do that, they show you respect.'' "We have four guys we consider No. 1s and A.J.'s one of them,'' said Webb coach Clark Wormsley, whose team dropped to 6-2. "He's one of our better guys, but they swung the bats well.'' Knox Bearden 10, Dobyns-Bennett 4 Mayes started the game, but allowed four hits and a sacrifice fly and was pulled in the first for Lance Brewer. Bearden built its lead to 6-0 with four more in the third and held off the Indians behind Derrick Copeland, who pitched the first five innings and allowed only a solo home run by Stabler, who led off the fourth with his fourth home run in five games. Wesley Lane got his third home run with a three-run shot off Lance Gouffon in the sixth. Kendall Wells had a pair of two-run home runs and a run-scoring single to lead Bearden (12-2) with a 3-for-3 effort and 5 RBI. "I don't worry about Bearden when we get to the playoffs,'' said Ritz, "because it was their No. 1 pitcher against our No. 8 (Brewer). We won't have that situation when we get to the playoffs.'' Bartlett 8, Dobyns-Bennett 2 Matt Nuccio, who is one of his team's top two pitchers, scattered six D-B hits and walked three, but struck out none in the 5 1-3 innings he worked. Jacob Wilson went 3-for-4 with three RBI to lead Bartlett, which went 3-1 in the tournament and is now 11-5. Bartlett's only loss in the tournament was to Chattanooga Baylor, 5-4, just before trhe game with D-B. Bartlett scored twice in the third on Nuccio's solo home run and on Kurtis Bramlett's single, but D-B answered when Joyce's triple plated Stabler, who had walked ahead of him. Joyce then scored on Lane's sacrifice fly. But that was all D-B was able to muster against Bartlett, which went ahead 3-2 on Wilson's run-scoring single in the fifth and then put it away when D-B melted down in the sixth when it allowed four walks, a hit batsman, committed an error and allowed two hits. "We lost some games, but this was good for us,'' said Ritz, whose team is now 8-3. "We got to look at some people in situations where it doesn't ruin our season. We looked at all of our pitchers and found out we still need to find a fourth one. We lost some games, but we got a lot out of this. One thing that encouraged me is that Bartlett's pitcher was throwing 88 mph and we didn't strike out once against him. We hit some hard balls that were right at them.'' Based on the quote from the Webb coach and other CoachT posts from those from other teams in the SportsBelle tourney, the pitcher for Webb was one of their 4 regular starters (not their "ace"), and the Seymour and Bearden starters were younger pitchers, not their established starting pitchers. Do the people up in Kingsport really buy all of this, or is it that no one is paying attention except for a handful of people? And is this guy Bliss a journalist, or just a p.r. person for the local high school?

Examples of what seems to be delusional thinking, excuses, and misleading spin and self-promotion from those involved with the Kingsport D-B baseball program, starting with the head coach, all excerpts from an article by a fellow named Ron Bliss on his local sports website following D-B's 1-3 showing at the SportsBelle tournament in Knoxville: Mike Ritz comes to Knoxville to play good competition in the Sportsbelle Tournament each year. The trouble is his Dobyns-Bennett team's reputation usually precedes them and they see everyone's best pitching. This year was no exception as the Indians saw outstanding pitching all weekend long and wound up losing three of four games -- including the final game of the weekend for them on Saturday when Memphis Bartlett took advantage of the Indians' depleted pitching to break open the game with five runs in the fifth en route to an 8-2 victory. The game had no significance, other than it gave both teams a fourth game on the weekend. Rain put the organizers so far behind that there was no champion determined. At the end, they just played games to fill out. D-B opened the day with a solid 13-6 victory over Knox Webb in a game in which it started No. 1 pitcher Tyler Joyce and followed with No. 3 pitcher Brad Mayes, but then lost to what is probably the best Class AAA team in Knoxville in Bearden at Bearden, 10-4, and then to a solid Bartlett team in the nightcap that started at 7:30 p.m. "That's the most baseball that we've played in one day,'' said Ritz. "It wouldn't have been so bad had we not had to play Central on Wednesday in a makeup game. That left us a little short on pitching for this tournament.'' The Indian bats that were missing in action Friday afternoon showed up to beat one of the Spartans' best pitchers. They scored seven times in the third inning to chase A.J. Kirby-Jones and then, after Webb scored four times off starter Tyler Joyce to close within 7-6 in the fourth, D-B answered with four in its half of the fourth to push its lead back to 11-6 and added two more before it was called due to the two-hour time limit. "That was a good two-out hit by Wes Jones,'' said Ritz of the hit that fueled the rally. "I thought we swung the bats much better. They pitched their best pitcher against us. He's been striking out everyone down here, but we hit him like he was nothing. We also saw Seymour's No. 1 and Bearden's No. 1. That's okay. That's why we came down here. The kids need to take it as a compliment. When people do that, they show you respect.'' "We have four guys we consider No. 1s and A.J.'s one of them,'' said Webb coach Clark Wormsley, whose team dropped to 6-2. "He's one of our better guys, but they swung the bats well.'' Knox Bearden 10, Dobyns-Bennett 4 Mayes started the game, but allowed four hits and a sacrifice fly and was pulled in the first for Lance Brewer. Bearden built its lead to 6-0 with four more in the third and held off the Indians behind Derrick Copeland, who pitched the first five innings and allowed only a solo home run by Stabler, who led off the fourth with his fourth home run in five games. Wesley Lane got his third home run with a three-run shot off Lance Gouffon in the sixth. Kendall Wells had a pair of two-run home runs and a run-scoring single to lead Bearden (12-2) with a 3-for-3 effort and 5 RBI. "I don't worry about Bearden when we get to the playoffs,'' said Ritz, "because it was their No. 1 pitcher against our No. 8 (Brewer). We won't have that situation when we get to the playoffs.'' Bartlett 8, Dobyns-Bennett 2 Matt Nuccio, who is one of his team's top two pitchers, scattered six D-B hits and walked three, but struck out none in the 5 1-3 innings he worked. Jacob Wilson went 3-for-4 with three RBI to lead Bartlett, which went 3-1 in the tournament and is now 11-5. Bartlett's only loss in the tournament was to Chattanooga Baylor, 5-4, just before trhe game with D-B. Bartlett scored twice in the third on Nuccio's solo home run and on Kurtis Bramlett's single, but D-B answered when Joyce's triple plated Stabler, who had walked ahead of him. Joyce then scored on Lane's sacrifice fly. But that was all D-B was able to muster against Bartlett, which went ahead 3-2 on Wilson's run-scoring single in the fifth and then put it away when D-B melted down in the sixth when it allowed four walks, a hit batsman, committed an error and allowed two hits. "We lost some games, but this was good for us,'' said Ritz, whose team is now 8-3. "We got to look at some people in situations where it doesn't ruin our season. We looked at all of our pitchers and found out we still need to find a fourth one. We lost some games, but we got a lot out of this. One thing that encouraged me is that Bartlett's pitcher was throwing 88 mph and we didn't strike out once against him. We hit some hard balls that were right at them.'' Based on the quote from the Webb coach and other CoachT posts from those from other teams in the SportsBelle tourney, the pitcher for Webb was one of their 4 regular starters (not their "ace"), and the Seymour and Bearden starters were younger pitchers, not their established starting pitchers. Do the people up in Kingsport really buy all of this, or is it that no one is paying attention except for a handful of people? And is this guy Bliss a journalist, or just a p.r. person for the local high school?

Based on past games, either Sensabaugh or Will Henry, not Throp, would guard Tony White.

In the D-B game, Weatherford did not score as much because D-Bs guards (Cody Sensabaugh in the first part of the first quarter, Will Henry the rest of the game) found him early in transition defense and did not allow him good looks on drive and kick-outs, and then did a good job of fighting through screens in half court defense (especailly in the second half) and denying him the ball where he wanted it and closing well when he was able to catch it beyond the arc. Weatherford is a good player and a very good spot up shooter, and, to his credit, against D-B he did not force things when he got the ball if he was not in position to set his feet and shoot. His ability to score from outside did open up the floor for Buchanan and Hess, and kept Sensabaugh and Henry from playing their usual help position when the other Central players cut through and posted inside (which Central exploited well, especially in the first half). So, Weatherford had a positive impact on Central's offensive output that is not reflected in the boxscore.