rSquared

Sweet! Congratulations from a fellow Region 1AA team, Union Co., on your state title and a huge accomplishment in taking down a great team in Goodpasture! ---rSquared UCHS Asst. Coach

It's the 18th, which is tomorrow (Monday).

Just want to congratulate Coach J. Laurendine, the Coalfield team, and the entire school and community on a great season and on earning a trip to the 'Boro this year! This is what I had envisioned back in my coaching days at Coalfield (2000-2004) but wasn't fortunate enough to see it come to fruition. I did know then, however, that if we didn't make it, that the Yellow Jackets would have a great chance when fourth grader (at that time) Lindsey Fadnek arrived on the high school scene. And that has now come to pass most definitely! So again, congrats on the accomplishment and good luck in the state! I remember going for the first time as an assistant coach under Darlene Headrick at Oakdale in 1998. It was an enjoyable experience that you just do not forget---so enjoy it and play hard! Congrats also to Coach Jason Wilson and the baseball program---a program that already HAS a state championship to its credit! Bring home another one guys! A former Yellow Jacket, R. Roark/rSquared

Congrats Grainger on your 6-1 win over Pigeon Forge for the 2AA championship! Good luck at home against Elizabethton on Monday! ---Coach Roark Union Co. Lady Patriots

Thanks for the good wish, but we didn't even show up against them tonight, and as a result they handed us our fannies 10-0. Good luck to your Lady Grizzlies tonight though. Take the district crown home with ya and then don't stop there! ---rSquared

The winners' bracket final was a dandy of a game. Pigeon Forge jumped out to an early 4-0 lead, but Grainger battled back on a line drive home run by Savannah Grubb to cut it to 4-1, then played some small ball to cut the deficit to 4-3 in the sixth. The Lady Grizzlies then capped off the rally with a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh to take a thrilling 5-4 win. Tomorrow's games feature the losers' bracket final at 4:00 p.m. with Union Co. and Pigeon Forge squaring off for the second time in the tourney. The winner of that game will take on Grainger at 6:00 p.m. and the "if necessary" game would take place immediately following the conclusion of the 6:00 p.m. game.

Thanks for your response, but you may want to read the reply from TSSAA Administrative Assistant Shonnie Speicher which I copied and pasted above! It looks like summer tryouts are okay.

Just as an FYI, I somewhat surprisingly got an email from TSSAA clarifying this issue just a couple of hours after I sent an email to them! The answer: Once school is out for the summer, your school can have try-outs as long as they are not during the dead period. However, once school starts in the Fall you cannot have try-outs until you are allowed to have practice as set forth in the TSSAA Sports Calendar. Shonnie Speicher On Tue, 5 May 2009 17:34:01 -0500 (CDT) roarkr@ucps.org wrote: > > A person submitted a comment from the Feedback Form: > > Name: William R. Roark > Subject: FEEDBACK FORM Softball Tryouts in Summer > Email: roarkr@ucps.org > ************** > I know the rule reads: > > > Q. Is it permissible for a school to have try-outs >before the first practice date? > A. Try-outs are considered practice. No school may hold >try-outs prior to the first practice date as set forth by >the TSSAA Sports Calendar. > > What is the interpretation of this rule? Is a team >violating the rule by having summer tryouts during that >part of the summer when practice is allowed? Does "prior >to the first practice date" apply during the summer or >only once the school year begins? > Our team (I am an assistant coach) wants to have tryouts >in the summer so that we will know who we want to take on >a Spring Break trip in April of 2010. The girls will >need to start raising money and making payments/deposits >on their trip as early as the beginning of the school >year. If we cannot hold tryouts in the summer, then we >are not sure who would be wasting their time and money >raising funds for the trip. This would by very unfair for >the girls that will not make the team to have them raise >money all fall and most of the winter only to have to >wait until Feb. tryouts to see if they make the team. > Please interpret and clarify. We really need a response >if possible! > > Thanks, > William R. Roark > Union Co. High School Softball > ************** > > Shonnie Speicher Administrative Assistant TSSAA 3333 Lebanon Road; P.O. Box 319 Hermitage, TN 37066 Phone - (615) 889-6740; Fax - (615) 889-0544

Q. Is it permissible for a school to have try-outs before the first practice date? A. Try-outs are considered practice. No school may hold try-outs prior to the first practice date as set forth by the TSSAA Sports Calendar. Okay, I realize WHAT the TSSAA says in their handbook regarding tryouts (see above), but I'm not sure how to interpret it. Can schools have tryouts during the summer practices that they're allowed to have? Does the part of the rule regarding no tryouts prior to the first practice date mean that there can be NO summer tryouts or does it mean that a school could not hold tryouts once the school year begins until the first official day of practice (early Feb.)??? Coaches, TSSAA officials, please shed some light on this for me! Our team would like to hold tryouts in the summer in order to know who makes the team and can therefore begin to raise funds for a spring break trip to Disney that we are scheduling in April. It would seem an injustice to allow girls to begin to raise the money in August and then tell them in February that they didn't make the team during tryouts and therefore will not be able to take the team trip! Anybody been involved with this before and have a clarification of the TSSAA rule and/or a good resolution to a situation such as this? I have emailed TSSAA, but I'm afraid they won't get back to me with an answer or at least do so in a timely manner. I would really like to know something soon if possible. Thanks in advance, rSquared

And, there's a 40% chance of showers and scattered thunderstorms in the Pigeon Forge area tomorrow by the way. /wacko.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":wacko:" border="0" alt="wacko.gif" />

District 2AA games are being moved from Union Co. to Pigeon Forge. Games have also been pushed back an hour. Game 1 will begin at 6:00 p.m. (Pigeon Forge vs. Union Co.) and Game 2 will begin at 8 p.m. (Grainger vs. Claiborne).

District 2AA games are being moved from Union Co. to Pigeon Forge. Games have also been pushed back an hour. Game 1 will begin at 6:00 p.m. (Pigeon Forge vs. Union Co.) and Game 2 will begin at 8 p.m. (Grainger vs. Claiborne).

District 2AA Satellite (Play-In) Round Friday, May 1st Gatlinburg-Pittman (#6) at Union County (#3) --- 5:30 p.m. Cumberland Gap (#5) at Claiborne Co. (#4) --- TBA District 2AA Tournament at Union Co. Monday, May 4th Winner of GP/Union Co. vs. Pigeon Forge (#2)---5:00 p.m. Winner of CGap/Claiborne vs. Grainger (#1)---7:00 p.m. Tuesday, May 5th Losers of two Monday games---5:00 p.m. Winners of two Monday games---7:00 p.m Wednesday, May 6th---No games unless makeup games needed from Mon. and/or Tues. Thursday, May 7th 6:00 p.m. Winner of Tues. 5:00 p.m. Losers Bracket game vs. Loser of Tues. 7:00 p.m. Winners Bracket game Friday, May 8th 6:00 p.m. Winner of Tues. 7:00 Winners Bracket game vs. Winner of Thursday's 6:00 p.m. Losers Bracket game 8:00 p.m. (If necessary) Loser of Friday 6:00 game vs. Winner of Friday's 6:00 game TSSAA priced admission is $5.00 per person. Concessions will be sold and hospitality tent will be provided for coaches, umpires, scorekeepers, bus drivers, etc. In the event of rain, games may have to be played on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday as well until the tournament is finished.

kfd's from knox, so I'm guessing he/she IS referring to Knox Halls.

I should be able to post that schedule here by tomorrow evening. The coaches meeting is tomorrow morning. ---rSquared

Parnokr and pfhscoach: Congrats on the big win at Grainger this evening! Good luck in the district tourney next week.

Grainger #1 P. Forge #2 Union #3 Grainger split with PF, but won both games with Union while PF split with Union. Therefore, Grainger currently has 1 district loss, PF has two, and Union has 3.

Thank you. I had heard that Pigeon Forge had won, but didn't see a score here. Anyway, I appreciate the confirmation. Can you tell us if this "snitching" came from within the Grainger program or from another school/team?

Did Pigeon Forge beat Grainger on the Grizzlies home field tonight? Did Mudd pitch for Grainger?

Tonight was Pigeon Forge's night, as the Lady Tigers won 7-4 on the road at Union Co. UC travels to Grainger tomorrow, then I believe that all three of these teams will be playing in the Morristown Invitational at Lorino Park on Friday and Sat.

Ravyn Nease (Jr.) threw a one-hit, complete game shutout for UC. Mackenzie Oliver threw a five-hitter for PF. Gonna be tough playing PF on back to back days (Tues. and Wed.) and then coming to play you guys on the following day (Thurs). But then these kinds of things happen when rain dominates the spring sport that should be a fall sport! LOL Good luck to your girls the rest of the way out too. They have certainly played head and tails above everybody else in the district to this point.

You may want to look again! /biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" /> Union County 3-0 over Pigeon Forge at PF tonight! Same two teams at Union Co. tomorrow. Things are heating up in this district race!

Any tournament schedule yet?

Naah! Grainger hasn't played much of anybody! LOL Only kidding, as I was discussing with my head coach just a few days ago, Grainger's record doesn't mean squat at the current time. It's all about playing good teams to get yourself ready for postseason play, and nobody does any better job of it than Wendy! Congrats on the impressive win over Farragut! I'd say Coach Moore was shocked! LOL ---rSquared

First, let me qualify what I'm about to say with this: I have NO idea why Pemberton left Catholic. But I do want to respond to your comments that DS and JS "stink" and "have je(a)lousy issues." What I do know, at least in my personal/professional opinion, is that the Catholic Principal and the Catholic AD are two of the best men that I've had the pleasure of working for. True, I was only employed by Catholic for one year, and left on my own to pursue a coaching opening at another school and in another sport, but in every single instance that I dealt with these two men, they were very professional, cooperative, understanding, and willing to do all they could to help my efforts with the program I coached while there. I am convinced that they are both nothing short of top-notch administrators and family men. I say this with absolutely NO reason other than to relate my impression of these two gentlemen. I have no intentions or desires to return to Catholic, so I'm not "kissing up," nor do I have any other agenda. Just stating my opinion. ---rSquared