Goodlettsville LL team

[FightinIllini]

Happy for the team, no doubt, LL as a whole is not indicative of the talent level at this age in this area.

Edited September 3, 2012 by FightinIllini

[ksgovols]

Yeah whatever. That's not what Little League is about. What I like the most about LL is that they put their player's health first. Travel ball doesn't have a pitch limit, days rest requirement or anything other than a conscientious coach or parents not blinded by 12U phenomitis to keep a kid from throwing every other day in a tournament atmosphere for 100 pitches. Seen it happen more than once. The biggest trouble with travel ball is that there is no one to answer to.

 

I appreciate Little League for what it is, not for what it is not. They are 12. You can't really project what they are going to be by the time they make it to high school and why should you. I do think that LL will eventually have to move to 70' bases and 50 pitcher's mound sooner rather than later for safety reasons and to provide a better foundation for moving on to the 90 bases. I will say that the communities that embrace the 'rec league' type environment whole heartedly at least through age 12 have the better Little League programs. To do that, those programs have to appeal to their customers in some way. You hate to lose the 'everybody plays' aspect of youth baseball. There's a kid from Columbia pitching in the A ball right now that wasn't a phenom and didn't make many all star teams in his youth league days, but shot up and became a heck of a pitcher his last 2 years of high school. Those kind of guys gotta have a place to play.

[Rekncru]

Would these players most likely end up at Beech or is it too early to tell.

 

Two of the players attend Davidson Academy (Brock Myers and Blake Osborne)

Two attend Greenbriar Middle, Justin Smith(lives in Goodlettsville), Cole Carter.

Jake Rucker will attend White House Heritage. Lives in Greenbriar

Jayson Brown, Andrew Snyder and Collin O'Berry will go to JPII

Seth Marlin and Jonathan Seals will most likely go to Beech

Ryan Lyle will most likey attend Hendersonville High

Luke Brown attends a private school where his mother teaches (don't know the name)

Lorenzo Butler is rumored to be heading to Brentwood Academy next school year.

 

As far as some of the other comments, the majority of this team was from Goodlettsville and Hendersonville as 99% of the kids come from this area. Zero are from White House or Springfield as those areas are out of the Goodlettsville boundary which is strictly enforced by LL as one poster mentioned. There were two, Blake Osborne and Lorenzo Butler who were "grandfathered" in as one person mentioned. Lorenzo started out living in Hendersonville (New Shaclke Island) but has moved two times since signing up in Goodlettsville several years ago.

 

The competetion in LL has been strong from what I have witnessed. They (12 year olds) battled out of the losers bracket last season and had to defeat Tullahoma in back to back games to win the state and this year had to beat Columbia 2x by close margins as well as Karns (Knoxville) and South Nashville to escape the state.

 

Goodlettsville had a great ten year run 2001-2010 in Dixie winning the state 7 out of the 10 years with Red Bank (2002), Wayne County(and the great Austin Rice) (2005) and Cleveland (2006, the year Goodlettsville hosted the W.S.) winning the other three.

 

The league ,up until 2008, had 8 teams in the 11-12 division, 4 in the American and 4 in the National and contracted down to 6 teams in 2009-2010 due to lack of players moving up from the 9-10's. Dixie allows up to 7 teams before splitting into to divisions like they were up to 2008 which was why they had 4 and 4. Since moving to LL, the league has seen increased participation as the 11-12 division has expanded the last two years. 2011 (the first year in LL)from 6 to 8 and 2012 from 8 to 9. This was one reason the move was made. They were hoping LL would increase interest in sign-ups which, I was told, it has. Also LL allows a 10 team max before splitting into two divisions where Dixie is 7 which was another positive.

 

I am glad the league they came from is thriving as one poster stated, allowing everybody to have a chance to win the state and go to the World Series. I noticed, in those last few years, that Summertown was looking stronger and stronger. I continue to follow Dixie and expect to see those guys winning a few state titles as time passes. One thing Dixie does well is put on a great show for the kids at the W.S. which provides memories of a lifetime. The Ashland City (9-10's) went this year and I bet they had a ball.

 

I too, as a long time follower of Goodlettsville, am proud of these kids for such a great accomplishment. What a great run that no one expected. They provided most people a summer full of excitement that will not be forgotten any time soon.

[SOUTHERNFRIED]

I have absolutley no dog in this fight, and someone please correct me if Im wrong. 3 years ago when I was coaching in Dixie, all the local area towns went to Dixie "Ozone" rules, except for Goodlettsville, and Parkwood. For a couple of years Gville went straight to state due to it only being them and Parkwood left in the area, or it may have been straight to district. Doesnt matter, I was under the impression one of the deciding factors for Gville to go to LL was due to the cost involved of converting all of their fields to the Ozone rules. It was cheaper, and easier to go to LL, plus the advantage of a possible LL World Series. I had never heard of all these rumors about kids from way outside the area playing there. I also thought as long as a player had permission to play outside of their home area, they were free to do so under the old dixie (not Ozone) rules............like I said, I have no dog in this but I couldnt be prouder of those boys to represent Tennessee like they did. Ive met a few since and they all seem like a good bunch of young men.

[TheTruthPrevails]

Their 7 yr old team beat us(Jasper) in dizzy dean state finals, but it doesn't really bother me because I know when our kids get to high school they will all attend the same school while these goodletsville kids will be spread all over nashville. They give us something to shoot for.

[DoyleHargravesConstruction]

How's that Uganda trip fundraising coming? I understand the trip has been "postponed".

[EAsports]

Southernfried

The former state director was dismissed because he didn't handle an issue with 4 illegal players that were protested. Later that year Goodlettesville was told to clean up their district boarders and remove any kids out of the district boundaries. They chose to leave Dixie Youth instead of playing by the rules. Little League grandfathered in the illegal players by agreement. Look for this years 12 year old team to repeat with great success. All the district teams went Ozone to get away from Goodlettesville in tournament play and it has taken over the state as the largest Dixie Youth league after 10 year olds. Swaping to little league had nothing to do with field sizes. Just stating the facts!

 

[EAsports]

Southernfried

The former state director was dismissed because he didn't handle an issue with 4 illegal players that were protested. Later that year Goodlettesville was told to clean up their district boarders and remove any kids out of the district boundaries. They chose to leave Dixie Youth instead of playing by the rules. Little League grandfathered in the illegal players by agreement. Look for this years 12 year old team to repeat with great success. All the district teams went Ozone to get away from Goodlettesville in tournament play and it has taken over the state as the largest Dixie Youth league after 10 year olds. Swaping to little league had nothing to do with field sizes. Just stating the facts!

 

[SOUTHERNFRIED]

Southernfried

The former state director was dismissed because he didn't handle an issue with 4 illegal players that were protested. Later that year Goodlettesville was told to clean up their district boarders and remove any kids out of the district boundaries. They chose to leave Dixie Youth instead of playing by the rules. Little League grandfathered in the illegal players by agreement. Look for this years 12 year old team to repeat with great success. All the district teams went Ozone to get away from Goodlettesville in tournament play and it has taken over the state as the largest Dixie Youth league after 10 year olds. Swaping to little league had nothing to do with field sizes. Just stating the facts!

 

I cant comment on why most teams went to Ozone, I know we went to it in Portland because it was the closest thing to "real baseball". When we were at the coaches meeting deciding to go or stay that was the reason. It had nothing to do with getting away from Goodlettsville. We wanted the players to be able to use big barrel bats, longer basepaths and pitching distance, the ability to lead off, and for the kids to experienece a drop 3rd strike. It was for us coaches more "fun" to coach in. If ya want to speak facts dont lump everyone into the idea that all the teams left because of Goodlettsville. It had no bearing on our decision as coaches what so ever.

[EAsports]

Not to rain on the parade, because the team and story is great............over half the team does not live in Goodlettsville. When Moss-Wright park went to Little League, anyone that was already "in their park" and their siblings were grandfathered in and could play on the All-Star teams. Other teams that play little league are already under the zoning restriction rules. I'm not going to get into where each of the players go to school, but to answer your question........No.

 

They should have a good run for the next couple of years, and their 11 year old team is loaded.

 

 

Looks like Goodlettsville ran out of recruits! ELIMINATED in district play for the first time since Babe Ruth played there!

[TheFactsOnly]

Wonder what happened to all the donation money that was raised for the team's trip to Uganda that never happened? If a statement has been made about that money, I certainly missed it. I hope it was not used for family travel on the team's world tour to Titans, Sounds, Vanderbilt, MTSU, Braves, Belmont games, etc.

[tssaafan1]

Here's a little perspective on little league baseball compared to real baseball. My brother's 13u summer team, which is made up of kids only from his TN middle school, traveled to Myrtle Beach this summer and played the Wheeling Braves, who were in the LLWS last year. The middle school team won 19-1. The fact that ESPN gives so much airtime to this joke of a sport they try to pass as "baseball" is embarrassing. Just my two cents.