Great Hitting Team

Example:

Your facing Jim Leggett. You get four hits. You K 13 times. Maybe you drop one bomb. "Were not a very good hitting team."

Next game. Your facing the average high school team. With a very average high school pitcher. You get 13 hits. You K 3 times. You drop 4 bombs. "Man were a great hitting team."

Here is the problem. Most teams play that second team the vast majority of the time over the course of a short HS season. But those are not the teams you are going to have to beat to win a championship or make a run towards a chance to win a championship.

The great hitting teams are the teams that have the ability to hit that caliber of pitcher in that first scenario 1-9. They may not all get hits but they all have the ability to make that pitcher work , put the ball in play and make the defense work and pressure the other team for 7 innings. The fact is there are just not that many of those teams playing each year. The ones that can will be playing alot longer than the others.

Alot of teams dont find out that they are in that second group until the last game of their season is over.

 

Yeah right, and donkeys can fly, you boys would just be in the chat room talking about me for the rest of the day.

 

12 have been hit at home

 

Bingo. The CVAC - this year - is littered with mediocre (at best) pitching. Having said that, you either hit it or you stink. Foard doesn't stink, but they are not a great hitting team either.

 

Ragsdale has probably hit more home runs this year than any recent year I can remember. Always have good teams, always have good hitters but haven't ever hit a lot of home runs. So while nine isn't a lot it is for them.

But one thing for sure is they hit the ball 1-9. There are no easy outs on their team.

 

Coach 27 is dead on. I watch my son and his team play and sometimes people get caught up in the stats. I break the stats down to see how the team hits what I call 'quality pitching' (everyone has their own definition of what a quality pitcher is). And then you throw in a quality pitcher with a quality defense behind him and those runs/game drop. Those hits against guys that throw it 70-78 mph with limited off-speed, poor control and a poor defense behind them. They pad that average but you don't see those teams in the playoffs.

 

Simple plan run till the throw you out. If your catcher does not do the job they will run. If the pitcher does not hold them on they will run.

 

Runs per game

How do you score those runs per game? Errors by weak fielding teams? Pounding weak opponents? Some teams runs per game average could be 8 or 9 and if they played in another conf it would be 3 or 4. Some teams avg 5 or 6 runs per game and if they played in another conf it would be 10 or 11. Stats like that mean nothing because its all relative to the competition faced over the course of the season. There is just too much disparity between the levels of play state wide and conference to conference to use these type of stats to judge how good a team is.

A team like Ragsdale can hurt you so many ways. First of all they are very well coached on running the bases. They put pressure on the opponent and maximize scoring opportunities. They can play small ball and they bang it around the park. They can pressure you 1-9 in the line up. You can not shorten the game on a team like that by working hard to get by the 1-5 and then cruising through the bottom like you can on many teams. The bottom is just as capable of hurting you as the top on any given day. That is why they are my favorite to win the state title this year. Along with the fact they are deep on the hill and very good defensively. They could still get upset just like anyone else.

In the West I like East Rowan because they got their horse back and they have experience on their side. I like Ragsdale for the reasons above. I like Lake Norman because they have a shut down arm from the leftside. They play in a very tough conference and have played in some big games this season. And they are very good. In the east I like Rocky Mount because of Pitching ie Johnson and Moss. And they have sr star players like Fish and Goodwin. But they not as good as last years team offensively. I like West Brunswick because they are tough , gritty , well coached and talented. I like Eastern Wayne because they can mash and they can mash legit pitching. They are not going to be shut down in a big game. So imo those 6 teams are the favorites.

 

Ditto trying to compare scoring against scoring,,, it matters more WHO you been playing.

What impresses me about Lake Norman is not only their sticks, they truly can swing it 1-9, but (as Coach27 said) they have that "shutdown" pitcher, but I have also been very impressed with 2 other pitchers on their team who are most capable of winning 2nd round games.

As for East Rowan, yes Shive is back, he just shutout Lake Norman in his final start giving LN their only conf loss of the year. Shive can beat anyone, but just not sold yet on East's other pitchers for the even rounds. The thing East has is defense, coaching and tradition,,, those boys just know how to win.

Ragsdale is always stacked with pitching, and quite frankly I'll take pitching and defense every year with a team that executes well and runs the bases well. This is why Ragsdale wins so much, they are very well coached and it shows every year.

Of course Mooresville, West Rowan and others are fully capable of beating these other teams on a given day,,, and I admit my ignorance towards teams like Tuscola, MarvinRidge, Kings Mountain, South Point, or Fred T.Foard,,, but thats what makes the playoffs so interesting watching all these teams butt heads.

 

5-9

Those 5-9 slots are so very much undervalued in terms of their importance. 1-4 are gonna get theirs. 5-9 are where the money is made. Championships are won offensively when 5-9 are better than the opposing teams 5-9. I want your pitchers to have to pitch to 9 hitters. Pressure defense to have to work hard to get each one out. I would never want to give you an out. Ever! I want the defense to feel that they have to work as hard to get those hitters out as they would 1-4. I work hard in getting the 5-9 to understand their role. "Get the top of the line back up to bat again." Once through 1-4 here we go again. CONSTANT pressure on defense and pitching. NO FREE OUTS!

Now is my 5-9 gonna drop bombs and moon shots? Not neccesarily. If they do that is cake. But they are gonna pressure you. Ball in play. Ball in play. You are gonna have to bring it to them. They are not gonna give in. They want the 1-4 back up and in your face. (See pitch counts) Go ahead and get another pitcher.

I look at the game and count the number of outs available. When the game starts we each have 21. IMO its a game of outs. The score takes care of itself.

Again 27 is dead on IMO.