2006 STATE PLAYOFF DISCUSSION FORUM

North Pitt/Central Davidson

The two North Pitt/Central Davidson (2A) games were excellent. Each team had 11 hits total in 18 innings (both games combined). Sutton (junior, NP) struck out 31 and Leonard (freshman, CD) struck out 27. In game 1, timely hitting by Sutton drove in the winning run followed by an insurance run given up on a CD error. In game 2, Shaw’s long ball drove in the winning run. Its interesting that the long ball did more damage for NP in both games despite the fact that they are big on the short game. Most of CD’s hits were long ball, but they couldn’t pull enough of them together at the right times. Sutton and Leonard both certainly are among the state’s best pitchers. For batters (both teams) to get that many hits against that level of pitching is a great achievement.

 

Faith Sutton

Faith will join G Allen this summer, pitching for Ray's Cardinals.

 

N Pitt

No knock on Leonard (she's a fine pitcher) but understand that Sutton and Shaw were really the only offensive threats that NP had. They only had one other girl who ever played travel ball! The coach wisely tried to teach the rest of them to bunt (with some success). I guess the coaches from CD and the other schools NP faced in the playoffs didn't realize this. Otherwise, Sutton and Shaw would have seen nothing to drive. Sutton is eligible to return next year but Shaw graduates. However, North Pitt is one of the schools in our county that has "open attendance". I wouldn't be surprised to see some players transfer over there from our 3A and 4A schools. One or two such transfers would virtually insure a return to the creek for NP if Sutton's back. Faith is a year older than her classmates, however. She could petition to graduate early. Like many top HS pitchers playing another year of HS ball will not help her game at all.

CD's hits long balls . . . yep, right not Sutton is an "up" pitcher. Like most "up" pitchers she gets lots of K's (especially against HS kids who see it so well but don't understand they can't hit it!) but when she gets hit bad things happen. At 43' in college she'll need to change speeds and throw down more otherwise the balls that CD hit that stayed in the park will be gone. The problem with rise ball is that if it does not rise going to the batter it will certainly rise going the other way!

 

Been There, Done That

I fully understand what it takes to train a pitcher. My DD is a D1 freshman pitcher whose 1.91 ERA was third in her conference this season. She also set the school single season strikeout record so I understand what it takes! She was also a .400 hitter in HS with 10 HR's (facing 4A teams) so we've worked at this also. My point is that I just think it's tougher to train a fastpitch hitter. Where do you find the "good live pitcher" to throw inside pitch everyday? I know of very few dads who can really emulate FP pitching (I slingshot from behind screen @ 25' but its not really the same) and even fewer real pitchers who will throw batting practice . . . I know I don't let my DD do it!

 

agree, but.............

Dukedog, I agree totally with you about good hitting practice/ training just being much more difficult to accomplish as compared to practice & training for pitchers.
But, your statement about not allowing your dd to throw BP. why not?

 

Lot of funny stuff goin' on there. I'm sure all the rules are being followed, but holding older girls back and transfering at will... Nah, I'd rather get knocked out of third round in a close game with a bunch of home grown homies than win it outright with all that goin' on. Just a thought. Kinda cheapens the whole experience, don't ya think???

 

Nothing Cheap About It!!

I have no dog in this fight and I didn't mean to imply anything funny. Sutton's parents held her back very early in her schooling (private) for reasons having nothing to do with sports. She's a great kid and good student who decided she wanted to go to public rather than private school. Her home is in the North Pitt district. It's not the place to go if you wanted softball success. As I've pointed out, there was only one real player there (Shaw) and no history of softball success. 4A Rose or 3A Conley would have been places for her if the decision had been made based on softball. Other parents in this county have chosen to rent trailers, apts, etc for "athletic reasons" but the Suttons, to their credit, chose not to go that route. NOTHING CHEAP ABOUT IT. Those involved in the program simply took what was there and figured out how to win with it. Pretty cool really that a team made up of many girls who don't pick up a ball from May to February can win a state championship. Of course its a tough pill to swallow for those teams that N Pitt beat. Especially, teams that are essentially 12 month a year operations . . extensions of travel teams. Yes, Sutton did outpitch these teams but the NP coaches also outfoxed them also.

 

transfer?

transferring solely for sports purposes? now that's a great life lesson to be promoting................yes, I'd agree that cheapens the experience.

open attendance? so you can live in one district & attend school in another one across the other side of county? hmmmmmmm .......does that promote stacking/ recruiting??

 

Correct

Just want to emphasize that in N Pitt's case this did not happen this year. Sutton already lived in the district but was attending private school. Simply moved to the appropriate public school. I was speculating that Sutton's presence might attract some players there next year. Yes, for some reason Pitt Co. allows students to transfer to the smaller schools in the county regardless of residence. In other words you can leave Rose (4A) for N Pitt (2A) but you can't go the other way. I don't think it has had much effect on athletics, probably because the programs at Rose & Conley are percieved as so much better. For example, most kids would rather set on the bench the baseball coaches at Rose or Conley than play for N Pitt or Ayden Grifton. I have known one or two kids to move to these smaller schools but usually has to do with other "teenage" stuff.

 

transfer

I can actually see potential for transfer by that system for average-skilled kids that love the game but want more PT (those that look at what's ahead at their local large school and just don't foresee PT), sort of as a means of getting a fresh start at another school. oh well..........

can you see this type of thing rubbing the existing players & parents from the smaller school the wrong way if a transfer comes in and grabs the PT?