2007 STATE PLAYOFFS DISCUSSION

Will....

Providence EVER beat Butler (again)???

 

Great Season Providence, we love you guys!

We are trying...the girls prepared and worked very hard to get where they are and to lose to the defending State Champs who are undefeated for the second straight year on their way to Raleigh is a let down of course. We played a great schedule, a tough one, and I think with seven major injuries this year and having to pull very young players up and start them on Varsity and still win many many games says a lot about those girls pulled up that helped out and also says a lot about our upperclassmen leadership. I will be clear on this...our girls have NOTHING to hang their heads about. As a coaching staff we have had more fun this season with this group of classy ladies that a coach could ever wish for. I would not trade my team for any other team out there and those girls know why. You ask if we will ever beat Butler again, it will happen when the time is right and the setting is right and we will always work for that when it is time for that game in the season. Just remember, there are many teams on that list lining up to try and knock them off and have not been successful for years. Ashton Ward is one of the best on that mound and an all around player and gamer. We respect her and look forward to following her career at UT. Beating her and her great talented bunch would have been a highlight. I am thankful for the other highlights our team gave to us and will always think of our 2007 season as one that was a physical roller coaster of injuries that those kids gutted through and worked hard everyday because we asked them to. No complaints, no feeling sorry for themselves, just optimism...they were secretly referred to as our come back kids everytime we watched them bounce back from what should have been another nail in their season. What a group! I hope other Providence fans will congratulate these ladies on a hard fought year. We love you guys and cannot stand saying goodbye to Brittany Sheats and Maria Goode. Thanks for all the fun guys and looking forward to some more very soon!

 

Morgan Peeler (CC) and Haley Barrier (ER) did a great job on the mound tonite as well as all players on both teams. Game may have been a little closer, had it not been what I thought was early game jitters by ER. After the 1st inning there was only 2 runs scored the remainder of game. That came in the 2nd inning with 1 on when Chasity Covington slammed a homerun over left center. Some great plays by both teams. The kind of game that softball fans like to see. Good luck CC as you move on. Good luck next year ER. You ladies played a good game tonite.

 

Answer: yes.

Providence has a great young club. In the next few years I think they will give every SWAAAA team all they can handle and more including Butler. Why it was not all that long ago that the shoe was on the other foot and Butler was wondering what we had to do to get past the panthers.
Good job lady panthers you had a great season
Ray

 

One Theory Why NPC Tourney was Cancelled

Can't state this as 100%, but what we've heard (my DD goes to NWC) was that the boys 3A NPC baseball conference was cancelled (not sure why), which lead to a discussion of whether it was 'fair' to let the girls play. A vote was taken by the AD's and the decision was made to cancel the conference tournament with a vote of 5 to 3. Someone said that they have already cancelled it for next year too, but can't confirm. Has anyone heard anything about that? Too bad, I do think that it puts the NPC teams at a disadvantage going into the State tourney.

 

Having no conference tournament puts those teams at a disadvantage. Conference tournaments serve as a great warm-up for the state playoffs. Teams need a game or two in a playoff atmosphere to get ready. These tournaments help determine seeding in the case of ties and give the lower teams a chance to get in the playoffs if they can pull off upsets and win their tournament.

These teams are also penalized because it means they can't play as many games. Tournament games are not counted in the 24 game seasonal limit.

Saving expense is not an excuse because the teams share the gate.

The most likely reasoning behind not having the conference tournament is lazy AD's. Its an opportunity for them to avoid doing some of the work they are paid to do. Parents should not stand for this. They should join their booster club and put on the pressure to make AD's do their job.

 

im sure you will, one day but not anytime soon i hope

 

LAZY AD'S

 

North Piedmont Conference

North Piedmont Conference voted again yesterday to cancel baseball and softball conference tournaments for next year. Absolutely no input from the softball coaches I have talked to. If you are in that conference, talk to your AD, ditto for East Rowan and South Rowan who will be in the NPC next year. 10 teams, of which 7 made the state playoffs this year.

 

if all

I see nothing wrong w/ deleting conf tourn's, but only if all conf's would agree to it.