DodgerBlue's 4A Prep Pickem Contest ...

bubba's picks

Garner (17-7) at Rose (22-3)
Green Hope (18-7) at DH Conley (18-6)
Lumberton (24-1-1) at Ashley (16-7-1)
Scotland Co. (20-3) at Hoggard (14-10)
Independence (19-5-1) at North Davidson (14-10)
West Forsyth (17-8) at Person (15-9)
Providence (24-4) at Central Cabarrus (20-6)
East Meck (16-11) at South Meck (20-6)

 

Here are all the winners ...just add up my points


Garner (17-7) at Rose (22-3)- Garner* upset special of the week
Green Hope (18-7) at DH Conley (18-6)- Conley..great pitching
Lumberton (24-1-1) at Ashley (16-7-1)- Lumberton--great bats
Scotland Co. (20-3) at Hoggard (14-10)- Scotland-- see NCBBallfan
Independence (19-5-1) at North Davidson (14-10)- Indy-- Coach Coltrane
West Forsyth (17-8) at Person (15-9)- Person--Coach Evans
Providence (24-4) at Central Cabarrus (20-6)- Providence--best in the West
East Meck (16-11) at South Meck (20-6)- SM--most talented team in the State.

 

I'll give it a shot:

Garner vs Rose: JH Rose ... May not be a close game.
DH Conley vs Green Hope: Green Hope - Hot bats right now
Lumberton vs Ashley: Ashley ... Very similar teams. Who's going to hit?
Scotland Co vs Hoggard: Scotland ... No Musselman tonight

Independence vs North Davidson: Independence ... ND's 10-inn game will hurt
West Forsyth vs Person: Person .... Gotta back my main man.
Providence vs Central Cabarrus: Central - Hottest bats in the west.
East Meck vs South Meck: South Meck -- hard to beat someone 4 times.

 

Braves

I think you missed on Lumberton. They don't scare anyone with the bats but can flat out pitch and defend with anyone. Their game with Ashley could literally come down to who can score one run.

 

...now you tell me. I was basing my opinion on this:

But...I still think they will win

 

Braves

Last few Lumberton games were:

Cape Fear 3-2
Swett 3-0
Pinecrest 3-0

Not exactly pounding the ball, but oh that pitching.

 

I understand...but I bet they face the aces in most games too. And what impresses me the most about Lumberton is two things:

1- they find a way to win
2. My secretary is from Lumberton. She would kill me if I didn't pull for them

 

Braves on Lumberton

You hit the nail on the head. Lumberton is one of those teams that seems to just find a way every night. No superstars being recruited by bigtime programs just a bunch of very good, very experienced, and well-coached kids. Every player can put the ball in play, they have really good team speed, and the pitching and defense has been spectacular. Thats a tough combo to beat at any level.
Where I expect Lumberton to falter is when they run up against a D1 caliber pitcher with a D1 caliber catcher behind the plate. Not sure where any runs would come from then. Hopefully that won't happen until they hit the 2 out of 3 threes but they will be facing a tough hombre tonight at Ashley.

 

Updated Results

Check me on this, but I think only five continued to play in the second round. Redbirdfan was the second round expert and took the overall lead, picking 7 of the 8 winners for 14 points, giving him 18 total. He was the only one of the five of us who picked against Coach Evans. His only miss was the Hoggard win over Scotland Co., but all five of us missed that one. NCBBallfan played this time, and even with that "give him the average first round points" silliness, he didn't fair too well. In fact, he kept me out of the cellar!

Here are the standings:
Redbirdfan...18 (14 in round 2)
Bubba.........16 (12 in round 2)
Braves........16 (10 in round 2)
DB..............15 (12 in round 2)
NC..............10 (6 in round 2)

With the four quarterfinal match-ups worth 4 points apiece, it is still anybody's game!

 

Round 3

Here are the match-ups. Correct picks are worth 4 points apiece!

Conley at Rose
Hoggard at Lumberton
South Meck at Providence
Independence at West Forsyth