NW4A, Who Do Ya Like To Finish 1st

East Burke is lead by 3 outstanding pitchers: Stewart and Yoder are tall (6'3- 6'4) lanky right-handers who throw in the mid 80's and will top out around 88mph, and feature some nice off speed pitches..The other one, Kestner I cant remember well other than he threw the ball pretty hard at Freedom..On the hitting end, East Burke doesnt hit the ball at all but they field the ball well..South Caldwell features 2 good but very different pitchers:Reid is mainly a curveball pitcher who will mix his fastball in..Guerra (transfer from Hibriten) is a hard thrower (86-88mph) but his fastball is flat and his curve is mediocre..South ,however, has some great hitters in Bentley,the 2 transfers from West Caldwell,and Reid, and play great defense..McDowell mainly will rely on the best left-hander in the league (Michael Taylor) and maybe 1 or 2 other returning starters..This team lost almost their entire starting 9..Taylor is the key because he keeps every hitter off balance, but he cant pitch every game..A.C. Reynolds may be down because they lost their best pitcher and hitters, but you cant overlook them..Freedom was down last year and I dont see them improving much..Watauga is an interesting team because of Coach Hardee..Every year they are getting closer to being back to when they dominated the league..They have a lefty who is pretty good (Nigro) and a righty (Leyshon) who will give them a solid 1-2 punch..Hitting will be a issue because I think they lost their best 2 hitters, but they will re-group and be tough..ACHS is an interesting team because they have alot of questions with an injury to their best up and coming JV pitcher, parents who cant keep their mouths off of the coaches, and jealousy between players..This team has as much if not more talent than any other team in the league but will have to come together and play as one, much like they did when they had too near the end last year..This team features 3 outstanding right handers who are very different..Payne throws in the mid 80's and will top out at 88mph, but will use his 12-6 curveball to record K's..Hollifield an unsigned senior is a finesse pitcher who can rare back and hit 87mph..He relys on a forkball to induce groundball outs..Hefner throws mainly in the 82-83mph range and will top out around 84mph..He throws a nice slider and a mediocre changeup..They have a 4th righty Kinniard who is comin goff of a thumb injury that may throw the ball the hardest of the 4 but you just don tknow about..He was the closer last year..Hall is a lefty who throws mainly around 80-82mph but is effective against lefties..ACHS problems however are hitting and defense..The infield was weak defensively last year, and need to improve..Hitting was aweful last year, and I am not sure that it will get much better..This conference will come down to the team that will unite as a team, play defense and hit the ball..

 

South Caldwell will be a big threat this year. Ajax you said that South recruited two players illegally, how is this so? South Caldwell is over crowded and doesnt accept transfers, so the only way to get into the school is to move into the district where its not illegal. South will have a great team with good pitching, hitting, and defense, and a good group of unified boys. Have 4 or 5 quality pitchers with Reid returning, Guerra transfered from Hibriten a hard throwing righty, Harrison from West a good relief pitcher, Coffey a quality righty from the jv team and some others who will contribute to the team. Also have great hitting throughout the lineup. Bentey, Wilson, Guerra and Reid will all prove to be tought outs.

 

The hitting and pitching part you are correct in your thread..And the way that South got around the recruitng (transfer) part of it was to have these kids get a box number at the post office and act like they live in the South area..Or they moved into the area with a family member, no matter how you state it or South states it they are illegal in recruiting these 2 or 3 kids and if that is the way that they want to go to win then so be it..East Burke is the same way with Kestner, so I guess the other 5 teams in the league will just have to figure out a way to beat them..South already was a step ahead of the other teams in the conference, now they just have extended their lead..

 

baseballfan30...just curious who coaches Caldwell's American Legion team?

isn't it ironic that since it is so hard to get into S. Caldwell that they have the top players off their legion team and a couple of those are new players who just moved into the district from Hibriten and West Caldwell...

if South Caldwell don't win State this season all the coaches should be fired..

 

Well said playme..It was ironic how those (transfer) players magically appeared at South after playing legion with the players from South Caldwell..

 

Everyone at South Caldwell is perfectly legal there has been no type of illegal recruiting both players live in district. The coach had no hand in helping them get into district it was there own decision. Everyone seems to think that Alexander is just going to walk all over South but we will see on the field should be some good games I persoanlly predict a split. Would like to see a Payne Vs. Reid matchup on the hill.

 

Alexander to walk all over Caldwell??Hadn't heard that one..I have heard it the other way around..I agree that Caldwell's coaches should be fired if they dont win the state's this year..They have solid pitching, great hitters, and a solid defense...

 

S.caldwell should win the NW4A conference and E. Burke should finish 2d...if ACHS goes to state they will have to will NW4A conference championship again this season...Watauga should finish 4th if not 3d...Reynolds, McDowell, and last but only because of the transfers to other schools Freedom...But Freedom kicks butt in football and basketball...

 

How does Watauga look up there?

 

i really haven't heard but i expect Coach Hardee will field a very good ball club...with their new indoor facilities i would think they will be very tough...tough pitching and hitting...this club could possibly run for the 1st place spot in the NW4A..