SW4A All-Conference Team

Posted today in the Charlotte Observer.

Infield:
Chris Ahearn (Providence)
Elliot Arrington (S Meck)
Wes Borden (S Meck)
Blake Gehringer (E Meck)
Matt Clapham (Olympic)
Kevin Glass (Butler)
Jeremy Mathis (Myers Park)
Kyle Shelton (S Meck)
David Teague (E Meck)
Kyle Whigham (Providence)

Outfield:
Kevin Dietrich (Providence)
Zach Kennedy (S Meck)
David Rubenstein (S Meck)
David Scism (Providence)

Pitchers:
Ben Buchanan (E Meck)
Joey Cutler (Providence)
TJ Worrell (S Meck)

Coach of the Year:
Hal Bagwell (S Meck)

AND FINALLY THE PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
Jonathan Ratledge (S Meck)

You put this group of guys on the field and they may not lose a game!

 

Boy!

Looks like Mp got the shaft what a shame!????? (((((((((

 

Congratulations to all the players who were selected to the team -- they are all deserving.

To me there is one glaring omission (maybe others will believe there are other glaring omissions, too). I just can't see how JJ Rollins from Myers Park could be left off. I'll bet if you polled all the pitchers in the conference JJ would be the guy they'd least like to face if they had to get an out. Add to that JJ's rifle arm -- he has to be the toughest catcher to run on in the conference, too -- I'd bet the speedsters would list him as the guy they'd least like to try to steal a base on.

It would have been nice to see Myers Park's Wes Flowers rewarded for his season, too, and Jim Berger had a nice year, too. Anyway, only one player from a team that finished third is hard to swallow, as is 12 of the 18 coming from only 2 of the 8 schools (7 South and 5 Providence, 3 from East, 1 each from Myers Park, Olympic and Butler, none from Waddell or Garinger). Interesting note -- 4 of South's 7 picks were juniors. I'm not sure we'll even need to play the season next year -- just fit the crown now!

I know picking a team like this is tough. Alex Martin and Logan Smith are names that are noticeably absent; both made the team as juniors but not as seniors. Waddell's Carl Krimminger and Brad Rhine would have been nice selections, as would have East's Taylor Bryant, Olympic's Thomas Hovis and Butler's Glass. Limiting the team to 18 is a tough chore, especially with so many good players on the top two teams.

Ratledge as player of the year is an interesting choice. Certainly he had an outstanding season as both a pitcher and a hitter and is deserving, but it would be hard for me to pick him ahead of either teammate Kyle Shelton or Providence's Kevin Dietrich. They were both outstanding offensively and defensively and both were seniors, while Ratledge was a junior.

 

Correction, Butler's Glass did make the team. But it seems every year valuable players are left off.

 

Correction!

Alex Martin from Providence??? I don t believe he made the team last year either?!? Someone? :huh:

 

Thanks for the correction -- late night messages; glad he made it -- he was very deserving

 

You would know better than I would -- I just thought he had. A pitcher like Alex never making all conference, hard to figure, but he has had lots of success in baseball anyway. Good luck to him at Clemson next year -- I hope he has a great experience there.

You could put quite a "non all-conference SW4A" team on the field -- Martin, Hovis, Krimminger, Kennell and Spain as your pitchers; Rollins and Bryant as your catchers; Berger at first; Rhine at short; Smith at third; Flowers at DH; Myers (Myers Park), Josey (Butler) and Aponte (Olympic) in the outfield. We'll find a second baseman, too.

Congratulations to those guys on their seasons, too. Lots of good players in the SW4a.

 

Honorable Mention...

This is just the 1st team that was listed. I noticed in other conferences a seond team was listed and also Honorable Mention. Is this true for SW4A also?? :huh: If so, I am sure the Second Team and Honorable Mention will list all the others, but I agree, it is sooooo hard to pick just 18 out of the strong conference that the SW4A has become.

 

The coaches in every conference set their own rules for selecting the all-conference players and how many to select.

In other conferences, they try to select at least one player from every team in the conference and limit the number of selections for a single team. Very few conferences go first-team/2nd-team etc. Many conferences don't rate players by position either. You may end up with the IF all conference selections being entirely SS/3B without a single 2B/1B selected (unless they swing a big bat). Still other conferences do everything by statistics.

There are no rules.

 

Thanks...

Thanks for clearning that up for me. I think in a conference as strong as SW4A this may be something to consider (if they do not do it) so more kids could be recognized. I know South Meck had 7, and I think everyone of them were deserving, but when I go down the rosters of other teams there are soooo many that would/could be on that list. As stated earlier, there are always some that are left out.