Upset Central

Upset Central

I don't consider that the home team loosing a game in the playoffs is necessarily an upset. That in mind, there are a few upsets in the 1st round play. Lets get some feedback ... what do you consider upsets.

4A

Laney over South View, 6-3
Southview had a 20-3 record on the season and had run away with the Two Rivers conference. Laney is always difficult to beat, but this had to be considered a mild upset.

Purnell Swett over DH Conley, 3-2
Ranked nationally in the pre-season, DH Conley started very slow this season, but had come on strong late in the year. By nature of the reputation and program at Conley, this one has to be considered a mild upset.

3A

East Chapel Hill over Glenn, 2-1
I favored Glenn to win at least one game in the states with Ryan Marion on the mound. I didn't expect them to have a very deep run this season. ECH did a nice job shutting down the bats, as did Glenn. I'm not surprised Glenn went out. I am mildly surprised it happened so quickly.

Southern Alamance over NE Guilford, 9-3
NE Guilford finished right behind Glenn in the regular season where Southern Alamance struggled at times. I thought NE would have pulled this one out. It's only a mild surprise though.

2A

Too me, there aren't any real shockers in the 2A ranks. Some teams that were favored lost but to me, those games were pretty evenly matched. I thought Forbush might go further, but Owen is a quality team. Only real shocker was the Mountain Valley Conference going 0-3.

1A

Pamlico over Williamston, 4-2
Williamston came into the game with a 21-1 record (absolutely outstanding for a 1A program) and was surprised by the #3 seed out of the Coastal Plains conference, Pamlico. This is a BIG UPSET.

Maiden over Albemarle, 1-0
Albemarle has played strong all season, ending with a 19-3 record. Maiden came into the tournament just over .500 for the season. BIG UPSET.

Surry Central over Hayesville, 5-3
Hayesville was undefeated on the season a looking forward to a head-to-head with South Stokes to see who would be the favorite coming out of the west. Surry Central in a BIG UPSET popped that balloon in a hurry.


Hayesville, Albemarle, Hendersonville and Albemarle looked to be the top 1A teams in the west.... now 2 of them are gone in the first round.

 

In the "Playoff Results Summary", I've posted how the different conferences are doing in each level .. 1A/2A etc.

When doing it, I discovered a few surprises ... check it out.

 

I was very surprised at the results of the SW4A in particular. Maybe there was some truth to the teams beating up on eachother all year. Or, maybe those teams were only favored by our own posters.

The second thing I noticed were the scores of all the games. With some exceptions, the scores seemed to be low scoring throughout the state and very few 10 runners. Maybe because most teams threw their Aces or playoff jitters, or maybe, just sound baseball.

 

Hmmm..interesting point. Maybe some truth to that...but let's look at the situation.

Except for Myers Park, all the teams in SW4A had to play #1 seeded teams...so there were no gimmees..

Results: one team lost 1-0...one team lost 3-2 with tying run being thrown out at the plate...and the other team was leading comfortably until the 5th inning....although all three teams lost...I don't believe any of them should lower their heads. They all got beat in close, well played games....that's baseball.

 

The low scores in these games is indicative of my other comment. There seems to have been great pitching and defense all across the state.

Also, there's no lack of respect for the SW4A teams here. I know too many of the players and parents...but I did think I'd get a little rise out of some of my friends.

 

The low, tight scores was the thing I was pointing at .....

Other than Ayden-Grifton's win, all of the games seemed pretty tight, which goes to show how even the talent has spread throughout the state.

The level of baseball this year, state-wide, is probably the highest it's been in recent memory. You still have some standout teams and area that reach the playoffs year after year, but the rest of the state is catching up to them. This really bodes well for the future. There are going to be some great battles in the years to come.

 

yes i agree with both of you, but one game that stuck out in my mind was the S. Caldwell east meck game. A great game it was, But it all ended in an instance... matt hill on third with two outs, top of the 7th. South C. is up 3-2. The pitcher throws a pass ball, hill looks to score easily, but the ball hits the brick backstop and shoots back at the catcher who easily throws it to the pitcher covering home and gets hill out by a few steps... an unfortunate ending to a great game, but thats the way baseball is sometimes.