Not off the Press: Repeat league champions and breaking down postseason games
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
Sunday was tournament draw for baseball and softball, so let's get started by looking at games for Highland County in the postseason as the regular season comes to a close this week.
Here are some breakdowns of the five tournament opening games for baseball.
- McClain vs. Circleville: It's nice to see the Tigers able to host a postseason game, as they've had a season of ups and downs with their young team. They've had some good pitching performances this season that have turned into losses, as they've at times this season not been able to gain a hit or two when they've needed it. MHS is the eight seed in the North bracket, and Circleville is the No. 9 seed, entering the tournament draw with four wins.
The winner gets to host No. 1 seeded Sheridan, who have 18 wins this season, but the game on May 7 at Mitchell Park will be interesting for the fact to see if the Tigers can gain their first postseason win in over a year as last season they lost to Sheridan, 13-3 in their postseason opener.
- Hillsboro vs. Washington: This is scheduled for May 10 at Shaffer Park, and it will be the third time each of the teams has met this season, with HHS winning the most recent meeting 6-3 on their home field on April 16 and winning the first meeting in Fayette County 5-2.
Should be a fun game between the two teams. I'm not a huge fan of two teams from the same league facing each other in the postseason opener, but sometimes that's how things fall. HHS has 12 wins at the time of the draw, and WCH entered with 10 wins and nine losses, one more loss than the Indians.
I covered their second meeting at Shaffer Park this season, and the win by HHS reignited their season as the win broke a four-game skid by HHS and moved them at the time to a 7-7 overall record.
- Lynchburg-Clay vs. West Union/Northwest: Since the Mustangs have had a very successful season, winning 13 games this season (10 wins in league play), the LC Mustangs are wanting to break their streak of at least the past two seasons of not winning in the sectional tournament while entering the tourney as league champions.
This year, they have a really good shot as they await the winner of West Union and Northwest, as they combined have 11 wins, with WU having eight of those wins. This season, LC defeated West Union 15-2 with LC scoring nine of those 15 runs in one inning.
- Fairfield vs. Sciotoville: The Lions of Fairfield are 10-10, and Sciotoville entered the draw with eight wins, so in the standings, they are close to even with the teams earning the four and five seeds of the West in the SE District Division IV bracket.
In their conference, Sciotoville went 6-6 and currently have won three of their past four games entering this week, including a 24-20 win over South Gallia.
Usually when teams are seeded this close, they are close to even on the field, so this could be one of those close tournament games that could be won in the later innings.
A stat that stands out is Sciotoville's pitching has allowed 119 earned runs this season, while Fairfield's pitching has allowed 79 earned runs, but like most games this season … it could come down to who allows the least amount of unearned runs in the game will be the winner.
- Whiteoak vs. Manchester: Being that these two teams not only play in the SHL, but in the same division of the league, it's safe to say WHS and Manchester know each other pretty well. WHS swept the season series vs. the Greyhounds with wins of 5-3 at WHS and 9-1 at Manchester.
WHS has three quality pitchers who can win anytime they take the mound, and this time of year that, mixed with some good offensive play, can allow a team to move on in the postseason.
WHS has been playing in a tournament atmosphere their past few games as they were battling for a league title but came up short in their previous two league games to LC and Fayetteville, but with that type of competition and losing by a combined two runs in those games, WHS seems primed to make a postseason run.
• A quick softball preview
As for softball from Highland County, we have three teams entering the postseason with records under .500 and two who have already won or are on the verge of winning their respective league titles.
Whiteoak, Lynchburg-Clay and Hillsboro all have single-digit win totals this year, but here is what stands out on the plus side for them this season.
Hillsboro has the ability to score runs if they get the hot bat. They've proven that against Clinton-Massie when they won at home earlier this season.
As for LC, though they didn't get as many overall wins as they hoped for this season, they are still young (like HHS and WHS), and I witnessed this team rally back from being down 17-1 during the second inning against North Adams, so when a team can then score 26 unanswered runs to run-rule a team, anything is possible.
The Lady 'Cats have pitching on their side, as Kiley Sosby is one of the better pitchers in the SE District. The freshman has many multi-strikeout games this season.
Fairfield enters Monday with a perfect SHL mark but have suffered all their losses in non-league games, including a 1-0 loss to Eastern Brown in their annual non-league meeting of the two SHL teams.
MHS is in the same boat as FHS … they are winners of all their league games this season (have one remaining against MT for the perfect league season), but all their losses are non-league losses. Both the Lady Lions and Lady Tigers are more than capable of scoring enough runs against any team, be it league or a non-league opponent come this postseason.
• Final week of the regular season
It's hard to believe this is the final week of the regular season, where some teams will be battling for league titles and perfect league seasons, while other teams will use it as a final tune-up for the aforementioned postseason.
The Fairfield Lady Lions are using this week for both as they are hosting Eastern Brown in a makeup game from last week. This game features EB, who won the Division I of the SHL and previously defeated the Lady Lions 1-0 in a non-league game in nine innings at VA Memorial Stadium. It also features the Lady Lions team, who is 11-0 in league games this season, as they are currently on an SHL winning streak of 23 straight games, so if this game doesn't have a tournament atmosphere, I don't know what will.
The same goes for the Lady Tigers of MHS on Monday as well. They have won 22 straight SCOL games dating back to last season. They have already wrapped up their regular-season championship, but they want that elusive perfect league season, so to do that, they must defeat Miami Trace on Monday in Greenfield.
Those two games alone are a great way to wrap up the regular season ... too bad they are scheduled to take place at the exact same time.
On Tuesday, a game that should be fun is a non-league softball game between the Whiteoak Lady Wildcats and Hillsboro Lady Indians, as both teams will be preparing for the postseason. HHS will have a chance to see some very good pitching in this game.
As for Thursday, I'm looking forward to covering the Fairfield Lions and Hillsboro Indians for the simple fact it's two Highland County teams playing each other. This will be a good way for both teams to prepare for their postseason. Speaking of FHS, they have a busy week with games on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday of this week.
Weather permitting, this should be a good way to end the regular season.
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• Looking back at last week and league titles
One of the games from the previous week that I want to talk about is the Whiteoak and Fayetteville baseball SHL Division II championship game at Fayetteville last Thursday.
Those two teams played baseball the way it was meant to be played, as what better way can a championship be decided than in the bottom of the final inning?
As WHS head coach Chris Veidt said following the game, his Wildcats, though losing 2-1, needed to leave the field with their heads up high … and he was correct because that was what I can only describe as a baseball game the way the sport was meant to be played.
I also want to send out congratulations to the LC baseball and MHS softball teams, respectively, for their league title wins this past week. Not only did they win their respective league titles, they defended one from the previous year, as MHS are back-to-back champs, and LC is a three-peat champion.
Other congratulations go out to the Hillsboro boys and girls track & field teams for winning the McClain Invitational on Friday, as they had to face some very good competition to achieve that feat.
Also, congrats to McClain's Luis Rivas as he was the medalist for the boys events. The best finish of any race that event was the finals of the 100m dash where Hillsboro's Jordan O'Connor and Rivas, along with Circleville's Solomon Williams, finished 1-2-3 within a tenth of a second of each other, and it was determined O'Conner was the winner. I don't think I've seen a race end so closely, but I must say that was exciting to watch, and I'm sure all three will end up against each other in a race again this season.
One game this stands out to me this past week I covered was Lynchburg-Clay's softball win over North Adams. It wasn't that LC won, but how they won, as they trailed 17-1 in that game after NA scored 17 runs in the top of the second inning. Not only did LC win, but they won via a six-inning run-rule at 27-17, scoring 26 unanswered runs. In my six-plus years of covering high school sports as either an intern or sports editor, I can say I've never seen anything like that happen before … ever. Many teams would have just thrown in the towel, but I give props to the Lady Mustangs for sticking with it and not only keeping in the game, but winning it in run-rule fashion … those girls showed a lot of heart in that win, that's for sure.
• Random sports thoughts
- I liked the Cincinnati Bengals' draft. I didn't like the Cleveland Browns' draft, except for drafting Trent Richardson.
- It's a shame Chicago Bulls lost reigning MVP Derrick Rose to a torn ACL injury late in the game on Saturday in the playoff opener.
- My preseason prediction of the NBA Finals being the Miami Heat over the Oklahoma City Thunder still has a chance of happening.
- Can any team challenge the Heat in the East now with the Bulls losing Rose? I don't see it.
- On Sunday, I watched the following sports all in the same day: NBA Playoffs, NHL Playoffs, MLB, NHRA and NFL highlights … that's what I call a great day!
- The "Michael Jordan" ESPN commercial is hilarious … if you haven't seen it, it's basically people being disappointed when they realize the man named MJ isn't THE MJ we think of. I would have the same reaction as those folks in that commercial … "Really?"
- I was such an NFL Draft nerd for three days, keeping track of it via TV, computer or the NFL app on my phone.
- Here is maybe the best rookie free agent signing following the draft ... the Jacksonville Jaguars signed undrafted rookie kicker Long Ding from Norwich University.
- With all the sports I watched this past weekend (and my addiction to the NFL Draft) … how do I manage to keep a relationship?
- I'll tell you … I watched "The Five-Year Engagement" … my words to describe the movie … a few funny parts, and it seemed like it took the movie five years to end.
- If you have a choice, watch movies at Star Cinemas in Hillsboro … best popcorn around.
• Stat of the Week
After 21 games this season, the McClain Lady Tiger softball team has scored 190 runs and tallied 256 hits.
• (A second) Stat of the Week
Speaking of MHS softball, freshman Shania Massie is up to seven home runs this season.
• (A third) Stat of the Week
Whiteoak junior Gage Carraher continued his streak of 10 or more strikeouts in starts this season, as he finished with 11 strikeouts in the 2-1 loss to Fayetteville on Thursday. In five starts this season, Carraher has totaled 61 strikeouts.
• Quote of the Week
"This is the time of year where we need to win these type of games, but our guys need to walk out of here with their heads held up high because I've had teams that have won league titles with more losses than we have now." — Chris Veidt, WHS baseball head coach following the Wildcats' game against Fayetteville.
• (A second) Quote of the Week
"The girls have worked so hard for this, and our goal was to be league champions again. Now our goal is to go undefeated in the league, and that is where our focus is at right now." — Jarrod Haines, head coach of McClain softball following clinching the SCOL title for the second straight year after an 8-0 win at Washington C.H.
• (A third) Quote of the Week
"It's nice to win the league championship again. I told the guys to enjoy the win (Tuesday), but we have bigger goals we want to achieve. We have some league games remaining, and we want to win a sectional title. We set our goal early in the season to go further than winning the SHL. We expect to win the league title, and winning the sectional is our goal now." — Garyn Waits, LC head coach baseball following the Mustangs winning their third straight Division I SHL title with a win over North Adams.
• One last item of business
It's hard to believe this is the last week of the 2011-12 high school sports regular season. Where did the time go? Seems like yesterday I was preparing my football preview or even covering the state wrestling tournament. With the spring season being the shortest season of the three in high school sports, and with very few rainouts this season … this regular season has gone quickly. Best of luck to the teams in the postseason and in the final week of the regular season … it's been fun to cover.
Stephen Forsha is the sports editor of The Highland County Press. He can be reached at sforsha@gmail.com. Follow Stephen on Twitter @hcpsportseditor.
Here are some breakdowns of the five tournament opening games for baseball.
- McClain vs. Circleville: It's nice to see the Tigers able to host a postseason game, as they've had a season of ups and downs with their young team. They've had some good pitching performances this season that have turned into losses, as they've at times this season not been able to gain a hit or two when they've needed it. MHS is the eight seed in the North bracket, and Circleville is the No. 9 seed, entering the tournament draw with four wins.
The winner gets to host No. 1 seeded Sheridan, who have 18 wins this season, but the game on May 7 at Mitchell Park will be interesting for the fact to see if the Tigers can gain their first postseason win in over a year as last season they lost to Sheridan, 13-3 in their postseason opener.
- Hillsboro vs. Washington: This is scheduled for May 10 at Shaffer Park, and it will be the third time each of the teams has met this season, with HHS winning the most recent meeting 6-3 on their home field on April 16 and winning the first meeting in Fayette County 5-2.
Should be a fun game between the two teams. I'm not a huge fan of two teams from the same league facing each other in the postseason opener, but sometimes that's how things fall. HHS has 12 wins at the time of the draw, and WCH entered with 10 wins and nine losses, one more loss than the Indians.
I covered their second meeting at Shaffer Park this season, and the win by HHS reignited their season as the win broke a four-game skid by HHS and moved them at the time to a 7-7 overall record.
- Lynchburg-Clay vs. West Union/Northwest: Since the Mustangs have had a very successful season, winning 13 games this season (10 wins in league play), the LC Mustangs are wanting to break their streak of at least the past two seasons of not winning in the sectional tournament while entering the tourney as league champions.
This year, they have a really good shot as they await the winner of West Union and Northwest, as they combined have 11 wins, with WU having eight of those wins. This season, LC defeated West Union 15-2 with LC scoring nine of those 15 runs in one inning.
- Fairfield vs. Sciotoville: The Lions of Fairfield are 10-10, and Sciotoville entered the draw with eight wins, so in the standings, they are close to even with the teams earning the four and five seeds of the West in the SE District Division IV bracket.
In their conference, Sciotoville went 6-6 and currently have won three of their past four games entering this week, including a 24-20 win over South Gallia.
Usually when teams are seeded this close, they are close to even on the field, so this could be one of those close tournament games that could be won in the later innings.
A stat that stands out is Sciotoville's pitching has allowed 119 earned runs this season, while Fairfield's pitching has allowed 79 earned runs, but like most games this season … it could come down to who allows the least amount of unearned runs in the game will be the winner.
- Whiteoak vs. Manchester: Being that these two teams not only play in the SHL, but in the same division of the league, it's safe to say WHS and Manchester know each other pretty well. WHS swept the season series vs. the Greyhounds with wins of 5-3 at WHS and 9-1 at Manchester.
WHS has three quality pitchers who can win anytime they take the mound, and this time of year that, mixed with some good offensive play, can allow a team to move on in the postseason.
WHS has been playing in a tournament atmosphere their past few games as they were battling for a league title but came up short in their previous two league games to LC and Fayetteville, but with that type of competition and losing by a combined two runs in those games, WHS seems primed to make a postseason run.
• A quick softball preview
As for softball from Highland County, we have three teams entering the postseason with records under .500 and two who have already won or are on the verge of winning their respective league titles.
Whiteoak, Lynchburg-Clay and Hillsboro all have single-digit win totals this year, but here is what stands out on the plus side for them this season.
Hillsboro has the ability to score runs if they get the hot bat. They've proven that against Clinton-Massie when they won at home earlier this season.
As for LC, though they didn't get as many overall wins as they hoped for this season, they are still young (like HHS and WHS), and I witnessed this team rally back from being down 17-1 during the second inning against North Adams, so when a team can then score 26 unanswered runs to run-rule a team, anything is possible.
The Lady 'Cats have pitching on their side, as Kiley Sosby is one of the better pitchers in the SE District. The freshman has many multi-strikeout games this season.
Fairfield enters Monday with a perfect SHL mark but have suffered all their losses in non-league games, including a 1-0 loss to Eastern Brown in their annual non-league meeting of the two SHL teams.
MHS is in the same boat as FHS … they are winners of all their league games this season (have one remaining against MT for the perfect league season), but all their losses are non-league losses. Both the Lady Lions and Lady Tigers are more than capable of scoring enough runs against any team, be it league or a non-league opponent come this postseason.
• Final week of the regular season
It's hard to believe this is the final week of the regular season, where some teams will be battling for league titles and perfect league seasons, while other teams will use it as a final tune-up for the aforementioned postseason.
The Fairfield Lady Lions are using this week for both as they are hosting Eastern Brown in a makeup game from last week. This game features EB, who won the Division I of the SHL and previously defeated the Lady Lions 1-0 in a non-league game in nine innings at VA Memorial Stadium. It also features the Lady Lions team, who is 11-0 in league games this season, as they are currently on an SHL winning streak of 23 straight games, so if this game doesn't have a tournament atmosphere, I don't know what will.
The same goes for the Lady Tigers of MHS on Monday as well. They have won 22 straight SCOL games dating back to last season. They have already wrapped up their regular-season championship, but they want that elusive perfect league season, so to do that, they must defeat Miami Trace on Monday in Greenfield.
Those two games alone are a great way to wrap up the regular season ... too bad they are scheduled to take place at the exact same time.
On Tuesday, a game that should be fun is a non-league softball game between the Whiteoak Lady Wildcats and Hillsboro Lady Indians, as both teams will be preparing for the postseason. HHS will have a chance to see some very good pitching in this game.
As for Thursday, I'm looking forward to covering the Fairfield Lions and Hillsboro Indians for the simple fact it's two Highland County teams playing each other. This will be a good way for both teams to prepare for their postseason. Speaking of FHS, they have a busy week with games on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday of this week.
Weather permitting, this should be a good way to end the regular season.
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• Looking back at last week and league titles
One of the games from the previous week that I want to talk about is the Whiteoak and Fayetteville baseball SHL Division II championship game at Fayetteville last Thursday.
Those two teams played baseball the way it was meant to be played, as what better way can a championship be decided than in the bottom of the final inning?
As WHS head coach Chris Veidt said following the game, his Wildcats, though losing 2-1, needed to leave the field with their heads up high … and he was correct because that was what I can only describe as a baseball game the way the sport was meant to be played.
I also want to send out congratulations to the LC baseball and MHS softball teams, respectively, for their league title wins this past week. Not only did they win their respective league titles, they defended one from the previous year, as MHS are back-to-back champs, and LC is a three-peat champion.
Other congratulations go out to the Hillsboro boys and girls track & field teams for winning the McClain Invitational on Friday, as they had to face some very good competition to achieve that feat.
Also, congrats to McClain's Luis Rivas as he was the medalist for the boys events. The best finish of any race that event was the finals of the 100m dash where Hillsboro's Jordan O'Connor and Rivas, along with Circleville's Solomon Williams, finished 1-2-3 within a tenth of a second of each other, and it was determined O'Conner was the winner. I don't think I've seen a race end so closely, but I must say that was exciting to watch, and I'm sure all three will end up against each other in a race again this season.
One game this stands out to me this past week I covered was Lynchburg-Clay's softball win over North Adams. It wasn't that LC won, but how they won, as they trailed 17-1 in that game after NA scored 17 runs in the top of the second inning. Not only did LC win, but they won via a six-inning run-rule at 27-17, scoring 26 unanswered runs. In my six-plus years of covering high school sports as either an intern or sports editor, I can say I've never seen anything like that happen before … ever. Many teams would have just thrown in the towel, but I give props to the Lady Mustangs for sticking with it and not only keeping in the game, but winning it in run-rule fashion … those girls showed a lot of heart in that win, that's for sure.
• Random sports thoughts
- I liked the Cincinnati Bengals' draft. I didn't like the Cleveland Browns' draft, except for drafting Trent Richardson.
- It's a shame Chicago Bulls lost reigning MVP Derrick Rose to a torn ACL injury late in the game on Saturday in the playoff opener.
- My preseason prediction of the NBA Finals being the Miami Heat over the Oklahoma City Thunder still has a chance of happening.
- Can any team challenge the Heat in the East now with the Bulls losing Rose? I don't see it.
- On Sunday, I watched the following sports all in the same day: NBA Playoffs, NHL Playoffs, MLB, NHRA and NFL highlights … that's what I call a great day!
- The "Michael Jordan" ESPN commercial is hilarious … if you haven't seen it, it's basically people being disappointed when they realize the man named MJ isn't THE MJ we think of. I would have the same reaction as those folks in that commercial … "Really?"
- I was such an NFL Draft nerd for three days, keeping track of it via TV, computer or the NFL app on my phone.
- Here is maybe the best rookie free agent signing following the draft ... the Jacksonville Jaguars signed undrafted rookie kicker Long Ding from Norwich University.
- With all the sports I watched this past weekend (and my addiction to the NFL Draft) … how do I manage to keep a relationship?
- I'll tell you … I watched "The Five-Year Engagement" … my words to describe the movie … a few funny parts, and it seemed like it took the movie five years to end.
- If you have a choice, watch movies at Star Cinemas in Hillsboro … best popcorn around.
• Stat of the Week
After 21 games this season, the McClain Lady Tiger softball team has scored 190 runs and tallied 256 hits.
• (A second) Stat of the Week
Speaking of MHS softball, freshman Shania Massie is up to seven home runs this season.
• (A third) Stat of the Week
Whiteoak junior Gage Carraher continued his streak of 10 or more strikeouts in starts this season, as he finished with 11 strikeouts in the 2-1 loss to Fayetteville on Thursday. In five starts this season, Carraher has totaled 61 strikeouts.
• Quote of the Week
"This is the time of year where we need to win these type of games, but our guys need to walk out of here with their heads held up high because I've had teams that have won league titles with more losses than we have now." — Chris Veidt, WHS baseball head coach following the Wildcats' game against Fayetteville.
• (A second) Quote of the Week
"The girls have worked so hard for this, and our goal was to be league champions again. Now our goal is to go undefeated in the league, and that is where our focus is at right now." — Jarrod Haines, head coach of McClain softball following clinching the SCOL title for the second straight year after an 8-0 win at Washington C.H.
• (A third) Quote of the Week
"It's nice to win the league championship again. I told the guys to enjoy the win (Tuesday), but we have bigger goals we want to achieve. We have some league games remaining, and we want to win a sectional title. We set our goal early in the season to go further than winning the SHL. We expect to win the league title, and winning the sectional is our goal now." — Garyn Waits, LC head coach baseball following the Mustangs winning their third straight Division I SHL title with a win over North Adams.
• One last item of business
It's hard to believe this is the last week of the 2011-12 high school sports regular season. Where did the time go? Seems like yesterday I was preparing my football preview or even covering the state wrestling tournament. With the spring season being the shortest season of the three in high school sports, and with very few rainouts this season … this regular season has gone quickly. Best of luck to the teams in the postseason and in the final week of the regular season … it's been fun to cover.
Stephen Forsha is the sports editor of The Highland County Press. He can be reached at sforsha@gmail.com. Follow Stephen on Twitter @hcpsportseditor.