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bmoser
1633 Posts |
 Posted - 05/30/2009 : 08:35:12
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And then there were two. Pope vs South Forsyth today (Saturday)at 3 pm then again at 6 pm. I wish it were at South so we could catch some of it between our own games.
For any of you playing in Cobb today, try to catch some of it and let us know what you saw.
Any predictions? I'm taking South. Higher powered line-up and better season-long run differential. I heard they're a special group from one of their hitting instructors.
Go War Eagles! |
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op-o
41 Posts |
Posted - 05/30/2009 : 10:26:18
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Seen all of the South Playoff games. There's something magical there. Its the coaches last season @ South -- moving to a new school in the district -- Lambert. And those boys are playing with an intensity that I have not seen at that level. A few come from behind games and walk-offs. Its more fun than watching my own.
Go War Eagles! |
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12uCoach
357 Posts |
Posted - 05/30/2009 : 17:45:27
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pope wins first game 3-0
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DoubleD
33 Posts |
Posted - 05/30/2009 : 21:04:47
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We heard that South lost game #1
3-0 was the score. Don't know about game #2 |
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DoubleD
33 Posts |
Posted - 05/30/2009 : 21:11:48
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Pope wins game #2
Score was 7-3 |
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Critical Mass
277 Posts |
Posted - 05/30/2009 : 23:17:48
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South made several key errors on average put outs in first game. They came out hitting the ball, had men on base early and could not get them across. Pope's pitcher, just threw the 12-6 curve and south went down without a fight. Several kids early went down looking....with 2 strikes. Was not at the second game. I am in KMHS district, glad to see Cobb County represent....all the way to the title.
Go Hounds. |
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highcheese
71 Posts |
Posted - 05/31/2009 : 00:04:05
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| Congrats to Coach Jeff Rowland and the boys. I missed the final today but got to watch some great baseball in the regionals from all the teams involved. Whether some of you know it or not, there is some awesome baseball being played right under our noses, at all age levels. i am proud to be an american. Take a kid to the park and eat a wrinkled hot dog and have a blast. |
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oldmanmj
191 Posts |
Posted - 06/01/2009 : 09:31:06
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Great outcome. South had difficulties hitting lefties all season. East Paulding demonstrated in game three of the semi's throwing lefty. South got lucky with 40 minute rain delay in the 4th inning. One hitter through 4, 3 hitter through 5 complete with lefty on the mound. Had to pull lefty due to rain.
Kudo to team for stepping up in Sixth and putting game away, who knows what it would have been with out rain. Congrats to Pope for winning State Championship. |
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AllStar
762 Posts |
Posted - 06/01/2009 : 11:23:15
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OK, this isn't very scientific, but I got to thinking as I was watching Game 3 of the Brookwood-Pope series, I wonder when these boys started playing travel ball. So I:
1) Went to the Pope roster on their Web Site
2) Went to USSSA Web site and did the "Athletes" search.
I went through the first 8 players on Pope's roster and these are the ages that they first appeared on USSSA, which I used as a (very unscientific) proxy for when they started travel ball.
12, 14, 14, 11, 14, 13, 14, 14.
Average: 13.25, Most Frequent: 14.
#20 for Pope is not included in the list above. I know he is going somewhere on a baseball scholarship. He started travel at 13.
I guess I'll cancel those hitting lessons for my 4 year-old. :)
If I have time, I'll check a few more, but I guess my point is that travel ball at a young age isn't a requirement to play on a big-time HS team. |
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bballman
1432 Posts |
Posted - 06/02/2009 : 08:10:22
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I wouldn't necessarily use that as a guide. On my son's current 15 yr old team, it appears that this is the first team he has played on. If I look up his last years team, it shows his whole history. Name spelled the same on both. Don't know why it came out that way. Just saying, what you are finding, might not be what actually is. Some teams don't play USSSA, so they will also not show up on the website.
All that being said, AAAAA baseball in this area is tremendous. Both SF and Pope are great teams. My son pitched against both of them this year and predicted that Pope would win the series. They were definetely a solid team and had some outstanding pitchers.
I agree with highcheese, there is some great baseball being played all around us. If you guys can take your younger sons to a HS varsity game sometime during the season, I think you will be surprised. |
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dragon78
1 Posts |
Posted - 06/02/2009 : 14:49:54
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| Interesting topic. In actuality, most of the Pope kids started travel ball earlier than their teens. Of the starters, I know for certain that Wilkerson (#14) started at age 9 and Ussery (#20) and Gow (#1) at 10. I think Khan (#6) and Cardenas (#3) were at 12 and Montgomery (#12) at 13 (he played Little League up until then). I'm not sure about Matthews (#15) as he moved here during Middle School and Lynch (#4) and Power (#27) as they are underclassmen. For the seniors on the team, travel ball really didn't exist until they were ten years old. That was the year that ECB built it's fields and there was only one ten-year old team out of ECB. Most of the kids played out of area parks (Sandy Plains, Perry Parham, etc.). At their age 11 ECB only had 3 teams. Things started to change at their age 12 when they went to about 8 teams and they probably field more than that today. Prior to travel ball they played for their rec. league summer travel teams which were picked after the spring seasons were completed. |
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AllStar
762 Posts |
Posted - 06/02/2009 : 16:37:17
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quote:
Originally posted by dragon78
Prior to travel ball they played for their rec. league summer travel teams which were picked after the spring seasons were completed.
I think that what we now call All Stars is what kids in that age group did.
I was also going to put another qualifier in. I bet if I did the same thing with the Pope JV team, Freshmen and Sophomores, I would get a different result.
I know there are some glitches in USSSA and tried to accommodate that. Itis also true that not every player would have been registered w/USSSA.
Like I said, unscientific, but those boys started playing 60-70 games a year, whatever you call it, at a later age than kids are now. |
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bmoser
1633 Posts |
Posted - 06/02/2009 : 20:58:06
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Great minds think alike. I started doing the same H.S. player/usssa athlete search a couple of weeks ago and found most seemed to have started late. I could not find any that went back to 10U. DRAGON78, thanks for the detailed info on these players. I knew there had to be an explanation. Gotta love this posting board.
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highcheese
71 Posts |
Posted - 06/02/2009 : 23:41:08
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| We all as fans will all benefit from a travel ball system putting out quality baseball players. The play has gotten better and the number of kids moving on to a high level of ball has gotten better. I think it is great the number of kids able to play college ball and also getting some looks from the pros. Knowing Jeff as I do he is a man of few words but loves to see his kids succeed at a higher level. imagine the impact he has helped to create on these guys lives, helping them be winners in life on and off the field, teaching them some disipline, taking pride in your hard work and accomplishments. i guess it is our job to keep our little guys loving and respecting the game and then be thankful we can turn them over to an awesome high school system with coaches in it like Jeff rowland. Here is another topic if you guys want to get into it - who is worse - 10 year old parent fans or high school parent fans? Could be a tight race here LOL. Be a pal and take a kid to a ball game and have a blast. |
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Pope vs. S. Forsyth for H.S. States
