[JackRabbitSlim]

I agree, Paintsville's leadoff hitter, IMO should be in the #3 hole. I believe I made that statement in the preseason. I also said that the loss of Pugh and Sublett could be devastating. In reality there are only two day in and day out real offensive threats at the plate for Paintsville, that being Adams and Grimm. IMO, Paintsville should have moved someone like Butcher into the leadoff postion and then used Adams to drive him and Humphries around. With the speed of both, I think they could have done a better job at playing small ball to manufacture runs.

No you are right, it is a team game all the way, but I thought that Mike was exceptional on both the mound and at the plate. His ability to be effective in this type of game was questioned and scoffed at , but I knew what he was capable of doing. I dont remember exactly how many hits he gave up but I can only remember the HR by Adams and the two hits by Grimm. Perhaps there might have been some others but for the most part he basicly shut down any Paintsville offensive attack. He did put a few runners on himself, but like Grimm he was able to work himself out of trouble on a few occasions.

Key points of the game were the two very routine ground balls that Humphries let get by him in centerfield that allowed 3 and maybe 4 extra runs to score. Also his failure to produce tonight at the plate .

Someone else mentioned the exploitation of the corners. This was the same gameplan used for two straight years by Coach Hall as the basis of his offensive attack stategy.

Central's ability to steal multiple bases utilizing some not so swift footed base runners. Grimm will really need to focus on learning how to keep runners close to the bag at the next level. A lefty of Grimm's calibur should never be that easy to steal on. He now can look forward to holding some 6.5 to 6.7 runners at bay at the next level. These guys were mid to high 7's at best that were running at will on him tonight. His catcher never had a prayer of gunning anyone down at second. With proper tutoring I am sure that he will be able to work out a few of the kinks here and there. He has a lot of talent.

Grimm was not particularly pinpoint with his control and placed several men on base. He was very fortunate however that he was able to work himself out of a few situations in which JC several times had multiple runners in scoring position only to leave them stranded. As mentioned previously Conley put himself in the same situations a few times as well. Grimm was effective at the plate however, as he had two very nice hits.

The unavailablity of having access to Austin Lyons in a one and done setting is something I dont understand.

Congratulations to The Eagles and best of luck to the Paintsville seniors in their futures, be it on the college field or in the work force.

Walks and allowing runners to advance into scoring position without even hitting the baseball will get any team beat anytime, anyday...