[cksportsfan]

Yea the Poll doesn't matter... are you saying the poll made these teams win?? Poll does not make a team win or loose ...Yea the poll DOESN'T matter... how does a poll make a team win or loose??? Ck how about this... why don't western teams go east? if you want eastern teams to go west than westrern teams should go east... it all has to do with money. Some programs can't afford to spend for buses and bus drivers and hotels and tournament fees and food... oh yea did I say polls mean nothing... YES THEY MEAN NOTHING....

"how does a poll make a team win or loose" - It doesn't. However, being ranked -- especially high -- is a pretty good indicator that you're having a respect-worthy season and that you should be solid in the postseason ... as such, EVERY SINGLE ONE of the top 13 teams in the final regular season poll (which comes out BEFORE the district, region and state tournaments) made it to at least the region semifinals. You think that's merely coincidence or dumb luck?

"why don't western teams go east?" - Um, let's see:

HOPKINS COUNTY CENTRAL: A 2011 state team, HCC joined top-25 teams Assumption and Meade in the 50-team Bob Jones tourney in Huntsville, Ala. The Bob Jones is one of the biggest and toughest tourneys in the southeast and many times KY teams come back with losing records.

OWENSBORO CATHOLIC: Plays in tournaments in Tennessee, Indiana and Lexington. Plays solid Florida teams in Florida (Florida season starts earlier than KY and Florida softball is reguarded as being tougher). O'Cath also hosts one of the best tournaments in the State (Sports Warehouse Classic).

PADUCAH HEATH: Is in the Capital City Showcase next week in Frankfort ... 250 miles ONE WAY.

You can say its about saving money, and that's OK. There are several NKY schools that don't leave NKY. There are some Jefferson County schools that do not play a single game outside Louisville (but I can assure you Assumption, Ballard and Mercy do).

Good programs leave the nest every once in a while.

Plus, you gotta remember outside of the event North Laurel holds, there's not a single tourney in EKY that any big-name program (Mercy, Ballard, AC-S, Greenwood, O'Cath, Lafayette, PRP, Butler, etc.) would even attend when they can stay closer to home and play BETTER competition.

Tourneys hosted by Meade County (TSOA), Owensboro Catholic (Sports Warehouse Classic), Mercy (Thrill In the Ville), Greenwood (Border Battle), Franklin County (Capital City Showcase), Ballard (Ballard Invitational), Marshall County (Slugfest), Allen County-Scottsville (Halton Classic) allow teams to stay closer to home while playing solid competition.

And with the new $32-million Elizabethtown Sports Park opening in two months, there will be another site that will host major regular season events. Centrally located, great state-of-the-art facility built for softball (200-foot fences, NO portable fences like at State) and cheaper hotels (but still have big names in Hampton, Ramada, La Quinta, Holiday Inn Express) and restaurants than Louisville, Owensboro and Bowling Green makes E'town an instant draw.

I'm not an EKY hater, per se. North Laurel softball, Bell County football (and Corbin, Belfry), Shelby Valley basketball, Corbin and Russell tennis, Rockcastle girls' hoops ... they all get their fair share of respect (even from folks from WKY, LOU, LEX and NKY).

At the same time, if you want the respect other teams get, you gotta put in the work, effort, scheduling and money those other teams have.

Teams like Jenkins certainly have NOT done that.

One mediocre EKY team playing another mediocre EKY team (just because they're close) does nothing to wow the voting coaches or the media. At the same time, Caverna beating 5th Region rival Fort Knox or Shawnee beating Seneca does NOTHING either.