[Panther Thunder]

If you are Pikeville you have to have the option to start Hamilton to have a chance at advancing. In all honesty and with all due respect there is such a tremendous dropoff after Hamilton. But as I said , after 126 pitches on friday, he had to have had a jello arm.

On a side note, I think that PHSForever mentioned that Burke would be eligible tuesday. I think he pitched 7 innings saturday, which would not have made him eligible till wednesday. In short Pikeville was somewhat screwed from the get go, as far as being able to come into the tournament full strength. In my opinion, Pikeville started their #3 pitcher.

Jacob Hamilton did not start because of the high pitch count Thursday. He just did not have enough in the tank to go the needed 5-6 by a starter. Like Seger said, Pikeville was in a tough place when it came to pitching. Burke could not go, Hamilton was coming off the Johnson Central game that was basically the most important game of the year in which he threw 125-6 stressful pitches. He just was not ready to get up and go again for a start. I think him coming in in relief was iffy and was only going to happen if we had a chance to win the game (which we did). So, you have Maynard, who threw the ball pretty well. He had a very good outing and pretty good stuff yesterday. And if the game was out of hand, Ward probably would have come in.

I talked to him before the game and he told me that he just did not have enough rest to be able to start. And for a 15 year old (as of yesterday) to be able to admit he didn't have it for the good of the team is big in my opinion. I understand where Commanche is coming from, because I would have loved to see Hamilton start as well. But, a break here, a break there, and Pikeville gets the win? Well, everyone looks like a genius with Hamilton going against St. X and then you get past that and Burke in the Final Four. But, it would have been luck basically, because ideally that is not what Pikeville would have done. But by the poor scheduling (By our OWN host site) we were in between a rock and a hard place from the get go.

There should be a mandatory format imposed for the 15th. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.

Not an excuse, Brossart was good enough to win! Congrats and Good luck to them!

And as for PHS, like I said in a previous post, this was icing on the cake, let's not get torn up over something that was really out of everyone's hands and let it ruin a great run to win a Region Title in a year where it absolutely had to happen! It's a great time to be a Pikeville Panther!