[DALE]

Having watched both teams against McCracken I'd say St. X would win a 5- game series with JC easily. JC looks almost like a JV squad. They're so young. Good team, but playing 6A schools with good coaching and established programs will be tough until most of kids get mature.

I guess it is good that the state tournament is single elimination then. Coming in the JC pitching staff had a combined 1.7 ERA, Blanton was hitting .497 with 50 RBI and 5 round trippers and all of the other players were hitting over .300 on the season. With the schedule they played that is really a strong sentiment for how exciting the future can be. Their position players by grade going from LF-RF were; So, Jr, 8th grade. Infield was; So, Jr, Sr, Fr. Behind the plate was a So. They return 2 young men on the hill that opened both of their games at State and will only be Jrs. Each of them were selected to participate in the East-West All-Star game and are ranked in the Top 10 of their class in KY. Meade may have not had his fastball that has been clocked by scouts to hit 90 but his other stuff was finding the zone well and Kelly who is consistent between 85-87.
The JV comment is a slap in the face but errors and hitting it at the defense all game will do it to you. McCracken's pitching wasn't dominate but it was effective. JC maybe had 2-3 K's all game but MC did a phenomenal job of keeping the guys out front inducing a lot of routine plays. Going in I don't think that they averaged more than 2 E's per game but when you are unable to make routine plays good teams find a way to win. To say Hall is not a solid skipper is a joke. 13 years, over 300 wins which could be more had he chose to schedule down instead of playing quality opponents, 4 regional titles and a Final 4. Each year at state they have been knocked out by the eventual state champion and I hope this year was no different. Baseball isn't a game where the best team wins all the time but the better team on a particular day will.
For those that want to classify basketball and baseball or to use it as an excuse is absurd in my book. You have set roster numbers for those sports unlike football that can carry as many as the yellow dogs will allow. It needs to stay the way it is but I wish that the State Tournament would be held in a single week instead of spread out. I can empathize with the McCracken faithful that it is a lot of miles in two consecutive weeks to have a chance to bring home the hardware but it will be that much more special should they be able to pull it off. Hats off to the team, I hope you are able to get it done.