[baseball1974]

I think that could almost be confined to Hazard as far as a team from the 14th putting a team in the state tournament being able to compete past a first round win..I cant remember a Perry Co. team in say the last 15 years that I would consider a stately competitive team (or even a strong regional contender), other than the last couple of years...I personally think that the Coach Dean teams (Letcher & Powell) were the stronger alternatives to Hazard in this same time span..

In the last 15 years , out of the 15th, you have had 3 different teams make it to the final 4. That being Johnson Central, Pikeville, and Lawrence Co. , with Lawrence also being the state runner up..There are a bunch of regions that cant claim that 3 different teams have advanced that far. Granted I understand what you are saying, but there are also some pretty bad teams out in Western Kentcky as well, with their top tier teams not coming close to having 3 different teams advancing that far....Shoot there are some horrible teams in the 6th and 7th as well.

You are absolutely right about the 6th and 7th Region. There are some years you don’t even know if certain teams will have baseball or not. The 11th Region is by far the most dominant and it amazes me when they try and throw Louisville Regions in that mix. There was a time at the beginning of last season when all five teams in the 43rd District were ranked in the top 15 in the state with Dunbar, Lexington Christian, Lexington Catholic, Tates Creek, and Lafayette. Only two of those teams are represented in the region tournament. Think about that? How does that make sense? We need a new system.

Granted, there are four or five in both regions that could go far in the Louisville regions every year and state for that matter. It was intense to watch how overwhelmed most of the teams in the state tournament were against St. X. They may hang around for theee maybe four innings but that was it. No reason why they should be competing in the same state tournament as Hazard. It’s unbelievable.

As far as the 15th goes, I hadn’t fully considered the 13th and the 12th either. Both of those are strong at the top but that’s It. I think right now they are slightly ahead of the 15th but not by much. Once Paintsville, Pikeville, JC, LC, and hopefully another team all get close to the same level, I think it will propel them over those two. I do think they are better than the 14th and in some years even the 16th. Not knowing as much about western KY as needed for this argument I will rephrase and say “east of Lexington.”