Thurston 4 Sheldon 3
What a game! Watty taking a liner to the noggin off of Ryan Land's bat to start the game. And Watty ripping a bottom of the 7th inning double to start the Colt come from being rally. Great crowd, great pitching, great weather. Couldn't have asked for more.
That makes it three finals appearances for Thurston in the last five years. 2008 runner-up, 2009 State Champions and now the 2012 trip. Add in a 2010 Thurston quarterfinals appearance and Coach Phil Dube can say that Thurston has one of the best baseball programs in the state.
Anyone remember the starting players of the 2009 title team? Urness (Danny), Myrmo, Hoover (Kyle), Spencer, Chapman, Pearson, Reed, Galbreath, Ryan and Hesse. Seven of these starters played in the 2008 championship game!
#2 RPI Thurston enters the championship game at 26-4 and plays #22 Oregon City, which is 19-11. In the last five games the Pioneers have beaten #4 Jesuit (regular season) , #12 Central Catholic, #34 McNary, #4 Jesuit again and #1 Roseburg. How's that for getting on a roll at the right time?
RPI haters were probably champing at the bit for a Sheldon versus Oregon City match up. Sheldon was #11 in the RPI, so it would have been an 11 versus 22 for the title. I would have said, "That's baseball for you."
Sheldon left out again...
One last story. Sheldon's bottom of the 7th inning loss last night wasn't as heartbreaking as their 8-7 8 inning loss to Lakeridge in the semi's in 2001. The Irish were playing at Lakeridge. My future stepson, soph Alex Brink, was at shortstop and my son, Andrew Haliski, was on the bench. Tim Brown was our star first baseman/catcher and the lefty had gotten us through a lot of scrapes as a pitcher, too. Tim's Dad, Chester, was in the Midwest at a 'must-do' training for his job. I was calling OregonLive after each inning so they could post the score on the web. Chester was following the game via computer somewhere in Illinois.
Managing cell phone battery life was much more of a challenge in those days, and my cell phone died with Sheldon up by one after the top of the 7th. I was furiously begging people to borrow a phone, but on this gorgeous and hopefully glorious day, everyone was calling their family and friends with play by play of the last inning.
Lakeridge gets up for their last at bats. Tim Brown is on the mound. First batter - out. Second batter - Out. Then, Strike one. Then, Strike two to the UCLA bound Oregon City catcher. No balls, two strikes. Then - KAPOW. Tie ball game. Sheldon loses in eight. I was still without a cell phone and couldn't call OregonLive. OregonLive waited for awhile and eventually assumed Sheldon won in 7 innings and posted the score as final. Chester went happy crazy in Illinois. I drove back to Eugene where I got on my computer and saw that OregonLive still had Sheldon as the winner.
Chester comes up to me at the baseball awards meeting a few nights later and tells me he almost had a heart attack because when he called his family full of joy about going to the finals, his family told him the harrowing truth. I didn't tell Chester about my phone battery....
Which leads me to one of my favorite quotes. Olympian Donna de Varona:
The values learned on the playing field – how to set goals, endure, take criticism and risks, become team players, use our beliefs, stay healthy, and deal with stress – prepare us for life
Tim went on to several years of minor league ball and is now a proud papa. Chester survived and got to see Tim's younger brother and sisters have great athletic careers.
Final Farewells and Welcome Back Next Year
I've been recapping seniors and returnees with significant playing time as teams have exited the playoffs. So here's the last few teams. I'll include Thurston as they have just one more game, win or lose.
*Asterisks indicate returning 2012 all league players.
North Eugene
The Highlander pitching staff gets clobbered with the graduation of Moore and Woods. Three freshmen are on the list of returning players with significant playing time.
Seniors
Dillon Hudson
Joe Lindley
Ryan Delaney
Toby Woods
Andrew Moore
Returning*
Kevin Haase
*Dane Stapley
Quinn Wallace
Tommy Ahlstrom
Jake Owens
Sheldon
The Irish outfield takes a hit, and Torres will be tough to replace at second. But who's gonna have the best pitching staff next year? I have a lot of players listed as returning with significant playing time. That's due to a combination of things; short term injuries, season ending operation, other stuff....
Seniors
Sean Bellotti
Mike Skaja
Cameron Herr
Ryan Land
Alex Torres
Kaleb Stubbs
Returning*
Mitch Lewis
* Mike Ralston
Cooper Stiles
Gaje McDaniel
Connor Strahm
Mitch Herbert
Tony Tokalty
David Bellamy
Ivan Faulhaber
Taylor Allie
Brett Nielsen
Dylan Lewis
Thurston
The Colts lose a ton of experienced guys. There's nothing like good pitchers having a great catcher, and Thurston's pitching staff will miss Goddard. Did I say the Irish are losing a lot in the outfield? How about Urness, Hoover and Drake for the Colts? Ouch! Did I ask in the Sheldon section, "Who's gonna have the best pitching staff next year?" Let's see Watson, Clift, Hutchinson, Quarterley verus Nielsen, Ralston and Alie... I'm already dreaming about next year's pitching matchups.
Seniors
Joey Urness
Kyler Ridge
Stefan Drake
Jarren Goddard
Hunter Combs
Aaron Hoover
Returning*
Tyler Hutchinson
* Kyle Watson
J.T. Kopcenski
Aaron Clift
Shane Quarterley
If I missed anyone that should be included on this post or the last couple of 'Farewell to..." posts, email me at mwlnow@yahoo.com.
Quick 2012 reflection
My final pre-hybrid league prediction had Thurston #1, just ahead of Sheldon. The Colts were the best in hybrid, by a game over Sheldon. And after last night's Colt's one run win over the Irish, I guess I hit that one on the head. It was great to see two teams - South Eugene and Willamette take some big steps forward this year. I don't think either team's 2012 success was a flash in the pan. Both teams are creeping up on Thurston, Sheldon, North Eugene and Churchill for quality programs. That developmnet is fantastic for MWL baseball. Marist, Springield and Marshfield were all extremely young this year. It showed early, but they all improved a lot as the season progressed. Unfortuneately for the Pirates, they hit they academic wall late in the season and decimated thier team. Hopefully, the young Bucs will learn their lesson. Overall, the MWL had a great year in baseball and next year has the same potential.
Photos
I posted about ten games that I hadn't posted earlier. So if you don't have any photos of your kid, you may want to browse through them. New additions go back to early April and many of them are on sunny days. The photos galleries will eventually go away as I won't be renewing the SmugMug account. Photo page
MWL Players in College
We're up to 28 former MWL players on college rosters with the addition of Marshfield's Adam Reed at Univeristy of Pittsburgh. If you know of anyone else, please let me know. Current College List.
The new MWL site.
The official league managed site should be up in time for fall sports. I'll be dropping my site to make way for the league site. That's going to free up a lot of time for me. I hope to work more directly with students either in the Bethel school district where my wife works, or the North Eugene/River Road area where I live. I've already been working with Corey Nicholsen at North on their athletic department site. The site doesn't have much pizzaz yet, but we've got a ton of baseball info on it. It's a good model for the type of info a school's athletic department can put on a website. North Eugene Baseball.
Good Luck Thurston in the State Championship Game.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Quarterfinals Here We Come
A good showing for the old MWL with three of four teams advancing to the quarterfinals. I'll be watching the Irish Friday as Thurston and North Eugene travel to South Salem and Bend, respectively.
I attended Willamette's game against Putnam last night. More on that game later....
I mentioned last blog that Churchill bowing out before bracket play was a little too early for me. One of the reasons was that I like the Lancer's style of play and we're going to be losing a lot of Lancer's to graduation. Here's a little look at three teams I thought could find their way to the quarters, but...
The Lancers.
Bye-Bye to:
Jake Lessel
Chase Kearney
Jacob Dezarn
Kyler Wallis
Devin Murray
Skylre Perales
Christene Stolarczyk
Aaron Ingram
That's a load of talent to replace. Kearney was a great backstop and a top notch lead off hitter. Dezarn might have been the most consistent line drive hitter in the league, with a few out of the park. I don't think Dezarn took a liking to the big, towering, bombs away home runs. Just get it over with quick, baby. Lessel was one of the leagues best pitchers, including 6A, in a year of great pitching.
Churchill will be the team most decimated in the starting lineup with graduating seniors. The four potential returners listed below got in a lot of playing time. (The asterisk signifies returning all leaguers) Arruda has a future with Cirque du Soleil. Arruda was second team all league second baseman to Willamette's Tevin Glover. I saw them both quit a bit and they were both spectacular when I saw them. But Arruda was a little more into the aerial acrobatics. Coach Hoberg has to be happy he has these four returning.
* Andy Arruda
* Jordan Thompson
Hank Forrest
Eane Rodriguez
South Eugene
South has 'arrived' as a legit baseball program. By that, I mean this year's Axemen are not a one year fluke. As we have seen throughout the old MWL, facilities are important. While good facilities are not as important as good coaching, poor facilities make the players wonder where baseball fits compared to other sports. South has been making major improvements at their complex, and as importantly the players are improving right along with the facilities. Take a look at this:
Just two graduating players. I think these two seniors were under respected, even though Morrison made second team all league.
Max Morrison
Ben Giland
Then look at this list of returnees. What impressed me with these guys was the consistency on defense that they developed early in the season. Good D will get a team through games when the opposing pitcher is on, or the line drives just aren't dropping. Replacing Giland at catcher will be critical. Giland made catching Schindler look easy, but will a newbie? Coach Chris Vermeer has to be happy with list;
* Joe Schindler
* Kai Delap
Jimmy Grossman
Ian Oakerson
Alex Wectawski
Cameron Jack
Dan Quierolo
Willamette
Just like South, Willamette is a program that is now 'legit' and not a one year sweet dream. Willamette coach Jon Guldager has been no slouch in the facilities arms race. The covered baseball field to start with.... Okay, so when the first support beams went up, I thought the Wolverines were building an ark. This year's improvements included a custom concrete photographers pad from the Willamette dugout to the ark --- just for me. I even have the access code to the electronic keypad to get into the secure area. But more important than the facility improvement has been the improved quality of defensive play on the field and an attitude that the Wolverines are never out of a game.
Football All League linemen/TE's Trent Waggoner and Bryce York were fun to watch tip toe around the bases. I waited all season to see one of them slide at home and the opportunity finally came a few games ago, with York barrelling down towards the catcher. The catcher must have been praying, "Please, throw the ball wide. Please, throw the ball wide." And the ball went wide and my pic is just of York daintily stepping on the plate. Alas, we lose one of them to graduation, as Waggoner grabs his diploma. Lineman Waggoner often times pitched to all-league qb and fellow senior, Dustin Leber. Here's the senior losses for coach Guldager.
Trent Waggoner
Dustin Leber
Zach Selby
Darek Vetter
But take a look at who can return. Just like South, Willamette has to replace a good catcher. Still, the Wolverines are looking good for next year, especially at the 5A level.
* Scott Kuvaas
* Tevin Glover
* Darrin Gorder
* Hayden Olma
* Jalen Drath
* Bryce York
Cole Hathaway
Justin Guldager
Enough of that. It makes me sad to see the old guys go, but excited to think about next year.
Some comments on the Willamette-Putnam game.
Wow, could Putnam ever hit! They started the game by just putting the ball in play all of the time and closed out the last couple of innings with doubles and homers.....
I spend more time during playoff games just watching the game, rather than taking photos, because I don't take pictures of the non-MWL team. But after the first inning, I started taking pics of Putnamites batting. The Kingsmen might have had minor differences in their starting stance, but everyone of them finished with the same classic stroke. Grounder, line drive or homer, they tagged the ball.
Another issue that you couldn't help but notice, as early as warm-ups, was the Putnam guys were studs. I'd like to know their conditioning program. They all looked like they inherited the genes of Jack LaLane. (Youngins, LaLane was a fitness gedi who started it all) And they must take their running drills seriously. No slow pokes on that team. The speed across the board put pressure on the Wolverine infielders to get their throws off early.
Fortunately, Putnam didn't show any pitching prowess. Willamette was very much in the game after six innings even though the Wolverines were down by three. Putnam walked or hit six Wolverines in the second inning. Plus they put on five others for free the rest of the game. Willamette had some chances, but Putnam turned some nice double plays to extinguish any rally.
The key point in the game was the very first inning. Putnam opened with a sharp grounder up the middle. A bloop single was good for an rbi to get Putnam on the board. Willamette could have got out of the inning without too much trouble, but a couple of errors and a walk ended up giving Putnam a 4-0 lead. The score wasn't overwhelming. In fact Willamette quickly got within two after two innings. But the long first inning for Waggoner led to Waggoner only going four innings. For a while, it looked like reliever Hayden Olma would contain the Kingmen as he held Putnam scoreless in the fifth. But the hitting ogres started to get dialed in during the sixth, and put it away in the 7th.
On to the quarters...
Thurston, Sheldon and North will carry the old MWL torch into the quarters. Anything can happen as #27 Beaverton and #22 Oregon City, both quarterfinalists, have proven. Most teams will be back to throwing their ace Friday. But, I can't imagine that Thurston's Kyle Watson's gimpy ankle is ready. Writing of Watty...
Hope you saw the R-G write-up. The Colts were tied 0-0 after Sunset had batted in the top of the 5th. Coach Dube, who was wisely westing Watty's weak wheel, got talked into letting Watty take an at bat. Dube was talked into it by Watty, of course. Watty homers, of course... (My high school English teacher would kill me for that, of course) But the funny thing was that a person, whom I shall not reveal, texted me and said Watty had 'hit a finger'. I'm thinking, "Oh, my gosh. Poor Watty. How's he gonna pitch with a bad wheel and a smashed finger?" Then I remembered that I have tweeted about 'fingers', too. My iPhone always auto corrects 'dingers' to 'fingers'. Auto correct also corrects 'dp' (for double play) to 'do'. That's why I sometimes Tweet, 'The Colts just turned a do to get out of the inning." Auto correct also always turns Shane Quarterly, I mean Quarterly, try it again... Quarterley into Quarterly. See what I mean. It's ....1/4 ell eee why.
Go MWL!!!!
I attended Willamette's game against Putnam last night. More on that game later....
I mentioned last blog that Churchill bowing out before bracket play was a little too early for me. One of the reasons was that I like the Lancer's style of play and we're going to be losing a lot of Lancer's to graduation. Here's a little look at three teams I thought could find their way to the quarters, but...
The Lancers.
Bye-Bye to:
Jake Lessel
Chase Kearney
Jacob Dezarn
Kyler Wallis
Devin Murray
Skylre Perales
Christene Stolarczyk
Aaron Ingram
That's a load of talent to replace. Kearney was a great backstop and a top notch lead off hitter. Dezarn might have been the most consistent line drive hitter in the league, with a few out of the park. I don't think Dezarn took a liking to the big, towering, bombs away home runs. Just get it over with quick, baby. Lessel was one of the leagues best pitchers, including 6A, in a year of great pitching.
Churchill will be the team most decimated in the starting lineup with graduating seniors. The four potential returners listed below got in a lot of playing time. (The asterisk signifies returning all leaguers) Arruda has a future with Cirque du Soleil. Arruda was second team all league second baseman to Willamette's Tevin Glover. I saw them both quit a bit and they were both spectacular when I saw them. But Arruda was a little more into the aerial acrobatics. Coach Hoberg has to be happy he has these four returning.
* Andy Arruda
* Jordan Thompson
Hank Forrest
Eane Rodriguez
South Eugene
South has 'arrived' as a legit baseball program. By that, I mean this year's Axemen are not a one year fluke. As we have seen throughout the old MWL, facilities are important. While good facilities are not as important as good coaching, poor facilities make the players wonder where baseball fits compared to other sports. South has been making major improvements at their complex, and as importantly the players are improving right along with the facilities. Take a look at this:
Just two graduating players. I think these two seniors were under respected, even though Morrison made second team all league.
Max Morrison
Ben Giland
Then look at this list of returnees. What impressed me with these guys was the consistency on defense that they developed early in the season. Good D will get a team through games when the opposing pitcher is on, or the line drives just aren't dropping. Replacing Giland at catcher will be critical. Giland made catching Schindler look easy, but will a newbie? Coach Chris Vermeer has to be happy with list;
* Joe Schindler
* Kai Delap
Jimmy Grossman
Ian Oakerson
Alex Wectawski
Cameron Jack
Dan Quierolo
Willamette
Just like South, Willamette is a program that is now 'legit' and not a one year sweet dream. Willamette coach Jon Guldager has been no slouch in the facilities arms race. The covered baseball field to start with.... Okay, so when the first support beams went up, I thought the Wolverines were building an ark. This year's improvements included a custom concrete photographers pad from the Willamette dugout to the ark --- just for me. I even have the access code to the electronic keypad to get into the secure area. But more important than the facility improvement has been the improved quality of defensive play on the field and an attitude that the Wolverines are never out of a game.
Football All League linemen/TE's Trent Waggoner and Bryce York were fun to watch tip toe around the bases. I waited all season to see one of them slide at home and the opportunity finally came a few games ago, with York barrelling down towards the catcher. The catcher must have been praying, "Please, throw the ball wide. Please, throw the ball wide." And the ball went wide and my pic is just of York daintily stepping on the plate. Alas, we lose one of them to graduation, as Waggoner grabs his diploma. Lineman Waggoner often times pitched to all-league qb and fellow senior, Dustin Leber. Here's the senior losses for coach Guldager.
Trent Waggoner
Dustin Leber
Zach Selby
Darek Vetter
But take a look at who can return. Just like South, Willamette has to replace a good catcher. Still, the Wolverines are looking good for next year, especially at the 5A level.
* Scott Kuvaas
* Tevin Glover
* Darrin Gorder
* Hayden Olma
* Jalen Drath
* Bryce York
Cole Hathaway
Justin Guldager
Enough of that. It makes me sad to see the old guys go, but excited to think about next year.
Some comments on the Willamette-Putnam game.
Wow, could Putnam ever hit! They started the game by just putting the ball in play all of the time and closed out the last couple of innings with doubles and homers.....
I spend more time during playoff games just watching the game, rather than taking photos, because I don't take pictures of the non-MWL team. But after the first inning, I started taking pics of Putnamites batting. The Kingsmen might have had minor differences in their starting stance, but everyone of them finished with the same classic stroke. Grounder, line drive or homer, they tagged the ball.
Another issue that you couldn't help but notice, as early as warm-ups, was the Putnam guys were studs. I'd like to know their conditioning program. They all looked like they inherited the genes of Jack LaLane. (Youngins, LaLane was a fitness gedi who started it all) And they must take their running drills seriously. No slow pokes on that team. The speed across the board put pressure on the Wolverine infielders to get their throws off early.
Fortunately, Putnam didn't show any pitching prowess. Willamette was very much in the game after six innings even though the Wolverines were down by three. Putnam walked or hit six Wolverines in the second inning. Plus they put on five others for free the rest of the game. Willamette had some chances, but Putnam turned some nice double plays to extinguish any rally.
The key point in the game was the very first inning. Putnam opened with a sharp grounder up the middle. A bloop single was good for an rbi to get Putnam on the board. Willamette could have got out of the inning without too much trouble, but a couple of errors and a walk ended up giving Putnam a 4-0 lead. The score wasn't overwhelming. In fact Willamette quickly got within two after two innings. But the long first inning for Waggoner led to Waggoner only going four innings. For a while, it looked like reliever Hayden Olma would contain the Kingmen as he held Putnam scoreless in the fifth. But the hitting ogres started to get dialed in during the sixth, and put it away in the 7th.
On to the quarters...
Thurston, Sheldon and North will carry the old MWL torch into the quarters. Anything can happen as #27 Beaverton and #22 Oregon City, both quarterfinalists, have proven. Most teams will be back to throwing their ace Friday. But, I can't imagine that Thurston's Kyle Watson's gimpy ankle is ready. Writing of Watty...
Hope you saw the R-G write-up. The Colts were tied 0-0 after Sunset had batted in the top of the 5th. Coach Dube, who was wisely westing Watty's weak wheel, got talked into letting Watty take an at bat. Dube was talked into it by Watty, of course. Watty homers, of course... (My high school English teacher would kill me for that, of course) But the funny thing was that a person, whom I shall not reveal, texted me and said Watty had 'hit a finger'. I'm thinking, "Oh, my gosh. Poor Watty. How's he gonna pitch with a bad wheel and a smashed finger?" Then I remembered that I have tweeted about 'fingers', too. My iPhone always auto corrects 'dingers' to 'fingers'. Auto correct also corrects 'dp' (for double play) to 'do'. That's why I sometimes Tweet, 'The Colts just turned a do to get out of the inning." Auto correct also always turns Shane Quarterly, I mean Quarterly, try it again... Quarterley into Quarterly. See what I mean. It's ....1/4 ell eee why.
Go MWL!!!!
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
4 Games To Go
My journey last night took me to Sheldon, South Eugene, North Eugene (thinking maybe Sheldon or South were going to play at Swede) then home. I started getting scores texted from a parent at the Thurston game and she finally asked me if I was at PK. No. Oh, well, at least I was warm and dry.
Humongous 6A upsets in round of 32
I don't consider a 5 seed beating a 4 seed an upset, but I definitely put the upset label on an 8 seed beating a 1, like Century did when they beat Lake Oswego 1-0. Century was ranked #38 in the RPI with an 8-15 record verus the Lakers #3 RPI and 21-4 record.
There will be at least two 6A teams advancing to the quarterfinals who were ranked in the bottom half of the RPI. #22 Oregon City plays #34 McNary and #25 Sprague plays #27 Beaverton. There's even a chance that #38 Century gets to the quarters. Century plays either a 14 or 19 seed.
Coaches can already file this year's playoff results in their speech file. What if a coach has a team with a poor record after regular season? No biggie. Pull out the 2012 bracket and wave it in the air, "I remember back in oh-twelve, when eight and fifteen Century upset those rich kids from Lake Oswego, 1-0, in the first round of the playoffs......"
Should the athletic directors fix this????
Last week I mentioned that if both Thurston and South Eugene won in the first round that they would then meet in the round of 16. That's a little dorkus to me to have two teams from the same league meet so quickly in the playoffs. Well, guess what? Sheldon is playing league rival Redmond in the second round. And the four teams from the 6A Special District 1 that made the bracket are all on the same side of the bracket, meaning that only one of the four teams can make it to the state championship game.
Willamette's Play-in Win
There was a big crowd, full of both Willamette and Crescent Valley fans, at the Willamette play-in game last Friday. Add in the sunshine and what a great day for baseball. The win is a big deal for the Wolverines. They haven't been to the round of 16 very often. I have most of the playoff results going back a long time, and I show Willamette's last trip to the round of 16 being in 1978. (Cottage Grove also made it to the round of 16 in 1978. The Grovers made it to the finals before falling to West Linn.) Willamette fell to Madison 8-6. The last time my records show the Wolverines getting to the quarters is 1974, when they lost to eventual runner-up Crater.
In the third inning of Friday's play-in game, it looked like a few minor bobbles were going to be the end of the Wolverines. The kinds of plays that never make the papers but advance the runner a base, or eliminate a potential force out... those kinds of things. Crescent Valley took a 2-0 lead and fans had to wonder if Willamette was going to regain a steady hand.
Did they ever. Left fielder Jalen Drath made a diving catch with a man on, shortstop Scott Kuvaas pulled off the old 'deep in the hole, jump and throw' move for an out, and Gold Glover Glover (Tevin Glover) non chalantly handled several scorchers in critical situations.
Pitcher Trent Waggoner hopefully handed out thanks after the game. Trent did a good job himself, scattering four hits, striking out five and walking just one.
Lancer's out...
I had a tough choice whether to go to the Lancer or Wolverine game. I suppose I would have enjoyed the close score of the Churchill game, but I wasn't ready for Churchill's season to end. Some folks who had been at the Churchill game came over to Willamette for the last couple of innings and word quickly spread. When I heard the Lancer game ended on a Dezarn shot to shortstop, I said, "Oh, no." And then I remembered that most of the games I went to until the last few weeks, Jake's blistering blasts were finding the gaps or 'out uh here'. But the last couple of games he had still been tagging them, but right to fielders.
Next year...
The Lancer's graduate 9 seniors. That's a big deal to some programs, but coach Hoberg has always brought up players who fill in for the graduates.
Marist finished the season 7-16. The Spartans lose three seniors. Marist seems to be in good shape pitching wise next year. They'll likely be building their staff around seniors to be Malik Evans and Grant Jamieson. I'm expecting a big jump from Marist next year. They have the potential of returning 4 seniors to be and six juniors. We all saw them improve dramatically during the season and the Spartans should get a lot better with some summer ball.
Springfield closed out the year at 3-18. They'll graduate one senior and they had NO juniors on the final varsity roster. They had nine sophs and four frosh on their roster. Expect a big improvement from these guys, too.
Round of 16
Baseball is brutal on playoff teams. Five of the top 12 6A teams, based on RPI, are out after the first round. Let's hope some of our local teams make it to next week because the long range forecast is for warm clear skies next Tuesday.
6A
Sunset at Thurston. I really liked Thurston's chances of getting through the first two games of bracket play until I heard about the sprained ankle attached to Kyle Watson's leg. I still think the Colts can do it, even with Watty's gimpy wheel. Thurston's defense has been very consistent this year whether Watty is pitching or not. And the Colt bats have delivered in most games. Anything can happen in baseball, but I'm leaning towards a Colt victory over Sunset.
Sheldon at Redmond. Redmond is on a seven game win streak that includes three shutouts. One of those shutouts was a 2-0 win at Irishtown. It's a good time to get hot. Redmond did have a mid season defensive slump where the best they could do was to give up just 8 runs in a seven game stretch. Who knows in this one??
5A
Corvallis (18-9) at North Eugene (17-10)
Corvallis is on a five game win streak including an impressive 10-3 play-in win over Mountain View. North will likely go with Toby Woods. Corvallis is very stingy on defense, so expect a low scoring game. Too close to call.
Putnam (18-9) at Willamette (14-9)
Putnam finished second in their league at 16-5. Three of those losses were to number four ranked Sherwood. I think it's going to take another stellar defensive game by Willamette to get by Putnam.
Wednesday is that day during the playoffs when the vast majority of teams are throwing their number two pitcher. There is a wide disparity among teams at the number two spot. Some two's are aces, some are sad sacks and the team better be able to hit. We'll find out soon.
Go MWL
Humongous 6A upsets in round of 32
I don't consider a 5 seed beating a 4 seed an upset, but I definitely put the upset label on an 8 seed beating a 1, like Century did when they beat Lake Oswego 1-0. Century was ranked #38 in the RPI with an 8-15 record verus the Lakers #3 RPI and 21-4 record.
There will be at least two 6A teams advancing to the quarterfinals who were ranked in the bottom half of the RPI. #22 Oregon City plays #34 McNary and #25 Sprague plays #27 Beaverton. There's even a chance that #38 Century gets to the quarters. Century plays either a 14 or 19 seed.
Coaches can already file this year's playoff results in their speech file. What if a coach has a team with a poor record after regular season? No biggie. Pull out the 2012 bracket and wave it in the air, "I remember back in oh-twelve, when eight and fifteen Century upset those rich kids from Lake Oswego, 1-0, in the first round of the playoffs......"
Should the athletic directors fix this????
Last week I mentioned that if both Thurston and South Eugene won in the first round that they would then meet in the round of 16. That's a little dorkus to me to have two teams from the same league meet so quickly in the playoffs. Well, guess what? Sheldon is playing league rival Redmond in the second round. And the four teams from the 6A Special District 1 that made the bracket are all on the same side of the bracket, meaning that only one of the four teams can make it to the state championship game.
Willamette's Play-in Win
There was a big crowd, full of both Willamette and Crescent Valley fans, at the Willamette play-in game last Friday. Add in the sunshine and what a great day for baseball. The win is a big deal for the Wolverines. They haven't been to the round of 16 very often. I have most of the playoff results going back a long time, and I show Willamette's last trip to the round of 16 being in 1978. (Cottage Grove also made it to the round of 16 in 1978. The Grovers made it to the finals before falling to West Linn.) Willamette fell to Madison 8-6. The last time my records show the Wolverines getting to the quarters is 1974, when they lost to eventual runner-up Crater.
In the third inning of Friday's play-in game, it looked like a few minor bobbles were going to be the end of the Wolverines. The kinds of plays that never make the papers but advance the runner a base, or eliminate a potential force out... those kinds of things. Crescent Valley took a 2-0 lead and fans had to wonder if Willamette was going to regain a steady hand.
Did they ever. Left fielder Jalen Drath made a diving catch with a man on, shortstop Scott Kuvaas pulled off the old 'deep in the hole, jump and throw' move for an out, and Gold Glover Glover (Tevin Glover) non chalantly handled several scorchers in critical situations. Pitcher Trent Waggoner hopefully handed out thanks after the game. Trent did a good job himself, scattering four hits, striking out five and walking just one.
Lancer's out...
I had a tough choice whether to go to the Lancer or Wolverine game. I suppose I would have enjoyed the close score of the Churchill game, but I wasn't ready for Churchill's season to end. Some folks who had been at the Churchill game came over to Willamette for the last couple of innings and word quickly spread. When I heard the Lancer game ended on a Dezarn shot to shortstop, I said, "Oh, no." And then I remembered that most of the games I went to until the last few weeks, Jake's blistering blasts were finding the gaps or 'out uh here'. But the last couple of games he had still been tagging them, but right to fielders.
Next year...
The Lancer's graduate 9 seniors. That's a big deal to some programs, but coach Hoberg has always brought up players who fill in for the graduates.
Marist finished the season 7-16. The Spartans lose three seniors. Marist seems to be in good shape pitching wise next year. They'll likely be building their staff around seniors to be Malik Evans and Grant Jamieson. I'm expecting a big jump from Marist next year. They have the potential of returning 4 seniors to be and six juniors. We all saw them improve dramatically during the season and the Spartans should get a lot better with some summer ball.
Springfield closed out the year at 3-18. They'll graduate one senior and they had NO juniors on the final varsity roster. They had nine sophs and four frosh on their roster. Expect a big improvement from these guys, too.
Round of 16
Baseball is brutal on playoff teams. Five of the top 12 6A teams, based on RPI, are out after the first round. Let's hope some of our local teams make it to next week because the long range forecast is for warm clear skies next Tuesday.
6A
Sunset at Thurston. I really liked Thurston's chances of getting through the first two games of bracket play until I heard about the sprained ankle attached to Kyle Watson's leg. I still think the Colts can do it, even with Watty's gimpy wheel. Thurston's defense has been very consistent this year whether Watty is pitching or not. And the Colt bats have delivered in most games. Anything can happen in baseball, but I'm leaning towards a Colt victory over Sunset.
Sheldon at Redmond. Redmond is on a seven game win streak that includes three shutouts. One of those shutouts was a 2-0 win at Irishtown. It's a good time to get hot. Redmond did have a mid season defensive slump where the best they could do was to give up just 8 runs in a seven game stretch. Who knows in this one??
5A
Corvallis (18-9) at North Eugene (17-10)
Corvallis is on a five game win streak including an impressive 10-3 play-in win over Mountain View. North will likely go with Toby Woods. Corvallis is very stingy on defense, so expect a low scoring game. Too close to call.
Putnam (18-9) at Willamette (14-9)
Putnam finished second in their league at 16-5. Three of those losses were to number four ranked Sherwood. I think it's going to take another stellar defensive game by Willamette to get by Putnam.
Wednesday is that day during the playoffs when the vast majority of teams are throwing their number two pitcher. There is a wide disparity among teams at the number two spot. Some two's are aces, some are sad sacks and the team better be able to hit. We'll find out soon.
Go MWL
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Playoff Time
The weather is getting a lot better and I'd rather be outside than blogging....
I went to South's 22-2 play-in win over Aloha. South Eugene is ranked number 15 in RPI compared to Aloha's number 42. Let's just say hats off to the Axemen for staying focused throughout the game. Sometimes, when everyone is doubling, tripling and homering it's hard to get serious at the plate. One Axemen did fall asleep late in the game on the basepath, stepping off second to do who knows what, and got tagged out. South players are pretty smart, though, so maybe the kid had a Math Theory test today - had to get home and study. Have I ever said that 6A should just go straight to 32 team bracket play with the top 32 RPI's? Just once or twice.. Teams ranked 26th through 43rd all have losing records.
Did you know?
This 'Did you know' puts the MWL in good shape for the playoffs. Did you know that at least eight teams have played in the state title game with 10 or 11 losses at the highest two Divisions since 1989 when St. Helens won AA with a 17-11 record? Near perfect records are by no means a sign of going to the finals.
We have four teams with 9 or 10 losses (Sheldon and North - 10 each, Churchill and Willamette - 9). And Thurston is sitting on 3 losses. South has 12. Teams have made it to the finals with 12. So, don't worry, here's what it takes....
How about a five game streak?
A five game win streak once the playoff's begins, wins it all. (Six for South because they had a play-in game followed by a 32 team bracket). Thurston (12) and Sheldon (7) have had some nice streaks. The last four of Sheldon's streak were after Brett Nielsen broke his hand. The Irish didn't buckle when their ace went down. They just found another ace.
Churchill (4), North (3) and Willamette (3), Marist (2) and Springfield (1) will have to have season best streaks. But remember that the MWL 5A teams had six games against 6A teams once the hybrid action started. What if our 5A teams had only played 5A teams during regular season?
Bracketogy
6A goes Monday-Wednesday-Friday next week. While 5A goes just Wednesday-Friday.
First Round Win and play
Thurston vs #40 Glencoe. #18 or South Eugene.
Sheldon vs #23 Reynolds. # 6 or 31
South vs #18 Sunset. #40 Glencoe or Thurston
That's right. South and Thurston could meet in the second round. Sheldon is on the same side of the bracket as Thurston and South, so it won't be an all MWL final. I like our chances of getting two to the quarterfinals on Friday.
Playinology
Overall RPI's
28Springfield # 1 Summit
26Silverton @ # 3 Bend
24Marist @ # 5 Ashland
19Lebanon @ # 6 North Eugene
23Eagle Point @ # 7 Dallas
16 W Albany @ # 8Churchill
14C Valley @ # 9 Willamette
13Mt. View @ # 12 Corvallis
33Cleveland @ # 2 Pendleton
32Benson @ # 4 Sherwood
31Franklin @ #10 Putnam
29Parkrose @ #11 Wilson
25Milwaukie @ #15 HRV
27 Madison @ #17 Sandy
22 Wilsonville @ #18The Dalles
21Hermiston @ #20 Liberty
The losing team of the games in red will stay home and wonder why at least three teams in the 'Northern Region' which are rated lower than them in the RPI are playing in the first round of bracket play.
Something I wonder about. If the top nine ranked teams all win, they all advance. Normally a #8 seed plays a number #9 seed in a 16 team seeded bracket. That would be Churchill versus Willamette. PK Park anyone?
This is the time of year, when a hot hand can win it all. A league that has a lot of good teams with at least one ace and an occasional hot hand at the plate can send one or two all the way with the right breaks. I like our chances of getting a team through to the finals. Particularly - Thurston, Sheldon and South in that order. North and Churchill about even odds to go to the semis or finals and Willamette right behind. Playing Sheldon, Thurston and South has to have benefitted the 5A group. All three 5A teams have tough play-in games. Let's hope they all win and let's hope Willamette and Churchill don't get matched up in the first round of 16. On the other hand. Lessel versus Wagner one last time.....
Did you know?
This 'Did you know' puts the MWL in good shape for the playoffs. Did you know that at least eight teams have played in the state title game with 10 or 11 losses at the highest two Divisions since 1989 when St. Helens won AA with a 17-11 record? Near perfect records are by no means a sign of going to the finals.
We have four teams with 9 or 10 losses (Sheldon and North - 10 each, Churchill and Willamette - 9). And Thurston is sitting on 3 losses. South has 12. Teams have made it to the finals with 12. So, don't worry, here's what it takes....
How about a five game streak?
A five game win streak once the playoff's begins, wins it all. (Six for South because they had a play-in game followed by a 32 team bracket). Thurston (12) and Sheldon (7) have had some nice streaks. The last four of Sheldon's streak were after Brett Nielsen broke his hand. The Irish didn't buckle when their ace went down. They just found another ace.
Churchill (4), North (3) and Willamette (3), Marist (2) and Springfield (1) will have to have season best streaks. But remember that the MWL 5A teams had six games against 6A teams once the hybrid action started. What if our 5A teams had only played 5A teams during regular season?
Bracketogy
6A goes Monday-Wednesday-Friday next week. While 5A goes just Wednesday-Friday.
First Round Win and play
Thurston vs #40 Glencoe. #18 or South Eugene.
Sheldon vs #23 Reynolds. # 6 or 31
South vs #18 Sunset. #40 Glencoe or Thurston
That's right. South and Thurston could meet in the second round. Sheldon is on the same side of the bracket as Thurston and South, so it won't be an all MWL final. I like our chances of getting two to the quarterfinals on Friday.
Overall RPI's
28
26
24
19
23
16 W Albany @ # 8
14
13
33
32
31
29
25
22 Wilsonville @ #18
21
The losing team of the games in red will stay home and wonder why at least three teams in the 'Northern Region' which are rated lower than them in the RPI are playing in the first round of bracket play.
Something I wonder about. If the top nine ranked teams all win, they all advance. Normally a #8 seed plays a number #9 seed in a 16 team seeded bracket. That would be Churchill versus Willamette. PK Park anyone?
This is the time of year, when a hot hand can win it all. A league that has a lot of good teams with at least one ace and an occasional hot hand at the plate can send one or two all the way with the right breaks. I like our chances of getting a team through to the finals. Particularly - Thurston, Sheldon and South in that order. North and Churchill about even odds to go to the semis or finals and Willamette right behind. Playing Sheldon, Thurston and South has to have benefitted the 5A group. All three 5A teams have tough play-in games. Let's hope they all win and let's hope Willamette and Churchill don't get matched up in the first round of 16. On the other hand. Lessel versus Wagner one last time.....
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Sunshine, Pennant Races and A Week To Go
Big Games
Two Huge games this week. But first there's a game that may spoil the party:
Monday
Marist, 4-5 in the MWL, beat Toby Woods and North by a score of 11-5 in the first round. The Spartans will face Woods again, and I expect Marist to throw Malik Evans. The much improved Spartans will make it difficult for North to pick up their 7th MWL league win. North's defense has been stellar the last four games, but the North bats barely did enough to get three wins in those four outings..... A Highlander victory would make North 7-1 in league - tied with Churchill for first.
Tuesday
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| Dave Bellamy earns my 'Where'd this guy come from?' Award of the Week |
Thurston is 5-1 in Special District play, while Sheldon is 3-2. Sheldon can earn a share of the 6A league title by beating Thurston on Tuesday at Sheldon and then taking the first game of a twin bill against Redmond on Friday. Those two wins would end league play for Thurston and Sheldon at identical 5-2 league records and a split in their head to head. Maybe as important as the 6A league finish, is determining who the best team in the Eugene-Springfield is. Thurston is 7-2 against Eugene-Springfield teams, while Sheldon is 8-3. Who is top dog around here? Curious minds want to know! Maybe it's not Thurston or Sheldon alone. If Churchill gets on a run, and gets a break or two, the Lancer's could end up tied for 'best of Eugene-Springfield'. The Highlanders will have some input, though, when they tackle Churchill.....
Wednesday
Once we are past those games, most games will be notable only if there is an upset. That's with the exception of a couple of 6A Special District games on Friday -- Redmond coming to Sheldon and Grant at South Eugene. One or both of these games could determine whether the Irish or Axemen get to skip the play-in game.
Current Play Off Status
5A
The top 16 teams from the 'Southern Division' play each other in a play-in game. The other 3 'Southern Division' teams are eliminated. Currently, our teams are ranked in the Southern Division as follows:
4 North Eugene (6th overall, 564 RPI)
5 Churchill (7th overall, 546 RPI)
12 Willamette (19 overall, 505 RPI)
15 Marist (26 overall, 425 RPI)
17 Springfield (32 overall, 392 RPI)
19 Marshfield (36 overall, 364 RPI)
That means a home play in game for North and Churchill... away play in games for Willamette and Marist. The Millers are currently 0.33 RPI points behind South Albany (33 hundredths of a point). Springfield's RPI is likely to rise over the next week as they play Thurston and Churchill. The Millers also play Marshfield, which will pull down the Miller RPI a little, but South Albany plays Woodburn (2-20) three times next week. It's too close to call whether or not Springfield gets into the play in round. Note that Springfield and South Albany are scheduled to play each other May 14th in a game that will count towards their RPI's.
6A Who avoids the play-in games?
The top three teams (out of six) based on league wins and losses automatically advance to the 32 team bracket. As of Sunday night the top four spots are:
1. Thurston 5-1 (#2 RPI)
2. Redmond 4-2 (#11 RPI)
3. Sheldon 3-2 (#12 RPI)
4. South Eugene 3-3 (#13 RPI)
Thurston had a berth into the 32 team bracket clinched a week ago. Sheldon can catch Thurston in the final league standings. First, Sheldon has to beat Thurston to reach 4-2 in league. The Colts would end league play at 5-2, putting Sheldon a half a game out of a first place tie. An Irish win would set up a game to determine the league co-champ next Friday between Sheldon and Redmond, which already is 4-2. The winner would finish league at 5-2 and be tied with Thurston, which only happens if the Colts lose to Sheldon.... A way South could earn a bracket berth, and avoid a play in game, is to beat Grant while Sheldon loses to both Thurston and Redmond. If that happens, Sheldon would have to play a play in game.
In other words, it's a very exciting pressure packed week for Sheldon and South Eugene.
Great Action Last Week
The level of play certainly has improved a lot in the last four weeks. The South-Sheldon game last week was a doozie. Pitching was more than solid, and neither team was using their ace. Irish junior Mike Ralston and Axeman soph Cameron Jack looked great, and they'll have to continue to be great if either team is to get far in bracket play. Defense was outstanding on both sides, and it was nice to see a catcher (Bellamy) step in for the Irish and have a great game in a pressure situation. Coaching strategy was in play and the kids were executing plays- like South's catcher Ben Giland nailing the Irish at second on a first-third delayed steal and getting out of the situation without yielding a run - that just a few weeks ago teams around the league were routinely botching . 
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| #6 Jake Dezarn is Mr. Round Tripper this year. But can it last four more weeks? |
Rain sent me chasing North to Sheldon and back to Swede in a game that was rained out. I was going to head home, but I thought, "Well, that Marist club has been improving and maybe it's time for The Big Surprise. And it almost was. Spartan junior pitcher Grant Jamieson, who has been getting better each time I've seen him, had the Lancers worried for four innings as Marist jumped out to a 2-1 lead in the top of the second and a 4-2 lead in the top of the fifth. The big question that developed was whether or not Jake Lessel would recover from Levi Yarborough's 2 run smash. Lessel recovered, as a vet should, and Churchill put on a offensive show in the fifth and sixth inning, laying down perfect bunts with men on that ended up in hits, and then powered on with Chase Kearney and Jake Dezarn going yard. (Dezarn should send me a check. I've seen him hit three homers and blast a double off the fence in the few times I've seen him. Watty (4 bagger) and Moore (2b) took two of those four shots. Or maybe North should pay me not to show up at the North - Churchill game Wednesday).
Overall, I think the big improvements have been in the number two pitchers on staff. Helping out the pitchers have been at least two newbie varsity catchers really growing their game. Teams are laying down their bunts much more often now. Players aren't missing signals and getting picked off as much - but still a little too much in close games. With all of this improvement it must be playoff time.....
I might change my mind at the last second on Monday's game; but, eat your heart out, here are the games I plan to see this week.
Monday - Thurston at Churchill - Both teams probably will save their aces for Tuesday and Wednesday, so these two hard hitting teams could burn out the score board.
Tuesday - Thurston at Sheldon - My one and two picks for the hybrid title at the beginning of the season. They've lived up to my expectations. I think Thurston is a tiny bit better on D.
Wednesday - Churchill at North Eugene. If the Highlanders get by Marist Monday, this is a sportswriters dream. Moore versus Lessel. Power hitters Kearney and Dezarn. Great coaching. Natural Rivalry.
On and on...
Friday - Redmond at Sheldon or Grant at South Eugene. Depends on who is likely to pitch and the results of the Sheldon-Thurston game.
Fantastic Week.
Good Luck Seniors!!!!
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
10 Days to Go
It's almost playoff time and there is still a lot of action left before the regular season is complete.
- RPI rankings freeze on Saturday May 12th for 6A and...
- Monday, May 14th for 5A
- Play in Games have to be completed by Thursday the 17th for 6A and...
- Saturday the 19th for 5A
5A - Who is safe? Who might get knocked out?
Three teams for the 5A 'Southern Division' will get knocked out and not play a play in game. RPI's won't move much for the rest of the season, but a few percentage points can mean the difference of making the play-in games. Marshfield is currently lodged in 19th place out of 19 in the southern division, 20 percentage points behind the 18th place team. Springfield is currently on the 'safe' side of the stage at number 16, but only 10 points ahead of number 17 and elimination.
North (#6 statewide, #4 Southern Division) and Churchill (#7, #5) look like they have home games for the play in games; while Willamette (#16, , #11) and Marist (#25, #14) look to be on the road, as would #29 Springfield, if the Millers make the cut.
But before the qualifying teams are settled, we have the matter of the 5A MWL title to settle. It looks like the champ will be decided next Wednesday the 9th at Swede. Guess where I will be. North (5-1) has to stop Willamette tonight and Marist next week. Both games are away. Willamette is going to have some weary pitching arms as the Wolverines threw Waggoner for six on Monday and then traveled to Coos Bay last night. However, the Highlander bats have been quiet lately and anything can happen.
North's game at Marist on Monday will be interesting. The Spartans have a bye after North, so they have a better opportunity to plan their pitching than does North, who hopefully will save Moore for Churchill. (And hopefully, the Lancers will throw Lessel at North.)
Speaking of pitching match ups. I'm always mentioning Moore and Lessel in the 5A group as being steller. I put Waggoner and Evans behind those guys. But take a look at how many runs Willamette has been giving up (not many at the 5A level), and they might just be a surprise in the playoffs. Waggoner just lost a 1-0 match-up with Lessel and somehow didn't get a mention in the R-G. And Wolverine Tevin Glover has developed into a stopper.
6A - Who avoids the play in games?
Unlike the 5A classification, where 5 teams don't even get a chance to 'play in' to the playoffs, every 6A team has a chance. 21 teams automatically advance to a 32 team bracket, with another 22 teams facing a play-in game. 3 teams from Special District 1 get an automatic berth.
Thurston at 5-1, with one more game to play, has earned a pass into the 32 team bracket.
Sheldon (2-2) and South (3-1) have a heavy workload ahead. Sheldon and South play tonite, so one of them will be tagged with another loss. The Irish's other counting league games are against Thurston and Redmond. All three of the Irish's remaining league games are at Sheldon. Sheldon will be without the services of staff ace Brett Nielsen, who broke his thumb while batting against Churchill.
South, as mentioned, travels to Sheldon tonight. Then they travel to Redmond (1-2) and close out the season by hosting Grant (1-3). The Axemen will be able to rest their pitching staff for Redmond and Grant because the games are so far apart.
If Sheldon and South make the 32 team playoff bracket, odds are pretty good they would start with a home game. The top 16 teams based on RPI, should all have home games. South (10th) and Sheldon (11th) shouldn't fall much if any in the RPI the rest of the season. Most of Sheldon's remaining opponents have excellent records. Opponents records are huge in determining RPI. The Axemen's remaining opponents records, while not as strong as Sheldon's opponents, shouldn't hurt South. But if I'm South or Sheldon, I'm thinking about winning (not coasting) and moving up. Either team could move up to 8th or higher with a strong finish to the regular season.
But before the qualifying teams are settled, we have the matter of the 5A MWL title to settle. It looks like the champ will be decided next Wednesday the 9th at Swede. Guess where I will be. North (5-1) has to stop Willamette tonight and Marist next week. Both games are away. Willamette is going to have some weary pitching arms as the Wolverines threw Waggoner for six on Monday and then traveled to Coos Bay last night. However, the Highlander bats have been quiet lately and anything can happen.
North's game at Marist on Monday will be interesting. The Spartans have a bye after North, so they have a better opportunity to plan their pitching than does North, who hopefully will save Moore for Churchill. (And hopefully, the Lancers will throw Lessel at North.)
Speaking of pitching match ups. I'm always mentioning Moore and Lessel in the 5A group as being steller. I put Waggoner and Evans behind those guys. But take a look at how many runs Willamette has been giving up (not many at the 5A level), and they might just be a surprise in the playoffs. Waggoner just lost a 1-0 match-up with Lessel and somehow didn't get a mention in the R-G. And Wolverine Tevin Glover has developed into a stopper.
6A - Who avoids the play in games?
Unlike the 5A classification, where 5 teams don't even get a chance to 'play in' to the playoffs, every 6A team has a chance. 21 teams automatically advance to a 32 team bracket, with another 22 teams facing a play-in game. 3 teams from Special District 1 get an automatic berth.
Thurston at 5-1, with one more game to play, has earned a pass into the 32 team bracket.
Sheldon (2-2) and South (3-1) have a heavy workload ahead. Sheldon and South play tonite, so one of them will be tagged with another loss. The Irish's other counting league games are against Thurston and Redmond. All three of the Irish's remaining league games are at Sheldon. Sheldon will be without the services of staff ace Brett Nielsen, who broke his thumb while batting against Churchill.
South, as mentioned, travels to Sheldon tonight. Then they travel to Redmond (1-2) and close out the season by hosting Grant (1-3). The Axemen will be able to rest their pitching staff for Redmond and Grant because the games are so far apart.
If Sheldon and South make the 32 team playoff bracket, odds are pretty good they would start with a home game. The top 16 teams based on RPI, should all have home games. South (10th) and Sheldon (11th) shouldn't fall much if any in the RPI the rest of the season. Most of Sheldon's remaining opponents have excellent records. Opponents records are huge in determining RPI. The Axemen's remaining opponents records, while not as strong as Sheldon's opponents, shouldn't hurt South. But if I'm South or Sheldon, I'm thinking about winning (not coasting) and moving up. Either team could move up to 8th or higher with a strong finish to the regular season.
Monday, April 23, 2012
League Halfway Point Recap
Reminder. As you read this, we have three league's: The 6A SD#1, the 5A MWL and Gary's faux Hybrid MWL league. The Hybrid MWL league isn't a true double round robin as Marshfield is not playing the 6A varsity teams this year.
How's Gary's pre season prediction going?
My final pre Hybrid League prediction versus actual as of Saturday's games:
1. Thurston - Thurston
2. Sheldon - NE/Churchill
3. North Eugene - NE/Churchill
4. South Eugene - South Eugene
5. Churchill - Willamette
6. Willamette - Sheldon
7. Marist - Marist
8. Springfield - Springfield/Marshfield
9. Marshfield - Springfield/Marshfield
Note that Sheldon and Marist are behind a game - the only Hybrid game that didn't get played this rainy spring. Pretty amazing.
Three teams to keep an eye on the second round are Sheldon, Willamette and Marist. (I think the other six teams will continue at the pace they are on and improve as the weather gets better.) The Irish have a ton of talent and have that combination of pitching, hitting, defense and aggressiveness that should put them in a tight race with Thurston. The Wolverines are a team and a program with everything in place to move up to the North Eugene and Churchill level. And Marist has found their defense, no matter who is pitching. Looking at these teams in the context that matters - the official OSAA leagues.....
5A MWL
OSAA Standings
Churchill 4-1
North Eugene 4-1
Willamette 3-2
Marist 2-3
Marshfield 1-4
Springfield 1-4
I'm going to the Marist at Willamette game tonight to see which way these two teams are headed in the second round. I'm anticipating a Trent Waggoner versus Malik Evans showdown. Marist is currently ranked 12th in the 5A Southern Division. The Spartans need wins to avoid dropping below 16th and being eliminated from the play-in games. I put Marist in a rebuilding year mode when I first saw them, but if they continue to improve, they only have to win the last five games of the season once playoffs start and they've got a trophy. Willamette is safe for the play-in game unless they go into a major tailspin. A strong second half could move the Wolverines up from their current ninth place seed in the Southern Region. I like Willamette's lineup from A to Z. From a fan's standpoint, I want to see great games no matter who I'm watching, and hope the Wolverines can take all their skills and deliver consistent top notch play.
North might have to win out against the 5A MWL teams to earn first place in the 5A MWL. Churchill could lose a 5A MWL game and then beat North in the second to last game of league play to own the tie breaker. More importantly, these two teams need to win the majority of their games against all 6A and 5A schools to grab high seeds for the Southern Region play-in games.. North is currently 6th and Churchill 7th in the Southern Division.
6A Special District #1
Unlike 5A, the 6A league standings actually mean a lot. In the 5A level, 4 of 36 teams will not get to play a play in game based on their RPI, no matter where they finish in league. At the 6A, all 43 teams continue to play on, but a team can by pass the play-in games by doing well in district. The top three teams in Special District 1 get an automatic berth into the 32 team bracket.
There are only 7 league games in SD#1, so these guys are about halfway finished.
Thurston 3-0
South Eugene 2-1
Sheldon 2-2
Redmond 1-1
Grant 1-3
Lincoln 0-2
That looks good for the old MWL teams, but Sheldon has to play South Eugene and Thurston again, as well as Redmond. Redmond has two games left with 0-2 Lincoln.... Sheldon and South don't have any 6A action this week, so they'll have to hope that Thurston dumps Lincoln Wednesday and Redmond @ Redmond on Saturday. It'll be interesting to see how the Colts line up their pitching this week against North Eugene, Lincoln and Redmond.
The Colts will be fortunate if they can continue to run the gauntlet through Monday the 30th. Who set up this schedule? North Eugene today. Lincoln twice on Wednesday. Redmond in Redmond on Saturday for two games. South Eugene at home on Monday. I wish we had cable tv for this string of games.
South Eugene has some pitching decisions coming up - at Thurston next Monday, at Sheldon on Wednesday and another 6A away game at Redmond on Saturday. Actually, the Redmond trip is a double header with just the first game counting in league.
The Irish have the least pitching planning to do. They don't have a 6A game before or after the May 2 game against South. If the Irish beat South, they then can choose whether to throw their ace against Thurston on a Tuesday or Redmond on Friday, the last game currently scheduled in the Irish regular season.
But this is baseball and the standings are likely to look way different by the time Sheldon plays Thurston. So I wouldn't put a lot of time worrying about pitching match ups right now. However, it would be fun to see a Watson - Nielsen matchup in Thurston's last 6A league game of the season with a lot on the line.
How's Gary's pre season prediction going?
My final pre Hybrid League prediction versus actual as of Saturday's games:
1. Thurston - Thurston
2. Sheldon - NE/Churchill
3. North Eugene - NE/Churchill
4. South Eugene - South Eugene
5. Churchill - Willamette
6. Willamette - Sheldon
7. Marist - Marist
8. Springfield - Springfield/Marshfield
9. Marshfield - Springfield/Marshfield
Note that Sheldon and Marist are behind a game - the only Hybrid game that didn't get played this rainy spring. Pretty amazing.
Three teams to keep an eye on the second round are Sheldon, Willamette and Marist. (I think the other six teams will continue at the pace they are on and improve as the weather gets better.) The Irish have a ton of talent and have that combination of pitching, hitting, defense and aggressiveness that should put them in a tight race with Thurston. The Wolverines are a team and a program with everything in place to move up to the North Eugene and Churchill level. And Marist has found their defense, no matter who is pitching. Looking at these teams in the context that matters - the official OSAA leagues.....
5A MWL
OSAA Standings
Churchill 4-1
North Eugene 4-1
Willamette 3-2
Marist 2-3
Marshfield 1-4
Springfield 1-4
I'm going to the Marist at Willamette game tonight to see which way these two teams are headed in the second round. I'm anticipating a Trent Waggoner versus Malik Evans showdown. Marist is currently ranked 12th in the 5A Southern Division. The Spartans need wins to avoid dropping below 16th and being eliminated from the play-in games. I put Marist in a rebuilding year mode when I first saw them, but if they continue to improve, they only have to win the last five games of the season once playoffs start and they've got a trophy. Willamette is safe for the play-in game unless they go into a major tailspin. A strong second half could move the Wolverines up from their current ninth place seed in the Southern Region. I like Willamette's lineup from A to Z. From a fan's standpoint, I want to see great games no matter who I'm watching, and hope the Wolverines can take all their skills and deliver consistent top notch play.
North might have to win out against the 5A MWL teams to earn first place in the 5A MWL. Churchill could lose a 5A MWL game and then beat North in the second to last game of league play to own the tie breaker. More importantly, these two teams need to win the majority of their games against all 6A and 5A schools to grab high seeds for the Southern Region play-in games.. North is currently 6th and Churchill 7th in the Southern Division.
6A Special District #1
Unlike 5A, the 6A league standings actually mean a lot. In the 5A level, 4 of 36 teams will not get to play a play in game based on their RPI, no matter where they finish in league. At the 6A, all 43 teams continue to play on, but a team can by pass the play-in games by doing well in district. The top three teams in Special District 1 get an automatic berth into the 32 team bracket.
There are only 7 league games in SD#1, so these guys are about halfway finished.
Thurston 3-0
South Eugene 2-1
Sheldon 2-2
Redmond 1-1
Grant 1-3
Lincoln 0-2
That looks good for the old MWL teams, but Sheldon has to play South Eugene and Thurston again, as well as Redmond. Redmond has two games left with 0-2 Lincoln.... Sheldon and South don't have any 6A action this week, so they'll have to hope that Thurston dumps Lincoln Wednesday and Redmond @ Redmond on Saturday. It'll be interesting to see how the Colts line up their pitching this week against North Eugene, Lincoln and Redmond.
The Colts will be fortunate if they can continue to run the gauntlet through Monday the 30th. Who set up this schedule? North Eugene today. Lincoln twice on Wednesday. Redmond in Redmond on Saturday for two games. South Eugene at home on Monday. I wish we had cable tv for this string of games.
South Eugene has some pitching decisions coming up - at Thurston next Monday, at Sheldon on Wednesday and another 6A away game at Redmond on Saturday. Actually, the Redmond trip is a double header with just the first game counting in league.
The Irish have the least pitching planning to do. They don't have a 6A game before or after the May 2 game against South. If the Irish beat South, they then can choose whether to throw their ace against Thurston on a Tuesday or Redmond on Friday, the last game currently scheduled in the Irish regular season.
But this is baseball and the standings are likely to look way different by the time Sheldon plays Thurston. So I wouldn't put a lot of time worrying about pitching match ups right now. However, it would be fun to see a Watson - Nielsen matchup in Thurston's last 6A league game of the season with a lot on the line.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
2 Week Full Moon over Baseball Fields
Last week I wrote about some oddities I saw on the baseball fields as the April full moon approached. I'm not sure that the full moon is over.... Marshfield won it's first league game since May 3rd of 2010. Marist beat North Eugene 11-5 after losing to Churchil 12-1 last Friday (the 13th). And Willamette got the full moon hex, which I'll explain later.
I've seen several really good games since last Monday (the 9th). A lot of that was due to seeing some of the best pitchers in state and some of the MWL # 2's coming through with superb efforts. After so many good games, I was going to write about the little things in baseball. Most of the games I watched were close and the little things were costly; like a first baseman not coming off the bag after holding a man on first and the subsequent grounder ten feet away from first base going into right field. But there are too many wonderful team storylines to cover, so let's look at the developing storylines as we are about halfway into the regular season.
Thurston at 11-0
My pre-pre season pick to have a cakewalk through the hybrid league. I later backed off due to a season ending injury to Aaron Clift and predicted the Colts would still be the best MWL team, but not as easily as I originally thought. And, in fact, it hasn't been a cakewalk.
The Colts last four MWL league wins have been by 1, 2, 3 and 3 runs. Still, we're not playing horseshoes, and opponents being close doesn't show up in the loss column. It's good for the Colts to know that they can consistently win the close ones.
The Colts batters can go deep and the Colts can play smart small ball. Thurston small ball success is as much attitude as it is the speed that can be found in many of the Colts, especially the 1-2 hitters, Aaron Hoover and Joey Urness. Kyle Watson is stroking the ball at the three spot, Goddard is in form as cleanup hitter. Shane Quarterly and Hunter Combs had some big hits in the 5-2 win over Churchill.
The Colts fielding is excellent as always. Kyle Watson continues to pitch masterfully - he isn't overpowering the hitters and striking out a dozen a game, but pop ups and grounders are about all that come off of the other teams bats.
Can the Colts get through the regular season without a loss? Depends on the match-ups. Churchill's number 2 pitcher Jordan Thompson had the Colts corralled for five innings for a 1-1 tie while the Colts were throwing Watty. Would Churchill have won with Lessel on the mound? Or if Thurston had thrown their number two?
Can the Colts go deep into the state playoffs? There's no reason to think they can't. The critical week of the playoffs is the Monday-Wednesday-Friday first week. Most teams throw their Aces on Monday and Friday. If there are no rainouts, the aces can go again the next week for Tuesday semi's and Saturday finals - it's been done. It's that Wednesday game of the first week that tests a team's number two pitcher. I think Thurston has the balance of a good pitching staff, good fielding and good bats that they can advance to at least the semi's. Just gotta hope they don't get seeded against a superman pitcher.
Churchill
I saw Churchill twice in the past week. They are looking tough. Almost a clone of the Colts, just less speed on the bases. Like Thurston, the staff ace is a lefty with a great pickoff move - Jake Lessel. Lessel doesn't need to use his pickoff move too often as he tends to sit down ten or so batters via strikeouts each game. If Jordan Thompson's pitching performance against Thurston is indicative of Thompsons's ability, coach Hoberg is happy. Once Thompson settled in, it was mostly ground ball outs for Thurston as Thompson held the Colts to 1 run through five innings.
I don't think of Churchill as a bunch of speedsters and maybe they don't need to be. Chase Kearney and Jake Dezarn provide the wallop at the plate. But more importantly, the Lancers are trained to play small ball. If you can lay down sac bunts and pull off the hit and run, you don't have to be stealing bases all of the time.
Defensively, the Lancers are very good as always, and it was nice to be entertained by Andy Arruda's circus catch in the Thurston game.
Can Churchill sweep the 5A MWL teams? Why not? Hopefully, we'll get to see a Lessel-Moore matchup Wednesday at Churchill. I'm thinking that both pitchers will shut down the other team and the game will ride on which team's defense has a critical breakdown. I'm leaning towards Churchill for this game as I think North is still gelling on defense.
Can Churchill go deep into the state playoffs? I say yes, and I think seeing so much good pitching in the hybrid MWL is a great advantage for our better teams.
Willamette
The Wolverines were victimized by the lengthy full moon hex. What else could explain facing Lessel, Moore and Nielsen in three out of the last four games? Shouldn't the league give each team one 'Can't Pitch This Guy' token, so teams can use it to avoid a relentless stretch like that? Hey, at least Thurston didn't throw Watty at them.
Look for the Wolverines to get back in the groove after recently playing Churchill, North, Thurston and Sheldon. The Wolverines will tackle 6-6 Crescent Valley before hosting South Eugene. Will the full moon hex extend to South's Joe Schindler?
Willamette bats are still trying to find their way after losing Cole Hathaway to a season ending injury.
Marist
I came home from the Marist - Churchill game last week and told my wife I had just seen the weirdest thing. Marist made a bunch of bizzaro errors. Not stupid bonehead errors - just weird. Like the pitcher fielding a bunt and with all the time in the world to tag the runner, tags the runner only to see the ball fly out of his mitt. Then the shortstop gathers in a big bouncer with a huge handle, only to toss the ball behind himself instead of towards first. It just kept going until the Spartans walked away after the loss. My wife said, "Are you sure the full moon is over?"
Then I wake up Sunday morning and read that Marist went 9 innings at North Medford before losing 4-3. Hunh? Imports? Ringers?
Then I get home Monday night and the OSAA scoreboard says Marist has beaten North Eugene 11-5.
What's going on? I don't know, but I'm guessing that Marist might be starting to gel after losing parttime baseballer/trackster Austin Baird to track fulltime. With the infield reset, the lads can get the experience they need. Pitcher Malik Evans is good for several wins and I think Grant Jamieson and Josh White can keep them in games as they head into the second half of the season. I think the Spartans are going to cause trouble for a few more teams besides North. By the way, I've been looking at Evans as mostly a pitcher, but he had a great battle against Lessel and went 3-5 in the win over North.
North Eugene
Wax on, wax off. Bats on, bats off. After 12 run outings against Springfield and South, North's bats have cooled off. Andrew Moore pitched the Highlander's past Willamette's Trent Waggoner in a great 3-1 game last week. North then scratched out just one run against Sheldon's Taylor Allie. Not a good trend.
And maybe... Defense on, defense off. North gave up just 1.4 runs per game in 7 pre hybrid league games. But they've given up 5.2 runs a game in league.
Big game against Churchill tomorrow (Wednesday). The Lancers have been better than North as of late. North needs the win to avoid a three game losing streak. Hopefully, it'll be Lessel versus Moore.
South Eugene
South is currently ranked #9 in the OSAA RPI ratings. They are going to need to sweep their next four games if they want to stay up in the ratings. RPI hinges a lot on your opponents record and South's next opponents are Marist (3-7), Willamette (6-6) , Grants Pass (5-8) and Springfield (1-8). Will the Axemen be mean to Willamette (who has faced the league's aces over and over) and hold Schindler for the Wolverines on Friday? Or will the Axemen try and stop Marist's surge with Schindler on Wednesday?
In any event, South is trying to sneak through the regular season unnoticed, but I'm not letting that happen. The Axemen are fine even when Schindler isn't on the mound because they can use Cameron Jack and Alec Wechtawski.
I like South's defense. The Axemen have been holding most teams to 1 or 2 runs in games that really count in their quest to place high in 6A special district 1. South beat Sheldon 2-1 and Lincoln 12-2. Thurston's big bats got to South for 7 runs in a 7-5 Colt win. That's not too bad for a worst case scenario.
Sheldon
The Irish lost two games that were called due to rain after Sheldon had taken the lead or put runners in a postion to tie. If those games had gone Sheldon's way, the Irish would be 9-4 rather than 7-6, and in second place in the 6A special district. Instead, #13 Sheldon is tied for fourth and trying to catch #10 Redmond for third in the league.
Close games haven't been unusual for Sheldon. The Irish have been caught up in 7 games decided by just 1 or 2 runs. They've lost four of those.
Sheldon's defense has been good almost the entire season, giving up just 3.2 runs per game. The teams that put the ball in play - Churchill and Thurston - took 7-5 and 5-4 victories from Sheldon. Those aren't insurmountable numbers and those are winnable games if the offense gets in gear.
Offensively, Sheldon likes to score four to six runs a game. I'd think Sheldon would be scoring more because they have the sticks and speed to put up good numbers. Maybe last night's 10-0 win over Willamette is a good omen for Irish bats.
Marshfield and Springfield
Both teams are 1-8. Marshfield's win is over Springfield 9-7. Springfield beat Marist 6-5. They can look to Marist's recent success for inspiration.
I've seen several really good games since last Monday (the 9th). A lot of that was due to seeing some of the best pitchers in state and some of the MWL # 2's coming through with superb efforts. After so many good games, I was going to write about the little things in baseball. Most of the games I watched were close and the little things were costly; like a first baseman not coming off the bag after holding a man on first and the subsequent grounder ten feet away from first base going into right field. But there are too many wonderful team storylines to cover, so let's look at the developing storylines as we are about halfway into the regular season.
Thurston at 11-0
The Colts last four MWL league wins have been by 1, 2, 3 and 3 runs. Still, we're not playing horseshoes, and opponents being close doesn't show up in the loss column. It's good for the Colts to know that they can consistently win the close ones.
The Colts batters can go deep and the Colts can play smart small ball. Thurston small ball success is as much attitude as it is the speed that can be found in many of the Colts, especially the 1-2 hitters, Aaron Hoover and Joey Urness. Kyle Watson is stroking the ball at the three spot, Goddard is in form as cleanup hitter. Shane Quarterly and Hunter Combs had some big hits in the 5-2 win over Churchill.
The Colts fielding is excellent as always. Kyle Watson continues to pitch masterfully - he isn't overpowering the hitters and striking out a dozen a game, but pop ups and grounders are about all that come off of the other teams bats.
Can the Colts get through the regular season without a loss? Depends on the match-ups. Churchill's number 2 pitcher Jordan Thompson had the Colts corralled for five innings for a 1-1 tie while the Colts were throwing Watty. Would Churchill have won with Lessel on the mound? Or if Thurston had thrown their number two?
Can the Colts go deep into the state playoffs? There's no reason to think they can't. The critical week of the playoffs is the Monday-Wednesday-Friday first week. Most teams throw their Aces on Monday and Friday. If there are no rainouts, the aces can go again the next week for Tuesday semi's and Saturday finals - it's been done. It's that Wednesday game of the first week that tests a team's number two pitcher. I think Thurston has the balance of a good pitching staff, good fielding and good bats that they can advance to at least the semi's. Just gotta hope they don't get seeded against a superman pitcher.
Churchill
I don't think of Churchill as a bunch of speedsters and maybe they don't need to be. Chase Kearney and Jake Dezarn provide the wallop at the plate. But more importantly, the Lancers are trained to play small ball. If you can lay down sac bunts and pull off the hit and run, you don't have to be stealing bases all of the time.
Defensively, the Lancers are very good as always, and it was nice to be entertained by Andy Arruda's circus catch in the Thurston game.
Can Churchill sweep the 5A MWL teams? Why not? Hopefully, we'll get to see a Lessel-Moore matchup Wednesday at Churchill. I'm thinking that both pitchers will shut down the other team and the game will ride on which team's defense has a critical breakdown. I'm leaning towards Churchill for this game as I think North is still gelling on defense.
Can Churchill go deep into the state playoffs? I say yes, and I think seeing so much good pitching in the hybrid MWL is a great advantage for our better teams.
Willamette
Look for the Wolverines to get back in the groove after recently playing Churchill, North, Thurston and Sheldon. The Wolverines will tackle 6-6 Crescent Valley before hosting South Eugene. Will the full moon hex extend to South's Joe Schindler?
Willamette bats are still trying to find their way after losing Cole Hathaway to a season ending injury.
Marist
Then I wake up Sunday morning and read that Marist went 9 innings at North Medford before losing 4-3. Hunh? Imports? Ringers?
Then I get home Monday night and the OSAA scoreboard says Marist has beaten North Eugene 11-5.
What's going on? I don't know, but I'm guessing that Marist might be starting to gel after losing parttime baseballer/trackster Austin Baird to track fulltime. With the infield reset, the lads can get the experience they need. Pitcher Malik Evans is good for several wins and I think Grant Jamieson and Josh White can keep them in games as they head into the second half of the season. I think the Spartans are going to cause trouble for a few more teams besides North. By the way, I've been looking at Evans as mostly a pitcher, but he had a great battle against Lessel and went 3-5 in the win over North.
North Eugene
And maybe... Defense on, defense off. North gave up just 1.4 runs per game in 7 pre hybrid league games. But they've given up 5.2 runs a game in league.
Big game against Churchill tomorrow (Wednesday). The Lancers have been better than North as of late. North needs the win to avoid a three game losing streak. Hopefully, it'll be Lessel versus Moore.
South Eugene
In any event, South is trying to sneak through the regular season unnoticed, but I'm not letting that happen. The Axemen are fine even when Schindler isn't on the mound because they can use Cameron Jack and Alec Wechtawski.
I like South's defense. The Axemen have been holding most teams to 1 or 2 runs in games that really count in their quest to place high in 6A special district 1. South beat Sheldon 2-1 and Lincoln 12-2. Thurston's big bats got to South for 7 runs in a 7-5 Colt win. That's not too bad for a worst case scenario.
Sheldon
Close games haven't been unusual for Sheldon. The Irish have been caught up in 7 games decided by just 1 or 2 runs. They've lost four of those.
Sheldon's defense has been good almost the entire season, giving up just 3.2 runs per game. The teams that put the ball in play - Churchill and Thurston - took 7-5 and 5-4 victories from Sheldon. Those aren't insurmountable numbers and those are winnable games if the offense gets in gear.
Offensively, Sheldon likes to score four to six runs a game. I'd think Sheldon would be scoring more because they have the sticks and speed to put up good numbers. Maybe last night's 10-0 win over Willamette is a good omen for Irish bats.
Marshfield and Springfield
Monday, April 9, 2012
Full Moon, Red Heads and Lefties
Baseball probably has more lefties than any other sport. And if you've coached baseball, you know about 80 per cent of them are loony, hence the phrase 'loony-lefty'. There are some cerebral lefties, but they play chess.
Red heads seem to come in the fair skinned, quiet type or the wacky baseball type.
Full moons tend to produce odd behavior in certain people. Just ask a policeman or school principal.
So I wasn't too surprised as Full Moon Friday approached when I saw a red headed, left handed baseball player launch himself like a javelin towards second base at the North-Springfield game. And like a javelin, he stuck in the mud with his legs sticking up in the air.
As you can imagine, the North Eugene player, Dillon Hudson, was mighty sore from his "javelin" slide. The umps called a lengthy time out to see if he was all in one piece, and finally Dillon carried on from second base. After the game, coaches Nicholsen and Haxby tried to convince me that Dillon's unusual slide was just some leftover energy from playing on wet artificial turf over Spring Break. The coaches said the guys were having fun on the wet turf and sliding twenty feet or more, like they were on a Slip-N-Slide, sometimes going right by the bags. I said, "No way, if Dillon impaled himself on artificial turn like that, he would have torn a hole in it, and North would have had to pay to repair it."
Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw it. The speedy Hudson is an entrepreneur.
Red heads seem to come in the fair skinned, quiet type or the wacky baseball type.
Full moons tend to produce odd behavior in certain people. Just ask a policeman or school principal.
So I wasn't too surprised as Full Moon Friday approached when I saw a red headed, left handed baseball player launch himself like a javelin towards second base at the North-Springfield game. And like a javelin, he stuck in the mud with his legs sticking up in the air.
As you can imagine, the North Eugene player, Dillon Hudson, was mighty sore from his "javelin" slide. The umps called a lengthy time out to see if he was all in one piece, and finally Dillon carried on from second base. After the game, coaches Nicholsen and Haxby tried to convince me that Dillon's unusual slide was just some leftover energy from playing on wet artificial turf over Spring Break. The coaches said the guys were having fun on the wet turf and sliding twenty feet or more, like they were on a Slip-N-Slide, sometimes going right by the bags. I said, "No way, if Dillon impaled himself on artificial turn like that, he would have torn a hole in it, and North would have had to pay to repair it."
Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw it. The speedy Hudson is an entrepreneur.
Hudson must not be a loony-lefty after all. He's a smart business guy. His business cards say "Slide with Style". Anyway, after that performance I just had to go back to Swede on the totally Full Moon Friday and watch Hudson slide. Sure enough, he pulled off some pop up slides with flair, but I didn't see my favorite, the 'javelin'. However, I left early, so maybe he pulled it off one more time....
RPI, District Standings and Pitching Match-Ups
You all know by now that my 9 team MWL league standing is a hoax. There won't be a 9 team MLW champion crowned, mainly because there won't be a complete double round robin among all teams. The 6A teams won't be playing Marshfield, while all of the 5A MWL teams will. And there won't be any pressure for the 6A MWL teams to reschedule games against the 5A MWL teams. So, who knows how many MWL games will be played.
But there's pride out there and who doesn't want to know who the best team is among the old MWL group? That's why I'm still tracking the nine teams. And we can all calculate percentages -- right?
5A MWL Standings. Ironically the 5A standings don't really count for much. A team can win the league, but get a lower seed for the playoffs because of a lower RPI. This has happened in other sports this school year.
6A Special District Standings. These standings count for quite a bit. The top three finishes in SD6 (Sheldon, South, Thurston, Grant, Lincoln, Redmond) get an automatic berth into the 32 team bracket. The bottom three league teams play a play in game to get to the round of 32. ANDDDD.... it's possible that a team that wins a play-in game gets a higher seed than an automatically placed team because the play-in winner has a higher RPI than the automatic team. Don't you just love it...
But worst of all, the RPI driven world with Special Districts is messing up awesome pitching match ups in our local area. By all rights I should have seen Joe Schindler and Andrew Moore face up last Friday. In a way, they did.... at shortstop. (Moore won this one with a stellar defensive day at short and slapped the ball around quite a bit at the plate.) I didn't get to see the dream match up because South coach Chris Vermeer wisely held back Schindler for a next day Special District league counting game in Portland.
MWL fans usually see two or three true studs pitching league games in a year, and you get a couple of head to head matches. I'm lucky, because I don't follow one school, so I can choose to see great match ups when ever I want.
But this year, my goodness. Moore, Schindler, Lessel, Nielsen, and Watson were all potential or proven upper shelf starters before this season began and they have delivered as hoped. (Three of these men are juniors) Then you've got Waggoner, Molzahn, and Evans who all have the ability to throw sterling games and certainly have at times. So we should be seeing a ton of great head to head match ups, but it's not going to happen often because of those weird Thursday/Saturday Special District games. Let's hope the leagues can work out something else next year. Schindler, Nielsen, Watson, Molzahn and Evans will all be back and I haven't even waded into some of the really good number two's and relievers who will return.
That rant leads me to think of some of my blogs over the past few years about how the programs and facilities have been improving locally and we have the hardware to prove it. State Champs - Thurston '09, North '10. Runner-ups Churchill '07, Thurston '08
Thoughts Week of Apri 1 - 7
Marshfield. Better than their 0-7 recored indicates. Marshfield's Doug Molzahn pitched a great game against Willamette last Thursday. The Pirates had a tidy 2-1 lead after three and a half innings, but Willamette's bats got hot for just one inning, and the Pirate ship was down 7-2. The Pirate defense was good except for a few critical overthrows of cutoff men in the big six run Wolverine fourth.
Willamette. 3-0 in league with wins over Marist, Marshfield and Springfield. Next up... Churchill and North Eugene. The Wolverine offense took a big hit when they lost the torrid hitting of Cole Hathaway to a broken wrist. Someone has to step up to replace Cole or Willamette's pitching staff is going to have to suck it up.
Thurston. I don't want to get accused of writing too much and too favorably about the Colts (like I get accused of writing too much about Marist in football). However, the record speaks for itself. Thurston is 8-0, has beaten MWL teams 12 straight games and has great balance among their hitting, speed, defense and pitching. Plus, I've written a lot about the new 'soft' bats. That was before Watson and Goddard jacked out back to backers.
Sheldon. Back to the wall in the 6A Special District. An early season 5 inning 2-1 loss to the Axemen and last Friday's 5-4 loss to Thurston really hurts. The Irish only get one league counting game against Grant, Lincoln and Redmond, so they better sweep those and pick off either South or Thurston the next time around. I don't know what the tiebreaker is for the bizzaro 6A Special District, but I don't think Sheldon wants to be tied up for third.
North. The last thing I wrote about the Highlanders was how anemic their offense was. Then they score 12 in back to back games. Go figure. Key game with Willamette this week, but North doesn't have Churchill until the following week.
South. These guys are sneaking up on people. It didn't help the Axemen to have four games in three days, starting with a thrilling 3-2 win over Churchill. That was okay, but South kind of punted against North in a 12-2 loss on Friday, before winning a very key league game in Portland Saturday against Lincoln. South closed the week with a 10-9 loss to Lincoln in the back end of a double header, but the game didn't count in the Special District standings. I really like South's potential. I think they have the talent and they just need experience and games under their belts. If the Axemen continue to develop their number two starter and primary reliever, then South might go deeper in the playoffs than anyone is thinking right now.
Churchill. Some people are thinking, 'Well, the Lancers are only 4-4 on the season.' I'm thinking, "Yeah, but...' Three of those losses were in Arizona. Back at the ranch in Oregon, the Lancers pounded Siuslaw 15-5 for the Vikings only loss in 7 games. The Lancers own a 7-5 win over Sheldon and barely lost to South 3-2. I haven't seen Churchill this year, but I hope to tonight at Willamette (Monday). I'm still confident that it'll be Churchill or North for the 5A MWL title with Willamette knocking on the door trying to be let in.
Marist and Springfield. When I go to a ballpark, I usually have my eye on the players. But when I watch these two teams this year, I've got my eye on the head coaches. How they approach their newbies after graduating a ton of seniors is going to determine whether they develop this year, next year, or never.....
MWL in College and Pros
Thanks to those who have helped update and correct my lists. I only know of one player in the pros this year. Let me know if you know of others. Plus there's a nice article about Dan Straily's journey to the pros.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
I was really looking forward to a low scoring game between North Eugene and Thurston Monday night. I was happy to see two of the league's best pitchers, Andrew Moore and Kyle Watson, warming up when I showed up at the park.
My thinking was that Moore is one of the few MWL pitchers who can keep Thurston's big bats in check and keep the game to a 1-0 or 2-1 final score. Well, it wasn't the Colt big bats or Moore's dominance that keynoted the game.
Thurston used some of their abundant speed to garner two infield hits to begin the game. Add in a Highlander error and a really high hard one to the backstop by Moore and the Colts had a 3-0 lead without breaking out the bats. I started thinking what probably everyone was thinking.... North getting four runs off of Watson is very unlikely. Indeed, North wasn't knocking Watson around. The Highlanders really had only one chance to close the gap on Thurston, but Watson induced a ground ball double play with a man on third to end the inning.
Thurston took advantage of more North miscues in the fifth to break the game open. Thurston never hit Moore hard, but with the Colts up 5-0 in the top of the fifth, it was time to save Moore for another day. Thurston scored two more before the end of the fifth to take a commanding 7-0 lead. Thurston started hitting the ball harder off of relievers Kevin Haase and Jordan Barrett. But as often happens, crisp well hit balls are easy to play when hit right at the fielders
So now I've seen three MWL teams in this rain soaked spring. Marist, Thurston and North.
Thurston thoughts.....
The Colts have been scoring a lot of runs, but I didn't think they'd be bashing the ball off of Moore - and they didn't. However, they did put the ball in play and good things happen when you're hitting the ball.
Lot's of familiar last names in this line up.
Start with some speed at the top of the order in Aaron Hoover and Joey Urness. Cover those two for base stealing with left handed Watty batting third. Clean up the bases with catcher Jarren Goddard. Stefan Drake was 2-4 on the day. Familiar names all. Kyler Ridge, who had a good day in the infield, had two good at bats in the latter half of the game. And coach Dube must think pinch runner Tyler Van Damme has wheels. Van Damme worked his way around the bases in the fifth, eventually scoring on a sac fly. Aaron Clift didn't play and word is he is waiting for some MRI results. Clift is a big piece of the Colts. The Colts will still do very well in the 9 team Faux MWL without him if he can't continue, but the road to Keizer gets much tougher without him. Let's hope he can play.
Defensively, with Watty on the mound and Goddard behind the plate, the Colts have to feel great. They performed as expected, but I was really impressed by the way the Thurston infielder's played the conditions (long, moist infield grass) and managed the base runners. Kyler Ridge (#8) and Hunter Combs (#18) read the long grass perfectly and made several good plays on slow rollers/bouncers. They also made good decisions on when not to force the double play.
Nothing spectacular in the outfield by either team. But maybe there won't be spectacular outfield plays this year. I don't think I've seen a ball go past about 280 feet. I'm expecting the outfielders to start playing a lot of the batters at about 175 feet with these magic bats.
North Eugene thoughts...
North is trying to replace a lot of players off of last year's starting roster. With seven games under their cleats prior to the Thurston game (and a 5-2 record), I thought they'd be a little tighter defensively than they showed Monday afternoon. That said, the Highlanders will be in fine shape in the official MWL 5A league race. I can't see the other 5A teams getting by Moore and Toby Woods, with the possible exceptions of Churchill when Jake Lessel is pitching for the Lancers and perhaps Willamette if Trent Waggoner is on.
It was hard to get a read on North's bats because they were facing Watson. But after eight games, the Highlanders are averaging less than three runs per game. I'm guessing Willamette and Churchill like the sound of that, as both teams have two ten-plus run games already in this young season.
Defensively, the Highlanders had trouble with the long grass and the speed of the Colts. But North probably had fewer problems then most 5A teams would have had against Thurston. It's a compliment to the North program that they can lose several players who could have come back and yet still be at the top part of the 5A pack.
I think that North will get better and better on defense, and if they don't start hitting soon, coach Nicholsen will probably call one of his famous night batting practice sessions.
New bat thoughts....
Until I see the ball exploding off of some bats, I'm not playing as deep as last year in the infield or outfield.
Baseball Northwest Player Prospects
Everyone knows I'm pumped about this year's pitchers. The March publication by Baseball Northwest reinforces my pumped-up-ness. Three top ten players (all pitchers in the class of 2013)
Super Class of 2012 (Entire Northwest)
# 34 Andrew Moore
Oregon Class of 2012
5 Andrew Moore
16 Jake Lessel
22 Joey Urness
26 Jarren Goddard
28 Toby Woods
29 Ryan Land
Watchlist
Aaron Hoover
Chase Kearney
Max Morrison
Oregon Class of 2013
2 Brett Nielsen
3 Joe Schindler
6 Cooper Stiles
16 Malik Evans
18 Austin Baird
19 Kyle Watson
25 Ryan Delaney
Watchlist
Scott Kuvaas
Gaje McDaniel
Doug Molzahn
Shane Quarterly
Dustin Smith
Wyatt Swick
Jordan Thompson
Oregon Class of 2014
6 Aaron Clift
17 Cameron Jack
21 Gauge Hallett
Watchlist
David Bellamy
Jimmy Grossman
Oregon 2015 Watchlist
Hank Forrest
This link will take you to Baseball Northwest.
Housekeeping...
My thinking was that Moore is one of the few MWL pitchers who can keep Thurston's big bats in check and keep the game to a 1-0 or 2-1 final score. Well, it wasn't the Colt big bats or Moore's dominance that keynoted the game.
Thurston used some of their abundant speed to garner two infield hits to begin the game. Add in a Highlander error and a really high hard one to the backstop by Moore and the Colts had a 3-0 lead without breaking out the bats. I started thinking what probably everyone was thinking.... North getting four runs off of Watson is very unlikely. Indeed, North wasn't knocking Watson around. The Highlanders really had only one chance to close the gap on Thurston, but Watson induced a ground ball double play with a man on third to end the inning.
Thurston took advantage of more North miscues in the fifth to break the game open. Thurston never hit Moore hard, but with the Colts up 5-0 in the top of the fifth, it was time to save Moore for another day. Thurston scored two more before the end of the fifth to take a commanding 7-0 lead. Thurston started hitting the ball harder off of relievers Kevin Haase and Jordan Barrett. But as often happens, crisp well hit balls are easy to play when hit right at the fielders
So now I've seen three MWL teams in this rain soaked spring. Marist, Thurston and North.
Thurston thoughts.....
The Colts have been scoring a lot of runs, but I didn't think they'd be bashing the ball off of Moore - and they didn't. However, they did put the ball in play and good things happen when you're hitting the ball.
Lot's of familiar last names in this line up.
Nothing spectacular in the outfield by either team. But maybe there won't be spectacular outfield plays this year. I don't think I've seen a ball go past about 280 feet. I'm expecting the outfielders to start playing a lot of the batters at about 175 feet with these magic bats.North Eugene thoughts...
North is trying to replace a lot of players off of last year's starting roster. With seven games under their cleats prior to the Thurston game (and a 5-2 record), I thought they'd be a little tighter defensively than they showed Monday afternoon. That said, the Highlanders will be in fine shape in the official MWL 5A league race. I can't see the other 5A teams getting by Moore and Toby Woods, with the possible exceptions of Churchill when Jake Lessel is pitching for the Lancers and perhaps Willamette if Trent Waggoner is on.
It was hard to get a read on North's bats because they were facing Watson. But after eight games, the Highlanders are averaging less than three runs per game. I'm guessing Willamette and Churchill like the sound of that, as both teams have two ten-plus run games already in this young season.
Defensively, the Highlanders had trouble with the long grass and the speed of the Colts. But North probably had fewer problems then most 5A teams would have had against Thurston. It's a compliment to the North program that they can lose several players who could have come back and yet still be at the top part of the 5A pack.
I think that North will get better and better on defense, and if they don't start hitting soon, coach Nicholsen will probably call one of his famous night batting practice sessions.
New bat thoughts....
Until I see the ball exploding off of some bats, I'm not playing as deep as last year in the infield or outfield.
Baseball Northwest Player Prospects
Everyone knows I'm pumped about this year's pitchers. The March publication by Baseball Northwest reinforces my pumped-up-ness. Three top ten players (all pitchers in the class of 2013)
Super Class of 2012 (Entire Northwest)
# 34 Andrew Moore
Oregon Class of 2012
5 Andrew Moore
16 Jake Lessel
22 Joey Urness
26 Jarren Goddard
28 Toby Woods
29 Ryan Land
Watchlist
Aaron Hoover
Chase Kearney
Max Morrison
Oregon Class of 2013
2 Brett Nielsen
3 Joe Schindler
6 Cooper Stiles
16 Malik Evans
18 Austin Baird
19 Kyle Watson
25 Ryan Delaney
Watchlist
Scott Kuvaas
Gaje McDaniel
Doug Molzahn
Shane Quarterly
Dustin Smith
Wyatt Swick
Jordan Thompson
Oregon Class of 2014
6 Aaron Clift
17 Cameron Jack
21 Gauge Hallett
Watchlist
David Bellamy
Jimmy Grossman
Oregon 2015 Watchlist
Hank Forrest
This link will take you to Baseball Northwest.
Housekeeping...
- Just a reminder that you can help with the former MWL players in college and the pros. Here's the link to the college list so far. 26 players so far.
- The only MWL player I think is still on a roster is Dan Straily with the Oakland organization. Please let me know if you know of others.
- Link to my Twitter page so you can get the scores of the game I attend. You can also text me with the score of the game you attend. 337-1311
- Link to my MWL Facebook page.
- If you would like to email me game recaps or line scores, pitching lines etc, please do at mwlnow@yahoo.com. I usually get electronic recaps from South and Sheldon and a coaches recap from Willamette. A good way to get some ink is to recap the game you attend:)
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