[hoops_town]

South Laurel knocks off Harlan Co. and Boggs in the 1st round at South Laurel.

[Black Bear Cuz]

Its pretty hard for me to believe that there is nobody out there that has amnything to say about this hard fought contest? I have a few thoughts to share and here goes.. It was for the most part a well played and well pitched game, as for the hitting? Not so great, HC officially had 4 hits, with one being a slow roller in the infield the third baseman couldnt come up with and SL had 6 solid hits. HC had one error and a couple mental breakdowns and SL had a couple errors and maybe one mental mistake on the throw the first baseman made to third base that lead to HC's first run. Overall, an excellent game to watch. There was however one huge mistake made by the sorry excuse for an umpire (Philpot I believe is his last name) that made a tremendous impact in the game! B3 inning, with 2 out, runners on 1st and 2nd with HC up 3-2, HC's pitcher whirled around in a pickoff attempt and caught SL's runner with his pants down so the runner broke toward 3rd and our ss made the throw to third clearly in time for the out!!! Inning over, case closed! But no, the guy that calls himself an ump called the guy safe?? Then, as often happens when new, unexpected life is given they scored 2 more runs to take a 4-3 lead and change the game completely! I have spoken to many well respected baseball people that confirmned my thoughts on that play and also my thoughts on that kind of play in general, which is that in that situation where a kid gets caught like that, as long as the player catching the ball at 2nd turns and makes a clean throw to 3rd that beats the runner and the 3rd baseman puts a reasonable tag down, the runner is ALWAYS out!!! Bottom line!!! and that is exactly what happened. I understand that HC had 4 more innings to make plays to pull the game out, but it is just a darn shame that the HC kids get put in that situation all because of PATHETIC call by an umpire!!! A 2-run gift is hard to overcome in a evenly matched battle like that!!

[jed]

I for one like Philpot, but agree that he missed the call on 3rd which looks like ended up costing HC the game. There was also another questionable call on 2nd that same innning, but not as obvious as the play at 3rd. The kid at 3rd was tagged out as least a foot before he got to the bag.

[SEKYFAN]

I for one like Philpot, but agree that he missed the call on 3rd which looks like ended up costing HC the game. There was also another questionable call on 2nd that same innning, but not as obvious as the play at 3rd. The kid at 3rd was tagged out as least a foot before he got to the bag.

Philpot, if it's the one I'm thinking of, should not be calling a South Laurel regional tournament game.

[MHS Parent4Life]

I didn't see the play but Philpot is terrible. One of the worst in the region. I don't know how he was picked to call a game behind the plate yesterday.

[Black Bear Cuz]

I didn't see the play but Philpot is terrible. One of the worst in the region. I don't know how he was picked to call a game behind the plate yesterday.

He was umping down the 3rd base line, Our coach should have asked for help from the home plate ump on the call actually, he clearly had a better view of the play, but even though his help was not needed on the play it should have been asked for..

[GetChili]

Congrats to SL!

[raisedseams]

I didnt get to watch the game but a friend of mine watched and said he was out. (SL friend.) But my biggest issue is that philpot is doing 13th region games to begin with. This guy has been called Mr. Corbin his whole pathetic career, and they have him umping behind the plate in the Corbin-NL game last night? Actually, the biggest issue is that this guy is allowed to be a official in any kind of sporting event. This guy, along with his other Corbin buddy (guess who.) are as bad as they come in all three major sports.

[SEKYFAN]

I didnt get to watch the game but a friend of mine watched and said he was out. (SL friend.) But my biggest issue is that philpot is doing 13th region games to begin with. This guy has been called Mr. Corbin his whole pathetic career, and they have him umping behind the plate in the Corbin-NL game last night? Actually, the biggest issue is that this guy is allowed to be a official in any kind of sporting event. This guy, along with his other Corbin buddy (guess who.) are as bad as they come in all three major sports.

Philpot is actually a South Laurel fan. I saw him at 2 Corbin/South Laurel regional tournament games a couple of years ago in 2 different sports sitting in the South Laurel cheering section. I believe he does work in Corbin though.

[Black Bear Cuz]

I didnt get to watch the game but a friend of mine watched and said he was out. (SL friend.) But my biggest issue is that philpot is doing 13th region games to begin with. This guy has been called Mr. Corbin his whole pathetic career, and they have him umping behind the plate in the Corbin-NL game last night? Actually, the biggest issue is that this guy is allowed to be a official in any kind of sporting event. This guy, along with his other Corbin buddy (guess who.) are as bad as they come in all three major sports.

He's a disgrace to the officiating/umpiring fraternity in general IMO. Everytime I walk into a sporting arena and find out he is going to be an official or umpire I get sick to my stomach knowing from what I have seen in the past from him that our kids are not going to get a reasonably fair shake! Why the KHSAA does not bring in umpires from other regions for the regional tournament like they do in basketball needs to be addressed in the immediate future!