[baseball1974]

I'm not in any way saying that Phelps will make any noise in the 15th Region Tournament, but I'm excited to see how they do this season. When I sit and think of the line-up for them this season, I'm shocked. They still have 2 out of 3 of their first 3 batters in their line-up from last year. They still have lead-off hitter, Bailey Hurley, who is a Junior and can make contact with the ball and send it somewhere (All District Player last year), and Dalton Prater, who is also a Junior and can also send a ball to the outfield at any point in time AND be a threat every pitch that he's on base (also had an amazing sliding catch last season in the District Tourny). But I also realize that unfortunately, both of these guys were hurt in football this season (Hurley had shoulder surgery, Prater tore his meniscus and had surgery also). Kyle Sneed, the Hornet's homerun hitter returns as a Senior this year after being clean-up as a Junior last year. The Pitching for the Hornets won't be bad either. They have lost 0, I repeat "0", Pitchers out of their rotation from last year. They still have Kyle Sneed, Zack Francis, Bailey Hurley, and Gavin Wolford to throw this season. I look for these boys to give Belfry a fight this year. Once again, the young stars Hurley and Prater are just Juniors. And as Sophomores, they played HARD ball in the 60th district. Anybody else agree with me on this? Especially after fighting the adversity of not having a field for so long, these kids are decent. In no way are they frontrunners, but they're competitive and they will continue to be this season.

I think your support for your team is admirable, but I also think there needs to be a realistic side as well? You're talking about a team that only won four games and only played around 21 games. That's 15 games under the limit. A lot of things have to happen in order for them to be competitive. The school needs to buy in to baseball the same way they did girls basketball and hire a qualified coach. If you continue to hire people that have never been around a successful team, then they won't know what to change? A lot of it is mentally thinking you can compete and then having the tools to do it. Right now even if they change that attitude, they still don't have someone that can give them the skills to go forward. They can always start easy by playing more games. They can only get better the more games they play. If the state gives you a limit then you should schedule that limit and more to allow for rain outs. Last year Phelps played 21 games and half of them were mercy rule. I just think too much has to happen in a short time for them to compete with anybody other than Jenkins and the menifee county's of the world? I wish them luck though.