[pirateforlife]

I’ve watched a few games this week and saw recaps on several others and I’ve come to two early conclusions. First, Pikeville still has to be the odds on favorite to win region AND possibly make some noise at state. Yeah they struggled to hit the ball the other night & that will happen from time to time. But pitching is too deep & defense won’t hurt them. Second, it’s waaaaay too early to tell about anything else. Paintsville is young but could be special sooner than people think. Floyd has some young talent with a mix of upperclassmen. Valley is solid. JC is JC. They will always be near the top. PCC picked by many to finish near top lost to Martin Co last night which was unexpected even with Hager out. So who knows anything about Martin Co? And how will PCC be when Hager does come back if it takes him a while to get back into game form. I think Lawrence County is being slept on. They are well coached and have good talent. Belfry started season this week with lineup of 5 freshmen, 2 sophomores, & 1 senior and missing Varney so who knows how that is going to turn out. Things should definitely be interesting this year even though I still say it’s Pikeville’s to lose & everybody else is playing for second. Also, not trying to disrespect teams I didn’t mention. I just don’t know anything about them so I don’t want to speak on them other than Pburg should be solid as well with a lot of returning players.

Why is Hager out for PC and why is Varney out for Belfry? Big loss for both teams is this an extended absence