THE WAY TO EARLY HIGH SCHOOL REPORT

[Noodle319]

I know, its a little early but who is the teams to beat this year? Who will be a surprise and any big transfers or coaching changes?

[ManitouDan2]

Man. no one wanting to jump in . I cant give much other than to state the Obvious - Burg is going to be loaded again , defending state champ , brings back their ace and several starters , and their # 2 arm is not very far behind the 1 at all. Have some SERIUOS blazing speed on the bases coming in as a freshman also .
Waverly has some nice kids , K Doles should have a huge season for them . shes been playing high level travel all summer /fall and I'm sure that will translate to a big year for her .
In D4 Clay returns close to everyone , Symmes Valley lost a handful but still has some pitching and talent. And Leesburg Fairfield returns their freshman ace that pitched them to a district title last year.

[softballfan2112]

I believe it is all burg again this year. They return a great core of starters, and backfilled their departures very nicely. It is very possible that they are as good or even better than last year. They should have 6 senior starters, and a 2 or 3 very talented sophomores stepping into larger roles.

[ManitouDan2]

Minford should have a nice team also , couple good freshman coming in , still have slugger Mary Pica . And Northwest will be much improved , several good freshman as well.

[Noodle319]

SOC is going to the best thing around for years to come. Every team loaded with young talent and girls that have played each other for years. This year the Burg and Minford should be at the top but everybody will be better and you haven't followed the young Lady Oaks, going to have to make a little room for them in a few.

[ColdHardTruth]

Burg will be the team to beat for about 2 more seasons. Then there is a gap in talent till the younger group is ready. Minford, West and Webster are about to drop off the map soon unless they get help.

Other than the usual Oak Hill is about to come on strong in the next couple years, Great group coming up. New Boston is about to enter their peak. Will be interesting how far coach Holebrook can take them. Valley will be decent, Notre Dame will be dominate.

Surprise team in the next couple years is Green. Finished strong in the Jr High tournament with a 6th and 7th grade roster. New coach this year at the high school level also.

[orangeandblack98]

I disagree, Wheelersburg will be the team to beat for a long time. A ton of young talent. Minford and Northwest will be middle of the pack the next few. I agree, west and so. webster will be at the bottom, along with valley. i disagree, Oak Hill may be middle, I didn't see any huge talent there to make me think they will be better than minford or northwest in the next couple years. Clay and notre dame will be at the top of small schools.

[fbnut]

I disagree, Wheelersburg will be the team to beat for a long time. A ton of young talent. Minford and Northwest will be middle of the pack the next few. I agree, west and so. webster will be at the bottom, along with valley. i disagree, Oak Hill may be middle, I didn't see any huge talent there to make me think they will be better than minford or northwest in the next couple years. Clay and notre dame will be at the top of small schools.

didn't see them play but heard oak hill had a nice jr high club this past season

[ManitouDan2]

Oak hill SS is very good .. Hey Coldhardtruth -- what leads you to stating ND will be " dominant" ?

[ColdHardTruth]

Burgs Freshmen crew has enough bats to keep them in most games but pitching takes a hit for at least three classes after that. But it's Burg so I'm sure someone will transfer in.

Oak Hill Jr High was great last year. Battled with Ironton as the top team all season.
My views are based on what I've seen some of the programs younger groups are doing. So maybe I should be posting on a thread more aimed at a couple years down the road.
I think some of the landscape is going to change as for softball power houses around here.
Burg will always be Burg, Ironton will always be Ironton probably. But your also seeing schools like Clay unable to field a jr high program. Webster and other schools with concerns their players may opt out for track. Notre Dame looked like a powerhouse for years to come but a lot of their younger players are no longer as active in fall/travel ball.

Meanwhile, New Boston and Valley had teams in Waverly fall ball. Green also had girls in fall ball and several girls now also on travel teams as well in their jr high and elementary levels.
I think things stay status quo this year but shakes are coming.

[ManitouDan2]

Burg has an outstanding soph that will take care of their pitching for the next 3 years . And who knows who will develop in that time frame . They have a freshman who is just starting taking lessons recently , I had her at 56-58 MPH this fall. So I wouldnt worry about Burg in the circle at all. Ironton has a great group coming up for sure , but in general freshman make you better not enough to win leagues or districts. Glad to hear Green and NB has some players coming up . Them and New Boston both have been really down for years .

[ColdHardTruth]

They will always have good pitching. Just not the dominate they see accustomed to I think. You know as well as I do pitching takes years in softball to develop. The freshman better buckle down and get with a good pitching coach if she's going to be an impact player as a pitcher before she graduates.

As for your Notre Dame dominance question..
Probably next year more so than this when their pitching is seniors and that group of freshmen they will have get a year under their belt.

[fbnut]

Burg has an outstanding soph that will take care of their pitching for the next 3 years . And who knows who will develop in that time frame . They have a freshman who is just starting taking lessons recently , I had her at 56-58 MPH this fall. So I wouldnt worry about Burg in the circle at all. Ironton has a great group coming up for sure , but in general freshman make you better not enough to win leagues or districts. Glad to hear Green and NB has some players coming up . Them and New Boston both have been really down for years .

I am guessing the burgs senior that just led them to the state championship will handle most of there pitching this year. The Soph is very good(probably one of the best in area) but she'll have to wait until 18-19 to take over.

[ManitouDan2]

Yeah That I what I meant , just wasn't very clear that I meant Burg wasn't going to have worry about pitching for several years.

[softball19]

I have read all of the posts, and I have to say several things said here are very misinformed.Although I agree that Burg will always be the powerhouse. The teams to beat are the teams that finished in the top 5 in the SOC and The teams that got out of sectional play. The teams that have improved greatly are Oak Hill, South Webster, and Northwest. Also to say that West and Valley will be at the bottom didn't pay any attention that Valley was 2nd in SOC with sophomore and juniors and West was tied for 5th with sophomores and Juniors. Valley moved on to District play and West did also defeating Minford for the sectional title. Also defeated Waverly, and Ironton and Coal Grove in scrimmage play. In the SOC, you have a whole group of Freshmen, Sophomores, and Juniors leading the way. It should be a very interesting season. You have several players in the SOC that have verbally committed to play at the next levels such as Burg, Oak Hill,West, etc. Many teams in the SOC have several girls that play travel ball all year around for 16 and 18u in college showcases around the United States and attend college camps such as Valley, Burg, West, Oak Hill,Minford, and Northwest.Notre Dame has a new young squad that will lead their program. All in all, it should be interested... stay tuned.

[AllAboutTheU]

Oak hill SS is very good .. Hey Coldhardtruth -- what leads you to stating ND will be " dominant" ?

ManitouDan2, it seems like you have had an issue with ND softball for the last couple of years?

[ManitouDan2]

Asking about why they are going to be dominant is having an issue ? Cmon. They do have the talent to challenge for the SOC1 but I was curious what lead Coldhardtruth to call them dominant . He answered . No Issue at all.

[Browns30]

You have several players in the SOC that have verbally committed to play at the next levels such as Burg, Oak Hill,West, etc.

What players and to what schools have they verbally committed?

[ManitouDan2]

Burg has Faith Howard to D1 NKU and IF'er Coleman going to MSU . West has a girl going to KCU I think. M Whitman from ND going to Transy in Lexington . Not sure about others .

[Noodle319]

To my knowledge no one from Oak Hill has committed anywhere. Lady Oaks will be much improved this year but probably still a year away from really competing. Team will probably start 3 freshmen and 1 sophomore that is a returning starter from last year and will have 6 seniors that have contributed for 4 years. Lady Oaks have struggled with pitching over the years and should start a freshman this year and have several young solid pitchers on the way. Good news is that they will open up a new field this year and everyone so far has been impressed with the project. Good times are headed our way!