Jr. High Softball report

[softball24_7]

The girl from firestix can bring it. We watched her throw last year in a tourney, and I would guess mid to upper 50's. For the past few years, I would say pitching speeds avg 48-52/4. Last year, I'd say MB from Ironton was probably the fastest we'd seen and would guess her around 55/6. There are definitely kids that can hit the long ball. Brisker from oak Hill hit somewhere close to 18 out for her 8th grade and summer ball season. Newman from NW ffinished with 14. Both girls are freshman this year, excited to see what their HS careers hold. Sturgill from Burg should have a big year at the plate, has hr a few times, should be a big 8th grade yr for her. Burchett HR 3x as a 6th grader, last year struggled some at the plate, but transferred to Notre Dame this yr for 8th grade. I'm guessing she'll have a few this yr, not positive but I think ND is around 190 to the fence. It may just look small?? All I can say for the newcomers to school ball... Enjoy it, make it fun, and don't let the drama consume you.

[Severino]

Boo Sturgill from Burg had five homers last year, after hitting over .700 during her 7th grade season including a grand slam during the final school tournament. Hit 3 long home runs in one day at Berliner last fall, one the next weekend at one of the Showcase Classics at Berliner. Although pitching at our local level is only average these travel team kids can bring it because they work at it. Sturgill caught a young lady from Indiana for two years who has already committed to Illinois, only a freshman. Left-handed and nasty. If there are dads on here posting get your daughter involved in travel ball now.

[Marty McFly]

Since the last few post have mentioned individual achievements, I think it's only fair to mention Rylie Hughes from Oak Hill.
She had 3 HRs as a sixth grader playing Jr High ball.
During Jr High as a 7th grader she had 4 HRs, three of which were against Ironton. Batted .620. During her travel ball season she ended up with 11 HRs.
2 @ the Scenic City Showcase in TN. 220'+ fences at Warner park and both cleared easily. One was off of Britton Rogers of the Georgia Firecrakers and committed to U. of Georgia.

[Severino]

I have watched the Hughes girl play, very good player. Look forward to watching her this year in the spring and summer. If you have read all the posts in this thread her play is well respected.

[softball24_7]

Since the last few post have mentioned individual achievements, I think it's only fair to mention Rylie Hughes from Oak Hill.
She had 3 HRs as a sixth grader playing Jr High ball.
During Jr High as a 7th grader she had 4 HRs, three of which were against Ironton. Batted .620. During her travel ball season she ended up with 11 HRs.
2 @ the Scenic City Showcase in TN. 220'+ fences at Warner park and both cleared easily. One was off of Britton Rogers of the Georgia Firecrakers and committed to U. of Georgia.

Completely forgot about Rylie. Her and Sturgill probably have the 2 best looking swings in so.oh at the jr high level. Would probably rank near the top at the HS level as well. Great kids with bright futures ahead of them for sure.

[fatherof4]

i have an 02 8th grade daughter looking for a team to play with this spring/summer.will entertain both middle school ball along with travel ball. she plays 2nd base and outfield. just started slapping this fall and has done fair considering only doing so for the past few months, can also full swing from left side and bat right handed also. good overall speed. being a realistic parent, she is overall in my eyes a "c" plus player but with confidence could easily be turned into a "b-b plus" it is not looking good for our school to have a junior high team from lack of players and a coach. she attends valley middle school. please private message me on here and we can exchange emails/numbers for a tryout or so forth.

[SOSoftball]

Fatherof4 I am a little shocked that Valley won't have a team. I know they put a team together of middle school girls that played several weekends in Waverly this past fall.

[fatherof4]

SOSoftball, my daughter was playing with them, that actually was a mix of now freshman and now 8th graders and one 7th grader. From some of the girls that have been hitting together this winter numbers just are not the greatest and bigger concern is no coach.

[Jms]

Buckeye Elite 02 is looking for a few players for this coming season. You can call John at 740/352-5892 for more info

[Browns30]

How many kids are on your rosters? We had somewhere around 16-17 sign up. Not enough for 2 teams but too many for 1. Obviously there will be kids unhappy about playing time. How does everyone else handle this without making cuts?

[SOSoftball]

The school my daughter played on last year made cuts. They had 18 kids tryout and they took 14 I think.

I am not sure how you would handle a team with 17 kids. You could make an A and B team. Have 6 or 7 kids that play on both teams then have only 5 that played on the A team and the other 5 that only played on the B team. That would give you 11 kids for each team.

[ColdHardTruth]

I wouldn't cut. You don't want to end up like some other teams around here and end up short handed in the future because you cut players and turned kids away. If anything pool play and contact Kymn in Waverly. Run your weaker team in Waverly because it's not as competitive but kids are still getting reps. Keep your strong team in the other league. Parents may not like the weaker/strong team/ pool play but at this level it's either accept it or move on.

[Jms]

Not sure what school you are with but if you play with the Southern Ohio Junior High Softball group many of the smaller schools in that league use 6th graders just to complete 1 team. There is no reason you couldn't use 6th graders to complete a second team. Just let John know which team has the 6th graders and he will do his best to match that team up with other teams that have 6th graders. (I know him pretty well. He is an ok guy )

[Browns30]

That would be ideal but I'm not sure they would have someone to coach another team.

[fatherof4]

Valley is still trying to string together a team and just compete in the waverly league. With no dedicated coach and a group of kids that will scattered between track and travel volleyball figured that would be the best option for us. I have been deemed the parent that has taken this task on. Haha long story short wish us luck!

[Outlaws04W]

Wahama Jr. High (Mason, WV) is looking for games. Reply to this thread or message me if interested.

[Softballdad]

Sounds like oak hill is the team to beat but I didn't read anyone play out the rest of the field?

[Browns30]

Sounds like oak hill is the team to beat but I didn't read anyone play out the rest of the field?

??

[ColdHardTruth]

I've ran through these before but we can update again.

Oak Hill is the way favorite. They return most their team and were the runners up a year ago.

After that the strong teams probably are....

Burg is Burg. They are gong to hit and field but sketchy pitching situation I believe.

Notre Dame lost a lot of starters. Still return a pitcher and couple strong bats.

Green is a sleeper team. From what we saw last year they were young and winning games. Solid pitching probably one of the best Defensive short stops on this area and can hit.

Ironton would be considered a contender every year but I think someone said their ACE is playing across the river now. Not sure what's behind her.

Clay could surprise us. No team last year but should have a solid pitcher and couple key fielders.

Webster lost a lot. Still return a great pitcher and catcher combination though.

After that it's wide open I believe. A lot or shuffling players and Unknowns from West, North West, Portsmouth, New Boston and East. But you never know there's always a surprise or two every season.

[softball24_7]

Never got to follow green much last year, what teams did they win against? We only got to see them once. Going off last year's final 4, 2 of those teams returned almost all of their starters. Ironton lost a ton, minford lost a lot, ND lost both starting pitchers, and most of their infield, but did gain a good bat and decent fielder off of a transfer. The 2 teams I'm curious about is ports and p west. Last year's ports team was night and day compared to the previous yr, Keenan is doing something right. W ports puts in a ton of work and they kept their pitcher. Now for my top, I'm taking
O. Hill, lost probably the best SS and power hitter in so.ohio and a couple more I think, but kept pitching.
NW, returns 6 starters from last year including both pitchers.
Burg will always compete, this year I'm torn but got them at 3, just because it's burg. Defense and hitting will be there. But I think they may struggle from the mound?? I do have a question though... where's all the popcorn comments like we had last yr