High School

[ManitouDan2]

Wow . Good for her and. Go Big Blue .

[orangeandblack98]

Who are the big impact players in the SOC this year?

[Softballdad]

Too many to list...

[Softballdad]

Although the last couple years the jr high talk has been as much or more as the high school talk so there should be some excellent freshman & sophomores in the league this year

[Between the Lines]

What about the Wellston Golden Rockets ? New coach ! Jim Hall. Good teacher of pitching ! Has some decent returning players ?
What about the Jackson Ironladies ? 3rd year for Coach Wolford ! Seems to get the most from his players. Some good travel ball talented players. Will they be a factor in SEO ?
Vinton County Vikings ? Can they compete this year ?
Alexander ? Will they have pitching ? What about hitting ? They also have some talented TB players.
What about Logan ? Always well coached and has talent. Gallipolis ? Portsmouth Clay ? Portsmouth Notre Dame ? Waverly ? Do they still have pitcher from last year that came from Circleville ?
What about Meigs, Warren, Nelsonville York, Oak Hill, and Unioto ? Unioto has a new coach ? What about Zane Trace ? Chillicothe ? Chillicothe in a new league this year !

[AIM]

Hoover girl a senior at ND. Have a few extremely talented girls coming back out after taking some time away from the sport. Should be interesting how they come together.

[ManitouDan2]

Talked to an ND guy at the gym last week , said 1 of their best players may not play due to injury and heard from another ND guy another starter might have transferred to Burg. New time for the Titans , going back to JD Mckenzie and Tim Harr assisting . Be hard to win the league , Clay is loaded .
Who is coming back to play for ND ?

[beaverlover]

Clay obvious heavy favorite in Soc1 and the rest of league could beat each other any given day. Eastern Pike has big bat in middle of lineup with Fremont,they also have a couple talented freshman that could contribute to a solid returning team.
Ndame will be solid as usual as will SV who will always compete. Western returning Tong and Whitt,both very good players. Idk alot about Green, East or NB
Soc2 should be tough as usual with Burg favorite until someone knocks them off. Waverly should be solid with their pitching.MInford could make alot of noise with Doll and rest of very talented group they have returning. West,Nwest,Swebster idk much about.Valley should be improved with good coaching and return some talent.
Oak Hill should start to make their move this season as Brisker returns after a fantastic freshman year and they are loaded in grades 8-10
Oaks will win alot of games in the coming years!

[ColdHardTruth]

Clay obvious heavy favorite in Soc1 and the rest of league could beat each other any given day. Eastern Pike lost big bat with Fremont transferring to Piketon however they have a couple talented freshman that could contribute to a solid returning team.
Ndame will be solid as usual as will SV who will always compete. Western returning Tong and Whitt,both very good players. Idk alot about Green, East or NB
Soc2 should be tough as usual with Burg favorite until someone knocks them off. Waverly should be solid with their pitching.MInford could make alot of noise with Doll and rest of very talented group they have returning. West,Nwest,Swebster idk much about.Valley should be improved with good coaching and return some talent.
Oak Hill should start to make their move this season as Brisker returns after a fantastic freshman year and they are loaded in grades 8-10
Oaks will win alot of games in the coming years!

I agree Burg has to be top until they get knocked off. If the rumors are true about a couple of the ND girls transferring to Burg well than, the rich get richer.

Oak Hill absolutely will win games as that young talent matures. I think they will be a real threat to Burg soon, With the right coaching.....

You mentioned Eastern and Western. Green pulled off wins against both last year with zero juniors or seniors and only one pitcher last year. They also have a very talented Freshman class coming in.

Even with the losses I still think Notre Dame has a good young group and in my opinion the best sophomore pitcher in the area in Schaffer. I saw her in the fall and shes added even more velocity.

To my knowledge Sciotoville East hasn't hired an actual coach yet. Scary times for that program with what upper class talent they did have transferring to New Boston.

[captainmorgan_]

Clay obvious heavy favorite in Soc1 and the rest of league could beat each other any given day. Eastern Pike lost big bat with Fremont transferring to Piketon however they have a couple talented freshman that could contribute to a solid returning team.
Ndame will be solid as usual as will SV who will always compete. Western returning Tong and Whitt,both very good players. Idk alot about Green, East or NB
Soc2 should be tough as usual with Burg favorite until someone knocks them off. Waverly should be solid with their pitching.MInford could make alot of noise with Doll and rest of very talented group they have returning. West,Nwest,Swebster idk much about.Valley should be improved with good coaching and return some talent.
Oak Hill should start to make their move this season as Brisker returns after a fantastic freshman year and they are loaded in grades 8-10
Oaks will win alot of games in the coming years!

I agree Burg has to be top until they get knocked off. If the rumors are true about a couple of the ND girls transferring to Burg well than, the rich get richer.

Oak Hill absolutely will win games as that young talent matures. I think they will be a real threat to Burg soon, With the right coaching.....

You mentioned Eastern and Western. Green pulled off wins against both last year with zero juniors or seniors and only one pitcher last year. They also have a very talented Freshman class coming in.

Even with the losses I still think Notre Dame has a good young group and in my opinion the best sophomore pitcher in the area in Schaffer. I saw her in the fall and shes added even more velocity.

To my knowledge Sciotoville East hasn't hired an actual coach yet. Scary times for that program with what upper class talent they did have transferring to New Boston.

I don't see anyone competing with Burg this year in SOC2. Claxon will be the best pitcher in the league and will still have a very solid defense behind her. Not to mention great coaching.

Oak Hill will for sure start making some noise with the young talent they have moving up this year. Probably two best bats in the league, Brisker returning and Hughes a freshman. Also will add very solid freshman pitcher. Who is the varsity coach for Oak Hill anyways?

Minford may be Burgs toughest contest this year?

I don't know enough about the SOC1 to have an opinion, sounds like Clay will return a very good team.

[mglight88]

Renea Butts is Oak Hill's varsity softball coach and has been for many seasons.
I would like to think the Minford-Burg games will be very good to watch.
Rooting for my Falcons though!

[beaverlover]

Renea Butts is Oak Hill's varsity softball coach and has been for many seasons.
I would like to think the Minford-Burg games will be very good to watch.
Rooting for my Falcons though!

Yes,this could be the year that Minford gets Burg. Falcons have alot of talent returning from last year as does Burg but I think Minford is right there. Should be 2 fun competitive games between these rivals!

[orangeandblack98]

not much softball talk? i guess no one had much to say when burg will be #1 again and everyone else competes for 2nd place.

[JTEK]

not much softball talk? i guess no one had much to say when burg will be #1 again and everyone else competes for 2nd place.

Burg lost a lot and will be very young. Talented but young with not much high school experience. Your talking 3-4 players that saw a lot of playing time last year returning.

[orangeandblack98]

but our bench is more talented than anyone elses starting lineup

[JTEK]

but our bench is more talented than anyone elses starting lineup

The gap has narrowed

[ManitouDan2]

Just my opinion but experience at the HS level is overrated . At 14u travel ball these kids that play for the best travel teams are seeing better pitching in the summer at 13-14u than what they see in HS ( at least on a consistent level) . The pitching overall in SEO is just not so good . A few dandies , very many that just pitch 4-5 months a year and throw because no one else is available .

[fbnut]

My daughter improved each year in high school.
Played mid level travel ball
Hard to replace the kids the burg has lost the last 2 years

[ColdHardTruth]

It is awfully quiet considering we're just a couple weeks or so from practices kicking off.

[orangeandblack98]

Just my opinion but experience at the HS level is overrated . At 14u travel ball these kids that play for the best travel teams are seeing better pitching in the summer at 13-14u than what they see in HS ( at least on a consistent level) . The pitching overall in SEO is just not so good . A few dandies , very many that just pitch 4-5 months a year and throw because no one else is available .

So was burg overrated? What 13-14 year olds are facing better players and pitching than they would face when they play our varsity team? My guess is no one.