Round 1 Showdown

south beat horn in a thriller. down 3 in the 6th, then south scored 3 in the bottom of the 6th. then horn scored 2 in the top 7. so south was down 2 in the bottom 7th. scored 3 runs with 2 outs and 2 strikes on every batter. great game!! south wins 8-7

I observed that Old Coach in action about 8 times myself.

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Swingdoc --- beenthere is right....the old coach was pretty good --- any way you look at it.

I second that opinion

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Originally posted by southpawUTSA:
I am sorry but from last years jackets varsity roster, 12 of the 15-18 players were seniors, and 8 or so of them had a chance to play college ball. When you lose that many players, it hard to replace them and the record shows it but that happens. Only 4 players from the 2006 team saw lots of playing time in 2005. I don’t understand why the criticism. Coach payne may be a young head coach but he knows baseball and he will be a very successful coach. Coach payne did a great job and the team had a good season. Good luck next year coach.

I can think of three 11-5a teams still playing that lost lots of seniors, and did not return any all state palyers.. For that matter, other than Rowlett, I'll bet you can't name 3 kids off of SG or Naaman's team.. (Swingdoc, you don't count) Maybe they play better ball in that district. Or maybe the politics, Heath, and the loss of the old coach did play into it..

Coolarrow, are you telling me those teams lost the quality of players rockwall did, bc i dont think they did. I may be wrong, but i dont think you can name one other team that lost 9 players who went on to play college ball. Thats just part of it i know, but i dont undertand the criticism towards the coach. I didnt know it was his fault those kids graduated. And as for heath, all they have this year are fresh. and soph., and i have seen them play, and i dont believe anyone of them would started for rockwall or even been on varsity.

Hey maybe the players just didn't play up to there potential or ran into a better team. Thats part of it. Rockwall did have 2 of their seniors that they were counting on batting 6 and 7, stats show why, and they went like 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position and less then 2 outs in that last game. I believe one of those was the all state player mentioned above. I know for a fact both of those players were better then they showed this year, and one had been playing with an injury but the fact is the coach put his players in a position to win and the players just didn't execute. Hey thats just part of it.

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I may be wrong, but i dont think you can name one other team that lost 9 players who went on to play college ball.

How about 8?

Rowlett
Battefield...Chatanooga St
Cheesebrough...NE Texas
Finch...McMurray
Hancoock...well we all know about this one
Johns...Chatanooga St
McCay...Vernon JC
Rollins...Vernon JC
Smith...College of the Ozarks

Now granted not a lot of big name schools, however the next level is the next level.....So stating that the "Rock's struggles are based on losing players is a relative point. All schools lose players and it's up to the coach and underclassmen to shoulder the next years load.

And who won the battle of the lake? With 17 player off last years teams at the next level with a fairly even split, I would say they were close to having the same problem. This years record against the Rock at Varsity and JV Level would be what?

I think 6-0 Rowlett. So let's not get to carried away with we lost all our players and none of it's the coaches fault. Everyone gets credit for the wins as, everyone should get blame for the losses.

Point well made, and again i give rowlett all the credit, but my point was not why the lost to rowlett but why they struggled compared to the past years.

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Originally posted by southpawUTSA:
Point well made, and again i give rowlett all the credit, but my point was not why the lost to rowlett but why they struggled compared to the past years.

Agreed!

From a distance, it appears Coach Payne was in a no win situation this year. Following a legend, matching last year's success with a rebuilt team is a tall order.

You can bash a Coach if he underchieves, but in his case I believe he did the best with what he had. He got the Rock to the dance. How many failed to do that this year.

We have plenty of coaches on this board, and anyone with knowledge of the game knows he did a good job this year.

And that should put an end to this one until next year.

I think Coolarrow said "other than Rowlett".

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Originally posted by SGDad:
I think Coolarrow said "other than Rowlett".

Sorry I was responding to swing doc a page or 2 ago.......should have made it more clear.