I don't see Class B much different this year than most of the last 50 years that I've been watching it. It is, and has been top heavy. RO is close to as good as they've ever been. With the exception of 2009-10, I feel Roff is as good as they've ever been. Then L-S and Varnum are in the next level. Then the other 4 qualifiers are another level. It has always been that those other 4 teams have to fill-in 3 to 5 spots in the bottom of their line-up. That's the difference when those teams play large schools in the spring. The large schools usually have no breaks in the batting order where there are a couple of easy outs
"Top 4 in class B would be in the top 15% of teams in all classes"....Ross, this is laughable. 15% breaks down to roughly being in the top 12 OF EVERY CLASS!?!?!? That's nuts. This Fall if they were in A, id rank LS and Varnum in between #10 Calera and #11 Navajo.Come Spring, theyd definitely be top 8 in Class A. In 2A, theyd be around 10-12. 3A and above....theyd never make it out of a Dist. If youre so high on LS, you wanna make a prediction on how that LS-Roff game turns out? I say it wont go 7 innings. I don't care who throws for them
Again your observation of small school baseball is laughable. Varnum has beaten Dale once Oktaha twice. Both of those teams are top 5 in 2A. Lookeba has a very impressive win over Canute, who no one in A besides Ft.Cobb has even touched. That's including Navajo by the way. That is a laughable comparison as well. You still haven't answered my question, have you seen these teams play? Don't make such bold statements if you don't really know what you're talking about, because it's pretty obvious you don't. LS has to beat Whitesboro, which I think they will pitch Wilson or the Shortstop to try and beat them which will make it a close game I think. If they do beat WBoro, I do think Roff LS will go 7 innings with LS throwing Orozco and Roff throwing Dylan Reed. Honestly, I think Tupelo could give Roff a close game in the Quarters, so you can't count them out either.
"Varnum has beaten Dale once Oktaha twice". Yes they did. They also lost to Oktaha, Byng and were run-ruled by Ft Cobb. Being able to win a game against a top tier team does not mean they are worthy of being in the top 8 in every class. Upsets happen in every sport. At every level. Iowa St and KState aren't going to play for the Big 12 Title now that they beat OU. They were better one time. That happens "Lookeba has a very impressive win over Canute, who no one in A besides Ft.Cobb has even touched". That was the first game of the year!! To say no one has even touched Canute since is pretty dumb. Fletcher took them to extras. They beat Oktaha and Ft Cobb by 1 run. Vici had them beat. They've have several close games since the first day of the season. "That's including Navajo by the way". Navajo is not very good. LS is better than them, which I said earlier. "have you seen these teams play?" Yes. The only one I have not seen live is Red Oak. "I do think Roff LS will go 7 innings with LS throwing Orozco and Roff throwing Dylan Reed. Honestly, I think Tupelo could give Roff a close game in the Quarters, so you can't count them out either" Roff will run-rule LS with Orozco on the mound. 14-10 Tupelo has ZERO CHANCE. ZERO. We can agree to disagree and call a truce until this weekend. Then one of us will have to come on here and admit how completely, ignorantly dead wrong you were.
Last Edit: Oct 6, 2020 12:19:30 GMT -6 by rickvaughn
"Varnum has beaten Dale once Oktaha twice". Yes they did. They also lost to Oktaha, Byng and were run-ruled by Ft Cobb. Being able to win a game against a top tier team does not mean they are worthy of being in the top 8 in every class. Upsets happen in every sport. At every level. Iowa St and KState aren't going to play for the Big 12 Title now that they beat OU. They were better one time. That happens "Lookeba has a very impressive win over Canute, who no one in A besides Ft.Cobb has even touched". That was the first game of the year!! To say no one has even touched Canute since is pretty dumb. Fletcher took them to extras. They beat Oktaha and Ft Cobb by 1 run. Vici had them beat. They've have several close games since the first day of the season. "That's including Navajo by the way". Navajo is not very good. LS is better than them, which I said earlier. "have you seen these teams play?" Yes. The only one I have not seen live is Red Oak. "I do think Roff LS will go 7 innings with LS throwing Orozco and Roff throwing Dylan Reed. Honestly, I think Tupelo could give Roff a close game in the Quarters, so you can't count them out either" Roff will run-rule LS with Orozco on the mound. 14-10 Tupelo has ZERO CHANCE. ZERO. We can agree to disagree and call a truce until this weekend. Then one of us will have to come on here and admit how completely, ignorantly dead wrong you were.
When did vici have Canute beat? They played one time and Canute won 7-2...... When was a Canute/Navajo game close? Canute beat Navajo 13-1, 9-0, 8-0, 8-2 and 14-0..... Navajo is really good. They finished the season 22-9 with 5 losses to Canute, 1 loss to L-S, 1 lose to Arapaho with both of Navajos best players in quarantine, 1 lose to vici and 1 bad lose early in the season to Binger.
"Varnum has beaten Dale once Oktaha twice". Yes they did. They also lost to Oktaha, Byng and were run-ruled by Ft Cobb. Being able to win a game against a top tier team does not mean they are worthy of being in the top 8 in every class. Upsets happen in every sport. At every level. Iowa St and KState aren't going to play for the Big 12 Title now that they beat OU. They were better one time. That happens "Lookeba has a very impressive win over Canute, who no one in A besides Ft.Cobb has even touched". That was the first game of the year!! To say no one has even touched Canute since is pretty dumb. Fletcher took them to extras. They beat Oktaha and Ft Cobb by 1 run. Vici had them beat. They've have several close games since the first day of the season. "That's including Navajo by the way". Navajo is not very good. LS is better than them, which I said earlier. "have you seen these teams play?" Yes. The only one I have not seen live is Red Oak. "I do think Roff LS will go 7 innings with LS throwing Orozco and Roff throwing Dylan Reed. Honestly, I think Tupelo could give Roff a close game in the Quarters, so you can't count them out either" Roff will run-rule LS with Orozco on the mound. 14-10 Tupelo has ZERO CHANCE. ZERO. We can agree to disagree and call a truce until this weekend. Then one of us will have to come on here and admit how completely, ignorantly dead wrong you were.
I was adding to my point using those wins to give you an example. Agree to disagree.
Regardless of what anybody says I’m excited to watch some good baseball. Class A and B. I think every first round game in A could be close. Will be interesting to see teams strategies on who throws who the first round.
rick you missed it ... Both semi's in B appear to be run-rules 😳 Man, RO and ROff can swing it! 4 all-state caliber seniors each ... much less the underclassmen
Keep it comin...I appreciate your knowledge and take on A&B hoops and hardball
Ross.......I’ll be awaiting your “I was dead wrong”. Red Oak & Roff could both win Class A in the Fall. But the rest of that class is not very good. I know Varnum & LS won a few times against the big boys, but that happens. Roff hammered Orozco like I said they would & if it weren’t for the Reed kid struggling to find the zone & Roff playing poorly, it would’ve been much like what Red Oak did to Varnum. Red Oak, Roff, Canute & Ft Cobb are the 4 best teams this Fall. Canute has the best offense. Ft Cobb has the deepest staff. Red Oak has the experience with those Sr’s. Roff is probably the best defensively of the 4. Looks like tomorrow Canute has their 3 left while Ft Cobb only has burned their #2. Should be two really good games.
Last Edit: Oct 9, 2020 18:04:26 GMT -6 by rickvaughn
Ross.......I’ll be awaiting your “I was dead wrong”. Red Oak & Roff could both win Class A in the Fall. But the rest of that class is not very good. I know Varnum & LS won a few times against the big boys, but that happens. Roff hammered Orozco like I said they would & if it weren’t for the Reed kid struggling to find the zone & Roff playing poorly, it would’ve been much like what Red Oak did to Varnum. Red Oak, Roff, Canute & Ft Cobb are the 4 best teams this Fall. Canute has the best offense. Ft Cobb has the deepest staff. Red Oak has the experience with those Sr’s. Roff is probably the best defensively of the 4. Looks like tomorrow Canute has their 3 left while Ft Cobb only has burned their #2. Should be two really good games.
HunterSheppard.......You can’t start a new batter after after 120 pitches. Meaning if your pitch count is 119, you can have 1 more batter. 7 of 8 teams burned their Ace by throwing him over 50 pitches on Thu. Judging by the GameChanger numbers, Ft Cobb has everyone except the guy who started yesterday against Silo. Looks like Canute has burned their 1 & 2.
Last Edit: Oct 10, 2020 6:12:41 GMT -6 by rickvaughn
"Top 4 in class B would be in the top 15% of teams in all classes"....Ross, this is laughable. 15% breaks down to roughly being in the top 12 OF EVERY CLASS!?!?!? That's nuts. This Fall if they were in A, id rank LS and Varnum in between #10 Calera and #11 Navajo.Come Spring, theyd definitely be top 8 in Class A. In 2A, theyd be around 10-12. 3A and above....theyd never make it out of a Dist. If youre so high on LS, you wanna make a prediction on how that LS-Roff game turns out? I say it wont go 7 innings. I don't care who throws for them
I'll add my 2 cents...
I've been umpiring baseball from Class B up through 6A, as well as some college and all levels of travel ball in the summer for over 20 years. I also coach at a small school, so to say I see a lot of ball is an understatement.
Could the top small school teams compete with the top 15% of every class? In a one or two game format? Absolutely? Anything beyond that would be tough, due simply to numbers. The top two pitchers from most of the elite Class A and B teams would stack up against the best from the top 15% of most classes. But once you get past that, you start seeing some depth issues that come with having less than 100 students in your entire school.
This is actually a pretty ridiculous argument if you're on the big school side of things, which I'm assuming rickvaughn is. Are you proud of your claim that schools with 60, 70, 80 students can't compete against schools with 300+.