Top 10 players in SE Ohio...

[Kentmurphy]

What seniors for local teams have already signed a letter of intent for a college for next year????

Hannah Robinson waverly signed with Ball State D1 Mac West

[4thgoal]

ive been saying it about hughes and sturgill for 2or 3 years now. both special ladies who would be neck and neck talent wise, i said in a previous post i give the edge to sturgill because she plays for the better team and coach.

Who would you give the edge to now?

[ManitouDan2]

Kinda silly , just let both these ladies ( kids ) shine .

[JTEK]

Kinda silly , just let both these ladies ( kids ) shine .

Both will be shining on the same team now

[captainmorgan_]

i still believe what i posted before. better coaches and teams make good players better. they play on the same travel team.

[bigburgboy]

Hughes from oak hill has supposedly transferred to Burg...Burg adds another powerhouse at the plate, we must've recruited her as well

[orangeandblack98]

a relaible sorce saw her at school. Burg was out of everyone in the soc reach before its safe to say even more now

[ManitouDan2]

Prob means 6 years without a conference loss for Coach Ruby . Amazing. The league was very deep this year , and Burg is still quite young , I thought someone might sneak a win in , but with this addition I don't see it happening. Best two pitchers in the league , 2 or 3 of the best players at their positions , they are flat out loaded ... and the World Series winners are waiting in their wings to take over in a couple years . Burg softball is right up their with death and taxes

[PtownClown]

Personally I think the transferring here and there has gotten out of hand but I do understand why parents/kids do what they do, hard to blame any parent for doing what they think is best for their kid, I just miss the days of childhood friends graduating together and playing together throughout, but to be honest anymore the summer ball ( travel SB and AAU basketball) is where kids are gonna get recruited, it seems to me most kids use their HS seasons for a warm up for the travel ball circuit, unless you are a team like Burg that can compete for a state title year after year, Teresa is a great coach and person so I don’t blame a kid for wanting to play for her, I will say this though I have been shocked by the fringe kid who transfers to a school and doesn’t play when they could stay at their home school and get ample playing time, to me sitting the bench was never fun no matter how good the team was, but I wish the Oak Hill girl the best, she is a phenomenal player and she is (would be) no matter what school she plays for

[PtownClown]

I’ll also add that this isn’t just going on in HS it’s all levels of sport with the “recruiting” that goes on among the NBA superstars to the player portal I think it’s called in college football, free agency is everywhere it just took a little longer to trickle down to the HS level, even in the job market today people bounce around more than ever before, again it’s all about freedom of choice and personal betterment, unfortunately the competitive balance in our area has suffered tremendously because of it

[PtownClown]

In terms of incoming Freshmen that could make an immediate impact:

Madison Perry (Portsmouth)
Jaycee Gearhart (Clay)
Preslee Lutz (Clay)

All three are good kids and very solid players with bright futures

[linedrive]

Totally agree on the whole staying loyal thing but hey... lets face it, our better travel talent is getting bored and getting tired of the decisions to hire/keep High School coaches whos coaching abilities are no more than Jr. High level. It's not these coaches faults, they like to coach, they're offered the job and they take it. The problem with the majority of our area coaches are that they have never evolved with the game or the players of today. They keep relying on their own understanding of "back in the day when I played" 15, 20, 30+ years ago and probably never played competitively again themselves after or if they even played up to the age of 22. It starts with the ADs to find and hire the best coach possible for their program, that is in fact if they actually know what that type of coach looks like or even cares how successful their program is, in any sport. This talent just wants the coaching that they receive in the summer, at least something that resembles it. They want to get better, they want to win. They want a coach that knows more about the game than they do.

[PtownClown]

I can’t blame a kid for seeking better coaching and I think Teresa is one of the best but I still miss the community pride and loyalty but understand times have changed, it is what it is and I hope any kid who transfers is better off because of it

[linedrive]

Same here Ptown and going out on a limb here in saying that if you as one of the better talents in our area transfer to Burg from one of the majority schools, will definitely be better off.

[PtownClown]

Teresa is great as I’ve said but there are several other good coaches in the area as well, Teresa isn’t the only good coach in the area, I know one thing though everyone of them would like to have her roster, could have 2 teams and they’d be battling each other for the SOC title

[linedrive]

Totally agree in "area".
Coaching not even close in SOCII.
With exception of A.Messer - South Webster

[captainmorgan_]

I have to say i'm a bit shocked to hear Hughes moved to wheelersburg but as said in another post talent is above the coaching abilities of most of the coaches around (soc, ovc, mostly all of the southeast district) if the family is able and willing to make a move like that to play for a coach and team like wheelersburg i can not blame them. final 4 is certainly within reach for wheelersburg especially now.

[ManitouDan2]

Who is A Messer at Webster ? she been there long ?

[PtownClown]

I don’t know a large majority of the coaches well enough to say but there is a very small percentage of girls from the area (and any area for that matter) who truly have the passion for softball required to play at the next level, most have parents that love it more than they do but once you go to college you’ll find out real quick who is passionate about it, talent gets your foot in the door but it’s the passion for the game that will make you stick it out, that being said most girls in this area it doesn’t really matter how good the coach is anyway, you are talking about a very very very small percentage who really have aspirations to play in college, most say they do but most really don’t

[linedrive]

Spot on CaptainMorgan.
Andy Messer got hired last year Manitou. He has good knowledge of today's game and is one of those that kept playing competitively himself through adult years.
And... as far as saying that it doesn't matter who the High School Coach is based on the fact that the majority won't play in college? I don't know about all that. There are still quite a few that can and will play in college, especially your more competitive travel ballers. The majority of those players that don't play for Burg and who are not as fortunate to have a coach of that caliber will continue to play in spite of who their coach is because they love the game and they know it'll get them ready for summer. They already pretty much know how the season is going to go. You can be sure it matters to them.