SW4A -- Congrats to Prov, South and East

Congratulations to Providence, South Meck and East Meck. :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: With their wins last night the three teams move into position to represent the SW4A in the upcoming state tournament. East could be knocked out if another team wins the conference tourney, but that is highly unlikely.

The Panthers clinched the regular season title, and at 12-1 in the conference have had a phenomenal year. Coach Danny Hignight pushed all the right buttons this season, and the team was clearly the best in the conference, with an extra inning loss to South being their only blemish. Everyone knew the Panthers' offense would be explosive, and it was -- Dunning, Mauney, Semenick, Moore, etc., etc. -- the list of outstanding hitters is too long for this post. But no one expected pitching to be the Panthers' strength. Starters Spencer Hendel and Mitch Besselievre were brilliant all season long, seemingly posting shutout after shutout for the Panthers.

Congratulations to Coach Hignight, his assistants and all the Panther players and families!

Only at South Meck would a 10-3 conference record and second place finish be a disappointment, but with high expectations and a pre-season state 4A number 1 ranking, the Sabres still have something left to prove. With a remaining home game with Providence, the conference tournament and the state tournament to come, this team can still finish strong and have the year we all expected them to have.

They have been completely dominating at times (particularly against the green team), but they have also been average in some disappointing losses. The Sabres have a team that can hit the ball hard 1-9, led by Rubenstein, Ratledge, Morris, Rollison and Austin, and good team speed led by Kennedy, Borden and also TJ Freeman off the bench (TJ is always on base running for the pitcher or catcher). The Sabres also have some outstanding pitchers in Morris, Layman, Worrell and Andress. They still may write a final chapter to the season that will erase all memories of the losses.

Some of us pointed to East Meck as the sleeper at the beginning of the season, and they came through to prove us right. With a win over Waddell on Thursday the Eagles will finish 9-5 and third in the conference, a phenomenal accomplishment for Coach Greeson and his team. He should finish second to Coach Hignight as conference coach of the year. If he didn't discourage his fans from posting on TBR, I might just support him for it! :supergrin

The team was scrappy, with good timely hitting, great defense and very good pitching. Pitchers Brett Alter, Jake Raynor and Justin Schumer kept the Eagles in vitually every game and the offense, led by Matt McNichol, Joey Savago and Tate Bryant and probably others who I'm forgetting to mention, was very good in clutch situations (if you guys would post we'd know more details!). Ross Davidson is the best defensive center fielder I've seen all season and Chip Smith is great at the hot corner. And of course we all know about the magical things that happen at their great home park on Monroe Road. Two wins over South are the big highlights for East, and those wins propelled them into the third place conference finish.

With Alter on the mound the Eagles will be no picnic for the ME-CA 8 champs in the first round of the state tournament.

Congratulations to all three teams and good luck in the upcoming post-season tournaments!

Hats off to Olympic as well. The Trojans lost quality pitchers Thomas Hovis and Wes Waddell before the season started, but still managed to keep the race for third really tight until the end. They will finish 8-6, no worse than tied for fourth. With those two pitchers this team would have been really scary. Greg Conrad was the conference's most effective pitcher not pitching at Providence, and the Trojan offense, led by Nate Staton, Jeremy Price and Conrad, produced lots of runs.

 

Those of us who would have liked to have witnessed the games first-hand, but whose scheduling conflicts prevented it thank you for that tremendous update, DodgerBlues!!!

 

Providence Pitching Staff ??

I thought you might like to see the scores of PHS games this year. Whoever heard of Besselievre (5-2), Hendell (7-0), Mailman (2-0), Small (3-1) and Summerville (1-0)? Who gets the Win in a Forfeit ?? I don't think anyone in the Conference feared that staff coming into the season.. Conference Runs Scored thru 13 Games---102----Runs Given Up---11.

Vance 10-0 HOME W 11 - 1 03/04 Weddington 2-0 AWAY W 14 - 4 03/05 Alexander Central 3-0 HOME W 7 - 5 03/08 Independence 4-0 HOME W 12 - 5 03/11 North Mecklenburg 4-1 AWAY L 0 - 3 03/15 Butler 5-1, 1-0 SW4A AWAY * W 5 - 1 03/21 E.E. Waddell High School 6-1, 2-0 HOME * W 10 - 0 03/22 East Mecklenburg 7-1, 3-0 AWAY * W 2 - 1 03/24 Myers Park 8-1, 4-0 HOME * W 10 - 3 03/30 Concord 9-1 AWAY W 5 - 2 04/01 Mt Pleasant 10-1 AWAY W 9 - 1 04/02 Northwest Cabarrus 10-2 AWAY L 1 - 6 04/05 Garinger 11-2, 5-0 AWAY * W 20 - 0 04/06 JM Robinson 12-2 HOME W 14 - 4 04/08Olympic 13-2, 6-0 HOME * W 6 - 0 04/15 Butler 14-2, 7-0 HOME * W 7 - 0 04/16South Mecklenburg 14-3, 7-1 HOME * L 3 - 5 04/19 E.E. Waddell 15-3, 8-1 AWAY * W 7 - 0 04/25 East Mecklenburg 16-3, 9-1 HOME * W 10 - 0 04/26 Myers Park 17-3, 10-1 AWAY * W 2 - 0 04/29 Garinger 18-3, 11-1 HOME * W 12 - 0 05/03 Olympic 19-3, 12-1 AWAY * W 5 - 1 05/05 South Mecklenburg AWAY 6:30p * 05/07 Watauga AWAY 1:00p TBA

 

YOOHOO............

Congrats in all seriousness to all the boys over yonder (the ones)...How bout a pic YOHO! No aouthor disclaimer etc......... :229031_ha :229031_ha

 

Mustang pitching?

MP had a guy who played summer ball for the O's 16s last summer, Rocker something, who pitched very effectively. I expected he'd have been on the mound for the Mustangs but did not see or hear about him this school season. Was he injured?

 

To my knowledge, Ryan Rockencharlie/ Rockercharlie, pick a spelling, was not injured. He played quite a bit at first base and was a very effective closer. You'll have to ask Coach D. why he wasn't used more as a pitcher.

A round of atta boys go out to Prov., South Meck and East Meck on their regular season. Good luck to all in the tournaments. It is interesting how many experts picked East to finish in the 4 through 6 range. Healthy living and hard work must be paying off. I guess it is not all miracles that take place on Monroe Rd.

 

Ryan Rockecharlie has played first base and has pitched for the Mustangs this season. He has appeared six or seven times on the mound and has been very effective at times, principally in a closer role, with a very good fast ball and an improving off-speed pitch. Matt Butler has been used in the closer role the last couple opportunities (Olympic and Butler) and has done very well. Ryan, Matt, Jordan Cudney and Matt Henney have all provided some innings out of the junior class, and all of them have pitched well. With pitchers Jeremy Mathis, Cody Drake and Scott Brewer in the senior class, too, Myers Park has more pitchers than pitching opportunities. And for the most part the pitching has been very good. Defense and timely hitting were the bigger issues in the first half when the Mustangs struggled.

 

thx

I am glad to hear he is healthy and has been productive!