The Playoffs are Here

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Sports fans, it's time for the Friday Free for All.
Over the next two hours, we'll bring you all the
latest from across the region in high school and college sports.
Now Here are your hosts, Chris Johnson and Alex Wheeederspield.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Good morning, my friends, and welcome in. This is the
Friday Free for All, brought to you by Dan Cavataota
Buick GMC. It is can you Feel It? Playoffs Baby Softball, Baseball,
Regional Action, Sectional Action for Softball. It's playoff time and
we're gonna be talking all about it on the show today.

(00:40):
A lot of great guests coming up. Chris Johnson is
going to join me during the second hour on the show.
For most of the hour today, we're going to talk
with Chris form most of the hour today. We're also
going to hear from Caden chof Salem University sports information director.
The Tigers having a terrific run here in spring sports.

(01:01):
In three different programs get invited to the Small College
play or to small college postseason I should say two
teams that got invited. In a third team that actually
got invited, they got invited to the D two Dance.
So nice little season for Salem in their spring sports Tennis, baseball, softball.
Baseball has been really good. Softball's been rock solid. Tennis,

(01:22):
of course, is actually the one who got invited to
the D two twenty, so good on them. We'll talk
all about that, and then of course we are gonna
talk with Greg Carey wv metronews dot com breaking down
some baseball regional stuff, and Chris George is gonna kick
off the show as he always does with Bridgeport baseball,
Big ten baseball, and we'll kind of hop around and
talk a little bit about getting too specifics on some

(01:44):
of the stuff going on around the region in high
school ball. That said, though, got a packed show to
get to, so we're gonna go ahead and hit our
first break as quickly as possible. Want to remind you
of two very quick and important things. The first is
that there is gonna be a bonus segment on today's podcast,
on today's episode in the podcast form, and that is
will be airing the original interview we did with John Carpenter,

(02:06):
the head coach of Philip Barber, and that's because there
was an issue with the audio processing when I published
it originally, and so as a result, now that I've
caught the error. It's being republished and reposted as part
of this episode. And then secondly, just a reminder that,
of course, if you miss any or all of the show,
just go and check it out in podcast form. There

(02:27):
are two places, really, there are multiple places you can
get it. There are two critical places where you can
get it our home base, the Spreaker app, which you
can download on your phone. You can use it in
desktop form whatever. Any of those options are fine. You
can also find it at wkmznews dot com, which is
probably the easiest place to find it, or if you
have a preferred podcasting platform. Odds are we're probably already there.

(02:50):
That said, we're gonna go ahead and take a break.
The Friday Free for All brought to you by Dan
Caviataota b A GMC gets started in earnest next.

Speaker 1 (02:59):
Time for more high school sports talk on the Dan
Cavatoyo w A GMC Friday Free for All.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
Friday Free for All rolling on here with Chris George,
as we do during baseball season. We start our show
with Chris George and we dive immediately into Bridgeport baseball
and then we jump around the Big Ten, which we're
gonna be doing a lot on the show today. Greg
Carrey is gonna join us a little bit later to
kind of comb through as much of the region as
we possibly can in baseball, but we're gonna we're gonna

(03:28):
try to really drill a down team to team here
with Chris and of course spend most of our time
with Bridgeport. Chris. What's up, man, Oh, it's kind of
a sad day.

Speaker 3 (03:37):
Man.

Speaker 4 (03:37):
We're at the end of the regular season. That kind
of came real quick and went. You know, it seems
like you look at baseball and teams play thirty some
games are close to it, and we started late March
and here it is early May. You know, basketball is
more of a three month prime and his baseball stuff
goes quick. But they play every day.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
But sun Blue, Yeah, just bleue right by right. What's
the maximum again? What's the maximum? They're allowed to play.

Speaker 4 (04:04):
Thirty two in the regular season, and now that also
can extend into the postseason in between the first round
of regionals and the sub between the regionals and the
super Regionals, so they can play in between there if
they play someone that's still alive and has not played
the max of thirty two games. So like, for example,
Bridgeport right now is eighteen and eight, so you know

(04:24):
they've they've got some games they can play. They can
play five or six, so gotcha?

Speaker 2 (04:27):
Gotcha? Okay, And speaking of Bridgeport, kind of a roller
coaster that they've been putting you and the fan base
on for much of this season. But they had a
bit of a down week last week. Talked about that.
They followed up a great win against Fairmont Senior with
a couple of losses, and then this week back to
back wins and they are kind of again back on

(04:50):
the upswing.

Speaker 3 (04:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (04:52):
It all started Monday at home against a very improved
North Marian team. We knew coming in North mary was
not a nine, very much improved. I have a couple
of IICOL ball players. They were a North Marion team
that came into Bridgeport not intimidated. I think that's number
one thing. I've seen many North Marion teams come into
Bridgeport and just they're done by the second or third inning.
Not the case here. In fact, Bridgeport had to have

(05:13):
a walk off base hit from Owen Sonricker and Obama
seventh to win this thing, and that kind of propelled
them on their week because they were really coming in
there if their heads hanging after losing two in a
row last week to Morgantown at home, and they went
at Frankfort on last Friday, So they came in here
kind of hanging around, just kind of hanging their heads
a little bit, kind of feeling a little bit sorry
for themselves, which you know, it's baseball.

Speaker 3 (05:34):
You get a couple of slums. That happens.

Speaker 4 (05:36):
And you could just see it in the binding language
in that game. Early on, they just didn't seem like
they had a pep in their step and they started
grinding away there and then when that seventh then they
came and Sonricker came through with that big hit and
look out and they were on and boy did they
play well. I know there was a couple of games
they lost due to rain this week, but Owen Sonricker
with his hit there kind of propelled him into the game. Wednesday,

(05:58):
the rematch of Morgantown, in fact, Maddick's Bogs you pitched
and got the win against this last week, was the
same starting pitcher on Wednesday up at Dale Miller Field
at Myland Park in Morgantown, and this time Jacob Sarbaccus
went for the Indians, and Bridgeport got a critical four
to one win up there, and Jake pitched a heck
of a game, a three hitter, and then Bridgeport used

(06:19):
the old small ball. They first and thirdy to Morgantown
a couple of times, a couple double steals, three excellent
well placed bunts, and then what I like during the
game was what Morgantown did was a wonderful wheel play.
Bridgeport had runners on first and second, no one out,
and the wheel play was on, and at first the
third Baseman co of Silvers from Morgantown was kind of

(06:42):
angling himself towards the pitcher, which is what you're supposed
to do in that situation, because you don't want to
come in because that gives a chance for the guy's
second and steal third. So he kind of angled himself
edge of the grass at the third edge of the
turf cut out there third, and it gives him a
chance to break. And so soon as the picture from
Morgantown King set, that means he broke west to Mayze.

(07:04):
He left from short the race to cover third. The
wheel play was on and Michael Romano bowed the ball
up the third baseline right the Silvers, who turned and
threw the maze cover to.

Speaker 5 (07:14):
Third and they got the fourth.

Speaker 3 (07:15):
I'm like, oh, this is baseball.

Speaker 4 (07:17):
I love this old school baseball. And Bridgeport went on
again another run that inning, but they ended up winning
that game four to one. Our standing pitch game. And
then Case and Bond had a big two hit day
up in Morgantown, critical two out RBI double in that
contest that really helped Bridgeport and it carried into last

(07:37):
night's game at home against University. Kind of came out
a little flat there. Blake Butcher got some command trouble.
He was the starting pitcher. He walked five and two,
but he settled down to strike out the side in
the second. He had thrown forty nine pitches and two innings,
so they went to the bullpen. Stephen Lee pitched excellent
the rest of the way five innings to get the win,
but Bridgeport was down six to one. They starred Chip

(08:00):
and Away. Luke Roy hit his first home ern of
the year. He continues to lead this Bridgeport team and
hitting now just about three sixty two in the air,
and he hit his first dinger. As I said, and
they just kept chipping away and chipping away, and and
lo and behold there they are. They get a seven
to six lead and they go on to uh get
the win as Sammy Goodwin had a big two RBI

(08:21):
double in the game and Stephen Leaney shut down. So
three straight wins this week in the regular season. They
were unable to get the Robert ced Berg game in
this week.

Speaker 3 (08:31):
It was rained out.

Speaker 4 (08:32):
Unfortunately. They were hoping maybe to try to play that
on Friday, but couldn't get it in to workout. So
eight and eight is where the Indians sit heading into
the postseason Monday, and right now they're Faremont Senior in Bridgeport.
Looks like they're at the top of the Big ten
here at the end of the year is Philip Barber
will talk about Philip Barbarer later, but they've suffered a
tough loss to Robert s Berg.

Speaker 2 (08:54):
Yeah, and of course we'll we will take a look
at the regional you'll, folks, they're going to hear the
regional rankings a lot in today's show. Obviously, they came
out earlier this week, set to begin next week. As
we as we get into that stuff, I actually have
them open here yeah, there they are. But the Indians.

(09:14):
The big thing I'm kind of curious about is, so
we've talked about in the past, felt like maybe they
had the pitching depth, but what has kind of transpired
or emerged is we know they've got the one and
then they've got a lot of arms behind the one.
Do you feel now like anyone has emerged in that
two spot.

Speaker 4 (09:34):
No, I don't, and I don't think Coach Shields does either.
He has options. I mean there's a lot of options there.
I mean Steven Lee, for one, last night pitched really
good in relief, but he's been kind of hot and
cold times this year.

Speaker 3 (09:46):
But I mean, look, we.

Speaker 4 (09:49):
Talked Bridge four pitching. We expect really a lot because
that's been the golden standard for this program for forty years.
Okay has been there pitching, and that's right, thirty to
forty years. And Steve Lee's numbers are pretty good, but
not to the level is what Bridgeport expects out of
a number two or number three. But right now he
might be the best option. Guy Avolio has been pitching

(10:10):
decent this year. He got touched up a little bit
against Frankfort last week. I saw a little bit of
which I liked, and I think a guy that might
settle into that role was Owen Sondric and we talked
about his heroics on Monday with the game winning base
h But he pitched five wonderful or I'll check that
four or five I can't remember off top my head
with wonderful innings. And that's the first time he's pitched

(10:31):
since the Mohican Classic back in early April up in Morgantown.
He beat William Park and he looks good and I
don't know where his pitch count would be. They kept
him under sixty. He might be able to go seventy
seventy five next start. But I think what coach Shields
can do is we know they got the consistent horse
in Jacob Stervacus, and now they need to find a

(10:52):
consistent two and three. They may just have to combo
it up. They got five arms there that they can
deal with. And we saw a little bit of Blake Butcher.
His command not quite where they wanted to be, but
we saw that yesterday and the second inning he just
blew away, struck about in in order in a second.
Like I mentioned, a see case and Bond have not
seen case and pitch for a few weeks. I think

(11:13):
he's capable of give us a couple of winnings if
need be. And you know that's just to name a few.
Carson Curry not the pitcher he was last year, but
we know he's a savvy veteran. He's going to throw strikes.
He might be able to think, for example, if you
want to start, let's say at Carson Curry, then come
with a Stephen Lee, or start a guy a Volo
and come with a Scott Why or whoever you know

(11:37):
you can. You can combo and mix it up. And
I think maybe you can get through that way. We'll
just have to wait and see. And uh, one thing
this Bridgeports team has is experience, and I think they
got some momentum heading into the postseason. And their execution
is a little bit better this week. And are they peaking.
I don't know, but they're as good as they could
be right now.

Speaker 2 (11:56):
Yeah, it's it's it's interesting again. It's been kind of
a roller coaster ride with them, particularly of late. They
had that great ten wins in eleven game stretch and
haven't really been able to match that. But we'll see
if this is maybe the start of something here, especially
with you were talking about a little bit of the
small ball. It's not an easy game to play. It
takes a lot obviously, a lot of discipline, a lot
of effort, and a lot of hustle. But let's talk

(12:19):
a little bit about the region at large and who
you think the biggest threat to Bridgeport is to actually
getting to Charleston when you look through their region, and again, folks, apologies,
you're going to hear the region a bunch of times today.
We're going to be talking about it all day. All
of these regions really, but particularly the ones notably notable

(12:42):
for north central West Virginia. This is region two in
Class Triple A. One of these teams is headed to Charleston, Bridgeport,
Robert C. Byrd, Frankfort, Lincoln Hampshire, Lewis County, Kaiser, Berkeley Springs.
That's one through eight. Biggest threat to Bridgeport if they
want to get back to Charleston.

Speaker 4 (12:58):
Frankfurt say that last summer, saying again, now they have
the best individual hitters of anybody in the region, you know,
like Jacob's Riah Cutter, Jacob Netting. I mean those kids
are can hit as any as well. As anyone in
the state. The difference of Frankfurt this year is the
top three or four are as good as anyone in
the state, but the bottom four slash five are very adequate,

(13:24):
so to speak. They don't have the balance one through
nine like they had a year ago. They don't have
a Lynch that could hit a ton and pitch a
ton for him and in the same way in their pitching staff.
I think if Bridgeport can get in a three game
series with them, I think Bridgeport has the advantage as
far as depth and pitching. Frankfort has the advantage obviously offensively,

(13:44):
no doubt about that, But I think that's the team.
I don't want to take anything away from Roberts Sea
Bird because Xavier Carvelly and Owen O'Mara are two pitchers
that could beat anybody. In fact, it was Carvelly and
Omara that teamed up the pitch win against Frankfort back
in the McDonald's classic earlier this earlier, back in April,
so can't discount them. But I really think Frankfurt's the

(14:09):
team if they hit like they're capable and get the
pitching from Lanceorndorff and Hair and a few other kids
they have. They probably have as much pure talent as
anyone in the region. But Bridgeport still has the most depth.
They have even depth within the lineup they probably have.
They are definitely the most experienced team as far as

(14:30):
been there and done that, and they have the most pitching.
They just got to get more consistent pitching from the
middle to the back end of their rotation. If they
can do that, I think they're fine. But to me,
it's Frankfort and Bridgeport and they split during the season,
and a three game series will be quite interesting. And
I think the key is Bridgeport Nott the one. So
that means two of the games will be in Bridgeport,

(14:51):
Games one and if necessary, game three. So but who knows, Man,
it's baseball. Frankfurt earlier this year, back in April, lost
a couple of games that nobody thought. And they're not
what they were a year ago.

Speaker 5 (15:04):
You know, they got.

Speaker 4 (15:05):
Three or four unreal hitters, but they're not the same
one through nine like they.

Speaker 3 (15:09):
Were last year.

Speaker 2 (15:10):
So let's rap with Philip Barber and South Harrison in
that region. Actually again really strong region. Philip Barbar, South Harrison, Petersburg, Doddridge,
Richie Braxton and Moorefield one through seven. I don't think
it's a I don't think it's chalk or I'm sorry,
I don't think it's a lock that we get the
chalk of Philip Barbar South Harrison at one two in

(15:33):
this one. It's a pretty deep region, but I will
say it would be pretty exciting to see those two
a bit of a budding border rivalry there now that
they're in the same classification.

Speaker 4 (15:44):
I got a chance to talk to Philip Barbara head
coach Jonathan Carpenter back on Thursday, and he's worried. He
doesn't like worse teams at right now. They went to
kaser back on Saturday afternoon of last week and Leyden
a against a very young freshman and Leyden Kaiser team
that had won five or six games, and Kaiser took

(16:05):
it to them seven to three, and Philip Barbara has
not recovered. They went on to lose to Morgantown on
Monday up at Kendrick TOWMNY Ballpark, seven to three. No shame,
I'm losing to Morgantown, but it's a couple of bugaboos,
a couple errors here, not getting the pitching they were
getting earlier in the middle of the year. And then

(16:26):
last night they went on the road to Clarksburg and
got beat by Robert c Bird and Xavier Carvelly ten
to three. And again coach Carpenter really stressing right now
where his team's at losers of three in a row,
and they only lost two games all year until the
Kaiser game on Saturday and Cal Wolf, their number one,
pitched that game and he got he got.

Speaker 3 (16:46):
They hit him.

Speaker 4 (16:47):
I mean, Kaiser's got some talent, they're just very young
and they're coming on. But so John Cartner's not happy.
But they did get the one seed for their regular
season complete body of work. South Harrison at two via
the double header sweep earlier in the year at Petersburg,
which I said the time was very, very big. Petersburg
is a three seed and they're probably playing better than

(17:08):
anybody right now. The Vikings Peyton Tingler and Peyton Metheeny,
two kids that can really pitch it, two good athletes.
But the difference in Petersburg now compared to earlier in
the year is Petersburg starting to hit the ball. They
just had a huge, huge upset win over Northern Garrett
of Maryland. Northern Garrett's one of the better teams in

(17:28):
the lower class division in the state of Maryland. They
hit as well as anybody around here, and they're very good.
And Petersburg went up there and beat them ten to
seven back earlier this week, and the Vikings are playing
really good baseball right now. But then after that, Godwards
County's playing some good baseball. They end up getting a
good win over a good Grafton team earlier this week,
picked up that victory, and then Richie County with the

(17:52):
upset win over Robert C. Bird earlier this week. I
know Bert was in the back end of their pitching staff,
but a big win for the Rebels, and then Braxton
County Warfield. I know Warfield struggled this year four wins,
but they're playing better right now. And then rich In
Braxton County they're kind of struggling themselves, but I think
Philip Barber getting the number one seed is going to
help them there. But really Philip Barber, South Harrison, Petersburg,

(18:16):
and Dagridge, all four of those teams have a shot
to do some damna chair and Petersburg has two really
good pictures and they're hitting better than what they have
been Philip Barber is the most complete team of anybody
in this region, but they're not playing their best baseball
right now. And South Harrison just has a little bit
of this, a little bit of that. They got a

(18:37):
little pitching here, they got a little hitting here. They
have got a complete package as well. So it wouldn't
surprise me if any of these top four go through
this and find a way to get some w's.

Speaker 2 (18:48):
Quick note, by the way, John Carpenter, we're going to
be attaching for folks who don't remember the interview we
did with John to the bonus portion of Today's pod
Today's show because there was an audio issue in the
episode that it ran in, so it's going to be
reattached to this episode, so for anyone interested, we'll talk
more about that during the final segment of the show,

(19:10):
just to give your heads up on where to go
and listen to that. It was a really good conversation
with Coach Carpenter, who's a very easy guy to talk to.
I will say that Chris much appreciated man. I imagine
we're going to have a lot to talk about come Friday,
of not like a lot to talk about come Friday
next week.

Speaker 4 (19:28):
Yeah, we've had some interesting games this week outside of
high school as well. So of course, you know the
Mountaineers doing what they're doing. Of course, they had a
horrendous upset loss. Yeah, and then the Pirates finally moved
on from Derek Shelton. That's just a little bit what
they needed. There's plenty of stuff they need to move
on continuing there, but that's going to take some time.
And then you got baseball the postseasons here. It's gonna

(19:51):
be fun. There's not a dominant team in the area.
I mentioned in the Region two in Double A, all
four of those teams are good. Keep it eye on
South Harrison, man. They they just got to come team
like Philip Barber. But it's gonna be fun. It's gonna
be interesting. And uh, you know, for me, Lesion, baseball
is starting to get pern up too. I've had a
ton of work there being a state chairman, and we'll
talk a lot about that in.

Speaker 3 (20:11):
June, July, and August.

Speaker 4 (20:12):
But this high school season, I'm telling you, it's gonna
be fun. I hope people get a chance to go
out to the games. Listen to the Bridgeport games on
the Indians Radio Network. One of three point three WKMZ
and the Bridgeport Sports radio app. It's the Berkeley Springs
Bridgeport game will be Monday at six pm at Bridgeport
High School and then all the games of Bridgeport will
be at six and it should be fun. I'm telling you, man,

(20:36):
some years you just know the Okay, this team's gonna
go no problem, this team's gonna go no problem. This year,
you don't know one thing.

Speaker 5 (20:43):
Before we go.

Speaker 3 (20:43):
I want to give you a quick note.

Speaker 4 (20:45):
Class Triple A, Region one. I don't know what happened here,
and I want to take nothing away from the brook Bruins.
They finished fifteen and twelve. They're the number one seed
Fairmont I got the two seed, who is seventeen and four.
Now Brook and phairamount eat everybody in the region in
their region, but they didn't play each other. But I
have no idea how Brooke got the one at fifteen

(21:07):
and twelve and Phairmont to two at seventeen and four.
If I'm a Fairmont fan or a Fairmont follower or supporter,
I'd be losing my mind right now because in that
seventeen region, Brooke gets a bye, the one Sea gets
a bye.

Speaker 2 (21:24):
Yeah, that's a great point. We'll have to talk more
about that next week, for sure. I'm looking forward to that,
and maybe keep your ear to the ground of you
here hear any thoughts on how that went down and
why that went down that way. Crazy, but be very curious.
All right, we'll go ahead and take our first break.
Coming up on the rest of the show, We've got

(21:44):
some great conversations coming up. We're going to talk with
a little bit later. Chris Johnson's going to join. We're
going to talk with Caden Choff of Salem University about
what the Tigers have gone on. They are seeing three
teams heading into postseason action in three different sports. We'll
get into that, including baseball and softball. And we're also
going to talk with Greg Carey of Metro News and

(22:06):
we're going to take an even deeper dive into this
baseball regional ranking. We're back after this on the Friday
Free for All, brought to you by Dan Kavatzuda Buick GMC.

Speaker 1 (22:14):
Cavatoyo w a GMC Friday Free for All.

Speaker 2 (22:21):
We're now joined on the show today the Friday Free
for All, brought to you by Dan Kavatota, Buick gmc
by Caden schof Sports Information director for Salem University, and
very successful spring output for Salem. The Tigers invited for
postseason play small college postseason play for a number of
different sports, softball, baseball, and women's tennis. The baseball team

(22:43):
is also particularly noteworthy. They've had a nice little run here.
They were really good last year, won more than thirty games,
record a little bit down this year, but they started
one to ten and had a huge bounce back and
wound up going twenty one and fifteen the rest of
the way. And I know they're disappointed to finish under
five hundred, but still get the invite. Nonetheless, great pitching
staff for the Tigers, and we bring in Cayden. Now, Cayden,

(23:06):
good morning man, what's up? Yeah?

Speaker 5 (23:08):
Yeah, thanks thanks for having me on. Excited to be here.

Speaker 2 (23:12):
It's really successful spring season for you guys. It seems
like and I don't know, you know, we got three
different teams here. So I'll tell you what where do
you want to start, because we've we've got we got
to get to all of them. So tell me where
you think the best to start is baseball, softball or
women's tennis.

Speaker 5 (23:28):
Well, let's say women's tennis, probably the first one since
they're in the big tournament.

Speaker 2 (23:32):
As you would say, okay, let's let's do it. So
the women's tennis team finishes with a thirteen and six record,
including wins this year over Frostburg State, West Virginia State,
Davis and Elkins, and Wesleyan and selected as a number
five seed in the Division two Atlantic Region. That's a
heck of an invite.

Speaker 5 (23:49):
Oh yeah, it's big time. It's first time since twenty
nineteen that our tennis team has made a regional So
it's it's an exciting time here in Salem. And you know,
it's a lot of hard work on for a head
head coach Dennis mcnabow. He's been has a really competitive team,
a really really heavily international roster, which is always been

(24:09):
a keynote thing here at Salem as we you know,
our former name was Salem International. So yeah, it's it's
definitely an exciting time for our winnessess program.

Speaker 2 (24:18):
What are the because I I I'll admit I haven't
followed college tennis in a long time, what are the
rules like in terms of match play? How does it
how does the how do the matches get scored? Essentially,
because if I'm correct, I know there's there's singles play,
and obviously there are scores coming from the individual singles matchups,
but there's also is there not doubles play as well?

Speaker 5 (24:40):
Yeah, So basically, the simplest way I did not explain
it is think of it as like a seven game series,
like for like an NBA or NHL playoff. You play
seven matches, three doubles, four singles, and it's a best
of seven essentially. So first one to four wins, So
you'll play three doubles match and then you'll play your

(25:01):
your singles and uh, you know, however that plays out,
you get whoever gets four wins is your is your winner.

Speaker 2 (25:10):
I had a couple of family friends growing up who
played college tennis at the men's college tennis at the
uh Big East and Big ten level. They were that
was a very athletic family. We were all we were
all like, where where did these guys come from? They
they they played at Rutgers and Minnesota. So I got

(25:31):
a chance to see a couple of college tennis matches
up close as a result, and it is actually pretty
neat they're actually pretty entertaining for folks who have have
never who have never thought to go see them. They
are actually quite entertaining because of the amount of action
that's kind of going on right.

Speaker 5 (25:45):
Well, and actually it's something that's kind of new to Salem.
Wrote something the last couple of years. We didn't host
home matches for forever because our so we just redid
a lot of our tennis courts and made them nice,
made them more playable for actual matches. So we've actually
had home matches and Salem for the first time in
the last couple of years.

Speaker 2 (26:01):
And before we switch gears, I know there's a local
player worth highlighting as well, a West Virginia player at
Keia Miller, who played at Williamstown High School and is
originally from Vienna.

Speaker 5 (26:13):
Yeah, a great kid. She plays both women's basketball and
tennis for us. You know, really solid kid, really, you know,
just just great kid overall. That's the kind of kid
that everyone gets into college sports to follow because she
works great on the course. It's a great kid off
the court as well.

Speaker 2 (26:30):
Let's switch gears over to baseball. They of course they
play right here in nutter Fort. Just as stones throw,
stones throw away from our station here actually at frank Laoria.
Selected as the number five seed in the usc AA
Small College World Series. I got a chance to see
head coach Casty Gains a squad for a couple of
games this season, four games against Fairmont State. It was

(26:53):
a really fun series. Salem played really well in that
series for the most part, had a couple of moments
of There was one game in particular, I think the
final was ten to nine that nearly got away from them.
That one was kind of a wild one, especially because
that was very off script for the way Salem had
won a lot of games this season. Tiger's pitching just
outstanding between Sam Schmidt and Connor Teal. The hitting has

(27:15):
been kind of a mixed bag, but led the way
in part by a local kid, Aaron Forbes, went to
University High School in or relatively local university High school
in Morgantown. This is a really interesting group that the
baseball team has out there. How do you like their odds?

Speaker 5 (27:32):
You know, yeah, I think they if Obviously, great pitching
will get you into any game, and so is that
pitching really is kind of our bread and butter, and
you know, the hitting will always have to you know,
get get some run sports. So it's always always a balance.
But I think definitely Sam Schmidt and Connor Field keep

(27:52):
in a lot of games, so and yeah, of course,
And it's nice thing about our hitting is it's not
really a new one guy. So if any given day,
whether it's Jose Loho or starting center fielder Aaron Forbes.
As you mentioned, we also have a rece rent as
our regular DH Leeds team at home runs with eight.
So yeah, it's really gonna be a mixed bag of

(28:14):
who's who's hot that day. But I think that's always
a good thing in tournament play.

Speaker 2 (28:18):
Yeah, what's wild is so the game I caught was
actually kind of an off day for Sam Schmidt, and like, folks,
I'm gonna try and bring up the numbers right now
and see if I can get get where they're There
was a stretch where he went something like forty three
innings consecutively without allowing an earned run during the middle
portion of the season. I mean, he and he finished

(28:38):
with an ERA of just barely over two.

Speaker 3 (28:40):
But he was.

Speaker 2 (28:41):
Really really good for this Tiger squad this year.

Speaker 5 (28:45):
Yeah, definitely, there's there are definitely stretch in the middle
of the year where they're like, oh, yep, Sam Schmid,
it started and we won four zero, Like it was
just it was you know, the sun sun rose and
Sam Smith gave up zero and runs. So it's just
just how it worked.

Speaker 2 (28:56):
Yeah. Great, So they are said to take on the
Mustangs of mid Atlantic Christian University on Monday coming up
next week. That is a ten am start time in Duoa,
Pennsylvania at the USCAA Small College World Series. So how
does this tournament work for folks who are not familiar
with this?

Speaker 5 (29:15):
Yeah, so basically the way the USCA tournament works in
con talk on our situation with it as well. So
primarily we're an NCAA Division two institution, just like Fairmont State,
Glenville State, all of our local rivals, but the USCA
is kind of a secondary affiliation we have where do
affiliate with both organizations. So for us, basically the way

(29:37):
it works is the closest example would be like the
n IT for West Virginia. So like obviously plan A
is always an NCAA regional. We're still obviously our women's
tennis team shows where are still eligible for those postseason opportunities,
but when those don't happen. We have the ability to
play in this usca and they do it and they
have schools from all over the country California, our opponent
here will be from North Carolina. They have schools in Maine,

(30:00):
schools in Pennsylvania. So it's and they just do it
straight off of coaches polls and rankings. And we were
luckily lucky enough to get two squads in this year.
And it's always a really well done tournament, even though
it's for a lot of small schools.

Speaker 2 (30:14):
Yeah. Absolutely, I'm hoping to get out there and see
it one of these I was really thinking about going
to this one, either as a spectator or even to
volunteer and work it. And unfortunately I'm actually going out
of town for Mother's Day this weekend. But let's talk
a little bit about the softball team. I got a
chance to see a bunch of them as well this year.

(30:36):
Twenty four and twenty seven ultimately finished with the record,
had some really strong performances in Mountineest conference play. We're
ranked number one in the USCAA Coaches Poll all season
most wins in a season since the program restarted in
the early nineteen nineties. Steve Potts wins his two hundredth
game as the as the head coach. This year a

(30:57):
couple of really strong no surprise, really strong PI and
that includes Francesca Alvarro, who is a Clarksburg native, former
Bird product and also pitched over at Alderson Broadest. Lots
of good local, lots of good local flavor on both
these teams. I know Aid and Eddie is not didn't
get a ton of playing time, but the former Doddridge
County stand out on the baseball side of things. But

(31:18):
lots of good local products on both of these teams.

Speaker 5 (31:20):
For Salem, yeah, definitely. Basically both of our coaches have
do a great job of hitting the local kids and
it makes sense, especially kids like kids from Dodgerge County.
It's right up the road. I have to say. We're
actually closer than a lot of a lot of Doddrige
County than we are a Harrison County. So yeah, I
always love getting those local kids. And Steve pots always
does a great job of that as well, just because

(31:41):
he's been in Bridgeport. I joke with him since the
beginning of time, so yeah, he's he's he loves getting
the local kids and having fran from right up up
the street at Clarksburg is always a good thing.

Speaker 2 (31:52):
Yeah, and of course easy to do. When when we're
easier to do, I should say when playing. You know,
every game at the Bridge Sports Complex helps as well.
So so right there available for folks to come out
and and uh and see these games. Al Varro had
a really nice season. Kendall Lemley, pitcher from Wiensburg, Pennsylvania,
had a really nice season. There was a game I

(32:13):
saw her her play this year where she not only
pitched a gem, but she wind up being her own
run support as well. Pitched her second career no hitter
of the season at Fairmont State. So good pitching staff.
What do you like about this about this softball team
as they head into this tournament.

Speaker 5 (32:30):
Yeah, great thing about this team is just is well
they there's one pitching obviously with LEMLN Alvaro, you got
a lot of depth there. Softball it's a little different
than baseball. So you know, baseball you really need four
or five pitchers. Softball, if you have two solid pitchers
and get you a long way. So I think pitching
is going to be big and offensively, we got a

(32:52):
lot of kids that are very effective from the plate,
bell orties. She's got the speed that can turn you know,
what would be a bloop single for some people will
turn her into triples. So definitely a lot of a
lot of power in the lineup, even though it's not
necessarily a home run type power. It's a lot of
Steve Potts softball. I joke is always is just going
to single you to death.

Speaker 2 (33:13):
Well, yeah, and I've seen Ortiz first hand. She is
extremely quick. I'd say, you know, the power might come eventually.
This is a young group too. That was the other
thing where there's just a very young group starting for them,
and still despite the youth in the batting order, a
really nice season.

Speaker 5 (33:28):
Yeah, definitely. There's only two seniors on this team. Almost
everybody else is either freshman or sophomores. So yeah, very effective.
And even fran who is technically a junior, this is
only her second here at Salem, so very very young lineup,
both in both offensively and defensively.

Speaker 2 (33:46):
Yeah. The one of the best power hitters in the lineup,
of course, is a senior. Always tends to happen that way.
Jasmine Mote Louis came all the way from California. She's
had a great season, twelve extra base hits for Moti
Louis playing both first base and third base, three eleven
batting average on the season, and she's typically batting clean
up for the Tigers, So if you're looking for the

(34:07):
long ball, she's probably where you're gonna find it.

Speaker 3 (34:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (34:11):
Yeah, i'd say either her, Lemley and of course Multily.
She's she's really the kind of the backbone of this
team emotionally, leadership wise. She's on track to come back
next year as a coach. So yeah, she's a great
kid and definitely always one of our most consistent hitters
almost every single game.

Speaker 2 (34:30):
Yeah. No, that's uh, that's very good. Can anything else
you want to get to before we before we get
out of here?

Speaker 5 (34:36):
No, definitely, Uh, just excited. You're always good to talk
Salem athletics. But yeah, if you have any any further
updates on on these tournaments and all of Salem Athletics,
it's Salem Tigers dot com.

Speaker 2 (34:47):
And if folks are interested in heading up to Dubois,
Pennsylvania for any of the any of the tournaments or
I'm actually blanking now, where the uh where is the
tennis tournament?

Speaker 5 (34:59):
So it's actually hosted about Charleston. So Charleston is the
one seed in that tournament, so they they host the
four or five and then the one when they play.

Speaker 2 (35:07):
Okay, so that that's easy enough for folks. If you
want to go up to Dubois, though, how would folks? Uh,
you know how much your tickets? What's the what's the
process there?

Speaker 5 (35:15):
Yeah, so tickets are I think fifteen bucks to get in,
but uh, it's do Boys Pennsylvania. Really great facilities over there.
You can always go go to the U s c
A dot com for all the all that updates, so
they'll all that readily available for anyone who wants to
make the trip up there.

Speaker 2 (35:31):
Is it? Is it? It's do Boys? Is it not Dubois?
You can tell I'm I'm a hockey fan.

Speaker 5 (35:37):
I mean I've always called it du Boys and never
been corrected so far.

Speaker 2 (35:40):
Okay, you know what you're gonna have to when you're
up when you're up there next week, You're you're gonna
have to find out for me because I'm assuming I
was assuming, like like Pierre Luke, Dubois the hockey players
is exactly what I was assuming. But you know what,
that's French Canadian and and this is this is Pennsylvania.
It could very easily not be Dubois. Uh, you're gonna
have to find out for me. I need to know this,

(36:00):
must find out information. You get a text it to.

Speaker 5 (36:02):
Me and we make a career out of the down
here in the States of taking French names and then mispronounci.

Speaker 2 (36:08):
So that's true, that is true.

Speaker 5 (36:10):
Very very likely. It's probably you boys, but I'll I
will sure.

Speaker 2 (36:14):
To get this out. Yeah, you're gonna get the information
for me. Cayden, much appreciated man, great work for Salem
all around. And you'll have to keep us updated on
any any potential prospects coming from the high school ranks
locally who might be headed your way next year.

Speaker 5 (36:29):
Oh yeah, definitely will do.

Speaker 2 (36:30):
All right, very good, thanks Kayden, Thank you. All right,
we'll take a break. This is the Friday Free for All,
brought to you by Dan Cavatot of you A GMC.
We're back after this, back to the w.

Speaker 1 (36:39):
KMZ locker room for more high school sports on the
Dan Cavatoyot w AT GMC Friday Free for All.

Speaker 2 (36:46):
We now have Greg Carrey joining us here on the
Friday Free for All. Greg what's up, man.

Speaker 6 (36:52):
How's it going? How was as everybody doing this, you know,
gearing up for the continuation of some postseason play here
and the ready for it and on the baseball side
and continuing it on the softball side.

Speaker 2 (37:04):
Yeah, it also looks like weather finally maybe cooperating a
little bit after a couple of I mean, May has
been really really rainy, and I imagine that's been a
challenge for softball and baseball like to get these games in.
It has.

Speaker 6 (37:18):
Yes, you had a lot of games that were ultimately
either played Wednesday, that were supposed to be played Tuesday,
some that still have yet to be played. But you know,
everything essentially gets pushed back a day or two. And
I can tell you to Tuesday night. I was at
the Backyard Brawl baseball game, and that was in Pittsburgh.

(37:39):
But it was not pleasant weather there, and it was
not very pleasant weather in the Wheeling area and you know,
the surrounding Pittsburgh area and parts of West Virginia there.
But hopefully that's in the past. I know, yesterday was
much nicer. Thursday off to a nice start and looks
like a pretty positive forecast here in the near future.

Speaker 2 (37:56):
Yeah, Yeah, hoping for the best over these next couple
especially with I know the softball sectionals are kind of
are kind of winding down here. They'll have more action
coming up of course next week, but baseball regionals set
to begin on Monday, and that's what I wanted to
spend the most time with you on today because of course,
new format. We're seeing it for the first time in

(38:19):
high school baseball this year and it's it's going to
be interesting. I wonder if you could start by explaining
the new format for listeners out there.

Speaker 6 (38:29):
Yeah, well, essentially, you know, in the new format you're
you're just talking about on the baseball side here, it's
essentially that you know, all teams you know, are adopted
within a region essentially, and they are you know, split
into two brackets, which I guess you can basically look
at those like sectionals within a region that is determined

(38:51):
based off seatings from coaches, and then ultimately the winners
of each bracket will play in a regional final in
a best of three series to get to the state tournament.
So you've got four regions in each classification within them
is essentially two sections or two brackets if you want
to say, that and the one in the two seeds
will be on opposite sides of the bracket, so that

(39:13):
if they do advance, they would square off in a
regional final for the right to make the state tournament.
So it is different. It is not entirely different, I
wouldn't say, because there are some similarities to the past
in the way that the seeding is determined and the
way that a lot of these matchups will play out.
But there definitely are some tweaks and there will be

(39:34):
some differences. And you know, one of the other things is,
you know, as you work towards some of the smaller classifications,
in particular, you know Class A, you've got some unbalanced
regions and that's just kind of, you know, the way
it worked out. I understand not everybody thinks that's the
fairest way to do it. You know, you might have
a ten or eleven team region in a single A
bracket as opposed to in only a four or five

(39:56):
team region in a three or a four A bracket. So,
you know, kind of similar to thatasketball in that regard.
Because we went through and heard a lot of these
same thoughts, you know, whether it was in favor or
against the format here just a few months ago, and
the girls and boys basketball side of it.

Speaker 2 (40:10):
Yeah, and so then correct if I'm wrong. Does that
mean it is single elimination until you get to that
regional final best of three.

Speaker 6 (40:18):
It is double it is double elimination still, yes, So
essentially you have, you know, the the softball tournament which
is going on now, will you know, likely conclude whether
permitting here within the next three or four days. But
you've got your teams that you know are in the
driver's seat. For example, I know, and just you know

(40:38):
decides an example in for a Region one Section one,
Morgantown beat Wheeling Park three to two on Wednesday, and
as a result of that, Wheeling Park turns around immediately
to play John Marshall on Thursday in an elimination game.
Then the winner has to defeat Morgantown twice. So still
double elimination. But you know, it's very difficult, especially on

(40:59):
the softball and really on the baseball side of things,
with the way pitching line is up there, if you're
not in that winner's bracket, if you drop maybe your
first or second game, and then ultimately you've got to
turn around to beat a team that is likely comparable,
if not better than you twice in a row, if not,
maybe even three times.

Speaker 2 (41:16):
Yeah, that's I imagine that's got to be tough. What's
the pitching depth like when you when you think about
like the best teams are we talking about they've got
two starters they trust, three starters that they trust. What
what's the depth like on a typical average I guess
your average good baseball team? I thought.

Speaker 6 (41:33):
I think that's a very fair question. The other thing
to note with that is the pitching rules. Now you
know you've got X amount of pitches you're permitted to throw,
then you've got to sit for a day or maybe
two days worth of rest. So a lot of strategy
comes into it, particularly with the regular season winding down.
I think three is a number that most coaches would
tell you they'd like to be at. I'm not sure
that you know even most of your ranked or top

(41:55):
tier programs are there, but you're obviously going to have
to have more than two or three to pitch in
the postseason. I think three starters maybe guys that you're
comfortable hating the ball to and trusting them to go
maybe twelve to fifteen outs, if not longer within a game.
That's where you're striving to be at. And then if
you can get into that fifth and sixth inning from

(42:16):
your starter, maybe you turn it over to one of
your other high end pitchers to help, you know, try
and close things out. You know, the softball side of
it is so much different because it doesn't tax your
arm nearly as much. You can obviously throw more pitches,
you can throw on consecutive days and such, but really
you've still got to be at a point in softball
where you've got to have multiple You don't necessarily have
to have three, although it would be beneficial, but you

(42:39):
do have to have two. And that's a problem that
has really come into play through the years, you know,
and the time that I've done this, particularly for a
lot of the northern teams near where we base our
coverage out of here. You know, there have been a
lot of high end teams that have great records, they
get to the postseason, maybe even get to a regional
series or the state tournament, and ultimately fall short of

(43:00):
their goal in large part because they just don't have
that second high end pitcher. So you're either, you know,
you're forced to utilize your top pitcher who's probably not
on her game throughout, you know, maybe four or five
pitching appearances in a six or seven day span, or
you turn it over to that second or third option,
which is tough to win a game against the top
tier opponent. So certainly something to monitor, and you know,

(43:23):
a lot, like I said, a lot of strategy comes involved,
particularly on the baseball side, because you've got a factor
in the pitch counts and the days of rest, and
you know, you're seeing a lot of these programs. Just
covered Bridgeport in Morgantown yesterday. Both coaches spoke to me
after the game about this. It's the stage of the
season where you're trying to let guys, particularly starters, go
deeper into games because you've been working to build up

(43:45):
that pitch count throughout the season to get to this point,
and then next week you're hoping your top tier guys
can take the ball and reach that one hundred and
ten pitch you know limit within a game, if not
at least getting close to it somewhere around that triple
digit mark.

Speaker 2 (43:58):
Yeah, that's that was a real learning moment for me
this year. I did a couple of I did play
by play for a couple of Salem softball games and uh,
not very often did this occur, but once or twice
I did, like an entire four game series over the
course of a weekend where they would do two against
one team, two against another team, and he'd be back
to back days. And it took me a minute to realize, Oh,
it's they're bringing out the same pitcher for for game

(44:20):
one of each of each game because you can pick
on pitch on back to back days.

Speaker 6 (44:24):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (44:24):
That was a that was a that was a wake
up call. I did not know. I did not know that.
I was a very very very new to softball as
a as a sport of coverage for that matter. But
we have Greg Carry with us from wv Metronews dot com. Greg,
I wanted to jump in a little bit on some
of these specific teams within our region here in north
central West Virginia. Obviously, you and and Joe and Tearing

(44:44):
do a great job covering the entire state. You guys
cover a lot of ground, uh, and I'm gonna try
and narrow it down for you a little bit instead
here and let's start with the with the Bridgeport Indians, uh,
and this region two with a lot of great teams
in the region. Bridgeport and RCB right at the top,
Lincoln at four, Lewis County at six, Frankfort at three,
Hampshire five, Kaiser seven, Berkeley Springs eight. What do you

(45:06):
know about Region two?

Speaker 6 (45:08):
I know it's top heavy and it's deep, and you mentioned,
you know your top three seeds there Bridgeport, Robert C.

Speaker 3 (45:16):
Bird and Frankfort in that order.

Speaker 6 (45:17):
You know, those are three teams that have aspirations of
playing deep into the postseason. Obviously, they won't all be
able to do that. Only one will be able to
ultimately advance out of the region. And then between Robert C.
Bird and Frankfort as the two and three seeds that
are bracketed together, you know, only one of them is
eligible to make the region final.

Speaker 3 (45:35):
But it's a challenging region.

Speaker 6 (45:37):
It's a region that I think, you know, Bridgeport is
in a good spot being on the opposite side of
both Robert C.

Speaker 4 (45:44):
Byrd and Frankfort.

Speaker 6 (45:47):
Bridgeport came back, you know, in pretty grand fashion to
have to defeat Robert C. Bird earlier this year. They've
split two meetings with Frankfort. We know that Robert Shields
generally has some tricks up the sleeve come postseason time,
whether that's a pitcher that he hasn't shown yet that
maybe you know, he's pretty still got pretty high hopes for,
or you know, just different nuances and variations that he

(46:07):
helps bring to the game to try to change things
from what teams may have seen throughout the regular season.
But they're going to be challenged in this and you know,
certainly you would expect them to get past Berkeley Springs
and that opener, then they're going to turn around and
if so, face the winner of Lincoln in Hampshire. And
you know, Lincoln's a formidable team. They've generally got a
pretty good batting lineup. They can hit up and down
that order, they've got some speed, they'll try to put

(46:29):
pressure on you. I'm not sure they're going to have
enough to hang in with Bridgeport. Particularly, this is when
that pitching comes into play, because you've got to get
in that winner's bracket to really have a chance. I mean,
if you lose your first game, you're not done, but
you're all butt done. You know, you're then going to
essentially playing daily and having to win five six straight
games in a span of you know, one hundred and
twenty hours or so to make this thing work, and

(46:50):
that's generally too much to ask for. So that's where
Bridgepot benefits because Lincoln and Hampshire are probably both thinking
we got to win this opener, which means they may
have to throw their best pitcher in that game. That
leaves the winner of that to face Bridgeport without likely
it's number one pitcher available in that following game, or
if they you know, go the riskier route, they could

(47:11):
try to, you know, save their top pitcher for Bridgeport,
but then that gives you less of a chance to
win that opening game and gives you a better chance
to be in that loser's bracket though. But I would
expect there to be some pretty some good games and
some significant challenges.

Speaker 3 (47:23):
You know.

Speaker 6 (47:23):
I think Robert C. Byrd and Frankfort sets up as
a very good two three winners bracket game. Those are
two teams that have buy and large been in the
Metro News Triple A Power rankings throughout the season. Frankfort
has been there. They're obviously a defending Double A state champion,
and they've got a really good baseball program. But you know,
you get to that regional final if.

Speaker 3 (47:41):
You are Bird.

Speaker 6 (47:42):
If you are Frankfort, the tricky part becomes you're then
going to have to win twice against Bridgeport, so you
know you might be good enough to beat them once,
and certainly both those teams I think are because Frankfort's
already proven it and Bird should have likely beaten. Bridgeport
had a game and we're in which they led by
four runs late and lost by one. But I don't
know that you know, those teams are capable of necessarily

(48:03):
doing it two out of three. I do think Bridgepord
has the depth along with the experience in those games
to say, you know, even if they were to lose
one in a regional final, the panic button doesn't necessarily
get pressed. They are capable of coming back and still
maybe getting to Charleston.

Speaker 2 (48:20):
Let's move over to Region one and Fairmont Senior the
number two seed there, and they've done had a really
nice season. They've been hovering around the top three or
four spots. They've been as high as two in the
Metro News power rankings, Grafton at three, North Mariyon four, East,
Fairmont five, or the locals Brooke at one, Weird six
and Elkins at seven, which is I would say semi local,

(48:43):
so it's a bit of a trek from here, but
it's still that north central West Virginia region. But Fairmont
Senior poses as potentially the best team from the region
or from I should say, from from north central West
Virginia in this region. How they how do you like
their chances against the rest of the feat I.

Speaker 6 (49:01):
Like their traches a lot, you know, I've seen Fairmont
Senior a couple of times this year. Saw them put
it on Doddbridge County pretty good a couple of weeks ago,
and then saw their lost to Bridgeport where they weren't
very good in that game, a bit sloppy. They didn't
you know, they got off to a good an early
lead and started the game well, but had a chance
to maybe increase the advantage, didn't do so, then paid
the price for it. But it's a talented team. They've

(49:21):
got some big boys in that lineup with Matt Masters,
and you know, Trevor Bigelow's bound for WU for football,
and they've got experience. They've got a really good leadoff
hitter in camp Pecial, so it's a very well rounded team.
I was a little bit surprised that they were the
two seed in the region because I would think on
paper most people would consider them the favorite in that region,
with obviously with Brook being the number one seed at

(49:42):
the top, and you know, getting set to play the
winner of an opening round game between Fairmont Senior's Marion
County rivals and East Fairmont and North mary and so
you know, sets up to where Fairmont Senior plays Elkins.
Then you know, if they're able to win that game,
that'd get the winner of graft and weird. But I
think Fairmont has They've got experience. You know, they've got seniors,
and while they don't have a wealth of state tournament experience, recently,

(50:07):
these kids have bided their time to put themselves in
this position. They've been anxious for this season and they're
making the most of it. A team that you know,
record wise, can measure up with anybody across the state,
and a team I know Dave Reiser feels really good about.
In the most recent game, he said that he thought
the team had all the tools to be successful and
make a deep run. It's simply a matter of playing

(50:28):
well when it matters most and.

Speaker 3 (50:30):
Delivering in the key spots.

Speaker 6 (50:31):
And that's something that buy and large a balanced Fairmont
senior lineup has done throughout most of this season. I
would expect that to continue into postseason play, and I
give the Polar Bears an outstanding chance to claim the
Triple A Region one bracket.

Speaker 2 (50:45):
Let's drop down over into Class Double A, where Region
two well represented with Philip Barber and South Harrison in
the one and two spot in that region, Dodgridge County four,
Richie five, Braxton six to round out the north central region,
Petersburg three, more Field seven a little bit out geographically,
but the other five pretty much right in that kind

(51:07):
of clustered into north central West Virginia across seventy nine
and Route fifty. And what do you like. Philip Barber's
had a great season. South Harrison has had a very
good season. They've had some pretty good battles with Philip Barber,
and so I would expect more than likely that's going
to happen again. But I don't think it's a lock
right that we see Philip Barber in South Harrison, you know,

(51:29):
playing for advancing to the next round.

Speaker 6 (51:33):
It's not. And it's a deep region, and that's one
that in Double A I would say has as much
depth as any other region. And you know, look at
that four or five game. Right off the bat, that's
a Doddridge County team that's had a good season, a
good record. They've battled some injuries and some you know
off the field stuff with some roster attrition recently. But
you know, that's a Bulldogs program that's challenged themselves. They've

(51:53):
recently played both Fairmont Senior and graft and you know,
they've played Philip Barber or in the season, so they've
had a tough schedule. Not to mention all the quality
LKC opponents they play, you know, with the likes of Williamstown,
South Harrison and such. But you know, that's a very
intriguing game. The winner of that game between Doddridge and
it's you know Route fifty rival Richie County in a
four or five matchup getting to advance to face Philip Barber,

(52:15):
the top seed in you know, in the winners back
and contest, but on the bottom with South.

Speaker 3 (52:19):
Harrison at two.

Speaker 6 (52:20):
And that's a Petersburg team at three that won each
of their first eleven or twelve games this year. I
believe they were one of the last remaining unbeaten teams
across the state of West Virginia, so obviously a capable
Vikings program there, and you know, a team that will
be hungry if they get an opportunity to defeat South Harrison.
You know, should both those teams win their first games
in postseason play, the Hawk's opening with Morefield Peterson opening

(52:43):
Petersburg rather opening up with Braxton County, So I think
there's a lot of depth. I think Philip Barbara is
a rightful one seed and a rightful favorite. But again,
they're going to be challenged, and I would expect them
to be challenged right off the bat, you know, starting
in that opener with whoever they may play between the
winner of that Dodverge and Richie game. And I think
that the Cults certainly have the tools to make a run,

(53:03):
but they can't expect that, you know, and just rest
on their laurels from what they've accomplished in the regular season. Yes,
they've beaten programs like Bridgeport, They've had an outstanding record.
They got to play at WU Stadium earlier this week
and challenge themselves in a fairly competitive loss to Morgantown.
So you know, it's a Philip Barber team that has
certainly beefed up its schedule a little bit, maybe you
could say, to get to this point to help kind

(53:25):
of lead into postseason play, but that doesn't guarantee you anything.

Speaker 3 (53:28):
And some of the other teams.

Speaker 6 (53:29):
In that bracket, like you know, the likes of South Harrison,
the likes of Doddridge County, they've also beefed up their
schedule and they've played numerous quality teams throughout the season.
So I think the Cults are rightfle one seed. I
would make them a slight to minimal favorite to get
out of this region, but certainly not a foregone conclusion
or anything close to it.

Speaker 2 (53:48):
Real quick, before we wrap, I did want to take
one quick look at Class single LA. I'd be remiss
if we didn't mention Notre Dame, who's definitely got a
tough path forward in a nine team region. They did
earn the three seed there, Notre Dame Clay, but Hell
and Trinity along with hundred and Paydent City would essentially
be the the and Valley I guess would be the
I'm sorry, not Paydon City. The would be the locals though,

(54:10):
and then Magnolia Madonna a little bit further north there,
but that's a death nine teams. Again, these unbalanced regions
never easy. How do you like Notre Dame's chances in
Region one?

Speaker 6 (54:22):
Yeah, the Irish have been a bit up and down
this year. They had some pretty good results in the
last couple of weeks and they've kind of fallen on
some tougher times here recently. But you know, as a
three seed Notre Dames should be in the mix there.
They open up with Magnolia. If they're able to get
past the Blue Eagles, in all likelihood they would face
camera in the next day in the Winter's bracket game.
That would really be the key game I think, you know,

(54:43):
for Notre Dame to make a run.

Speaker 3 (54:45):
Talking about a small school.

Speaker 6 (54:46):
Yes, they're going to be playing other smaller schools, but
not a lot of pitching depth, not a ton of
depth across a lot of these rosters. Which team can
get in that winner's bracket and give themselves the luxury
of having a day or two off rest some pitching
not have to go out there and grind maybe three
or four days in a row trying to you know,
prolong your season in pressure pack spots. And I think
Madonna has the one seed. Is you know, certainly earning

(55:10):
of that distinction. I don't think there's really anybody that
would debate them as the number one seed in that
region and maybe even all of Class A. You know,
that's a Blue Don's program that's been really successful throughout
this entire season. So ultimately winning the region is going
to be a daunting challenge. But if you can get
to that regional final, you get some time off, you

(55:33):
get to line your pitching up, you get the best
of three series. You know, anything can kind of happen.
It's tough to win two out of three games, especially
when you're the underdog in most occasions.

Speaker 3 (55:42):
But would not count the.

Speaker 6 (55:43):
Irish out, you know, I think they're gonna have their
work cutout for them. But the key for Notre Dame
to me is winning each of your first two games.
You know, you've got to beat Magnolia and then you're
going to turn around and likely face Cameron if you
do so, if you can win those two games, you're
going to put yourselves in a very good position to
at least be in that regional five. I know. If
not the Irish you're going to face a significantly uphill climb,
particularly with their lack of numbers.

Speaker 2 (56:05):
Very good, Greg, You guys have just a wealth of
coverage over at the website between softball and baseball. Just
tell folks what can they expect over these coming days
and the coming week with all the postseason action that
is underway. What should folks expect overt Wdmetronews dot com.

Speaker 6 (56:21):
Yeah, we've got games covered essentially every day between softball
and baseball. You know, we'll have a lot of the
sectional softball stuff that's winding down here, you know, in
this week, as you and I talk on Thursday morning,
you know that'll be coming to a conclusion hopefully within
the next three or four days here through really through
the weekend and then early in the next week. So
a lot of that covered. Still hitting on some of

(56:43):
the bigger, you know, regular season baseball games in the
final week of the regular season now, but with postseason
play starting Monday, we'll have you covered with all the
scores on the website at the pages where that list
of schedules and the results that's for both softball and baseball.
And then a lot of baseball postseason coverage coming to
start next week.

Speaker 2 (57:01):
Very good, Greg, much appreciated man, and we'll talk with you.
We'll talk with you soon. I know you're gonna be
a busy guy here and for the next couple of
weeks for sure.

Speaker 3 (57:09):
Thanks for having me.

Speaker 2 (57:10):
All right, We're gonna go ahead and take a quick break.
This is the Friday Free for All brought to you
by Dan cavateot De Buick GMC. We're back in just
a moment, back to the w KMZ locker room for
more high school sports on the Dan Cavatoyota Bick GMC.

Speaker 1 (57:24):
Wee Friday Free for All.

Speaker 2 (57:26):
Friday Free for All Rolling on, brought to you by
your friends over at Dan Cavatata Buick GMC. Chris Johnson
now on the line with us, my usual co host,
joining us remotely for a couple of you know, a
couple of weeks, couple of months. This time of year,
we're out of the regular season, if you will, into
baseball postseason action now crazily enough, and he'll he'll rejoin

(57:47):
us in the studio as we start getting ready to
preview football sometime during the during the summer months. Chris,
what's up, man?

Speaker 3 (57:55):
What's going on? Man?

Speaker 7 (57:56):
This uh, this school year is just uh sprinting down
to the finish line.

Speaker 3 (58:01):
Isn't it gone?

Speaker 2 (58:02):
It's gone?

Speaker 3 (58:02):
I mean, you know, I know, I know.

Speaker 7 (58:05):
Bridge Sports graduation is in I think two weeks. It's
a twenty second we're having it having it on a
Thursday evening this year, so I know some schools do
have it in the evenings.

Speaker 3 (58:17):
But uh.

Speaker 7 (58:19):
Uh, Bridge Sports for the last several years has been
you know, Saturday morning.

Speaker 6 (58:23):
But uh.

Speaker 7 (58:26):
I do now, I do know the state track and
field meet is that weekend. So I don't know if
that's what prompted to move to a Thursday evening because
they more than likely will have a bunch of kids
qualify for the state meet.

Speaker 3 (58:40):
You know, I don't know.

Speaker 7 (58:42):
I just know it's at seven o'clock on the Thursday
before the state track meet until Saturday morning.

Speaker 2 (58:48):
That's it's so early though, because I mean I remember
growing up obviously I grew up in a different state.
In New Jersey. We're goetting down to school middle of June,
you know what I mean. We would start after Labor
Day and we're in school till middle of June. Sometimes,
if you know, with enough snow days, we we would
actually still be in school. When when summer officially like
actual summer would start twenty second, we're still in school.

Speaker 7 (59:12):
Yeah, well, I mean think about it. I mean, just
about everyone's already through problem. I know Bridge sports was
last we can at the Bridgeport Conference Center the.

Speaker 3 (59:19):
Night before a victory awards dinner. Uh so.

Speaker 7 (59:24):
Yeah, and I know there was a couple of schools
had it know the week prior to that, So proms done. Uh,
you know, I tracked heading to regionals next week. Baseball
regionals start Monday, Softballs in the middle of sectionals, and
I believe tennis is in regionals this week. So yeah,
it's uh, we keep teasing high school football, but man,

(59:48):
it's gonna be here before we know it.

Speaker 2 (59:50):
Oh, it's it's flying. Man, it's totally for We're in
We're in early May, and I'm telling you it's gonna
be It's gonna be here before you know it. All right,
let's let's talk a little high school baseball. We're gonna
jump around a little bit. And regional seedings are out
and with Bridgeports up and down play, I'm wondering if

(01:00:11):
you're at all surprised they earned the one seed in
their region. And again I say up and down. You know,
the ups have been really good, like their ups have
been pretty update. They obviously they got that big win
over Fairmont Senior. We talked about that last week. You
know that it was like immediately the power rankings came out,
they're ranked behind Fairmont Senior. They came out and took
it out on Fairmont Senior and won that game eight

(01:00:32):
to two. But they followed it up. You know, they've
been super inconsistent. They followed that up, I believe, with
a couple of losses, but they ultimately do come down
with the one seed in Region two RCB, the two seed.
Talked a little bit about this earlier with Greg Carey today.
I mean he said he thinks it's a It's a
really deep region, no question about it.

Speaker 3 (01:00:52):
Oh definitely.

Speaker 7 (01:00:52):
And if anything, Bridgeport I think caught a little bit
of a break also being the number one, because I
think as deep as it is, most people would probably
rank Bridgeport, Robert Shebart and Frankfurt as the top three
in that region. You know, Bridgeport avoids both of them
because you know, Birds two, Frankfurt three, you know, and

(01:01:16):
if one of those would come out of the other
side of that region, you know, then bridge Sport would
face them in the best two or three series.

Speaker 3 (01:01:24):
And I think once we.

Speaker 7 (01:01:25):
Start getting into the best of two or three series,
I mean, as as deep as Bridge Sports pitching staff
is just going to you know, you know, help them out,
you know, even more. And and you're right, I mean
it's you look at their record. I think it might
surprise some people. I think they're eighteen and eight, you know,
heading into Thursday.

Speaker 3 (01:01:49):
But they've got some quality wins in there too. And
I said, man, the depth of that pitching staff.

Speaker 7 (01:01:58):
You know, I'll take a team like that when you
get into a best two out of three, you know,
any day of the week and twice on Sundays.

Speaker 3 (01:02:05):
But but no, it is a very deep region.

Speaker 7 (01:02:08):
I mean Frankfurt, I mean Frankfort is Infinity state champions,
you know, and we've seen.

Speaker 3 (01:02:14):
How good Robert C. Bird is this year.

Speaker 7 (01:02:16):
Yeah, you know, it's kind of a shame that only
one out of those three are going to advance to
to Charleston.

Speaker 3 (01:02:23):
You know, baseball is a little bit different.

Speaker 7 (01:02:25):
In basketball, even though they're using the same regional format,
you want to get.

Speaker 3 (01:02:30):
Four teams, you know, advanced to the state tournament in Charleston.

Speaker 7 (01:02:33):
So there's gonna be a couple of pretty good teams,
you know, setting it all when it comes to state
baseball tournament time.

Speaker 2 (01:02:40):
Yeah, and it's worth noting that on that front here,
that that's why it's probably best, especially at the high
school level, but it's in general best. I always get
bothered when there's sort of a like a championship or
bust or or in some sports it's you know, like
in college basketball, to be like Final four bust or

(01:03:00):
or you know what I mean, Like like there seems
to be these sort of set expectations and it's like,
you know, like the actual statistical probabilities of you know,
doing something or bust are pretty rare, and so like
the team can have a perfectly good season. And and
again I think this is particularly true at the high
school level. You know, Like I'm not trying to I'm

(01:03:21):
not trying to apologize for Bridgeport, nor am I trying
to say that I like, I'm not prepping for a
Bridgeport loss. But certainly they're a little less dominant than
I thought they'd be. Although admittedly, again the format does
favor them when you consider the depth of their of
their starting pitching. The format favors them in that way,
But I don't think if Bridgeport finishes the year, let's
say they're you know, they're eighteen and eight, and let's say,

(01:03:43):
you know, they win a couple of postseason games, but ultimately,
like when they finish the year, they're like twenty and ten.
Right when all is said and done, they're twenty and ten,
and they don't they don't play in Charleston. Like, that's
a good year. That is a good year. It's it's
obviously not the year they probably wanted, but at day's end,
that is a good year by just about any metric.
They won two out of every three games, and they

(01:04:04):
played deep into the postseason, but they didn't get to
the final four, which is what you have to do
to get to Charleston. It's tough and they play in
a in a in a tough region. So and I
think that's true for a lot of teams, like they
just not a lot of teams make it that far.
And see, you really have to like that's a really
special thing to go on a run like that.

Speaker 3 (01:04:23):
Yeah, and I mean you think about it.

Speaker 7 (01:04:27):
You know, the past three seasons, bridt Spord has had
really good baseball seasons, but there has been a level
of disappointment that happened.

Speaker 3 (01:04:35):
When you went eight straight state titles.

Speaker 6 (01:04:39):
Uh.

Speaker 7 (01:04:40):
You used to end in the season in Charleston, and
you get used to in the season in Charleston as
the last team standing. You know, I don't want to
say that there is necessarily a chip on their shoulder,
but uh, I mean this is a program that I
mean really, I mean just three years ago, uh you
when they're eight straight you know, a title uh in

(01:05:01):
this sport.

Speaker 3 (01:05:02):
So yeah, man, I.

Speaker 7 (01:05:07):
Don't know it's so tough because I mean, you know,
you know, like we talked about last week, I mean baseball,
you can be playing really well and running into an
opposing pitcher who.

Speaker 3 (01:05:20):
Was just on that night, and that's it. You're season's over.
You know.

Speaker 7 (01:05:27):
It kind of happened to Birchmoord last year in the
uh finally game of the regional against Morgantown. You know,
I forget the young man's name for the Mohegans, but
I mean he was just, I mean he looked like
you know, Greg Maddicks game. You know, I mean, it's
just it's just, you know, baseball was a funny sport.
Was Alex Rodriguez, you know, famously said it's a uh

(01:05:49):
it's a round ball that comes in a square box,
you know, and uh, you know, crazy things happened. So
and like you said, man, there's there's a lot of
good teams and you know, and I don't think, you know,
I still think Bridge Sport is definitely a contender, but uh,
I don't feel as confident about them as I did.
You know in late February early March. They haven't been

(01:06:13):
hitting the ball all that well, you know what we're
used to. But you know, his bass can get hot
at any time, and you know, Monday would be a
good time, you know, for you for his bask to
get hot again.

Speaker 2 (01:06:28):
So yeah, and I remember Chris George went down and
I don't have the stats in front of me, but
he did go down a list of of of hitting
stats that were I think kind of concerning to him
during last week's show, talking about just you know, some
of the numbers and and what the numbers had looked like.
And that's been true with the Bridgeport bats have been
definitely the weakness on the team this year. And and

(01:06:50):
the other thing worth noting is those could come alive.
Uh it happens. It's it's you know, you make it
this far you've got the pitching. Uh, sometimes you just
need a little bit of hitting to get the job done.
Let's uh, let's really quickly, I'm gonna go through the
power rankings and then we can go through all the
regional rank Actually, you know what, let's just go through

(01:07:12):
all the regional rankings. That probably makes more sense than
the power rankings at this point, and I'll start us
in Class triple A. Me give me one second here
to situate myself in the right spot. Class triple A.
So Region one Fairmont Senior comes in is A two

(01:07:32):
graft and A three North Marion, A four East Fairmont,
seven and Elkins. I'm sorry, I got that wrong. Fairmont
Senior two graft and three North Marion, four East Fairmont, five,
Elkins is seven. Brooke got the one. We'd got the six. Obviously,
of the of the seven teams, those two are not
in our region. We typically don't really talk about them.

Speaker 8 (01:07:52):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:07:52):
That bracket. You can check out the schedule for it
right now at wv Metroduce dot com, along with all
the rest of these that I'm about to mention. In
Region two, Bridgeport number one, RCB number two, Lincoln at
four Lewis County at six, and then the non area
teams Frankfurt at three, Hampshire at five, Kaiser seven, and

(01:08:13):
Berkeley Springs over at number eight. So that's that'll do
it for your Class Triple A within this general region.
They're obviously some other Triple A teams you folks are
welcome to again hop on the website and look at
but we're not going to go over We're not going
to go over every single region because there are just
teams that we don't cover in those regions. Real quick

(01:08:36):
before we move over to Class double A. Decent representation,
lots of ones, lots of two's good overall, seems like
a relatively good year in the region for baseball. Maybe
not an elite year, but a good year.

Speaker 3 (01:08:50):
Oh yeah, definitely I agree.

Speaker 7 (01:08:51):
Again, you know it makes you wonder because you you
said Brook is a number one in the region one.

Speaker 3 (01:09:00):
I haven't seen them this year.

Speaker 7 (01:09:03):
I know how good fair Mont Senior is, So I
mean Brook must be legit to get to the union
number one, you know, over the Polar Bears.

Speaker 2 (01:09:09):
So yeah, absolutely, let's go over to Class double A.
Worth noting, by the way, we have a lot of
unbalanced regions, so there's a six team, there's a seven
team in double A, there's a nine team in single A.
In double A, Philip Barbara number one, South Harrison number two.
This is Region two. Philip Barbara number one, South Harrison
number two, Doddridge four, Richie five, Braxton six, Petersburg three,

(01:09:33):
more Field seven. Those are the two schools not in
our area. But I pointed this one out to Greg
carry It and he said something that was pretty interesting.
He thought there was a possibility that again maybe the
deepest of all the regions, but also worth noting, this
is one where it's gonna be a real dog fight
for number one, Philip Barber to get out of this region.

(01:09:55):
It's and it's more importantly, it's not even a lock
that you're gonna get one versus two when it all
gets to the end for who's gonna go on in
a best of three, we may not see Philip Barbara
or South Harrison. It's completely plausible one of them gets
upset by the other.

Speaker 7 (01:10:09):
Yeah, definitely, But if we do, how ofesome would that be?

Speaker 3 (01:10:17):
How much? How often do we talk during football.

Speaker 7 (01:10:19):
Season about how with these the news shifts and classifications,
it makes sense for Philip Barber and South Harrison to
play each other in everything. They're slowly getting there, you know,
a one versus two best two out of three series
with winner going to the state tournament. That would amp

(01:10:41):
up that rivalry a little bit, I would think.

Speaker 2 (01:10:43):
Yeah, And it really does have the makings of a
potential rivalry. I think anchor right on.

Speaker 7 (01:10:50):
Yeah, I like you said, you know, they both have
to go take care of business. But I'm really hopeful
that one kind of turns out to be your chalk,
you know, at least as hard as the followings go.

Speaker 3 (01:11:04):
Because I think Philip Barber, I.

Speaker 7 (01:11:07):
Think Philip Barbon in South Harrison are both challenged enough
to win double A, you know, lead loan, you know
the region. So I mean, I just think that would
be a tremendous, tremendous matchup for the area.

Speaker 2 (01:11:19):
Yeah, they both have shown that they have the goods.
It's obviously gonna be about putting it all together right
at the same time. And then in Class single A,
let's wrap Region one the locals Notre Dame at three,
Claybtel at four, Trinity at five, Valley at seven, Paydon
City at eight hundred at nine, and then just a

(01:11:40):
little north of Wetzel County. Madonna at one, Magnolia at six,
but that's a very deep region as well, and Notre
Dame will certainly have their work cut out for them
in the three spot.

Speaker 7 (01:11:54):
Yeah, yeah, you know, I know they're kind of out
of our reason. I've just been so impressed with what
Madonna has done this season. I feel like they're kind
of emerging as the team to beat in all Class A.
But you know, you know, like we can we care
referring to during you when we were talking about Bridgeport,

(01:12:16):
I mean, they still gotta go take care of business.
But good to see Notre Dame making some noise, you know.
So yeah, I don't know, I just I just feel
like Madonna, it just seems destined you to to get
to that at state tournament and when the whole thing.

Speaker 3 (01:12:35):
But all that, man, we're gonna find out in the
hurry next week.

Speaker 2 (01:12:40):
Yes, And then a quick shout out in the in
one of the five team regions. Quick shout out to
Tigerts Valley earning a one seed in Class single A region.
To our friends over in Mill Creek earning a top
seed having a really good year by the way over
in milk.

Speaker 3 (01:12:59):
I don't know how well. I'm sure you know, Frank Tait,
you know a little bit.

Speaker 7 (01:13:05):
You know at South Harrison uh Man when they were
into Main I've seen some South Harrison Tigers Valley just
like All Time Classic baseball games, So you know Tigers
Valley if you look across the board at All Sports,
pretty solid baseball program. So yeah, it's not our team

(01:13:26):
to keep an eye on next week.

Speaker 2 (01:13:28):
Quick shout out, by the way before we switch gears,
because I do want to talk a little bit about
track and field and Wayne Ryan as well with you,
but quick shout out. So congrats to Quentin Reap and
congrats to Ryan Goff who both earned I think Reep
was First Team All MEC golf was All Honorable mention
for the All MEC team both at Fairmont State former

(01:13:49):
Bridgeport baseball players, and then Nate Paulson from West Virginia State,
former BHS product, also earning a first team contribution or
a first team merit, So congrats to all of.

Speaker 3 (01:14:01):
Them, and of course Nate Nate also former State Player
of the Year.

Speaker 2 (01:14:07):
So it's a heck of a heck of a group.
You can always expect to see some some Bridgeport products
just littering that NBC.

Speaker 7 (01:14:14):
All what I'm telling you, why, that's three really good
baseball players right there.

Speaker 2 (01:14:19):
Yeah, so yeah, no, absolutely, all right, So hey.

Speaker 7 (01:14:24):
While we're shouting out former, this is Ben McDougall putting
together a great season for WVU. I mean, he was
just Student Athlete of the Week for WVU I think
just you know, last week. So that's another guy that
you know played right, you know, right there with Golf.

Speaker 3 (01:14:40):
And Nate and and and Quentin and all those guys.

Speaker 7 (01:14:43):
So yeah, so Bridgeport alums getting it done at the
next level.

Speaker 2 (01:14:49):
That's true. It's true. And the Mountaineers, I've been talking
about it all week on my other show, but worth
mentioning here. They are one win away and I still
don't know the answer to the but they are one
went away from the all time program record for wins
in a single season. The thing that I don't know
is how how how many wins do they have all

(01:15:11):
time pre tournament like, pre postseason. My guess is they've
already surpassed that with the thirty nine that they have.
So heck of a team to be a part of.
Uh for for Ben, and he's been uh He's been
really good in his thirteen appearances. Era is under four
uh and and opposing batting averages like I think like

(01:15:33):
two thirty three. He's having a really nice year out
of the bullpen. Uh for the Mountaineers, and they're just
they're just so deep this year. They're so so deep.
I wouldn't be I mean, you would think he'd be
starting in some other places.

Speaker 3 (01:15:45):
Oh oh, without a doubt. I mean, you know, a
lefty with velocity.

Speaker 7 (01:15:50):
I mean, that's the most sought after, you know, product
in all baseball at any you know.

Speaker 8 (01:15:55):
Yeah, yeah, I was.

Speaker 7 (01:15:57):
I was a lefty with not a lot of velocity,
so I wasn't quite as.

Speaker 2 (01:16:03):
Hey, I'm impressed, listen, that's cool that you were. That
you were a south Paw. I don't know. I don't
know a lot. I don't know a lot of South
pause yeap, the uh, LETM gonna get I'm gonna turn
this one over to you though. For the Big Ten
track meet. Bridgeport swept the team titles at the Big

(01:16:23):
Ten Conference Track and Field Championship meet earlier this week,
and the boys finished with one hundred and eighty two
team points, capturing first place in six events. Girls finished
with one hundred and fifty six points took first place
in six events. I'll admit I don't know exactly how
the points in the scoring system works, but I do
know what first place means, So congratulations to them. And man,

(01:16:47):
do they still do like like at the end of
the year, are they going to tally up you know,
what school had the most at the most accolades? And
do they still do that like the Governor's Cup or whatever.
I don't really pay much attention to it, but I
start at the end of each year, we do a
list of uh, every every every school and who has
the most points or whatever it is. Bridgeport is probably
pretty pretty pretty darn close to being ahead in that.

Speaker 7 (01:17:09):
Yeah, it's funny to mention that because they do. I
forget exactly what it's called. But the S S A
C sent out like an update on those just within
the past week, and surprisingly Fairmont sor uh was on
top and trip away, even though you know, I think
what really helped Fairmont Senior was because they had a

(01:17:30):
strong wrestling season.

Speaker 3 (01:17:31):
They were just.

Speaker 7 (01:17:32):
Behind, you know in football, uh you know, and still
really good in boys basketball, so I think the points
they picked up from wrestling gave them a little bit
of the edge over Bridgeport.

Speaker 2 (01:17:44):
You know, we'll have to see, we'll have to see
if baseball and and uh and track make it make
a difference here.

Speaker 7 (01:17:49):
Yeah, imagine that it's coming down between Bridgeport and Fairmont
sor yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:17:54):
Right, uh did you?

Speaker 8 (01:17:56):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (01:17:57):
Did you? Did you get a chance? Were you at
that meet? By chance?

Speaker 3 (01:18:01):
I was not, but I was.

Speaker 7 (01:18:02):
One great thing about track now is as far as
the sports across the state, their live results would just screaming.
You can follow a track meet, you know, without actually
being there in person.

Speaker 2 (01:18:12):
I just gotcha.

Speaker 7 (01:18:13):
I originally planned on going because I enjoy covering track
and field meets, but I had some other stuff to
get caught up on, and I knew it wasn't probably
going to end to around ten o'clock, which I think
it actually ended about nine to fifty.

Speaker 3 (01:18:27):
So yeah, But.

Speaker 7 (01:18:31):
It's funny because you know, track and field is it's
a bunch of individual events and you take those and
you asked about how the scoring. You get ten points
for first place, you know, eight points per second, you know,
you know on down you know, I think that the
top eight place and then those accumulate throughout the course

(01:18:51):
of a meet and then whoever has the most points,
you know, wins the team title. Some people will tell
you that team titles don't really matter in the sport.
I've been to enough state track and field meets when
they announced like whoever the team championship is, and they
got nuts. It matters. It matters to do his kids

(01:19:12):
to win the team title. But it is the collection
of individual things. And the weird thing about the Bridgeport
track and field team they do well. It meets like
the Big Ten meet because they generally have so many
track and field athletes. They know, it's just strength of numbers, right.
The weird thing about this year's team is there's no

(01:19:35):
serious injuries, but they really haven't had a meet yet.
Maybe maybe you can maybe say the Big Ten finally
where they've had every piece of the puzzle you know available.
You know, they've had you know, this person missing here
or this person you missing there. You know there's one
meet you know Carver Zuliani couldn't be there because of
you know, being involved with the WU Spring game.

Speaker 3 (01:19:57):
Uh and just stuff like that. So now we're getting
now to.

Speaker 7 (01:20:02):
Regionals. You start next week. I'm curious to see how
many kids. They can get qualified. Now, keep in mind
track and fields three sport or three classifications. Bridge sport
is still in with the bigger schools like Morgantown, Wheeling Park,
whatever it's it's a little bit tougher. If this team
was in Double A or you put this team in

(01:20:26):
Triple A next year in the four class system, the
track and field will be in. They would be a
legit state title contender. They've got some kids you're definitely
going to qualify and make some noise in the state meet.

Speaker 5 (01:20:37):
Uh.

Speaker 7 (01:20:38):
You know, you know Miley Smell. We've heard that name
a lot, you know, throughout the school year. Having a
great season you as a hurdler, Troy's Zorich could stand
out distance runner. Battling back from injuries he missed all
across country season, He's gonna be one of the best
in the state. John Cox is an elite sprinter. Then
you got some names you recognize them football team like

(01:21:00):
Carter Zuliani, West Brown in the shop putting discus, Uh,
Timmy Jeffers, Alex Moses, and you know some of the sprints,
and Timmy's.

Speaker 3 (01:21:08):
Actually one of the better long jumpers in the state.

Speaker 2 (01:21:10):
Hey, when does Carter Zuliani have time to do anything.
And that kid, that kid is just that kid is kind.
I mean he imagine what his practice schedule between homework
and school work and studying and and everything looks like.

Speaker 3 (01:21:23):
Oh exactly.

Speaker 7 (01:21:24):
And and I know I'm not suggesting, you know, playing
football for rich Roy Reguez at that level is easy.
But I'm always curious just to see how well some
of these multi sports standouts do when they can just
focus on just the one sport at the collegiate level.
So I think that's gonna be an interesting thing to

(01:21:44):
track you next year with Carter.

Speaker 2 (01:21:46):
Yeah. No, I'm excited for the next couple of years. Really,
I'm really excited to see how that goes. I think
a lot of high hopes for for him, for a
lot of people across the region.

Speaker 3 (01:21:56):
Here.

Speaker 2 (01:21:57):
Hey, so let's I got I got one more quick thing,
and then I have kind of a fun way to
end it, a fun way, And it was so Wayne Ryan,
though is officially stepping into the executive director role. Wv
S SAC does not go far to find their next
executive director in Wayne Ryan, who will step in to

(01:22:17):
replace David Price. Spent a long time with Summers County
Athletics and he's been with the wv S SAC now
for nearly a decade. Congratulations to Wayne Ryan.

Speaker 7 (01:22:29):
Yeah, I I have a decent relationship with everyone in
that building, but I would put Wayne at the at
the top of the list.

Speaker 3 (01:22:41):
This goes back to even when he coached Summers.

Speaker 7 (01:22:44):
I mean, one of the best girls basketball coaches the
state's ever seen. Summer coality was a powerhouse when he
was there, defeated Lincoln twice here for Class WA state championships.

Speaker 3 (01:22:59):
But now I think Wayne is a perfect fit.

Speaker 7 (01:23:02):
I mean he's been there now and seeing two executive
directors Bernie Dolan, who had a great relationship with and
now David Price, who I felt like I had a
good relationship with and just didn't know him as well,
because you know, mister Price has only been in that
role what two years. I think, yeah, Uh, to me,

(01:23:27):
Wayne's the perfect guy for the job. And you notice
a lot of coaches throughout the state have kind of
said so on social media. They're like, you know, this
is a great hire. I think s SAC is always
going to be the bad guy. They're never going to
make everybody happy. They're going to get blamed for a
lot of things that they shouldn't get blamed for, but

(01:23:49):
uh Wayne, Ryan's aware of all that, and I know
he's going to do everything to have high school not
just athletics, but you know, because you're banned and that
you know that falls under the umbrella of s sac
as well. He's going to do everything he can in

(01:24:09):
his power to make things right for extracurricular activities in
the state. So I have full confidence in the man.

Speaker 3 (01:24:18):
And I'm you know.

Speaker 7 (01:24:21):
He reached out to me, like I think it's like
seven seven, eight years, maybe even as long as he's
been in this. They see they needed someone to take
over keeping this playoff stats because they're they're you know,
we talked about this during during football season, but part

(01:24:41):
of what they have to do they have to keep
certain stats and submit them to the National Federation High Schools.
And he kind of asked if I would be willing
to do that, and I have, and uh, you know,
are we already had a decent relationship, but I think
me helping them out with that as when he built
on that, and uh, you know, it's a tough job,

(01:25:04):
you know, I don't I don't know if if anyone
is like yeah, I want to be executive director.

Speaker 3 (01:25:13):
Of this as AC because man, you're going to take
a lot of crap.

Speaker 7 (01:25:16):
But uh, I think Wayne Ryan is the main that
can navigate through that and is gonna have the state's
best then first in heart.

Speaker 2 (01:25:24):
So uh so we're gonna wrap on on two. I'm
gonna call these hockey adjacent because they're not really about hockey,
and one of them is West Virginia related. But U
two funny stories. The first the shorter of the two.
I know you're a big wrestling guy. Uh, you're a
big wrestling are you big Rock Lesnar guy?

Speaker 3 (01:25:43):
And he's okay?

Speaker 2 (01:25:45):
Yeah, so so worth noting. Uh, he's okay. I don't
know anything about wrestling. By the way, this is so outside.
His son just got drafted into the uh Canadian Major
Junior Hockey League, Uh, the Medicine Hat Tigers. That of
course one of the biggest pipelines for getting into the NHL.
So congratulations to him. But I don't know anything about

(01:26:05):
brock Lesner outside of knowing that, in fact, he wrestled.
I didn't know if you were if you could, if
you could give us the Lesnar insight.

Speaker 3 (01:26:12):
Oh definitely he uh, well, first, he was.

Speaker 7 (01:26:18):
Like a standout amateur wrestler at I think Minnesota maybe
UH one of one of the Midwest schools, went to WWE.
UH decided to take a break from that, almost made
the Minnesota He decided, I am won't try to play
professional football, made it through like the first four rounds

(01:26:41):
of cuts with the Minnesota Vikings, then decided to get
into UFC.

Speaker 6 (01:26:45):
UH.

Speaker 3 (01:26:46):
He was very successful if that. Then Condom went went
back to professional wrestling. UH.

Speaker 7 (01:26:54):
I will tell you the one thing I really do
admire about him because his daughters are also a state
out track and field athlete. He's kind of been semi
retired for the past two three years and we're pro wrestling.

Speaker 3 (01:27:08):
Yeah, there's a.

Speaker 7 (01:27:09):
Saying no one's ever really retired. I mean, Rick Flair
still shows up and does stuff. But so he gets
asked all the time when you come back. You know
you're gonna show up at WrestleMania, you know you're gonna
leave and show up at ae W. And I saw
a recent interview where he was just like, you know what,
I spent so much of my time traveling with professional wrestling,

(01:27:34):
and I saw colleagues miss so many things that their
kids were doing. He's like, I don't want to do that,
and I mean if you search hard enough, you will.
I mean he's at like everything his kids do.

Speaker 2 (01:27:47):
And yeah, his daughter is she a Colorado state? Am
I right about that? Colorado state? Something like that?

Speaker 3 (01:27:54):
I believe?

Speaker 2 (01:27:54):
So yeah, okay, yea, yeah, no, good for good for them.
That's that's fantastic and apparently apparently a family of athletes there.
So that's gonna lead me into my into my into
my second thing. And maybe you know this is where
hopefully your your knowledge of West Virginia high school sports
history will come into play here. So the reason I
I the other thought that this prompted in my head

(01:28:16):
was him getting drafted by Medicine. Hat Are you familiar
with what is called the Memorial Cup?

Speaker 6 (01:28:28):
No?

Speaker 2 (01:28:28):
Okay, all right, so the Memorial Cup is this there?
There are there are three major junior hockey leagues in Canada,
right There's the there's the Quebec Major Junior League, There's
the Ontario Hockey League, and there's the Western Hockey League.
And that's where all the big time prospects, typically speaking, are.
They don't really play college hockey. There's some university hockey

(01:28:49):
but they typically that's it's the big prospects play in
those leagues. And at the end of the end of
the year, you know, they they do their championship. You know,
they go through the playoffs, they go to the championship
of the WHL, the OHL, the qmj JHL. But then
when it's all over, when it's all over, there's a
four team invitational called the Memorial Cup. And the four

(01:29:13):
teams you have a host team who is picked out
in advance for whatever reason is usually it's not necessarily
affiliated with any specific reason, but four teams get invited
and typically it's a host site, and then the three
champions of the league's and they compete at a four
team round robin. And I want to know why we

(01:29:33):
don't do this in West Virginia with our four CLASSI occasions.
We should do something like this, whether it be football, basketball, baseball.
We need a Memorial Cup in West Virginia. How much
fun would that be? At daysen? Hey, you win the championship,
But you know, why don't we find out who's gonna
get bragging rights at day's end When Tucker County and

(01:29:54):
Fairmont Senior get together for a matchup in boys basketball.

Speaker 3 (01:30:00):
A man, you got.

Speaker 7 (01:30:04):
Yeah, I would love to see something like that. You know,
probably never happened, no, because we we live in the
world now where I mean, you know, everybody gets some
participation trophy. So uh man, let me get back to
that Memorial Cup just for a second. I bet the
hockey in that tournament is freaking phenomenal.

Speaker 2 (01:30:24):
It's so good.

Speaker 3 (01:30:25):
It's the best. I mean, it's the best of the
best young players in Canada.

Speaker 2 (01:30:29):
Yeah, oh yeah, And and they're not all Canadian. It's
it's really the best of the best in the whole
continent because you have a lot of American American players
there as well. You know, it's a it's a it's
an interesting comp because you know, some kids choose to
play in those leagues. Some kids will choose to play
in the n S Double A, and there are all
sorts of different options. But but no, it's it's great hockey.
But I I but the idea behind it. I was like, man,

(01:30:50):
that's really cool. Yeah, you go on, you win your championship,
like you're in your own league, like the these are.
It's not like the a f C and the NFC.
It's not like the Eastern comp it's in the Western Conference,
in the NBA, the NHL, NO, NO, the WHL, the QJ
or the Quebec Junior so QJ m H. I always
get that wrong. And the OHL they play their own

(01:31:11):
distinct playoffs and championship and crown a champion, and winning
those leagues is a big deal. But then when it's
all said and done, they compete against one another in
a tournament. And I think that is very cool and
I would love to see that, Like let's Guinea Pigott
and girls basketball at some point and we'll say, hey, uh,
you know the uh, we're gonna choose it. We're gonna
choose Okay, hey, Morgantown, you're gonna host. You're gonna be

(01:31:34):
the first host, and you're gonna host the four class
champions and we'll do uh well. And if Morgantown doesn't
happen to be one of the class champions, it'll be
a five team tournament. I think that would be I
think that would be a blast. I think that would
draw people in. It would be all star basketball. But
you're playing for a trophy at the end because you're
representing your school. You're representing your school. Still, Yes, I

(01:31:55):
know how that works when you're representing your school man.

Speaker 7 (01:31:58):
Yeah, hey, I bring that back circle like, just all
I've got a good connection with the Uh.

Speaker 3 (01:32:08):
Next time I see way Ryan, I'll bring that up.
I already know what his answer is going to be,
but I still bring it up.

Speaker 2 (01:32:18):
Yeah. Hey, listen, if you bring it up, that that
to me. That's that's good. That's a that's great. I'm
I'm in favor. Your work will be done. Yeah at
that point, yeah, I uh, that's all. That's all. I
that's all I got on that. Hey. So I know
I promised more and Or talk this week. So I
I told you before we got on. I'm two episodes away,

(01:32:38):
two episodes away from season two. We made it through
a lot. We had kind of a we we we
we plowed through the first season, and then we we
hit a stopping point. Had had a bunch of random
stuff pop up this week that got in the way.
So we're we're gonna finish the two episodes before I
leave for New Jersey, and then when I come back,
we're gonna knock out season two. So next week you
and I will we we are having an and or

(01:33:00):
talk on this show. That is happening next week.

Speaker 3 (01:33:04):
All right, man, sounds good.

Speaker 6 (01:33:05):
I like that.

Speaker 3 (01:33:06):
Yeah, I told you.

Speaker 7 (01:33:06):
It's like I'm I haven't watched this new batch and
just came out this week, but I've heard nothing but
good things.

Speaker 2 (01:33:13):
And yeah, how tired do you think the How tired
do you think our listeners are getting of me promising
and not delivering on this?

Speaker 7 (01:33:20):
Probably there's probably some that are like, man, it's bad
enough to talking about a indoor, but if they're going
to talk about it.

Speaker 3 (01:33:27):
I wish they would actually talk about it.

Speaker 7 (01:33:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:33:31):
Yeah, No, I can't deliver. I just can't deliver on this.
I'm sorry. Guys.

Speaker 7 (01:33:35):
Hey, Hey, as much as we love the franchise, is
like we you know, it was like, you know, life
gets in away, sometimes work gets in away.

Speaker 3 (01:33:46):
Gosh darn it, you know. Sometimes you know.

Speaker 2 (01:33:49):
It's true, it's true. The question is when when will
we be starting a petition to get Steve Earl cannonized
in the Star Wars universe? Because I'm I'm, I'm I'm
already there. We gotta start. I'm gonna play a change
dot org petition to canonize Steve Earle as a part
of Star Wars, and we'll get on that I'm gonna

(01:34:10):
do that. I might actually do that. It's just just
just just to see, just to see, you know, for fun.

Speaker 7 (01:34:14):
Do you remember do you remember, I know we're way
over on down here, that would probably happen before we
get a round robin tournament with our No, that's one.

Speaker 2 (01:34:21):
Hundred percent true. Do you remember?

Speaker 3 (01:34:23):
Wait?

Speaker 2 (01:34:24):
Do you remember? This is probably like fifteen years ago?
Out man, it's probably more than that's probably like fifteen
sixteen years ago. Now, do you remember when Old Miss
attempted to get Admiral acbar or a group of students
at Old Miss attempted to get Admiral Acbar as the
logo when they replaced their old Rebels logo. They were like,
well why not the rebels from from Star Wars and

(01:34:46):
ESPN turned it into a marketing campaign for ESPN. The
it was, I mean, if you have it's it's if
you ever seen this, I will send it to you.
It's phenomenal.

Speaker 7 (01:34:55):
Yeah, I'm I was today years old when when I
learned about that, So, yeah, you have to send that
to me.

Speaker 2 (01:35:02):
You're gonna, oh, you're gonna love it. You're gonna you're
gonna love There are a group of students at Ole
Miss who pushed for Admiral Acbar and they actually got
so this is pre sequel trilogy, mind you, they got
a response from Lucasfilm incredible, very very very very very good. Yeah,
I was. It's one of my all time favorite pieces,
like if you can, if you can truly have a

(01:35:23):
favorite piece of marketing. It's it's a tough thing to say.
This was. This was good work by ESPN because they
used it to promote ESPN naturally. Uh and uh it
was part of their It's not crazy It's sports uh
advertising campaign and to me that's still not only is
that one of the best ad campaigns. That's the one
do you remember the Michigan the girl wearing the Michigan

(01:35:45):
jersey and the guy with the Ohio state jersey making
out and it's like it's not crazy at sports.

Speaker 7 (01:35:51):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, that's you know, we could uh,
I know, we got wrap up. But man, we even
think back to some of the like to classic esping commercials,
uh that that might be a good topic you one day,
you know, we get into summer months, is like we'll
start talking about some of it, you know, like some
of the Craig killborn ones when I still just chuckled

(01:36:12):
just even thinking about.

Speaker 2 (01:36:13):
Him, you know, Alex Alex Ovechkin as a Russian spy,
Henrik Lundquist trying to interpret the Swedish chef. Uh, that's
an incredible commercial seeing that one is they got the
muppet Swedish chef. That's great. Uh yeah, no, that's a
good call. We will save that segment for for some
summer months. Uh, Chris, anything fun going on this week

(01:36:33):
before I let you go?

Speaker 7 (01:36:34):
Uh no, just uh, I got all my yard work done,
so don't have to worry about, you know, mowing any
grass or cutting any weeds. Uh, get right, celebrate Mother's
Day and uh not. No know nothing nothing to the
number of fours actually having a sports car vintage toys
show on Saturday.

Speaker 3 (01:36:54):
I might go check that out, so.

Speaker 2 (01:36:56):
You bringing you can bring Ali with you.

Speaker 3 (01:37:00):
Now.

Speaker 7 (01:37:01):
Okay, as much as I want, I love him, but
he's not a people dog.

Speaker 2 (01:37:08):
Oh no, okay, gotcha, fair enough, fair enough, He's a
Chris Johnson dog, that's what he is. Yes, all right,
very good, Chris, much appreciated man. We will talk with
you next week, and we're definitely doing that ESPN commercial.
That's a great idea. I'm gonna send that to you
here when we jump off the air. Uh.

Speaker 7 (01:37:24):
This is the Friday Free for All next Yeah, next
Friday will be my birthday.

Speaker 2 (01:37:30):
Perfect, We're doing that, all right, Well, we'll talk. We'll
talk about that next week. And a happy early birthday
to Chris. We're back right after this to wrap the
show here on the Friday Free for All brought to
you by Dan Cavato to buick GMC.

Speaker 1 (01:37:43):
Cavatoyo w a GMC Friday Free for All.

Speaker 2 (01:37:49):
All right, folks, we got it close today. I gotta go,
We gotta get out of here. But uh, we'll be
back next week. Even though I'm going on vacation, I'll
be back in time to still do an original episode.
And of course we've got all sorts of high school
baseball playoff softball sectionals to look into, so that's exactly
what we'll be doing. A reminder that we will be

(01:38:10):
doing a bonus section of the pod. The original John
Carpenter Philip Barber interview will be attached to the end
of the episode, So if you missed it, or if
you were disappointed that you couldn't hear it because I
the episode was full of audio issues. No problem, the
raw version. I was able to locate it and we'll

(01:38:32):
get that uploaded today. Gotta go, folks. Thanks for listening
to the Friday Free for All brought to you by
Dan Cavatota Buick GMC. Enjoy the weather. It sounds like
it's going to be a gorgeous weekend. Get out there
and either play some golf or watch them baseball and
softball today. This is the Friday Free for All brought

(01:38:54):
to you by Dan Cavatiota Buick GMC. I have got
for the first time on the show, Jonathan Carpenter, head
coach at Philip Barber for baseball. They're off to a
fantastic start. They are seven to zero. They would like
to play some baseball again, though they have not done
that for a while thanks to the latest round of
rain that has made it just impossible to get games

(01:39:15):
in apparently. Coach welcome in. Thanks for doing this.

Speaker 8 (01:39:18):
Yeah, thanks for having me. Alex look forward to speaking
with you.

Speaker 2 (01:39:21):
You guys about a heck of a start to the season.
Is this what you were expecting this run to start
the year.

Speaker 8 (01:39:28):
Well, honestly, yeah, I thought we were going to be
well prepared, and I thought we were going to be
playing pretty decent baseball. I mean, you never expect to
win every single game, that's for sure, but we're gonna
try like heck to win them all. But yeah, I
mean last year we made a deep run that kind
of surprised a few people, but we knew what we
had and then the experience is kind of translated this year.

Speaker 2 (01:39:53):
Can you talk a little bit stylistically about how you
approach coaching, especially obviously coaching young guys can have sort
of be a double edged sword. You know, they're full
of energy and usually it's not that hard to get
them to exert that energy, but at the same time,
they're they're not always full of focus. I imagine, what's
it like, you know, uh, coaching young players like this
in a sport that does require a fair bit of patience.

Speaker 8 (01:40:15):
It absolutely lotally requires patients and focus both. I mean,
I look forward to the daily challenges with this group,
not that there's really any discipline issues. I have a
great group of kids and a great group of parents
who kind of back up what I want to do.
But you know, we like to have energy and we

(01:40:35):
like to play me serious. At the same time, I
think there's a fine line of being too serious and
also just being kind of too lack a days achoo.
So you've got to find that line, and a lot
of that set by your standards, which typically come from
your senior class. And we have a very good senior class.

(01:40:56):
We have five of them who I couldn't ask for
five better kids to lead a group of young kids,
young men like they are.

Speaker 2 (01:41:04):
Yeah, that's I mean, that's kind of part of the
fun of the structure, I imagine, is each year kind
of having that different leadership group who comes together and
and does this And where where do you think it
most comes out? Because again off to a seven and
oh start, so clearly you guys are doing some things right.
Does it come out when you're practicing and the effort
they're putting forward. Does it come out in the dugout

(01:41:26):
when guys just aren't panicking if they get down or
aren't getting too high, if they get ahead? What where
does that come out the most? In your from what
you're seeing.

Speaker 8 (01:41:36):
I mean, honestly, I think it comes out the most
when we're behind in baseball games. In the past, I've
had some talented teams and they'll just kind of hang
their head when they get behind, you know, not to
say that they were rolling over or anything, but you
could tell they didn't have that confidence. And this this
group of kids, I mean, they expect to win. It

(01:41:56):
doesn't matter what the score is, and they understand that
the goal was to play seven innings and then we'll
see where the chips may fall.

Speaker 2 (01:42:05):
You would talk a little bit about Grant Harris and
the season that he's been having for you.

Speaker 8 (01:42:10):
Yeah. Yeah, Grant's a kid that we kind of threw
to the Wolves. When he was a freshman, he pitched
quite a few innings, and as the years have went on,
he's matured and he understands kind of what we're looking for.
And the thing with Grant, especially this year, is something
is kind of clicked to where he's processing everything so

(01:42:33):
quick and he understands, like when he's pitching, for instance,
how good his stuff is. There's no need to try
to nibble and go around people. We're going to go
right after you and we're going to see where it
goes from there. But he's been very good, and Grant's
a very good leader as well. He's laid back. He's

(01:42:54):
more of a i'll show you and I'll tell you guy,
which meshes well with the other ones that we have
who are and I tell you kind of player. So
it works out well.

Speaker 2 (01:43:06):
What do you think is the biggest thing that that
and not just from a pure Hey, guys can hit,
guys can pitch, obviously, that stuff's. Guys can field, guys
are fast. That stuff's always important. What's the biggest contribution
contributing factor to the last couple of seasons that you
guys have been having.

Speaker 8 (01:43:22):
They don't accept, they don't accept failure, and they don't
accept losing. You don't have to be the most talented
person or the most talented team. If you have a
little bit of grit on, a little bit of fight
and desire, you'll typically find a way to do the job.
It may not be pretty, but you'll definitely find a
way to be successful. And that's what these guys do.

Speaker 2 (01:43:44):
Yeah, I mean, I've noticed it too, with a couple
of really nice wins this year against some pretty good
teams early on. And I know this is you know,
it's so funny because we're I feel like this is
a very football centric society we live in and I'm
guilty as that of anyone. The show we're on right
now started as a high school football show, so and
now it's expanded into all high school sports. But you

(01:44:05):
know so because of that, I think winning and losing,
in particular winning a big game, we kind of treat
it as if it's like the be all end all.
But with baseball, you guys can't really afford to get
too high or too low, right Like, you've got a
long season ahead of you that you're basically using to
prep for the second season.

Speaker 8 (01:44:23):
That's it, we tell them all the time. The first
set of regular scheduled games, we just play them with scrimmages.
I mean, don't get me wrong, we're trying to win,
but we're making sure that we fix what needs corrected
and we're seeing more our weaknesses or what our strengths are.
But you hit it right on the head when you
said you can't get too high and you can't get

(01:44:44):
too low. Baseball will humble you very quickly, and it
will bring you joy very quickly. So you've got to
be able to handle both success and failure.

Speaker 2 (01:44:54):
What are areas that you feel like you guys could
could find a place to improve upon. Right. I know
that's kind of nitpicky when you're seven and zero, But
where are spots that you're thinking as a coach, right now,
Here's where I want to get better. Here's where I
want to be come May when the second season starts.

Speaker 8 (01:45:10):
Yeah, well, believe me, I'm very nitpicky, and I mean
all nineteen of mine guns will tell you that we've
got to do a better job with some situational hitting.
We've left quite a few people on base. You know,
We've had a chance to kind of bust some games open,
but we leave people out there. Another thing is is
we got to clean up the fielding. We started the

(01:45:33):
year off very well. We only I think we have
reached like one air game the first five and in
the last two we've had maybe four errors against drafting
them five somewhere like that. Against South Harrison and against
those kinds of quality teams, you might steal one, but
more often an author bite you in the butt.

Speaker 2 (01:45:53):
Do you want to talk at all about Another aspect
of this that I find kind of kind of fascinating
is baseball is the ultimate, like, right, the ultimate one
v one strategy game in a lot of ways, right,
like pitcher versus hitter, manager versus manager, the manager versus pitcher,
manager versus batter. I mean, you've got all sorts of
different individual strategic battles going on. And one of the

(01:46:15):
things that you know, I hadn't really thought about as
we've expanded into talking about high school baseball on this show,
is how that manifests itself when dealing with a high
school kid who maybe hasn't had to think about that
as much when they're coming up, and it's whether just
you know, I'm a good hitter, I'm a good pitcher,
I throw hard, or I hit hard, or I've got
a really good cut. How do you guys work that

(01:46:36):
into it? Or you know, I imagine that's got to be
kind of tough at this stage of their development process
to start working that mental element into the game. Right.

Speaker 8 (01:46:46):
Yeah, No, it's been said the baseball is a thinking
man's game. So I'm going to take that seriously in
terms of there's just so much strategy and there's so
many good coaches in the Big Ten. We had four
or five of these guys being the state tournament, and
then with this new regional setup, you know, you have

(01:47:07):
great coaching at South here's and and Doddridge and Moorefield,
and you can just go on and on and on,
and I don't want to short change anybody, but you're
right getting kids to kind of just process things and
slow the game down. I had a guy tell me
one time, when when the game gets slow, then that's
when you know you're in control. So we try to

(01:47:30):
put them in high pressure, high leverage situations, not only
with baseball but with life, and you know, hope they
make the right decision, and if they don't, we're definitely
going to correct it and make sure we get the
outcome we want, because in all reality, we're just preparing
these young men for life. I mean, it's great to
win baseball games, and our goal is definitely to make

(01:47:51):
the state tournament. But if I see a kid when
he's twenty five years old and he shakes my hand
or gives me a hug and tells me, you know,
he enjoyed every minute that we had, that's what makes
me want to do this.

Speaker 2 (01:48:04):
I'm gonna I'm gonna bounce around a little bit with
the next few questions. How did you wind up getting
into coaching, What was your what was your path to
to this uh, this spot in your life.

Speaker 8 (01:48:13):
So the saying is, you know, those who can't play coach.
So I mean I was. I was a decent player,
but I wasn't anything phenomenal by that stretch. But I've
always been drawn to athletics and competition. I love competition.
I can remember playing War the card game with my grandma,

(01:48:35):
and I would cheat just to beat her. Uh and
she knew I was cheating, but you know, she never
stopped me.

Speaker 2 (01:48:41):
Uh.

Speaker 8 (01:48:41):
But yeah, I just love competition. And I used to
be a big basketball guy, and it's kind of just,
I don't know, I slowly gravitated towards baseball. So by
the time I graduated high school, I knew I wanted
to do something with the game.

Speaker 7 (01:48:56):
Uh.

Speaker 8 (01:48:56):
And it just worked out that I was able to
help the coach before me, Stan Fitzwalter, who's a very
great baseball mind, and he kind of helped my foundation
with with how we play the game. And then from there,
you know, I was very young when I took over.
I might have been twenty four when I was the
head coach. Twenty five. So yeah, I mean I just

(01:49:18):
enjoy being around the guys, and you know, thank goodness,
I have a wife who supports me because she's she
runs our kids all over the country, especially this time
of the year.

Speaker 2 (01:49:30):
What's your Are you a Pirates guy? What's your pro team?

Speaker 8 (01:49:32):
Yes? I love the Pirates. I don't like how they
do things, but I love the Pirates.

Speaker 2 (01:49:38):
Yeah. It's hey, listen, panc Park is gorgeous and it's
a great way to spend some time. But you just
can't walk in expecting a win.

Speaker 8 (01:49:46):
Right, It's exactly right.

Speaker 2 (01:49:50):
Yeah, So I know you guys have pretty high expectations.
One of the things that my co host, who obviously
is not with us on this segment right now, is
as a Philip Barber guy's an alumn i there, and
we've talked about this for years as the sort of
winning program to program can be kind of contagious. Do
you feel that way at all with Philip Barber? Where
it feels like in every sport now, Philip Barber has

(01:50:11):
just found a way as a school to be competitive again,
whether it's football, or whether it's girls basketball or you know, volleyball.
I mean, honestly, you can go kind of down the list.
I mean, you guys really are in the midst of
a kind of a special run of everybody's kind of
pretty good at the moment. Even boys basketball tough regular season,
they go out and upset and get a first round

(01:50:32):
win in the regional tournament. I imagine it's got to
be a pretty cool time to be coaching over there.

Speaker 8 (01:50:38):
Yeah. Yeah, the school culture and climate is definitely a
good thing around here. You know, everybody supports everyone, you know,
like baseball was. We like to think we've been pretty
good for eight or ten years now. And then you
have the football team, who's I mean, they're definitely being successful,

(01:50:58):
and like you said, the basketball team, they definitely have talented.
We have a good group of kids, and they they
stay busy, they stay active. We have numerous kids who
play multiple sports, uh, with which I highly promote. Uh.
You know, sometimes I think you can get the burnout
or the overuse of the same muscle. So I think

(01:51:19):
it's a great thing when kids play more than one sport.

Speaker 2 (01:51:22):
Uh. With one final, one final question for you. So
you got you've got nineteen kids on your team. If
you needed to get them to do something other than
playing baseball and you were also coaching them, what would
it what? What do you feel like they could do?
Could they could they could they build something? Could they?
What could they do if they if you were coaching
them to do anything other than playing baseball.

Speaker 8 (01:51:42):
That's a great question. These guys think they can do anything.
I mean, they really do. I would honestly say, uh,
you know, if I took them to a fishing tournament,
they would find a way. They love to fish and
they also there's a lot of them that play golf,
so any thing out doorsy.

Speaker 4 (01:52:01):
Uh.

Speaker 8 (01:52:01):
With these guys, you know, you have a lot of
just farm boys. Uh. And then you have a lot
of good kids and it's a great mixture. And then
I mean they get along great. I can't speak enough
about you know, the Tyler systems and the landing carpenters
and the kale wolfs and you can just go on
and on and on.

Speaker 2 (01:52:19):
Do you wanna do you want to recommend a fishing
spot in Barber County for our listeners.

Speaker 8 (01:52:25):
Well, these guys have been going to Teeter Lake, Uh,
Teter Crook Lake. So it's actually not too far from
my house. It's about five minutes from my house. So
that's where I would I would head.

Speaker 2 (01:52:36):
You got to charge attacks. Then when they catch something,
they gotta gotta knock on and stop by, drop off
a fish, and there you go. You got dinner for
the night.

Speaker 8 (01:52:44):
Exactly.

Speaker 2 (01:52:44):
Yeah, coach, really appreciate you doing this. Uh, we've been
we're kind of I say this full you know disclosure
to the listeners that I'm kind of new to high
school baseball. I'm still getting to know the sport because
this has primarily been a football and basketball show in
the past. Uh, and now we're we're bringing baseball into
the fold. And I'm thrilled to get a chance to
talk with all sorts of coaches. And I just really

(01:53:05):
appreciate your time and best of luck the rest of
the season. I hope you guys get some games in.
I know it's been it's been a minute. It's been
nine or ten days now without a without a baseball
game because of this rain.

Speaker 8 (01:53:15):
Yes, it's like start them all over again.

Speaker 2 (01:53:16):
Now. It's like the snow, the three weeks snow apocalypse
that the basketball teams had to deal with. So yes,
not quite not quite as bad. At least at least
the kids aren't stuck inside the whole time. So coach,
thanks again.

Speaker 8 (01:53:29):
Man, Hey, thanks a lot. Alex

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