1st Weekly AP Coaches Poll 4-14-08

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State Coaches Poll

Division I
1, North Canton Hoover (8) 92
2, Grove City (2) 87
3, Gahanna Lincoln 68
4, Elyria (1) 63
5, Greenville (1) 53
6, Cincinnati Colerain 43
7, Marysville 38
8, Hudson 32
9, Lebanon 29
10, Hilliard Darby 16
10, Hamilton 16

Division II
1, Granville (2) 72
2, Circleville (3) 68
3, LeGrange Keystone (2) 65
4, Kenton Ridge (1) 53
5, Cambridge (1) 23
6, Akron Hoban 15
7, St. Marys Memorial 14
8, Lima Bath 13
9, Defiance 13
10, Bellevue 12

Division III
1, Hebron Lakewood (3) 63
2, West Liberty Salem (1) 56
3, Jeromesville Hillsdale (1) 49
4, Brookville 47
5, Bloom Carroll (3) 46
6, Elmwood (1) 45
7, Youngstown Ursuline 28
8, North Union 24
9, Colonel Crawford 23
10, Columbus Bishop Ready 20

Division IV
1, Dalton (6) 89
2, Convoy Crestview (2) 84
3, Strasburg Franklin (1) 73
4, North Lewisburg Triad 52
5, Ansonia 52
6, Mohawk (1) 43
7, New Bremen 25
8, Portsmouth Clay 24
9, Danville 16
10, Houston 12

 

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Yikes! Spit my coffee out this am when I saw Gahanna in the top 10 for Div I. IMO the top ten should be able to play each other fairly close. Gahanna was shut out and run-ruled by Grove City.

 

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Where is the love for NWO? Elmwood 6 in DIII?

 

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Take these polls with a grain of salt. : Half these coaches that vote, no fault of their own, are guessing, or are going on past history. There is no way of tracking all the teams in Ohio. If all the other coaches don't report scores and records to the poll voters, then they have nothing to go on.

 

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Gahanna/Grove City was first game and just 1 game. Since then the Lions won 9 straight before losing to #10 Hilliard Darby 2-1 in 11 ininngs last night. #3 might have been a little high but this is a good and very young team that still has its best ball ahead of them as they have had some key players out with injuries

 

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I realize that, but usually Springfield-Holland, Anthony Wayne, Toledo St. Ursula get some respect initially. Oh-well, guess NWO teams will have to get on the polls the hard way.

 

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No Wheelersburg in D-3 ?? I did see Portsmouth Clay last night --final 4 from a year ago with nearly everyone back. Their # 1 arm Cami Groves is sweet . They beat my HS 5-2 last night. Actually had a girl not slide at home that cost us a run , should have been 5-3. Anyone have any idea where the Groves girl has played or curently plays her travel ball ? about 6'0 maybe 6'1 ? , thin , throws pretty hard.

I bet W-burg makes the final 4 or 8 MD

 

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My guess is that the NWO coaches did a poor job of sending information to the poll voters. No info, no votes.

 

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"the majority of defenders at this (high school) level have trouble playing catch"

I took this quote out of context from another, ahem, popular softball forum which I read yesterday. It was in regard to bunting defense. I was watching two high school DI varsity teams during warm-ups last night, and I was amazed at the lack of basic throwing mechanics, and dropped balls that were easy catches. I thought of the above statement as I was watching.

Are we to assume that this is acceptable in high school softball, simply a part of the game - a necessary evil? Do we have lower standards for high school? My vote for state champ would go the the team that is the most proficient at a simple game of catch. At this point, I would agree that it's NCH.

 

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Bloom Carrol is 3-3 after last night and they have (3) first place votes.... Two State championships are counting for something, it looks like hitting is catching up to pitching in that part of fairfield county.

Teays Valley is 10-0, Not sure what division but all the time spent in the Lady Vikes travel program is paying off nicely for them now.

Gahanna and Toledo St Ursala played into 1-0 victory for Gahanna.

Wednesday Darby playes Grove City. Darby has had some ups and downs but the ups right now are beating Gahanna -3rd and Marysville 7th - both ranked higher than they are. Their freshman pitcher Kelly Roudabush (Nightmare) is rocken and they have some bats from Buckeye Heat and Classics to back her up.

Hilsdale (beat #1Dalton) and Liberty Union are some nice one loss teams out there too.

 

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Actually Grove City plays Upper Arlington on Wednesday, Darby on Thursday and Marysville on Sat., Now thats a tough week.

 

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Sammy I couldn't agree more. I was readintg the posts on bunting in high school, probably the same site and laughing. It's sad many are never taught to bunt.

 

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Sammy,
you gotta be fair though, HS coaches are dealt the cards they are given and have about three real weeks of working with the ladies before a schedule that does not allow too much time for practices. Travel teams have 9 months to work on things as simple as the basics of throwing. So yes there are still polls based on what is out there playing the game as it is, H.S. ball and nothing more.

Polls are meaningless as it only matters who wins the last game of the year.

 

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Actually I'm not pointing fingers at all, especially when high school coaches in Ohio are more or less hancuffed. But it does amaze me at how many folks believe that a championship team can be developed during the span of a high school season. For most of the high school coaches, it's the luck of the draw. The rest are involved in some way or another with their kids in summer, or at least are taking an interest in their development in an indirect way.

 

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No Wheelersburg in D-3 ?? ? I did see Portsmouth Clay last night --final 4 from a year ago with nearly everyone back. ? Their # 1 arm Cami Groves is sweet . They beat my HS 5-2 last night. Actually had a girl not slide at home that cost us a run , should have been 5-3. ? ?Anyone have any idea where the Groves girl has played or curently plays her travel ball ? ?about 6'0 ?maybe 6'1 ? , thin , throws pretty hard. ? ?

I bet W-burg makes the final 4 or 8 ? MD

Wheelerburg is a nice team but they really have little competition coming out of that SE Regional. Getting the the Regionals from there is not the hard part, the hard part is competing with the teams that had to play 3 or 4 tough games to get to the same point that is the tough part. I would bet that Wheelersburg makes it to the final 8 or final 4 as well.

 

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Polls Shmolls,......State Championships are won on the field, not in the polls. ?

I think we should look at the polls for getting ideas on who's playing well and who to keep an eye on.

Flying under the radar,..Not a bad thing. ?

 

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I do not remember reading anywhere in this thread that the State Championship would be awarded to the team that finishes #1 in the poll. Maybe I missed something.

Look the polls are voted on by a group of 12 (or 13) coaches around the state in each division. They gather information in a varity of ways such as; having information sent to them, reading different newspapers, seeing the team actually play, or simply looking at the scores and seeing how teams stack up against eachother or like opponents. It is not an exact science and it is by no means perfect. However most of the time I think that the voters do their best to get it right. At the end of the year a banner is awarded to the team that finishes at the top of the final poll for each division. It is a nice honor but that is about it. It does not earn you a single run or make you a single out in a tournament game.

Remember many teams are good at getting their information to the voters, others do little or nothing in this regard. Parents and supporters of schools that may in fact be worthy of consideration often do not know where their particular school stacks up because knowbody knows anything about them. These voters are also coaching thier own teams and are not capable of running out and catching every single team in action. I can tell you that if your team plays in some of the high profile events around the state then they are more likely to be recognized. It is a clear way for the voters to see how a team stacks up vs. other good competition at those events.

Bottom line is this, don't hate the system just because your team is not on the list. It really is just a well intentioned attempt to show others around the state who is somewhere around the top.

 

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I had just made an observation that NWO has gotten no respect this year.

 

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Choosenone,....Duh!! That's what I said. Nobody hates the system. My point is simply the respect is earned when it counts,...on the field. I could care less about speculation. I distinctly remember alot of fussing about Greenville not getting any respect in the poll last year, but I bet they'd rather have the State Championship trophy they earned than the banner for a "final speculation", I mean poll.