Richlands 5 Wise 0 in 3

Richlands 8 Chilhowie 3

Central 8 Rural Retreat 1

Central 0 Chilhowie 5

But Richlands has no offense. And this was without our top hitter and hitting everyone in the lineup.

Mountain 7 Predictions

1. Abingdon- They lost the best player in SWVA in Humphries (William & Mary) along with several other guys that are playing in college, DeBusk (King) Fellhauer (UVA-Wise) and many others that could have played collegiately if they wanted to. Turman (ECU) and Reed (Recently decomitted from Tech) are legit and probably the best two players in our area currently and Judge is probably the best catcher in SWVA. The Falcons will need to find one more arm and they have a sophomore that could fill that void. Another piece they will have to replace is the raw power that Woods contributed (Early Enrolled to WVU for football). Abingdon has not met their expectations the past couple of years of winning a title, but a nice piece to follow is that if the Falcons were to make the state title game again this year, they will be playing it on their home field.

2. Battle- They lost two-time Region D POTY in Po. Gobble (Walters State) along with Hill (Milligan) and all-state selection Childress to graduation. Rector (Rutgers) is the smoothest SS around and possibly one of the best in state regardless of division, along with the elite fielding he also has power well beyond his size. Pa. Gobble will probably be their ace. They have another arm in the upper 80s in Persiani. Sturgill is another guy to watch with power and a cannon of an arm from the outfield.

3. Union- The Bears lost one maybe two seniors off of last year's team in Whitman (Milligan). They of course return their three horsemen in Skeens, Neff, and Chandler. Skeen and Neff are enough to win you a title at the 2a level on the mound, the only problem is that those two along with Chandler are you're only real threats at the plate. I still expect a good season from them and possibly finally punch their ticket up the road.

4. Central- The only contributors I can recall that the Warriors lost is Phillips on the mound and at the plate and Kennedy at the plate and behind the dish. They do return the dynamic duo of Wyatt and Foster who were both all-state selections as underclassmen despite not making it out of the first round of regions and both of them are enough to take the top seed for the region tourney. Going off of basketball, Foster still doesn't look to be 100% because of an ACL surgery but should be fine by mid-season. Elkins is a good ball player for them as well and I could also see Central getting a berth to state.

5. Gate City- Don't remember for 100% certainty but they either lost their ss from last year's team or he is a senior this year and he has committed to Milligan. Outside of him the only key piece that I know they have back is Lane who is good enough to win them some games on the mound, but I don't know if he is enough to steal a higher seed away from Battle/Union/Central.

6. Ridgeview- Not too familiar with them or Lee but I know Hill is solid on the mound and at the plate for the Wolfpack

7. Lee

Player of the Year Prediction for M7 1. Turman 2. Reed 3. Rector

Southwest Predictions

1. Lebanon- They lost the most dominant and decorated pitcher in the area since Buchanan in Phillips (Mount St. Mary's) and another all-around weapon in Breeding (Alice Lloyd) those two basically carried the Pioneers to the state tournament last year in earning all-state selections. Lebanon usually returns 1-2 maybe 3 guys that were all state members the prior year, but this year will not follow the same trend, they don't return a single first team all-district selection. This year isn't totally bleak for the pioneers as they do have 3 seniors that are going to pitch collegiately. Hilton (Carson Newman) Godsey (Bluefield) and Baldwin (Roanoke) will have the tall task of trying to replace the dominance Lebanon has had on the rubber the past 5 years. With Baker being sidelined with an ACL tear in football Lebanon will have to find production at the plate as well, because he, along with Phillips and Breeding, carried them at the plate last year. The freshmen on the basketball team will also look to contribute to the baseball diamond as well.

2. Richlands- They basically return the bulk of their lineup from last year's team that threatened Lebanon in the SWD Tournament Championship last year. Hylton is the best overall player in the district and is just in his junior season. Ryder and Herndon are both going to be key contributors this year, but will they be able to dethrone Lebanon from the top of the SWD this year?

3. Virginia High- They did lose Whitt to graduation but do return a key contributor in Foy (Ferrum). Outside of Foy it is basically slim pickings for the Bearcats. Foy is 100% capable of beating Lebanon or Richlands, the only problem is that the next game they play will be a dog fight no matter who it is.

4. Tazewell- They lost their ace in Compton who also contributed at the plate, but the Bulldogs will look to find some help for Patterson.

5. Marion- Pugh was basically the only threat the Hurricanes had last year but he graduated.

6. Graham- The G-Men always seem to have high scoring affairs with every team in the SWD but don't seem to ever come out on top. They did have a first team district selection, but I have heard that he has transferred to a school in WV.

Player of the Year Prediction for SWD 1. Hylton 2. Foy 3. Hilton

Region 2D Rankings

1. Battle

2. Union 

3. Lebanon/Central

5. Richlands

6. Gate City

7. Virginia High

8. Tazewell

Player of the Year Predictions for Region 2D 1. Rector 2. Foster 3. Pa. Gobble

Hogoheegee Predictions

1. Chilhowie- They lost the 2024 1A Player of the Year in Tuell (PDG Academy) and Hill both to graduation who were the bulk of their production on the mound and at the plate. Schwartz will still have plenty of help this year as there are some freshmen that will contribute greatly to the Warriors success this year.

2. Honaker- They will have to find someone to replace the offense that Nunley (New River CC) produced but they should get that as they have a freshman coming up that will probably end up playing D1 one day. Musick (Tusculum) and Altizer are both first team region player level and they are enough to lead the tigers to the state tournament.

3. Patrick Henry-Not very familiar with the rest of the Hogo teams or what they lost I'm just going off how they usually fair year in and year out. PH does return Cannon and Monahan and they will probably be enough to secure the last seed for the region tournament. Which this is thankfully the last year there will only be 3 seeds for each district in 1D.

4. Rural Retreat- They return Childers (Surry County CC) who is solid but not sure what else they return.

5. Holston

6. Northwood

Hogo Player of the Year Predictions 1. Schwartz/Musick 3. Altizer

Cumberland Predictions- Very little knowledge on the Cumberland.( @1inStripescould use your input)

1. Eastside- They return both Hamilton and Clay that led the Spartans to the 1D crown last year and I expect them to do the same again.

2. Castlewood- I might be going out on a limb here, but the Blue Devils have some solid returners main name I can remember is Clark, and I don't think it would be a surprise at all for them to get the 2 seed.

3. Twin Springs- IIRC Ross is supposed to a solid baseball player as well as he did miss last year with an ACL injury

4. Rye Cove

5. JI Burton

6. Thomas Walker

Cumberland Player of the Year Predictions 1. Clay 2. Hamilton 3. Ross

Region 1D Predictions

1. Eastside

2. Chilhowie

3. Honaker

4. Patrick Henry 

5. Castlewood

6. Rural Retreat

7. Twin Springs

Player of the Year Predictions for Region 1D 1. Schwartz/Musick 3. Clay

As for the softball side of things the little information that I know is that Lebanon returns all but one senior and are poised at making a run for the regional crown. Richlands returns their ace in Fuller who can win them any game if she's on the mound. According to MaxPreps Eastside is the #1 softball team in the state, definitely not true especially with the talent they lost last year but they should still be solid

Hogo POTY is likely Tuell

M7 POTY is likely Humphreys 

SWD POTY is Whitt from V High. Pretty big snub IMO. V High finished 3rd in the district. SWD teams continue to hate Lebanon.

2D POTY is definitely Gobble

John Battle baseball appears to be in position to make a run, but anything can happen in single elimination. Lebanon is finding ways to win, and is experienced at the state level, can they keep it going?

What about softball? Stud pitchers seem to rule at the state level. Eastside has two D-1 pitchers, is this their year? Burton has a good pitcher too, but are inexperienced at the state level.  Can either Central or Lee make a run?

How good is Eastside baseball?

 #1 Lebanon vs #4 Battle

#2 Central vs #3 Marion

 #1 Lee vs #4 Tazewell

#2 Richlands vs #3 Union

 Baseball

 #1 Lebanon vs #4 Central

 #2 Union vs #3 Va High

#1 Battle vs #4 Tazewell

#2 Richlands vs #3 Gate City

 I could see every game other than Battle going either way. Lebanon should beat central but based off what I’ve seen Central is probably the best hitting team in the region (probably has double digit homers as a team).

 Union is overall better than v high but Union tends to like to beat themselves by making boneheaded decision. Foy is the equalizer with how Union struggles against left handers

Battle should probably run rule tazewell

Gate City has beat Richlands twice early in the season by small margins but Richlands is also playing a lot better now. Still would probably give the edge to GC 

Another factor to consider is that Central and GC will not have played in abt two weeks. Resting for that long is hard at this point during the season because you can lose focus so easily

Strasburg at Poquoson at 5pm today

 Can’t wait for the BDD to get disbanded. Both of these teams are not playoff level teams. I know some 8th grade softball teams that can do better than that.Rural Retreat and Twin Springs miss region because of these teams. Cwood is a middle of the pack region team and will probably beat TV by at least a dozen runs

Mountain 7 District

1. Abingdon- This Abingdon team will probably be one of the most loaded teams to ever come through our area and they should be hungry for the state championship. They have multiple D1 Commits in Humphreys (William & Mary), Dotson (VMI), Turman (ECU), and Reed (Virginia Tech). They still have plenty of talent for college-level guys in Dillow, Smith, Fellhauer, and Parks. I look for this team to handle business and I would definitely say that they should be the favorites to go up against LCA in the 3A state championship.

2. John Battle- The Trojans lost a decent amount of talent in Odum and Sills, but they still return the bulk of their production from last year. Gobble (Walters State) will handle business on the mound and as long as they find someone else to help out, they should still look to make a run at 2A. Rector, Childress, and Sturgill are all possibly all-region guys.

3. Union- I know most people would think Union is a football school or maybe even a basketball school. Hate to break it to the Union fans out there but here in a year or two, y'all are going to be a baseball school. This team is DANGEROUS and could see them taking both games away from Battle. If they can figure out some defense and some timely hitting, they might even fool around and win the region this year. They pushed Lebanon to the edge last year in an excellent pitching duel. Neff showed his potential in that game and if he can pitch like that 70% of the time, they will be very difficult to beat. If I recall correctly, I do not think they had a single player graduate last year. To top it all off they will gain the pitching from Skeen who is the #1 ranked freshman in the state and is already topping at 88.

4. Central- The Warriors shocked the whole state last year when they upset Battle in the region semis, but I would not expect that to happen again this year. They did lose Hayes on the mound which will be difficult to replace. Wyatt, Kennedy, and Phillips will be their key contributors. They also have a talented freshman in Foster who can definitely make an impact.

5. Gate City- The Blue Devils got blown out of the water last year by Lebanon in the semis, so I look for them to come out a little bit more enthusiastic this year. They lost McMurray but still have other weapons such as Lane on the mound and their SS (can't remember his name just remember he looked pretty smooth at short). Definitely have the potential of beating out Central for the 3 seed.

6. Lee- This is about where my knowledge ends when it comes to the M7. Pretty sure in some of last season's threads I just remember everyone saying how bad RV was. 

7. Ridgeview

Southwest District

1. Lebanon- The Pioneers made a run for it all last year just coming up short in 10 innings in the championship game and I look for them to be poised to make another run at it. They will have to try and replace some weapons that were irreplaceable from last season in the pitching from Barton and the hitting both he and Parker contributed to the team. D1 Commit Phillips (Mount St. Mary's) should be his usual self at both the mound and the plate. Breeding (Alice Lloyd) was an all-state member last year and he should continue his slugging ways and possibly help out on the mound some. After that, the Pioneers are going to have to figure something out. The Battle-transfer Baldwin is a solid addition and should help alleviate some of the loss of Barton on the mound. 

2. Virginia High- The Bearcats are going to be down compared to prior years, but still nowhere near as bad off as the rest of the SWD. The loss of Meredith will be a huge blow to them. Foy is definitely their best player and one of their few weapons, along with Hucks. Expect them to be the 2 seed coming out of the SWD.

3. Tazewell- 3 through 5 are all definitely interchangeable. The loss of B. Patterson, Childress, and Blankenship to the Bulldogs will be heavy but they return a few decent weapons from last year's team in Hash, Moss, W. Patterson, and Compton. Could possibly take a game away from V High if they catch them without Foy on the mound.

4. Richlands- The losses of Hale, White, and Earls are all heavy for the Blue Tornado. The only notable returner that I can recollect is the Hylton kid who was a freshman and was decent.

5. Marion- Their losses include J.Pugh, Roberts, and Sayers. M. Pugh will have to have a huge season if the Scarlet Hurricanes want to have a shot at the postseason this year.

6. Graham- They still think it's football and basketball season in the spring. 

1D

(Not including the BDD)

Cumberland District

1. Eastside- The only team I have a decent amount of knowledge on in the Cumberland. The Spartans will have to try and replace Steele, Ward, and Perry If they want to try and not get beat out by a Hogo team before reaching the finals for the 4th year in a row. 

2. The rest of the teams I am just guessing on based on my knowledge from their recent seasons, they still have next to a 0% chance of making the state tourney. Rye Cove- They used to have two guys with the last name Kern who seemed to be decent for the CD, no idea if they graduated or not.

3. Thomas Walker- Had a lefty a couple of years ago that was decent for them but still don't know if he graduated either. 

4. Burton

5. Castlewood

6. Twin Springs

Hogoheegee District

1. Chilhowie- The Warriors made it to the championship last year and they have lost Booth, Kilbourne, and Smith. Still, return some of their guys from last year in Hill and Class 1 POTY Tuell (somehow). They will likely still win the region, but I do not look for them to have the same amount of success as last year. 

2. Honaker- I can promise that Honaker will definitely win more games this year on the diamond than they did on the hardwood. Nunley and Musick are both solid ballplayers and they have a solid freshman in Harris, but the Tigers will need to find more production if they wish to take the region from Chilhowie.

3. Rural Retreat- The Indians have lost their main weapons for the past couple of years in Fontaine and Bandrimer. Still have some talented players and look for them to take the last seed into region play.

4. Patrick Henry- They had a solid little freshman lefty last year that won some big games for them so they could very easily take the 3 seed away from RR.

5. Holston- Tweed will have to do the heavy lifting as he has for the last few years if they are going to win some games. Does anyone know where Holston will be playing their games at this year? I wouldn't imagine that Backer Park was able to survive the flooding in Damascus.

6. Northwood. Williams is in the same boat that Tweed will be in. 

Region D Top 10 Rankings

1. Abingdon

2. John Battle

3. Lebanon

4. Union

5. Central

6. Virginia High

7. Gate City

8. Tazewell

9. Chilhowie

10. Honaker

1. Abingdon- The Falcons have looked solid so far at the start of the season. Poised to make a run for the title behind Humphreys and co.

2. Lebanon- They are 2-2 with losses to Abingdon and TN High (with TN high’s best arm). Beat a much improved Sullivan East team and TN high without their best arm available. They seem to not be as bad off as I expected in trying to replace the production that Parker and Barton had last year. Phillips is off to quite the hot start on the mound and at the plate. Look for him to contend for district poty with teammate breeding and foy from V High

3. Battle- Putting them at 3 as of now due to them letting V High take one away from them. Other than that they have handled business well especially in run ruling Union and running Skeen off the mound early. Gobble is early front runner for region POTY

4. Virginia High-Beat Battle and whooped PH who appears to be the front runner for 1D. Can definitely tell that Foy is their best chance in winning some bigger games though.

5. Union- Definitely need to find the bats and get them rolling and clean up the errors. They are young and they are showing it as of now but I look for them to get it straightened out.

6. Central- This team is quite the dark horse so far. Despite them beating battle and falling to the hands of Lebanon in region championship everyone seems to never mention them. Close loss to abingdon and from the scores I have seen of theirs. They seem to light up the scoreboard. Foster has been impressive so far

7. Gate City- They have had some close losses but they have talent to potentially make some noise in region play.

8. Patrick Henry- they have a decent arm in Cannon and I expect them to take the region from chilhowie

9. Chilhowie- from the scores I have seen I’ve not been too impressed

10. Tazewell- just putting them here even though RR Honaker or eastside could go here but with eastside losing to RR and Honaker being inconsistent I don’t think I could. Even middle of the pack 2d teams are better than 1d