Comments on: Piedmont’s dream comes true with title

By: Swift

Swift — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 10:00:00 +0000

I agree, the Highlanders aren’t that great, certainly not better than a lot of the teams that lost in NCS, so it’s curious they did so well.

After all, their two pitchers entered the tournament with a combined ERA of something like 1.25 (although somebody told me recently that with baseball ERAs a low number actually might be good, sort of like golf — maybe you guys could straighten that out for me).

And their mediocre pitching was somehow able to cover for the measly 30 hits they had against the 1, 2, and 3 seeds in the tournament. Again, mysterious for a team not as good as all those other teams that lost in NCS. It’s all so difficult.

I’ve heard the baseball cliches: good pitching beats good hitting, and where you finish is more important than where you start. But those are just cliches, right?

By: Ballfan

Ballfan — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 23:17:53 +0000

I think Kyle is being a little too hard on the Highlanders. They were more than Remer and Chu, but even if they weren’t, having two top pitchers of their caliber is probably enough to be very good in HS baseball. If anything, Piedmont did not over-achieve in the playoffs, but under-achieved during the regular season.

Having said that, ranking is difficult. In my opinion, Piedmont is not better than a lot of teams that lost in NCS, and may not even be the best team in the BSAL, but they did it when it counted and therefore deserve a high ranking.

By: Kyle Bonagura

Kyle Bonagura — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:06:01 +0000

Everything I know about Piedmont comes from Durkin.

Their hitting wasn’t all that impressive on Saturday, but it was good enough to win. That being said, looking back at Piedmont overall body of work still isn’t all that great. They have a couple good pitchers in Remer and Chu and got hot at the right time.

By: Jimmy Durkin

Jimmy Durkin — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 20:11:40 +0000

Likethegame,
Trust me, Piedmont WILL be ranked, I’d say somewhere in the top 5. We stop doing our polls after the NCS seedings come out and wait until the end of the NCS playoffs to do our final poll because obviously what happens in the playoffs proves who are the better teams. It’s the same as they do in college football where there aren’t any polls during the bowl season and then a final poll after the championship game. So voting hasn’t been done for three weeks now.

Obviously, I’ve had faith in the Highlanders all postseason since I picked them to win all four games. So I’ll let my colleagues reply to their thoughts about Piedmont’s hitting. Any takers???

By: Kyle Bonagura

Kyle Bonagura — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 20:10:55 +0000

They’ll be ranked now, but there was no reason to rank the Highlanders before their post season run.

By: likethegame

likethegame — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 19:53:26 +0000

Do you think Piedmont will FINALLY get ranked by you guys? I am really not sure WHAT they have to do that they haven’t already done. They win NCS 2A but they’re not in the top 10 or even 20?
Do you still think Piedmont can’t hit??? I think Northgate, Campo, St. Mary’s, and Concord found they could and they did when it counted.