4-0 again on Friday. My scores were a bit off but I picked the winning side in all 4- my 4th sweep of the season. Man, I'm good- and pretty humble, too. Anyway, a change in the schedule for this week will allow everybody a chance to choose when they throw their ace. Thursday and Saturday to complete the regular season. Season record: 35-9. The Swami says..........
East- 10 Plano- 3 (Jake the Man will deal)
LH- 7 West- 6 ('Cats just get by again)
McK- 11 Berk- 1 (No pitching for Rams)
Rock- 5 Allen- 3 (Tolly- mental block vs. Rock)
Congrats to Allen (looking very strong right now), LH (just getting by right now), and Rockwall (where's the pitching right now?) for clinching playoff spots. Surviving this district is something to be proud of. 1st round bye is still up for grabs and the 3rd seed could still go deep, as East proved last season. It's almost playoff time. A good day to all.

Rockwall-Allen will be a battle. I'm guessin it will go all they way down to the wire like it did last game since Tolly is on the mound. I have absolutely no idea who will win this one.

As Plano East found last year -- playing in playoff week 1 isn't necessarly a bad thing. Having said that, I'd still rather have the bye and the prep game -- just to get some innings for my #3. The first round matchups for 9-5A have been "favorable" in the past....but in subsequent rounds -- how good is Bryan Adams?

How are the pitching rotations setting up?

Rock -- Bishop, Sawyer, ?
LH -- Hump, Tony G?, ?
Allen -- Tolly, Bina, Parramore?

-PD

You got the rotations down pretty good PDiddy. I'd add Verhagen and Leverton to the Rock list tho. And Bryan Adams is Bryan Adams. I can't imagine they are battletested being in the DISD district. I can't imagine they could even make the playoffs in districts like 9,7,12 and all the other 5A districts in North Texas.

If I read the bracket correctly, the 9-5A teams avoid the 10-5A #1 until later rounds anyway....and I too think BA will falter once Frisby is used up in a series. The mystery teams are Longview and/or Lufkin -- they don't get press in the DFW area. Their records are decent....and Lufkin had a strong offense last year with a pitching staff led by Craig Whitaker. Whitaker is gone, but I imagine Lukfin can still be tough in "home" games -- best to get them into one of those spacious college parks on neutral ground, I imagine.

Also, Naaman Forest will provide a formidable foe for someone in round 2.

I think Rockwall is the best of the 3 9-5A teams....but Allen has had the best season so far. LH -- smoke & mirrors, a battle-tested coach, and KH ----- at least one of these teams will make it to the Regional Semi's -- perhaps one step further. I don't see a 9-5A team at state though. JMO.

-PD

Great insight, guys. Here's my take from what I've seen, which hasn't been alot this year:
Rockwall- has the best offense, the deepest bench, the most playoff experience, but not a dominant pitcher. Where's Bishop?????
Allen- has gotten the most of its talent, with 1 pitcher that can beat anyone in Texas.
LH- a favorable schedule allowed Humphreys to match up vs. all the good teams. I think LH will be first one ousted from playoffs. I think Allen or Rockwall will make Round 4 and then you never know- some luck or clutch performances could land 1 of these 2 in Austin. Stranger things have happened. They both have weaknesses, but good preparation and coaching can hide these weaknesses. I think both of these can take care of anyone in the Mesquite/Garland district and the East Texas district. It'll be interesting because Region 2 is loaded with Tomball and the Woodlands.

Tomball is one of my picks that you'll see in Round Rock / Austin.. CC Moody is OK, but they have a weaker region than you guys do in the DFW area. Tomball is for real. They are not just a one pitcher team.

Even without a dominating pitcher, Rockwall will be okay in a 3 game series.
Allen better hope they win the coin toss in order to get the 1 game playoff that they need.
I agree with Panther Dad on LH. They are all smoke and mirrors.
Any info on Tyler Lee, Lufkin, or Longview?

Is there any chance that West could do the impossible and beat LH? Thursday is crucial to say the least for RHS/AHS. Then to come back Saturday after an emotional game Thursday is going to be tough on the kids. Has anyone heard of any playoff senarios if LH ties for 1st with RHS or AHS?

I see from other sites that this is the first time in a while that Tomball has done this well and that Longview hasn't won a district title in over 30 years. That along with Allen not being in the playoffs in a couple of years will give Region 2 a different feel with the up and coming teams.

DISTRICT 11-5A BASEBALL***
Standings:
Longview (21-6)(6-1)
Lufkin (18-8)(5-2)
Robert E. Lee (19-7)(3-4)
John Tyler (5-17)(0-7)

Thanks, Twinsdad, for the District 11 update. Can you give a rundown of the district? Is there dominating pitching or loaded lineups for Longview, Lee, and Lufkin? How do you think East Texas will match up with 9-5A? I saw on Rockwall's schedule that they were already beaten by Longview in a tourney early on.

Swami, all I can found out about East Texas is what I can get from their local newspaper websites and from another site called smoaky.com but it's mainly football with baseball sprinkled in. I too am a 9-5A guy like most of us here. It seems that they are the great unknown except for the 1 Rockwall game. I have found another site, but still no stats etsupersite.com

What I've found out about East Texas teams in the past is that the teams are often made up of big ole country boy football players dressed up in baseball uniforms. One of these teams always seems to have at least one dominant pitcher though. Marshall had Duncan and Griffin a few years back. This year Longview has two good ones in Davis and Casey. Probably the best East Texas team in recent memory was Lufkin in 2002 when they had Ray and Whitiker. These teams tend to be s****** at the plate.