The Morning After - 3A Baseball and Softball
May 25, 2008 @ 10:24 a.m. by Levi WoltersWriting on deadline can be a tricky deal. If you read my story for today’s paper, I focused on the fourth inning when things went way south for Wichita Independent in last night’s championship game. That’s mostly because, at that point, it was after 9 p.m. and I thought the Panthers would have a very difficult time coming back. And indeed that was the case. However, I failed to capture Independent’s attempt at a comeback. The Panthers are a good team — obviously — and they showed that last night overcoming that brutal fourth inning and chipping away. As coach Jamie Fowler pointed out, they actually had the winning run at the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning. That note — a relatively important one, at that — wasn’t included in my story. My point to this is I hope my story didn’t insinuate the Panthers quit after the fourth inning. That wasn’t the case.
As for softball, I found my new favorite high school coach to cover. Corey Lyon impressed me tremendously this weekend. Obviously he’s a great coach, but he also delivered a lot of great, well-thought out comments in speaking with me after tournament games, even after Independent’s loss in the yesterday’s title game. And I appreciate that. He talked about a lot more than softball and more to what he was really trying to get his girls to take away from their trip to state. He got choked up in speaking with me after the final game yesterday, and I thought that was pretty cool for the young kid with the cool shades and soul-patch goatee, who less than an hour before was ejected for standing up to the umpire on a play he believed could cost his team the championship, to show some emotion afterward — whether it was voluntarily or not. He’s a good guy who his team respects a lot.
Final note: Unfortunately, because of a few ‘bad apples’ the Independent fan base got bad name for itself this weekend in Manhattan. There were three incidents, all directed at umpires, I personally observed that I was stunned to witness. One of which ended when tournament administrators had to physically restrain a man and threaten to call the cops after he rushed the umpires after a game. I’ve covered 3A baseball for three years and there are a lot of great people running and help running the tournament who had some very nasty observations about what they saw from Independent fans. There’s that cliche about how most people form an opinion in the first few seconds after meeting someone. Well that goes for a weekend of state baseball and softball, and those first few seconds — in this case, days — didn’t go too well. Looking at the respective rosters, I’d imagine Independent baseball and softball have a great chance to be back to Manhattan next year. I hope the fans realize they’re in a hole as far as public opinion goes when they get back to Manhattan, and I hope they do everything they can to change that opinion. I talked to a lot of friendly, sportsmanship-minded fans on the Independent side this weekend, and I hope they are the ones that the tournament officials remember after the next trip to state.
Congrats on two great seasons.
May 25th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Any chance someone will be blogging from 6A baseball today? Or have any updates other than the final (I know the game doesn’t start till 2).
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May 25th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
I suppose Jeffrey is going to use the excuse that Hummer had no electricity for not blogging the 6A finals on Sunday
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May 25th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
I suppose the phones are broken too?
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May 26th, 2008 at 7:01 am
I am not surprised that WI fans acted like that. They have been in our league for about 4 years now and have developed a reputation of being spoiled rich kids who have parents who think they can buy championships. I know that there are good fans and parents there, but bad ones are overshadowing the good one at this point. Parents and coaches, don’t embarrass your school and kids.
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May 26th, 2008 at 8:40 am
I will not even lower myself to comment on that comment from Shocker. You have no idea what you are talking about, and my kid goes to TIS and I assure you she is not a spoiled rich kid. I am not sure what happened on the baseball field, but I know what happened on the softball field as I saw it all and this blog is a little extreme as to what happened. Nobody rushed the umps after the game and none had to be restrained. The field crew got a little excited after the game and told everyone to break it up a and go home. The umps simply walked through the TIS crowd after the game to get off of the field and a few people let them know how bad they were, but this started in the fourth inning. The umps did get barked at after and during the game, they deserved that, the home plate ump had no control or knowledge on how to manage a game, his He let the fans get to him and that started Friday night. He was as bad as I have seen.
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May 26th, 2008 at 9:17 am
“One of which ended when tournament administrators had to physically restrain a man and threaten to call the cops after he rushed the umpires after a game.”
Just to clarify since there seems to be a lot of confusion, this incident happened after the baseball game.
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May 26th, 2008 at 10:51 am
That does clear it up a bit, I have no idea what went on at the baseball game, but it is still a shame that the softball crew were that bad. Move on. Congrats to the TIS teams on a great season and congrats to TMP and Silver Lake on their wins….and actually the team that deserves some credit is the Manhattan crew that got the fields ready to play. They were still a mess, but they were playable. That effort is very much appreciated. See you next year.
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May 26th, 2008 at 11:44 am
Coach Lyon has yet to do anything to prove he is worthy of your accolades. Obviously Coach Lyon is one hell of a coach when TIS is playing one of the many patsies on his schedule. TIS obviously peaked in the middle of the season to play powerhouses such as Bluestem and Chaparral. When it came down to a game against the one decent team they played all year, TMP, Coach Lyon realized he wasnt up to the task and had to make an early exit . You can blame the umps all you want to, but they were equally bad for both teams. He should be ashamed of himself for being kicked out of a championship game when his girls needed him most. A coach needs to know when to pick his battles and when he needs to shut up. Coach Lyon showed his poor judgement and decision making skills in this instance.
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May 26th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Nope, he was defending his team on a call that was made by the TMP coach, the field ump should have raised his arm to indicate interference and he never raised his arm as he never saw the play. The bottom line is TIS did not hit the ball well all weekend, that happens against some very good pitchers that they faced. As for the weak sked, OK, your opinion. TIS beat B.Plaine five times, they were a state team and a good team. Med. Lodge is better than B.Plaine and they should have been at state too, TiS beat them five times. They beat Riverton in the second game, which beat Sacred Heart (last three state 3A champs) on Friday. What other teams do you think TIS should play to prove themselves? They lost to TMP (last year’s 4A winner) by two runs, it was a grat defensive softball game. It is not the coaches fault that the league requires everyone to play two double headers which leaves no room for out of conference teams. That changes next year and Ark City and Great Bend are on their skeds, so once Lyon was able to get HIS sked HE picked those teams for the better competition. They lose one player off of this team, if you did not like the Panthers this year, you will hate them next year, again, just my opinion.
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May 26th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Iknowthe score - You have NO idea what you are talking about!!! Your statements only prove how utterly ignorant you are. Coach Lyon is highly regarded by his team as well as parents and fans of TIS. Their successful season speaks for itself. I also commend him for sticking up for his team on an obviously bad call. He handled himself with dignity and respect for his team. The umpire was quick to judgement because he and the other two umpires had already lost control of the game due to their own lack of judgement. Please keep your own biased, unfounded comments to yourself. No one cares about your bitter ideas. Shame on you for bashing a terrific coach and his successful season. Maybe it makes you feel good about yourself and your pathetic life.
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May 26th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Can somebody shut this blog off and give TIS their own little section in VarsityKansas for people to hate? And just to throw this out there, I come from a school in the CPL (the league TIS is in) and they do have the rich spoiled kids reputation. It doesn’t matter if your kids are spoiled or not, I guess that just comes from paying $9,000 a year for high school.
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May 27th, 2008 at 12:18 am
Fastpitch:
Belle Plaine is not a good team by any stretch of the imagination. And the fact that you have to point them out as one of the “good” teams you beat this year is pathetic. But the fact that you only beat them by one run at state is very telling. They obviously improved throughout the season, unlike Independent, which regressed. How TIS can go from scoring 57 runs aginst B.P. in the previous 4 games, to only scoring 3 in the state game shows not only how bad of a team B.P. really is, but also just how poorly TIS was playing down the home stretch of the season. And as far as next year, TIS will once again run up big scores against the teams in its league, then go to state, play a decent team, and lose.
Sara:
I’m sure Coach Lyon is respected by his team and the parents and fans of TIS. At least I would hope so, they are the ones paying his salary. Unfortunately, you will have to look far and wide to find anyone outside of TIS that holds the same opinion. He is a hot-head and has always been. I would commend any coach for sticking up for his team. However being ejected from a championship game is inexcusable. He obviously did not handle himself with dignity and respect. And you are obviously the biased one for not recognizing that. If he wanted to be commended, he should have shut his pie-hole, and been there to help rally his girls to come back from a measly two run defecit. Instead he was nowhere to be found.
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May 27th, 2008 at 7:35 am
I know the score ;
It is so sad that folks bash TIS because they think that everyone there is spoiled and rich. There are MANY of us who have to seriously sacrifice to send our children there. So please, have some respect and stop stereotyping the whole student body.
Do you even know what happened on that “bad call”? Let me enlighten you. The call was made AFTER the coach from TMP made a comment to the umpire and argued about an obstruction. The umpire never even saw it, he took the opposing coaches word for it, then he made the call. Now tell me, wouldn’t you as a coach be infuriated at that? You can say all the bad things you want about TIS and Coach Lyon. If it makes you feel better, then so be it. We all, as parents and fans of TIS stand by him. He has done great things for many kids in softball and football. TIS is lucky to have him. Sticks and stones……..
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May 27th, 2008 at 8:08 am
Yes, TIS is not very good, they only finished with one loss and second in the state from a program that was almost eliminated from the school four years ago. I am not sure what CPL school you came from, but I am sure you do not like us, but for the record, my husband and I make a combined salary of $82,000.00, so tell me how rich we are. Our children are at TIS for the EDUCATION and have been their since day one. By the way, both of my children qualified with fantastic SAT scores when they were barely teenagers. THAT IS WHY WE ARE AT TIS. I had no idea my daughter was going to be a softball player when she was five years old. We picked the school for academics. You are pathetic, all you can do is hammer TIS about the league sked, you say nothing about the future sked. By the way, what out of conference teams did your coach add to his or her sked next season? I bet Great Bend and Ark City are not one of them. Please tell us what school you came from, but I am guessing that you will not do that because you hide behind a keyboard like a chicken.
As for B.Plaine not being any good, that is your opinion. We think they are a decent team. They have a good pitcher that should have made first team all-league, Brown and Jerrick are excellent players. What about Med. Lodge? Do they suck too? You did not say anything about them. What about Riverton? Do they suck? Or was it just a fluke that we beat them? I am guessing we knocked your school out of the tournament this year and you are bitter. Please stay bitter, because we will probably do it again next year, with an even better and more experienced team.
PLEASE tell us who you support.
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May 27th, 2008 at 9:18 am
Coach Lyon is a good guy. Congrats on a great season. They will be back next year.
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May 27th, 2008 at 9:42 am
Fastpitch-
Who are you talking to? …so defensive
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May 27th, 2008 at 11:46 am
I have to comment only because some of what is being said and who people are attacking is just plain idiotic. Do you remember why we have highschool sports it’s because it’s about the kids. It’s about life, learning lessons in and out of the classroom. It’s not how much money your parents make or what kind of social background you come from, it’s about highschool and being a kid. If you are a parent and you are bad mouthing a coach or kids you don’t even know take a look back and reflect at what you are teaching your kids. Not only will I say that TIS has some of the best kids I have ever met, but Carroll and Kapaun, Heights, Northwest, Maize, Derby, Augusta have some great kids as well. Remember what going to state is about, one loss and done, it’s a whole new season. Ok, maybe Independent came out hot and heavy and scored a lot of runs, and only scored 10 in state, but show me a state tournament where there were lot’s of runs scored. 5A I know the semifinals and championships had a total of 4 runs scored. TIS still only had 6 runs scored against them all weekend. State tournaments are for winners and I don’t think there were any losers at this years 3A tournament. McLouth and Riverton went extra innings for a 1-0 win. State is about making plays, making things happen and sometimes at the call of the play. Maybe that second runner doesn’t score on the interference play, the game is still 1-0 TMP. Indpendent still has to score. They had opportunities and just didn’t get it done. Even in the bottom of the 7th with 2 outs TIS hits a double, still hope. Remember in highschool softball there is the long ball that can change a game. In the 3 games TIS played and TMP there were no homeruns given up. It was a defensive game, TIS turned double plays, TMP made catches and plays from the outfield. Give everyone the credit they deserve 25-1 is a great year regardless of who you played. As for Coach Lyon getting tossed, you have never met a more compassionate, determined hard worker. He loves his family, his students and his players. HE treats all of them with respect and in return is given respect. He did what any coach would do argued a call that clearly in his eyes and several other peoples was not the right call. Defense in to cut the run off at home, base runner had the clear path and ran inside with the defense. 2nd argument, she should not have got home just 3rd and the runner never touched home, she was tagged out before she reached home plate. But you know whatever. The girls kept fighting and Coach Lyon wasn’t far away down the left field fence. I would never want to be an umpire in that close of a game. It’s not their fault TIS lost and it’s not because the coach got thrown out that they lost. They played a great game against a great team. Just leave it at that. Congrats TMP. What a game. Great Year TIS and Coach Lyon!
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May 27th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
TIS Baseball:
One thing that didn’t get mentioned in this article is the problem of another collision play that occurred in the sacred heart vs. independent baseball game. As a player for sacred heart I had a great view of the seen and I’m very disappointed in the aftermath of it. TIS had runners on 1st and 2nd when a ball was hit to the 2nd baseball, Budke, as he was attempting to tag the baserunner out the baserunner ran into him at full speed and at the same time elbowed him acrossed the face. This was just the beginning of a rediculous game. This is an obvious obstruction call and resulted in a double play. It was undoubtably intentional because every player knows that you would want to avoid the tag in order to avoid the double play. So as our coach is talking to the umpires about whether it was intentional or not, me and a few of my teammates went to check on our 2nd baseman. While this is occurring we had to listen to the TIS fans and players call our 2nd baseman a pussy and other names. This talk continued throughout the rest of the game which not only upset us but took our minds of the game. I know that should never happen but if you’re wondering why people dislike TIS so much this is exactly why. I have no problems with teams that beat us but the fact that TIS players and fans had to be degrading us the entire game was a little ridulous. TIS had a good team sadly for us we didn’t play to our full potential during that game due to the fact that our minds were on the fans instead of the game itself. TIS fans need to get a little bit of class before they decide to go watch their sons or daughters play again.
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May 27th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Is played for the sacred heart baseball team and I would like to mention another TIS incident in the state tournament. TIS had runners on first and second when a ground ball was hit to the SH second baseman. As he was going to tag the TIS baserunner the baserunner ran into him fullspeed and elbowed him acrossed the face. It was an obvious obstruction call and resulted in a double play. But the TIS player should have been thrown out for running over our player. It was undoubtadly intentional as a state quality player would want to avoid the tag in order to stay out of the double play. But the most rediculous part of the ordeal is that while our coach was talking to the umpire about the play, me and a few of my teammates went to check on our 2nd baseman who was knocked out. While this is occurring the TIS fans and players found it necessary to call our 2nd baseman many different names, they especially like one that started with a p and ended with a y. They continued this speech throughout the entire game. This caused my teammates and I to lose focus on the game and concentrate of the fans. I know this shouldn’t happen but with our Short Shot having a broken finger on his throwing hand and a pitcher struggling to throw strikes it hurt us to lose another starting athlete. TIS had a good baseball team which showed no class throughout the entire tournament. We failed to rise to the occasion and we lost to them. Which was our fault and our problem. But there was no need to degrade me and my teammates throughout the rest of the game. Now I know TIS has some good fans and I thank those that chose to not say anything.
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May 27th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
I want to add one more thing. TIS did have some players that showed class and congradulated and complimented us. Thank you for that.
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May 29th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
We did not play TIS in the state tournament, but watched them play Salina Sacred Heart while we waited for our game against Silver Lake. We watched them instead of the game because they were quite a side show. They didn’t act or look like spoiled rich folks, and from what I could tell, they didn’t know much about baseball either. I sat in their stands for better entertainment. The people I sat next to were wonderful fans, very positive and supportive. BUT there were plenty who were just awful–I’ve been to a lot of sporting events with my kids teams who have played on the state and national level, and those fans were simply the worst I have ever seen. I know we are just a little country school, but our administrators would not allow that kind of behavior from our fans. And if an administrator wasn’t around, one of us parents would have taken care of it. I think TIS has a lot of good people. However, when you let a group of people act like that, more will join in and soon you will have a situation like we witnessed at state baseball, and state softball so I understand. I feel bad for the boy who posted under shbaseball–he should have never experienced that, and if it was my kid who was on the field that game, we might have needed to have a nice talk with some of those TIS folks. Remember, this is a kids’ game.
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May 30th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
I was at the TMP/Independent game and watched every play. I have no alliance to either team, I just wanted to see some good softball. And that I did, the interference call was a good call in my opinion. The SS who is a very good smart player, got up off the ground with the intent to make the base runner run around her. In summerball and only two umpires you can get away with this, but she didn’t on that day. I think it was a smart move because it can be the difference in a step or two, but she was caught and the call was made. I didn’t see any fans acting unsportman like at all. They all complained about every call that went against them, but who doesn’t. One was even tossed, may he went overboard. I thought the umpires did a great job, they did make some bad calls but it went both ways. Independent just got out played on that day during that game, give TMP all the credit. I do think that if Independent plays a tougher schedule then it will help them complete against those team with great pitching. It sounds like they are going to do that next year. Good luck, I will be in Manhattan next year to see if it all works out.
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