The prep baseball season begins to heat up in Northwest Georgia next week, especially in Region 7-AAAA, where league play finally begins. So, the question is, who’s the favorite? If you look at pre-region records, you might think Ridgeland, Rome and Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe are the teams to beat.
However, records at this time of the year can be very deceiving. Two cases in point: Ridgeland and Ringgold. The Panthers are 9-1 after winning a pair of games this week, but a closer look at the schedule reveals that record may not indicate the true strength of the team.
Scott Harden’s team has two wins over Tennessee Temple, two over Trion, two over Grace Academy as well as wins against Silverdale Baptist and Boyd-Buchanan. The Panthers’ best win was 13-6 over a Gordon Lee team that returned one starter this year. They have yet to play a team above Class AA (and they lost that one to LaFayette).
This is to take nothing away from Ridgeland, which has several stars, including Ian Brockway, Shaun Ball, Zach Barnes, Brandon Derryberry and Alex Ridge. It’s just that, with that schedule, it’s hard to tell just how good the team is.
On the other hand, Ringgold stands at 3-5, but the Tigers have played a grueling schedule that included Tennessee powers Red Bank, McCallie, Bradley Central, Baylor and Soddy-Daisy, not to mention reigning Georgia Class AA runner-up Calhoun. Obviously, Brent Tucker didn’t expect to have just three wins at this point, but he knows the experience his team gained from the difficult schedule will help down the road.
Northwest Whitfield, also with just three wins, has played a schedule much like Ridgeland’s. The Bruins have played Baylor, McCallie and Ooltewah twice each. Expect both Ridgeland and Northwest to be in an expected wild playoff hunt.
LFO, at 9-2, has done well against some strong teams, owning wins over Ooltewah, McCallie and Georgia Class AAAAA Campbell, while Rome has one of the better hitting teams in the region. The Wolves, though, have played almost exclusively against Rome-area Class A or AA teams. Dalton is starting to come alive under Bobby Brotherton, getting a signature win over Red Bank Tuesday.
In Class AA, Calhoun again seems to be the class of 7-AA, though pesky LaFayette is starting to make some noise and Dade County has several strong young players. In Region 6-A, Gordon Lee has made believers of those who doubted the young Trojans could contend.
Let the real season begin.
Lindsey Young is a sports writer at the Chattanooga Times Free Press who started work at the Chattanooga News-Free Press 24 years ago. He covers the Northwest Georgia prep beat and NASCAR. Lindsey’s hometown is Ringgold, Ga., and he graduated from Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School. He received an associate’s degree from Dalton Junior College (now Dalton State) and a bachelor’s degree in communications from UTC. He has won several writing awards, including two Tennessee Sports ...
