Owls coach deflects baseball favorite’s role

Ooltewah coach Brian Hitchcox was caught flat-footed when informed that his Owls had finished atop a coaches’ survey seeking input on the Chattanooga area’s top baseball teams.

“I don’t know why people would vote us No. 1,” he said. “We have a lot of guys back, but we haven’t really won anything other than the district (6-AAA) tournament last year. This group hasn’t yet done much.”

Hitchcox’s peers obviously think differently.

“I really think teams that have proven they can win deserve the preseason hype,” he added. “Ooltewah hasn’t won a region since 2006. I think their votes mean they think we have talented players.”

His linchpin to making the early votes come true is getting his players to do more than just believe it.

“We have talent and we have potential, but those things by themselves never have done anything,” he said. “I don’t think it’s any pressure, and I don’t think any of the guys will get the big head. We have the chance to be good, but like everybody else we have to execute and do the little things well. What we’ve been hammering home is that it’s time to shut up and play.”

The Owls open the season against Walker Valley in their new district, 5-AAA. They’ll be at Walker Valley on Monday and at home against the Mustangs on Tuesday. Both games are scheduled to begin at 5.

McMinn County and Soddy-Daisy, two other 5-AAA favorites, will play at Soddy-Daisy on Monday and at McMinn on Tuesday. Both of those games are to start at 7.

“Our district is one of the toughest in the state, and I think it’s wide open,” Hitchcox said. “Last year Cleveland finished fourth in that district in the regular season and made it to the state tournament. This district this year will have four region representatives from 2009 (Ooltewah, Soddy-Daisy, McMinn County and Cleveland).”

In the postseason, the winner and runner-up of the 5-AAA tournament will be matched against the top two teams from the 6-AAA group, which includes Cumberland County, Cookeville, Coffee County, Warren County and White County.

Hitchcox said he doesn’t say one team in the Chattanooga area that’s going to dominate from Monday through the postseason.

“I don’t know that there’s just really that standout, head-and-shoulders-above-everybody team,” he said. “Baylor has a good mix of veterans with two or three stud players and some good young talent. But this isn’t like the Knoxville area where there are a couple of teams that are really loaded with 15 guys who could play with anybody.”

In Class AA, look for Red Bank and Sequatchie County to lead districts 6 and 7. Red Bank is dropping down from AAA and coach Bumper Reese may have the best all-round team he has had in years. The group includes catcher Taylor Martin, pitcher/shortstop Andy Christopher and center fielder T.J. Butts, a fleet-footed transfer from Tennessee Temple who had to sit out last year. Reese said this is the biggest team he has had in 11 years as a head coach.

Sequatchie County, with new coach Aaron Simmons, has reportedly hung with or beat every team it has played in the preseason.

Reese gets to renew his rivalry with longtime friend Steve Garland, the former Soddy-Daisy coach who will be coaching first-year East Hamilton.

“I have no idea what to expect,” Reese said of the new district. “We’re excited and we’re looking forward to the season, but there’s a big unknown.”

Polk County is the likely 5-AA favorite, but Wildcats coach Bill Triplett said everybody needs to watch defending champion McMinn Central.

“Until somebody knocks them off, they have to be the favorite,” he said.

He was deflecting notoriety because Polk returns just about every starter from a district runner-up team.

“It will be a fun district. We all have a pretty good day one starter and it may come down to who has the best second-day starter,” Triplett said. “We have good arms, but having good arms doesn’t necessarily translate into having good pitching.”

In a league with proven starting pitchers such as Polk’s Jared Allen, McMinn Central’s Scott Moses and Meigs’ Spencer Crabtree, the best may be Sequoyah’s DeAndre Allen.

“He’s very fluid with a good, live arm, and he knows how to pitch,” Triplett said. “He probably throws in the low 80s, but he had a good breaking ball and he keeps you honest with that.”

While Marion County’s drop from 6-AA makes 6-A most interesting, it is no more of a change than Boyd-Buchanan dropping from 5-AA to 5-A.

The Buccaneers should be the 5-A favorite over Arts & Sciences, Copper Basin, Grace Academy, Silverdale Baptist and Temple.