Formula differs for promoting prospects

July 12, 2018

It’s one of the many mysteries of minor league baseball — up there with who comes up with all the quirky promotions. Some managers don’t even like to talk about it, as if it’s a secret code or some type of classified information that, if unveiled, will result in a catastrophic disaster. Ah yes, the classic “promotion” in baseball is as hard to figure out as a Yogi Berra quote (if you’re too young to get that, look up the Yankee great’s best lines). Figuring out when to send a young player to the next level of the minor leagues isn’t as easy as one might think. The ...

Decision is a memorable one

July 4, 2018

COLUMBUS — The decision. Nothing to do with LeBron James leaving Cleveland for the Los Angeles Lakers. An 11-year-old girl pondering an all-day trip to Columbus with her father. She saw the forecast for Sunday, mid-90s. All she thought about was the heat as she ate lunch with her ...

Coaches from area honored

June 24, 2018

Trumbull County and the rest of the Mahoning Valley have produced, through their high school athletics programs, numerous student-athletes who have gone on to great success in the college and professional ranks. While in high school, those student-athletes have been stellar representatives of the area, finding success on the regional and even state levels of competition. This past school year was no excpetion with a softball state championship won by Champion, a handful of individual state champions in track & field, and plenty of team success on the conference and district ...

Top award starts in throwing circle

June 11, 2018

Simple spread of white chalk. Some prefer rosin on his or her hands. Deep breath. Focus. All that surrounds the thrower is a crowd. Some bystanders. Others have nervous energy. Shuffle. Shuffle. Throw. The weighted ball temporarily defies gravity through the power of the body transferred to the hand forcing the metallic object forward. The power Isabelle Kline exerted. The timing couldn’t be better. Final throw. Surpass 46 feet and the Division III girls state shot put title would be hers. It went 46-3, best throw in all divisions. Almost a Disney-like ending for the ...

Another year, another epic state meet

June 5, 2018

COLUMBUS — The heat sheets and time schedule come first. Sift through the names, find the ones from Mahoning and Trumbull Counties, along with those from Grand Valley, Pymatuning Valley, Garfield and Windham. Blue highlighter, sometimes yellow. Whatever is the closest in hand. Use it and start marking those local names. That’s the plan a couple days before making the pilgrimage across I-76 and down I-71. Destination? Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. State track and field meet, an event I’ve covered for this paper since 2001. Ironically, that year it was in Dayton. Good ...

Opportunity knocks for area coaches

June 1, 2018

It's hard not to look back at high school without some type of regret. Oh, come on. Don’t act like you’re not still upset over being too shy to ask that cute girl to prom, or that you’re not still wondering how good you could have been at sports if you wouldn’t have been out causing trouble. Or maybe you’re mad you accumulated tens of thousands in student loans because your grades weren’t good enough to qualify for any scholarships or grants. Hmm... Maybe that’s just me. Regardless, one of the things that gets under people’s skin is that there are so many ways of ...