Composite bats concern NCAA

Posted at 3:01 p.m. EDT – Eric Lindsey, UK Media Relations

This isn’t necessarily UK related, but a story in the Tennessean by Maurice Patton raises some pretty important questions plaguing NCAA baseball. The NCAA is taking a hard look at bats at the College World Series, focusing on the subject of composite and “doctored” bats.

People around college baseball are worried that composite bats are creating a noticeable advantage. According to the story, NCAA rules state that a manufactured bat cannot outperform a wooden bat.

If you know a thing or two about baseball, you know that certainly isn’t the case. In terms of the sweet spot, durability and often times power, composite and aluminum bats will almost always outperform a wooden bat.

Coaches around baseball are also worried at which the ball comes off the composite bats. The composite bats create a “trampoline effect” where the ball is hit at a harder and faster pace, allowing defensive players less time to react, which obviously creates safety concerns.

So what should the NCAA do? It’s long been debated that the NCAA should do away with metal bats all together and switch to wooden bats, the choice of bat for the major leagues. I’ve always been a proponent of using only wood bats. There have simply been too many metal bat related injuries on both the collegiate and high school level. Plus, if the kids are going to make it to the next level, they’re going to have to use wooden bats anyway.

What do you think? Send me an e-mail at catscratches@email.uky.edu with your opinion.

 

Cat Scratches kicks off 'Wildcat Wednesdays' with Johnson, Rumely

Posted at 2:17 p.m. EDT - Eric Lindsey, UK Media Relations

 

If you can’t wait to get the 2009-10 athletics season started, UK Athletics and Cat Scratches has just the perfect solution to get you through the summer and into the upcoming athletics year.

 

Starting Wednesday, UK will kick off an eight-week series of live chats with current UK players and coaches. The chats, titled “Wildcats Wednesdays,” will allow fans to interact with their favorite student-athletes and coaches at UK via a live blog. By logging into Cat Scratches, fans will be able to send in questions and comments for the Wildcats to read and answer.

 

Cat Scratches, the official blog of UK Athletics, will have a variety of athletes and coaches on during the eight weeks, ranging from men’s and women’s basketball, to softball, to men’s and women’s soccer, football and more. Times will vary each week depending on the player’s and/or coach’s availability, but fans will be notified ahead of time on a weekly basis.

 

Kicking off Wildcat Wednesdays will be two of UK’s most successful athletes in 2008-09. Softball’s Molly Johnson and volleyball’s Sarah Rumely will join Cat Scratches on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. for a 30-45 minutes chat. Fans can join the live chat by going to www.UKAthletics.com and clicking on the Cat Scratches icon.

 

Johnson, UK’s first All-American in program history, is fresh off leading the softball team to the school’s first NCAA Tournament appearance and win. On Monday, she was picked to the USA Softball Japan Cup Team.

 

Rumely led the UK volleyball team to its fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance while being the named Southeastern Conference Player of the Year, a program first.

 

Cat Scratches will continue Wildcat Wednesdays next week with a live chat with women’s basketball coach Matthew Mitchell, tentatively for June 24 at 1:30 p.m.

 

Tilford signs with the Colorado Rockies

Posted at 10:09 a.m. EDT – Eric Lindsey, UK Media Relations

Clint Tilford has played his last ball for the University of Kentucky.

The right-handed pitcher has agreed to terms with the Colorado Rockies, forgoing his final season of eligibility. Tilford, a junior at UK, was a selected by the Rockies with the 931st overall pick in the 31st round of the 2009 MLB Draft.

The West Paducah, Ky., native was one of four UK players and seven signees picked in last week’s draft. He signed an agreement to play for the Casper Ghosts, the Rookie-Level affiliate of the Rockies in Casper, Wyo.

Tilford ends his three-year career at UK with a 5-4 overall record. He pitched in 50 games for the Cats with 19 starts, posting a 5.86 ERA. He totaled 112.1 career innings, fanning 76 and walking 58.

While Tilford’s collegiate career probably didn’t pan out like he hoped, he still has the talent and the tools to succeed in the pros. Potential-wise, he hasn’t even come close to his ceiling yet. He was tabbed the top prospect in the state of Kentucky in 2006 when he was named the Gatorade Kentucky Player of the Year.  

The announcement also opens up another spot in a wide-open pitching rotation. Because of injuries, UK was already thin on the mound a season ago. Now that the Cats have said goodbye to Tilford, Chris Rusin and likely James Paxton, there appears to be two weekend starting spots up for grabs.

The good news is help is on the way. Of the seven signees picked in last week’s draft, five are pitchers. Most, if not all, are expected to turn down MLB money and join UK.

Johnson earns once-in-a-lifetime opportunity

 

Posted at 9:34 a.m. EDT – Eric Lindsey, UK Media Relations

 

Molly Johnson has done a lot of things in her softball career.

 

She’s UK’s best all-time hitter (.395 career average and .648 slugging percentage top the school-record books), the program’s first All-American, and she just finished leading the Cats to their first NCAA Tournament appearance and win in school annals.

 

But Monday’s news might be the crowning achievement in what’s been nothing short of an illustrious career. Johnson, a shortstop for the UK softball team, was selected to represent the USA Softball Women’s National Team at the Japan Cup in Sendai, Japan.

 

Shortstop Molly Johnson will head to Japan near the end of the summer to represent the United States.

“This is definitely right there at the top,” Johnson said of making the national team. “Making the NCAA Tournament was great, but I think this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Like all the coaches at the camp were saying, it’s more elite than being drafted in the major leagues.”

 

It’s as elite as you can get in the ranks of softball. Tens of thousands of women aspire to make the national team every year, but only the nation’s best are chosen to participate in the selection camp.

 

After one of the most successful seasons in program history, the Tucson, Ariz., native was not only invited to the camp – she made the team.

 

“I wouldn’t have guessed this in a million years,” Johnson said. “It’s a great honor to play with some of the greatest players in the country and to have the opportunity to play with Olympians.”

 

Johnson caught wind of the news Monday morning via e-mail. Even after a season of gaudy numbers and firsts, she was surprised to find her name on the 40-man roster.

 

“It’s unbelievable,” Johnson said. “Coming to Kentucky and playing the last three years, I never even thought, even when I was younger, that I would have this opportunity. It’s great.”

 

Pardon Johnson if she’s shocked. Even though she led UK in hitting (.433), slugging percentage (.695) and runs (school-record 53), she wasn’t feeling too confident after her week in Chula Vista, Calif.

 

“I wasn’t too thrilled with my performance last week, but I think I’m the type that’s never completely satisfied,” Johnson said. “When I saw my name I was ecstatic, and I’m not sure it’s hit me just yet.”

 

To her credit, nobody had a particularly hot week at the plate. Johnson said most of the world’s best players struggled offensively in what she termed a “pitcher’s week” in California.

 

And that in itself was one of the many hurdles Johnson had to overcome last week. Forget going against the world’s best talent. Try standing next to a squad full of your heroes.

 

Johnson played and competed with softball legends Jennie Finch, Cat Osterman, Lauren Lappin and Natasha Watley during the week, an experience she said she’ll never forget. The All-American shortstop said she was nervous when she first got to camp, but she said the USA Softball leaders welcomed the rookies with open arms.

 

“Just playing with them builds my confidence to say ‘Hey, I can be just as good as these girls,’ ” Johnson said. “I learned a lot of new things that I didn’t know before so I’m definitely going to put that into play next season.”

 

But for now, Johnson has the national team to worry about. She’ll train in Lexington until returning to California on June 29 for training week. The Japan Cup will take place from July 31-Aug. 2.

 

 

Morning coffee

 

Posted at 9:24 a.m. EDT – Eric Lindsey, UK Media Relations

 

UK story of the day (albeit a third straight day): Come on, would you have guessed anything different? Didn’t think so. That’s why, for a third straight day, Jodie Meeks has warranted the UK topic of the day. Unfortunately for UK fans, it comes after Meeks announced that he will forego his senior season of eligibility and will remain in the NBA Draft.

 

Obviously plenty of opinion’s out there regarding the decision, but my favorite comes from John Clay of the Lexington Herald-Leader. I won’t go into it too much detail since I talked about it in Monday’s posts, but Clay sums it up best when he says that Meeks made the right decision because he followed his heart.

 

If Meeks’ heart was telling him the best decision was to go, then it was certainly the right choice. Fans can criticize and argue it was the wrong decision for their own selfish reasons, but Meeks had to do what was best for him. This is the last I’ll say it: Good for Jodie and best of luck.

 

A sprinkle of other local Jodie opinions:

• Rick Bozich of the Louisville Courier-Journal writes that UK can still flourish without Meeks.

• Also at the CJ, Eric Crawford blogs that it was probably wise to stay in the draft.

• Larry Vaught from the Danville Advocate-Messenger says Meeks' decision was no real surprise and wishes him well.

Bonus UK story: What shouldn’t be lost in Monday’s news is the fact that Molly Johnson was selected to the USA Softball Japan Cup Team. It’s a huge honor for quite frankly the best softball player in UK history. I’ll have a feature on Johnson posted momentarily.

 

SEC story of the day: Louisiana State is up to its old College World Series magic again. The Tigers pounded Southeastern Conference foe Arkansas 9-1 on Monday in the second round of the CWS. Story comes from Randy Rosetta of the Advocate.

 

The win puts LSU in the driver’s seat to make yet another CWS finals appearance. With a loss still to spare in the double-elimination tournament, LSU now has the next three days off before playing at a shot to the best-of-three national championship series.

 

LSU will play the winner of Arkansas and Virginia.

 

National story of the day: Jodie Meeks wasn’t the only one who had to make a potentially life-altering decision. Monday was the final to withdraw from the NBA Draft, forcing many underclassmen to make a final decision yesterday.

 

There were some notable names that went both ways. Andy Katz of ESPN.com takes a pretty extensive look at who did what, while breaking down the decisions of a very important Monday in a winner/loser format.

 

(Of UK note, Katz calls Kentucky a draw after Meeks decided to stay in the draft.)

 

I think Katz does a pretty good job of grading the final results, but let me piggyback on his column by saying that outside of the Meeks decision, the SEC had a superb last few weeks. Several of the league’s top players decided to come back to school over the past few days, including Devan Downey and Tyler Smith. UK still figures to be the favorite to win the league next year, but the SEC looks like it should rebound after a relatively weak 2008-09 season.