Wharton Lady Tigers "Earning Respect"

[Dugoutcoach]

As the "dust settles" on McCombs Field in Austin, the Wharton Lady Tigers appearance in the 3a State Championship Game along with last year's "final four" berth furthered their efforts to "earn respect" from the "pollsters and pundits" of the game whom to date have chosen not to give this highly successful program the credit it deserves. This success is a product of years of cooperation between many members of the Wharton community which began for most of the players in the local "T-Ball" league and has continued throughout their UIL play. This "community cooperation" will continue and serve to strengthen this already successful program that is "EARNING" its status in the ranks of Texas 3a Softball. Thanks Lady Tigers for making up proud and allowing our community to be a part of your hard-earned success!!! "We WILL Finish Business Next Year!"

[Old Cardinal]

That's some pretty strong stuff you are putting out Coach! Just because it was a tied ballgame after the 7th inning and Caldwell made some crucial errors in the 8th inning does not make your team invincible, or Region IV now elevated-as Lindale soon proved. Had Caldwell not committed untimely errors, I think they would have taken Lindale in the next game....I, for one, say that Region III next year has at least 12 teams that can take you out! It is not a myth that Region III and also Region II are much stronger overall that Region IV. I can't see any Region IV teams being rated high again next year....There is another "Right side of Texas Tournament" with a lot of Region III and Louisiana teams in Beaumont next year for HS warmup games; come on down and beat them all up-- LOL

[lobo12]

caldwell may have made some mistakes, but that still is part of the game. wharton was the better team that day and earned their right to the state game. i thought we could have beaten lindale without some errors and 10 base runners left on. but the point is we made those errors and left those runners on and lindale played a better game than we did. no dis respect to caldwell but wharton did beat them and does deserve some respect.

[cgw1622]

I firmly agree with OC. Caldwell had crucial errors and should have played a better game. Not sure if it was nervousness or just wasn't their night but have seen them play so much better. Our pitcher was off, and the ones that usually hit just couldn't seem to put the ball in play. Wharton won and that's the way it goes. With seven seniors leaving the team I hope the Lady Hornets have a banner year in 2005. I will miss them greatly. I know the volleyball team will be hard to beat.

[Dugoutcoach]

OC, all your talk about "what if's" can not change the record book!We didn't play up to our potential in the finals and lost to a good team who played well - but WE were still there and proudly representing Region IV, I might add. Maybe it is time for you to change your name to "Old Crow" and start eating some! The Tournament is over and "the book" is closed for this year.

[Dulce04]

boo hoo... you know what? Wharton was there... they were there representing region IV... so they didn't win state.. it happened!!!! This so called "respect" you seem to be trying to demand from everyone just to get Wharton on the rankings doesn't seem to be for the right reasons. Wharton made it to the STATE FINALS regardless of what those rankings said... so why does it matter? Why does it matter if everyone thinks that Region III is the region to beat?... but I mean... no offense... but it's pretty obvious that most of the better teams in Texas are in region III. Wharton and Lindale for that matter, proved everyone wrong and represented their regions well. Caldwell's errors killed us. We had a chance to score in the first inning and I believe in the 5th or 6th...which would've meant beating Wharton 2 or 3 to 1. It just wasn't our time. I am one of the seniors on that team and I can't fathom why one earth it wasn't our time to win but it just wasn't. We had everything going for us and we didn't pull through. When I watched the Lindale vs. Monahans game... I didn't see a single person from Wharton there. After watching that game, I thought that Wharton was going to beat Lindale easily... but to my suprise it didn't happen. Wharton made it to the state tournament despite all odds. Isn't that good enough?

[PhiI C]

Actually all four teams would have to have been good to have got this far no matter what region they represented. Sometimes things happen in tournaments that don't happen during the season. Of course due to playoff pairings there are going to be teams eliminated in early rounds that might have gone to win it all if circumstances were different. It is just like a few years ago when Forney played Everman in the second playoff game game in football and almost won but didn't and thus were eliminated in the second round even though they probably had the second best team in the state. So the geographic pairing does have an effect but there is no better solution due to time and distances and expenses (remember gasoline prices are going up). Errors are a big factor in softball and baseball so you can't eliminate the luck factor. There have been several games that I have seen one error that should have been an easy out give a team two runs to win the game even though the team otherwise played a flawless game. Two errors can make the game seem one sided that if you could take away those errors the outcome would be different. Fortunately ratings don't mean as much because the game is decided on the field and Wharton did make it to the finals. All four teams can be proud of their achievements and efforts because remember there are a lot of worthy teams that didn't get to make it that far.

[GD_softballgirl04]

I am one of the seniors from wharton girls softball team and I would just like to say that we played our best,yes we had runners on and we couldn't get the runners in! that was one of our biggest problem. Lindal was a really good team, the best team wins. thats the way the game goes! I'm sad it had to end like this, but it did! Everyone thought that we were going to win it and some people had doubts,but just goes to show ANYTHING can happen! and I'd like to say that our coaches and parents and a player went to watch the game against Lindal and Monahans! we all knew what they were capable of. You come to play the game, Lindal came and they were ready, maybe it wasn't our time to shine, but we made it 2 times back to back to state. I'm proud of our team and the people who supported us through it all! Way to go Lady Tigers!!!!

[lobo12]

like i said earlier no dis respect to caldwell but mistakes are part of the game. i did not see the game but i am sure that wharton also made mistakes that cost them runs or that hurt them. errors go both ways

[Dugoutcoach]

Quote from OC earlier this year:

"I think that the State Tournament strength was #1 Kirbyville #2 Lindale #3 Kennedale #4 Wharton. Personally I don't think Kennedale or especially Wharton would compete very well at all in Region III. Region III had a host of teams that could easily have won the Crown,last year. I think the same situation is found this year. The huge number of 3A girls playing premium Select team ball residing in Region III make the difference...Just look at where the College scholarships are being given."

As stated many times previously, all the talk has nothing to do with the record book!

[tfan10]

I am from Wharton, and I would just like to say first of all congrats to the Lady Tigers for "earning" their title as 3A state runner up. Thursday was the tigers' night, it was no fluke, it was not "luck", but rather them finally playing to their potential against a very good Caldwell team. Both teams made mistakes, Wharton just capitalized on Caldwell's mistakes. Wharton was pumped up, and Caldwells pitcher was good but Wharton hit her pretty good. I just wish that enthusiasm would have carried over to the championship game, that was not the same Wharton team as usual. I'm sad for all the seniors but the whole team should be proud of themselves for all their accomplishments, and good luck to the players who will continue their careers at the next level, Jami and Staci. Wharton will return some key players and should have a chance to contend next year even though they are losing some very valueable players, we'll just have to wait and see, and forget rankings, they don't mean a thing, that's just somebody's opinion who put the rankings together. The loss in the championship was sad just because that was not the way the tigers play, but that's how the game goes.

[18handicap]

I just want to add my congratulations to Wharton (they are in my district) and the other 3 teams that were in the state tournament (Lindale, Monahans, Caldwell) from class 3A. All four teams were very deserving of their berths at the state tournament.

The semi-final games could have gone either way if the ball bounces differently than it did during those games. But that is why we play the game on the field and not on paper. I've coached teams that ended up just short of the state tournament and maybe we could have been there in those years if one ball bounced a little different. I was so proud of those teams, just as you should all be of your teams, whether they won state, made the state tournament, or didn't even make the playoffs. We are always here to support our youth.

I was pulling for Wharton in the tournament, but sometimes a bad game can happen. I didn't see the same Wharton in that game that I saw all year. Whether it was nerves, disinterest, playing a better team, or just a bad game -- it doesn't matter. If I was in their situation, I would have wished it was different, but they can say that they were there in the finals and the rest of us were in the stands, on the fence, or at home.

Good luck to Jami for making the TGCA all-star team and will be looking forward to seeing her play one more high school game on July 6th in Birdville. Congrats to the rest of the Lady Tigers for the great year.

[Dugoutcoach]

THANKS 18! FOR ALL OF YOUR SUPPORT AND
"STICKING WITH US" THROUGH OUR LONG JOURNEY TO THE FINALS