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Centralia Baseball

ct2_7

Active Member
Dec 11, 2005
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Centralia took 5th in state last year and should have taken 3 since they both beat Mark Morris(3rd) and Kelso(4th) during the regular season and districts. Now with them dropping to the 2A level, they have a great shot and should be one of the favorites. They return a junior class full of athletes that made it to the 15 year old babe ruth world series 2 summers ago, watch them to go all the way.
 
They don't drop till next year. They made it to the World Series because they got extra berths since Longview hosted it. They slipped in through the back door, w/o having to beat the best to get there.
 
Who do they have for pitching this year? Didn't they lose their #1 and 2 guys?
 
Sean Meehan, Erik Hoium and Cal Cruickshank will be the 3 main pitchers, all juniors. Jeremy Johnson and Locke Craig-Mikel graduated, Hoium and Cruickshanks stats were better than Mikel's so there are 2 returning starters.
 
danny myers and the rest of the pac-9....honestly...who else is going to win league this year...its gonna be centralia or river ridge...and dont be like ohh my team will just cause ur on it...look at the rest of the pac 9..its pretty weak this year overall...chehalis isnt good enough to win it, tumwater will be alright but not 1st or 2nd...yelm only has miller..timblerline sucks..black hills does to...thurston will be alright but not good enough...so ya centralia and ridge on the top...u guys know im right too
 
Are you even in this league or are you just a JV player for one of these Pac-9 schools? Ok then.................Chehalis will be pretty decent because they always put a squad together.........tumwater has frost, myers, and the twins...........yelm has miller, alexander, kingery............aberdeen seems to always find kids.........centralia will be ok but losing those seniors hurt...........ridge will be decent if harvey is healthy and the others you are right won't really do much!
 
chehalis lost basically their whole team last year. centralia will be good. aberdeen returns 7 starters. You could go through all the teams and who they have. i think that the Pac 9 will be pretty even this year.
 
You chehalis guys lost ur whole team last year...u lost ur pitchers..only have lucas and cox but both are definately beatable....ur whole hitting lineup is gone with overbay cox brown williams squires gone...so u guys arent even gonna be close to the top...alexander and kingery cant carry the team for yelm...miller will have his year...but thats it..everyone else will be average at best....ridge will still be tough if harvey cant pitch..tumwater always battles same does aberdeen...so centralia ridge tumwater and aberdeen wtih yelm right behind will be amoung the top
This post was edited on 2/28 9:05 PM by ct2_7if(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
 
Centralia / Chehalis guys, listen up...

This might be a bit off topic, but let me just say that you guys are from two great baseball towns. I love going down to Wheeler and Bearcat Stadium. I love how people in your community care about baseball and other sports. You all get a little too wrapped up in life in the Twin Cities, though. I don't think you quite have "the pulse" of what else is going on out there with sports. I'll elaborate more later. I'm not from your league at all... I just do alot of baseball and know many players from your towns over the past 10 years. Here's a couple of views that I have...

I love the fact that you guys have strong Legion teams... that's great... it creates that sense of community that I was talking about before. It's a shame that legion ball has weakened on the west side of our state. But the fact is... it has. I'm not saying that you shouldn't play for Chehalis Pepsi, or Fullers, but you need to do more for yourselves and your baseball exposure. Maybe go to more showcase events? Maybe get some outside instruction? Sean Meehan seems to be outcasted for playing elsewhere, but in reality... he'll probably maximize his prospects for college and draft potential. I hear baseball people from your area complain about him... it bothers me. He's probably doing what more people should do.

Not to sound too rude, but there's a little more outside of the Twin Cities. You guys are great players and good athletes. Keep playing legion ball, because you guys are one of the places who do it right... but keep your own interests in mind, too.

All that being said, I'm not sure you guys are getting some of the competition you need in legion ball that would help your school team. There just aren't many other legion programs like your's, until you get to state. Your coaches seem unwilling to schedule other select teams... not sure why? Is it a fair comparison to relate Centralia / Chehalis baseball to how Cuba uses it's athletes, and the fear around losing them to other countries? Obviously that's a big stretch, but I wonder what the fear is to play some of these select teams... maybe I'm off base a bit. Anyways... enough thoughts.
 
Re: Centralia / Chehalis guys, listen up...

Very true! The reason we stay playing for our hometown legion teams is because we have grown up in our small cities and have a lot of pride in them. Here in Centralia we have always had a good legion team and we like to be a part of that because we win, some of that may be because we have less competition like you just said until we reach state. It is kind of odd how most of our players don't start doing anything until the beginning of the season, but we have no one down here running any programs throughout the winter like say the thing Steve Avola has in Olympia. I now know what is going on outside of the Twin Cities and do believe there is a lot more opportunities out there. The reason Sean Meehan is frowned upon and..."disliked" by many is because he betrayed our programs here in town and NO ONE else did. Any one else have thoughts??
 
betrayal?

I can see being miffed at the defection of a quality athlete, one that has played with the same group of kids for a long period of time. But to call it betrayal is a little harsh. He's a teenage kid trying to make the best decision for himself. He continues to attend school in Centralia, he played football, from what I understand he would have played basketball had it not been for a knee injury, and he will play baseball. He does not owe the town of Centralia or its legion program his baseball talent. Although, as a spectator I would enjoy seeing him play for Fuller's.
 
Re: Centralia / Chehalis guys, listen up...

I guess betrayal wasn't the best word to use, but, for him to go out and play for a different team wasn't very cool because we've all grown up playing together, the same kids, since little league and it's not like in big city where everyone goes separate ways. If he would have gone to all the camps and other places and still played for Fuller's, there would be no problem. It is good for kids to go out and see what else is out there, but you can still get recognition playing for Fuller's, and then going to camps.
 
Re: Centralia / Chehalis guys, listen up...

I see where you are coming from and I sympathize. Here is another way to look at it though.

If he had played ball in Centralia last summer he would have taken a roster spot from someone. Hypothetically if he played on the Junior Legion team he'd have taken a spot from another Centralia sophomore. By playing out of town he allowed another player that will be on his high school team the chance to get better throughout the summer and allowed himself the opportunity to be involved in an experience outside of hometown ball.

If he had played on the Senior team he likely would have filled the spot Ty Drevniak from Pe Ell had. Ty may not have had the chance to play for a high level team against high level competition that playing for Fuller's allowed him and that would have been a shame.
 
Re: Centralia / Chehalis guys, listen up...

Well, I'm glad you guys didn't get too fired up about my post. However, the stuff you are writing about Sean Meehan is wrong. First of all, what a great kid. Great person, good athlete. I would have no problem with Centralia/Chehalis politics if there was some give and take to it. It makes a WHOLE lot of sense for high school players to play legion ball for at least a season. However, that is what Jr Legion is for... when competition gets really poor is when you get to Senior Legion. Think about it...

Junior Legion still is fairly strong on the west side. Most high school teams like the concepts of developing their So, Jr & Sr to be's for the next season. So, you have decent competition... Capital, River Ridge, Sumner, Bonney Lake, Thurston, Chehalis, Centralia, Lakes, Foss, on and on... However, most of those jr legion teams DON'T have Sr programs. Who is Fuller's playing??? Well, the answer is... not quite the teams they could be. Which makes me wonder if they are worried to lose talent to other programs (that was the Cuba reference :)

What is the purpose of playing Legion ball once you are 18? I can still see playing for your community, but that is what high school ball is... my point is, the reasons to play Sr Legion DO deterioate once you are done with your senior HS season. A HS senior's focus really should be on exposure, competition, etc. I think many of you want that, but I'm not sure the people running your program want to do what it takes to give you that. Don't get me wrong though, I don't think you all are getting bad instruction... I think people are doing a good job with that... but again, what is the purpose of playing that last 18 year old season with Senior Legion? Especially, if you are a prospect? If Sr Legion ball hadn't deterioted in this state, this would be a different story, but it has.

I can't speak for Sean here, but it seems like he's the type of kid who wouldn't like the politics associated with a small town's legion program... could the over-bearing locals be a reason he chooses to play elsewhere in the summer? Man, leave that kid alone!

PS - You guys should make sure you should keep showing up for the Baseball NW events. It's a shame not to have you guys there. I know many of you do go, but it'd be great to see more of you.
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Re: Centralia / Chehalis guys, listen up...

This isn't his Senior year, last year is what I was talking about, his Sophomore year. He's not 18 yet, he was 16. Yes I agree about the going out your Senior year and getting the most attention possible, but you don't have to leave your teammates your Sophomore year. I haven't heard anything very special about that Baseball NW program either. It supposedly showcases and ranks the best kids, but how are the ranks accurate if it doesn't consider ALL the kids who don't go, and what good is it if you only play a couple games??
 
Re: Centralia / Chehalis guys, listen up...

I guess I was talking about two different issues. I'm talking about guys from your town, and then Sean's issue. I know the choice he made is different than the other scenario I was speaking on. I love how you guys play "at home"... I think it's great. Sean obviously had some reasons for leaving... you probably know better than I.

As a guy who's done my fair share of college recruiting... I just have noticed this issue about the Twin Cities. I question some of the things surrounding it.

BBNW isn't a team... it's exposure. The rankings are only kids who've been there. As you get to the bottom of them, they get inaccurate... there's a disclaimer about that before they even rank each kid. It's not supposed to be the "end all". It's just more info. At the NW Championships last year, there were over 100 pro & college scouts at the 2006 workout. That's what it was about.
 
Re: Centralia / Chehalis guys, listen up...

The Senior Legion league schedule was very weak. This year though, we are in the Vancouver league which will be really strong I think. We also travel to many hard tournaments such as the WSU tourny, which we won last year, and also to California.
Playing out of town is a good way to be exposed but I havent heard anything spectacular about the programs up north compared to our program down here. And i dont quite understand how the Fullers Senior Legion program isnt exposed to college and pro scouts like u say when we had 3, D-1 players last year and Cox getting drafted. I remember scouts being at almost every game last summer, of course alot of that had to do with Cox, but im sure there be a share of scouts this summer at the games.
But I do agree with alot of what you have to say Wildcat. Theres just a couple things you dont know about that are being discussed in previous polls but like you said, you arent from here to know everything.
 
Re: Centralia / Chehalis guys, listen up...

Good to hear about your schedule. You have players drafted and go to D1 because you have good players. I worry that examples of Lyle Overbay are used to you all, as a local who "made it". The fact is, Lyle was a bit overlooked out of high school. Nevada-Reno isn't a bad school, but he was a talent that didn't need much opportunity to get to the "big time". What about the kids in your program that only get a couple shots in front of the people who matter? That's all I'm saying.

My point is that you must look at geography. I don't doubt that some scouts are at your games... but scouting is changing. The majority of scouts are becoming lazier and lazier. Trust me. They want to attend one event, and see as much as they can. That was why I commented about attending showcase events, such as BBNW.

Good luck to you --
 
Re: Wildcat Alum

Wildcat Alum-You seem to be pretty knowledgeable on our area and it's players. Who are you and where are you from?????
 
Re: Wildcat Alum

Good dialogue. It is interesting reading as I am not from that area but can relate a bit to the issues of exposure and stubborn blind loyalty to a legion program that is dated and going nowhere. You ought to see it up here in Whatcom county. Same basic deal except we have been running 5 legion teams out of 1 post for years. That is 1 junior legion team for each Bellingham high school (Bellingham, Squalicum, Sehome)1 senior legion team that is the best of the players from the same 3 schools and 1 "C" legion team that is the leftover players from the 3 schools who still wanna play some ball. While it provides many opportunities for guys to play summer ball, the quality of the teams is questionable and the exposure is non-existent (Who recruits ball players from tourneys in B.C., Canada???? Yeah, NOBODY). I played my high school and summer ball in Seattle so I know what it takes to get the exposure you need to increase your chances of getting a look for post-high school careers. There are a number of quality ball players up here but I can only think of 1 that has touched up the Baseball NW system. That is a shame.
I am not going to go into the details of the perils of baseball up here because it doesn't matter. Just continue the open dialogue because sooner or later the situation will change and everyone will have to make the hard decision like the kid you are talking about.

Mark my words small town guys (Centralia, Chehalis, Bellingham etc..)
Soon, a sponsor with some dough that loves baseball will show up in your town...(i.e., US Bank, Chaffey, KSL Media, Kirkland Pepsi, Food Giant back in the day ;-}...) He/She/It will throw their hat in the ring and set up a Connie Mack type team...No recruiting boundaries, no money issues...They won't care who they piss off and they will take the best of the best and travel to Cal., AZ., Nevada...all summer long...They will simply disarm the local legion establishments to the point of paralysis and those Good 'Ol Boys who are refusing to roll with change are going to be standing there holding there peckers in their hands, scratching their asses wondering what happend. It will be ugly at first, feelings will get hurt and the worst part is the kids will be the victims of adult stupidity. It's gonna happen so prepare yourself now...Be brave and help yourself out. If you love the game and have some ability you are going to want to play as long as you can. So make sure and give yourself the best opportunity to showcase your talent. Don't get stuck in your town's rut if you can help it...Go get it!!!

Good Luck this season to you all.

Dawg Out.
 
Re: Wildcat Alum

I'm from all over, really. I'd rather not say who I am, though... if you don't mind. Not trying to be mysterious or anything, but I've got a vested interest in keeping that from being well known. I probably "shouldn't" be a message board guy. I'm a Wildcat, though... if that helps (probably not) :)

I've spent some time (short time) living in Centralia... my wife's family is from there. They have been an "athletic family" there. That's why I might have more than average interest in athletics there. However, I know the area through coaching and recruiting as well.
 
Back to the topic at hand...

Interesting thoughts... however, it sounds like legion ball in your area is a bit different than Centralia/Chehalis. If things are going to happen as you say (Connie Mack taking over)... then I would contend that the Twin Cities would be among the last "to fall".

They not only run legion, but it's strong there. They teach them well, and the kids grow up wanting to play for Fullers (the senior legion team). Look at the guys who responded to my initial post... they acknowledged the issue as legitimate, but they obviously still love playing in their hometown. You really have got to love that... however they will only have themselves to blame if they don't take the showcasing of their own talents into their own hands (as you say).

I think that it will be some time before Eastern Washington legion "breaks down". It might very well continue to happen here on the west side, though. The isolation of each town in E Wash makes legion make total sense. Are they going to fly from Moses Lake to the Tri Cities to play for their select team??? :)
 
Re: Back to the topic at hand...

You are absolutely right about the east side. I suppose I should have been more specific on that. I think Centralia/Chehalis legion is very similar to what we have here but we have just been too focused on providing opportunity for kids to play and not in competing to the best of our ability. All the kids here know they are going to play legion but they also know they won't get cut. Back in the day there was 1 Senior and 1 Junior team for the whole county (200,00 people now/ 100,00 at that time) and they were great teams...If our legion board switches it up then I think the old legion magic will reappear and we can avoid the Connie Mack thing for a little while longer.

I want to be clear on something. I admire the towns all over the country that love and support their legion teams. American legion ball is an American institution. I played legion ball and have coached legion ball for more than 10 seasons and I am very proud of that. I hope it all goes well down your way and thanks for the interesting post and honest thoughts.

Dawg Gone.

Whatever happend to the Yardbirds and that neat little stadium in Centralia...Played and coached at that yard many times...Fond memories for me!!!
 
Re: Back to the topic at hand...

The stadium is still there and used, Yardbirds told into Fullers
 
Re: Back to the topic at hand...

The stadium is still there and used, Yardbirds turned into Fullers
 
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