2007 Cubs

The 2007 Cubs surpassed all our expectations by winning the Whitfield County Championship. After losing to Dug Gap during our regular season game and again in our first playoff loss, very few people gave our Cubs any chance of winning the Championship. However, our Cubbies fought back to win the semifinal game on Saturday morning against Varnell, then played Dug Gap 20 minutes later to beat them soundly in the first Championship game.

On Monday, the Cubs fell behind Dug Gap quickly 4-0 on a grand slam in the first inning, but held Dug Gap to no more runs in the first 5 innings as we scored two runs to close the score to 4-2. Dug Gap scored 2 runs in the top of the last inning (6th) to make the score 6-2. With a 5-run rule per inning, we went into the bottom of the last inning trailing by 4. With two outs, down 6-2, and no one on base, the Cubs loaded the bases and went on to score 5-runs to win the Whitfield County Championship. You probably noticed alot of Cubs hats being worn around Dalton after the win. These boys were very proud and we are very proud of them.

Throughout the year, we played every player in every game. When it came to Championship time it showed that these boys got their playing time in. Boys that had 1-2 hits all year had 6-7 hits during the play-offs. Other boys that had avoided fly balls during the season made sensational two-handed catches. Ground balls that had been bobbled or missed during the regular season became ground-outs during the Championship game. This was the difference between winning the Championship and placing second. Our final out in the top of the six came on a cleanly fielded grounder with the bases loaded. Our winning run came on a bobbled ground ball and bounced throw. Alot of fun went into and came out of this Championship Season.

Bottom Row (Left to Right) Paxton Bennett, Logan Hilton, Henson Gibbs, Blake Ownbey

Top Row (Left to Right) Drew Guffey, Trey Hasty, Clay Phillips, Dakota Ware, Chip Brown, Jackson Bell Missing is Garrett Kelly (out with Broken Foot caused by girls on the school playground)

The 2007 Cubs will look very similar to the 2006 Cubs (and the 2005 and 2004 Cubs), however, we will lose two very important players-Ethan Hayes, who will be playing on the Golf Tournament circuit, and Ethan Neal - who moved to Maryland (we will miss "Hammy"- a nickname he earned from the squirrel on the movie 'Over the Hedge')

We have added three very good players through trades and Free Agency to take their place.

Paxton Bennett - Paxton is actually the fulfillment of a "player to be named later" trade with Tunnel Hill for Mason Allen last year. During 2006, Paxton was a catcher and utility infielder for Tunnel Hill and was one of their best players. Paxton has excellent athletic skills, and we may be able to teach him all nine positions. The acquisition of Paxton will allow the Cubs the opportunity to move players around and teach more players more positions.

Trey Hasty - who our scouts "found". Trey is a big bruising lineman on the Westside Football team and has the perfect build to be a third baseman. Trey has been in training with the Northwest High School coaches polishing up on his defensive skills. The infield positions will become pretty crowded if Trey is able to anchor a third base spot for us. Trey provides the Cubs with a lot more depth.

Henson Gibbs - who we "traded" future draft picks to the Dalton City Recreation league to get. Henson was a member of the 2nd edition Cubs in 2005 and we are very happy to have him back on the Cubs. Henson is a left-handed catcher and utility player, who can play almost any position on the field. He bats left and has a compact strike zone. While he may be a little behind the curve on the Cubs team defensive philosophy, he should pick up our defensive strategy quickly.

With the addition of these players and the 8 returning Cubs, we should continue to compete at the highest level with other County teams. With field practice time very limited, every player must commit to practice at home to polish their skills. Every player should play catch every day. The more practice they get at home, the more quickly their skills will develop. It is very important that players practice what we teach in practice (at home). Have players disconnect the PlayStation, turn off the TV, and get outside with their bats and gloves. With the quality of players that the Cubs have this year, it will be the players that work the hardest that earn their positions.

A flamethrower's checklist

Dr. Glenn Fleisig, research chairman at the American Sports Medicine Institute in Birmingham, Ala., explains the key components to achieving optimal speed on a fastball.

Genetics: "Even with all the science you can't make someone who's not genetically great into someone super duper. You can make them a little better or a little worse due to mechanics or conditioning, but you can't make (a person) someone that they're not."

Strength: "Conditioning is something that you can add upon to your genetics. ... Certainly exercise and nutrition and supplements and vitamins - good or bad ones - they help people get stronger."

Mechanics: "All pitchers, whether they throw fast or not, they're going to rotate their hips, they're going to rotate their shoulders, they're going to extend their elbow, they're going to move their knee. A good pitcher and a bad pitcher will all do the same things, but the good pitcher will do them in the right time where the action gets passed up to the hands."

Practice - Your body learns mechanics through repetition and practice. The more time invested in developing good skills, the easier for the body to naturally reproduce these mechanics. It is important that these skills are developed properly to eliminate bad habits. Improper mechanics are far harder to overcome than under-developed skills.

Moderation: "Our experience is that the pitchers who achieve the highest levels are not the ones who didn't play baseball when they were a kid and are not the ones that were playing on two teams at a time. Those kids get hurt or physically burn out. The ones who survive are the ones who played enough but the parents didn't go crazy and put them on all these teams at once and there were no coaches going crazy and having them pitch every day."

The 2007 Westside Cubs

A flamethrower's checklist

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