With four new coaches patrolling dugouts in 2016, Region 7-AAA was supposed to at least have the appearance of being in flux.
Banks County, Dawson County, Fannin County, and West Hall all sport new coaches, which typically calls for some growing pains as coach and players alike become acclimated with one another. Also, only three of the seven-team region teams were coming off winning seasons.
Well, someone obviously forgot to send them the memo.
So far in 2016, Region 7-AAA is showing that maybe 2015 was more of an aberration than a new norm. The region is a staggering 27-6 in its collective non-region schedule as a group.
It’s a far cry from the 2015 campaign.
“I think last year 7-AAA was a young region overall,” said East Hall coach Wesley Crow, who is in his eighth season at the helm of the Vikings (5-2). “This year, most of the teams had most of their experienced and best players coming back. Everyone is a year older and more experienced, which I think you’re seeing translate into a little more success.”
To prove the point, Dawson County (4-1) beat 2015 Class AAA state runner-up Jefferson, which knocked off Class AAAAA state runner-up Gainesville. Powerful Region 8-AAAA, which had two teams in the Elite 8 last year, is a collective 26-32 in non-region contests. Region 8-AAAAA, home of Gainesville and Loganville, is just 22-31 in non-region play.
As a whole, the seven-team region of Banks County, Dawson County, East Hall, Fannin County, Franklin County, Lumpkin County, and West Hall went just 20-30 in their non-region schedule in 2015. The season fittingly, and quickly, closed out with the four playoff teams of Franklin County, East Hall, Lumpkin County, and West Hall getting swept out of the playoffs in the first round, with only Franklin, the region champ, managing to win a game against Region 8-AAA No. 4 seed Hart County.
Franklin County (4-0) however, got a measure of revenge with a pair of early wins over Hart County already this season while West Hall (6-1) owns a pair of wins over Class AAAAAA Habersham Central.
New West Hall coach Chad Sage, an assistant with the Spartans last year, agreed that experience is playing an early role.
“A lot of players were coming back this year and that is a big key for most teams to have that experience,” Sage said. “Also, getting some early wins can really help the confidence.”
A key for Sage and the Spartans, who already are just three wins shy of last year’s season total (9), actually came during their lone loss of the season, 3-1 to Class AAAAAA North Forsyth on the road.
“North Forsyth has seven college prospects and we were tied in the fifth inning,” Sage said. “We made a late error that led to the deciding runs but I think the guys realized after that that they can play with anyone.”
Region 7-AAA does not begin to beat each other up until next week when everyone opens region play on Tuesday. Last year all but one team was still in the playoff race on the final day of the season.
But both Crow and Sage felt the early success region-wide so far this year will play a factor.
“The new coaches are all good hires,” Crow said. “That will be a factor. The kids are learning how to win and that will be huge in close games. We lost four games by a run last year and I think the early wins will go a long way to helping us later.”
“The region is really wide-open again,” Sage said. “I think the kids see that and that is helping with the motivation to try and get better every game. I expect it to probably go down to the last day again.”
Both coaches also were in agreement that other teams in Class AAA will underestimate 7-AAA at their own risk this year.
“No doubt that 7-AAA will surprise people this year,” Sage said. “I don’t see everyone getting swept out this year.”
“(As a region) we’ve already beaten some of the teams that knocked us off last year,” Crow said. “The region is much tougher overall this year. We’re showing that we will be competitive. I definitely think we’ll surprise people. But for most of us, I don’t think we’ll see it as a surprise by the end of the season.”
http://accesswdun.com/article/2016/3/374785/baseball-region-7-aaa-showing-quick-turnaround-from-rough-2015-campaign