Heads Carolina/Tails California: Power shut off at Palomino tournament

No California trip for the Proehlific Power this year as they were shut off by Lynnhaven, Virginia this past weekend out at Northern Guilford High School.

This might be a good thing, where it gives a chance for the Power to take a step back, and look at how they are doing things and then get set to re-tool for next season.

When you are making it to the Palomino World Series every year sometimes you start taking things for granted and it becomes time to re-focus and crank out a new game plan.

Lynnhaven defeated the Power twice on Friday and then on Saturday it was Proehlific Power 11-7 in game one and then Lynnhaven clinched the best-of-five series with their 12-2 victory in game number two.

The Power will be on next season and if you look closely, Justin Smith might have his team playing games again for the off-season by the end of August.

50 thoughts on “Heads Carolina/Tails California: Power shut off at Palomino tournament

  1. From a Va Baseball fan, the players on the Proehlific Power Team are a class act. Enjoyed the conversations with many of the players, Logan Self and the First baseman are true leaders. I watched the First Baseman talk to an outfieleder after making an error and instructed the young man how to improve his play. Congrats on a good season and hopefully we will be around to see you guys again next year.

  2. It is good that the proelific players are kind and they should be commended for that. I do question an outfielder at this level having to be instructed on how to play his position,and on top of that, by a firstbaseman? These kids are rising high school seniors to rising college sophomores,they should know how to play.

  3. The elks are soooo good. They went up to lynchburg this weekend and went a whopping 1 and 2 getting sent home after pool play. While the north chatam team placed in the top 8 in the tourney beating a team that smashed the elks by 11 runs. Just thought elk fan should know that.

  4. eddie, if you had ever grown to the 5 foot mark, i would feel better about your opinion. player, i said full strength. the elks were playin with their 17U team this weekend and without the crawford kid who was playin showcase ball.

    I meant i would like to see the elks 19U team (full strength) vs. the power. oh, and remember the elks split (2-2) with the chatham team this summer. just a reminder in case you forgot.

  5. I believe that we wouldn’t be hearing so much about the Elks if the Southwest and Northwest players hadn’t chosen to play somewhere other than the Palomino league this year. IMO, a team of SW and NW players (the “old” Guilford Patriots team) would have beaten most, if not all, of the league teams this year and certainly would have finished in the top two. But we’ll never know because those players chose to play in leagues with stronger competition.

    As for the Elks vs. Proehlific…no contest. The Power in a romp!! In spite of their series loss to Lynnhaven the Power still had a strong team. They just didn’t seem to have the “top to bottom” strength that they have had on previous rosters, especially with their pitching.

  6. Elks fan,
    I think you may have me confused with Eddie Gaedell ( the midget). It’s like this, the Elks were only a mediocre Palomino beseball considering th history of the league—Crawford is a fine player, by the way, so I am taking nothing away from him. The Elks were a terrible baserunning team! I am not a fan of PP ( and most definitely of their coaching staff), but they were way ahead of the league this year ( if they had been in it) and I agree that the patriots would have been @ least 2nd if their players had playef in the league and the Diamonbacks would have been right up there too if Ragsdale kids had played.
    Think what you wish, but you really don’t know much about the game if you believe what you are saying.

  7. Eddie Willis…I think you’re right on the mark in regards to this subject. The Elks happened to be at the right time and place to secure a playoff spot in a very weak league this year (a spot which was probably more deserved by Reno’s!)

  8. eddie willis, you aint so small but you can strum the strings! i did mean eddie gaedel. just checking if ya’ll awake! haha

    My main point was to put the elks up as a pretty solid team when they had everyone. and i do think they could compete with PP for a game. probably not a series. if renos deserved the spot they shouldn’t have lost the last game and they shouldn’t have lost to the elks when everybody was fresh.

    i do agree palomino was down this year. colt was similar. i think its the sign of the times

  9. The elks went 1 and 2 this past weekemd in lynchburg. Pp verses the elks would be a lot like that.

  10. I like you “Elks fan”! I agree with you about the local baseball, too. I do really appreciate the job Tom Veal did to keep Palomino baseball alive. Without him, it would be over.
    Thanks, Tom.

  11. baller, PP went 1-3 this weekend. whats your point? ok i know we’re talking about apples and oranges. my point was that i think the elks at full strength could hang for 1 game. even that would be apples and oranges since elks have no 19 year olds. oh well, thats why you play the game. it would be fun

  12. elks fan, if the 19u team you are referring to is the one the elks used in the 4th of July tourney, then you are saying that the elks would have played better if they had Crawford and two Reno’s players correct? The elks were allowed to pick up 5 players, 5 good players, and yet your still making excuses on why they didnt play well.

    Also, if the elks weren’t at “full strength” then why did they go to Lynchburg anyway? why did the “weaker” elk team go, as to letting a full Reno’s team go? Fact of the matter is the games the elks lost were not close, we all know Crawford is good, but are you really gonna go on and say he’s that good? Good enough to keep the other team from scoring runs? And good enough to score the ten or eleven runs needed with a wooden bat?

  13. Justin Smith- In the article in The News and Record after you lost the first two games to Lynhaven, you said that PP has 7 D1 pitchers. Besides McIntosh and Self, who are the other 5?

  14. Yes the ellks did not show up this weekend but get over it. Forgot to mention that some Reno players accomplanied the elks ot VA

  15. Dear Clarify,
    I think you just “busted” Justin. Now, Joe may know; but that happens to be one of the things that I do not know.
    EW

  16. Some Renos players went with Chatam as well. Brandon Wyrick won two games and played SS some, Harrison Revels rotated at catcher, and Cy played some infield. I did not see any games but this is the latest from some realiable people that did attend.
    Renos had the second best team. I know that the Tar Heels lost to the Elks but the Heels did not have all of their players for one of the games. And as far as Crawford being with the Elks in Va, it would not matter. He is a good player that can hit but he would not have made up that much difference.

  17. stumped, the elks team i referred to is the team that played the local palomino season with no 19 year olds. i didnt see the july 4th tourney and cant comment. i do know the elks pitching staff was a good bit different than the regular season staff for that tourney, and the team playing in virginia last weekend was a 17U team, so in my mind we’re talking about 3 different teams. my earlier posts all refer to the “regular” season team which i like as a contender vs PP.

    i do chuckle with yall gettin on justin! i saw PP several times this season. im not sure i saw 7 D1 pitchers but you never know.

  18. Justin- Are you sure that the PP Team works out three times a week with Rickey P? Think before you answer because the TRUTH is out there!!!

  19. anyone who played in the Palomino league for ANY team pretty much wasted a summer. The league is a joke, so bragging about who had the best team in it is kind of like trying to decide who is the coolest nerd.

  20. Come on now, fellows. Justin wouldn’t hedge the truth a bit to make himself look better now would he? He knows it’s too big a task to make himself look smarter, so maybe he would. Notice, no answers to any of the “hard” questions.
    Andy

  21. a waste of a summer? I wouldnt go that far, yes the league was the weakest its been in a long time. But if you watched any games you would have seen that there were many well played hard fought games. Just because you dont travel around every weekend doesnt mean you cant get better.

    The final tournament in Va was a very good one also. 40 teams, 8 fields (including libery and a minor league park) and very good pitching. You throw PP in the final 8 and i guarantee they dont walk through it. the team that won had 7 pitchers throw 7 complete games. with a D-1 pitcher and a D-1 SS finishing up the final game.

    Not to mention the players that competed in this tournament from NC didnt have to pay ridiculous sums of money at the beginning of the year to play in this. The North Chatham team took 14 players, 5 i think did graduate but the rest still in high school, on a team that was thrown together 1 day before pool play started, and they still managed to go 5-1 against teams who had played together on legion and showcase teams all summer, plus having to switch from metal to wood in a week. I

  22. a waste of a summer? I wouldnt go that far, yes the league was the weakest its been in a long time. But if you watched any games you would have seen that there were many well played hard fought games. Just because you dont travel around every weekend doesnt mean you cant get better.

    The final tournament in Va was a very good one also. 40 teams, 8 fields (including libery and a minor league park) and very good pitching. You throw PP in the final 8 and i guarantee they dont walk through it. the team that won had 7 pitchers throw 7 complete games. with a D-1 pitcher and a D-1 SS finishing up the final game.

    Not to mention the players that competed in this tournament from NC didnt have to pay ridiculous sums of money at the beginning of the year to play in this. The North Chatham team took 14 players, 5 i think did graduate but the rest still in high school, on a team that was thrown together 1 day before pool play started, and they still managed to go 5-1 against teams who had played together on legion and showcase teams all summer, plus having to switch from metal to wood in a week. If thats not getting better then idk what is

  23. Admittingly, this was not a top to bottom great league. However, there were some very good players on some of these teams. To say it was a waste of a summer is a stupid remark and shows that you are not a real baseball fan. Several players will be extending there baseball dreams after high school that played in this league. The future will tell us how successful these players will be.
    But, in the future you should not down play the kids that played ball in this league. Some did play travel ball, others decided not to play travel ball, and some could not have played travel ball. Either way, it was not a wasted summer for the kids and coaches.

  24. The league is a good option for those that choose it period. Lets get back to Justin, that is much more fun. Lets list stories he has told you that were not true – this should blow up the site

  25. Justin Smith personifies the old joke ” Do you know how you can tell Justin is lying?”. His lips are moving. Has he ever had any success on his own? Now he has the PP team with “no rules” where before there were rules, but they were always changed to the Patriots’ advantage whether it was eligibility or schools they drew from. he is not a “great” coach by any stretch of he imagination—he’s a hypester with noconscience . Whenever he builds up his players, he’s really trying to build himself up.
    You know he’s reading this board and hoping the tide will change.

  26. last year he said that his team played at Rosenblatt for the championship game of the palomino world series, this was while the CWS was going on…you never know

  27. Justin loves the game, the excitement, the hype and all that goes with it.

    He puts his heart and soul into it and even with all the craziness that goes on with this stuff, I don’t see how you can fault him for that.

    He grew up around baseball and even though he coached some basketball, this is pretty the only sport he has ever known.

    I remember seeing him as a three year-old kid at Guilford College Quaker games chasing up foul balls wearing his old Chicago Cubs shirt.

    He loved the game then and he loves it now. He will make some mistakes, but this game is his life…….

    Tough to fault a guy for doing something he loves even you may not agree with how he does it.

  28. Andy,
    you have to admit that Justin really polarizes this board and the entire baseball community. I personally think he’s got a long way to go before he’s to be considered as even a good coach. I do agree that it’s tough to fault him for trying however. When he was wearing the Cubs shirt as a 3 year old, was that his dad’s?

  29. Jack you bring up some very good points. I think maybe it is a good thing that this post died out a bit, but we now have seen today’s focus switch toward the “Word on the Street”.(Good crowd coming in over there.)

    I’m not here to be the old spoiled sport and shut down a good run, just trying maybe to see things head off into another direction.

    One thing is certain, and the earlier poster/comment hit it on the money, people are reading the comments that are coming in here and we have had a pretty darn good forum coming out from here this summer.

    Thanks to all who take part here at this site! Makes for a good local sounding board.

  30. Andy,
    Please do not shut this down until justin has come and answered the group’s questions. I think that is only fair, since he used the forum to advocate his team so uch.
    Do you agree?
    EW

  31. Andy- A number of people come on this site and say anything they want about anybody and are never held accountable. They hurt people with lies and because they use nicknames, they get away with it. I totally agree with you about Justin…he loves the game and works hard at it. That doesn’t give him the right to say things that aren’t the truth. Whatever he or anyone else says anywhere should be the truth or they should be held accountable. Anytime it doesn’t go the way of people you like, you can’t just eliminate it. That’s not good business! Justin- If the things you say are the truth, back them up and you’ll be OK. People accused me of everything from robbing a house to discrimination vs. deaf kids but I was never able to defend myself. Here’s your chance!

  32. Alan is exactly right. Justin should come on here and set the record straight. I would say he forgot his interview was with a summer intern from the N&R, and that he would take everything he said as the gospel. Anyone who knows Al knows he got railroaded @ grimsley and by GYB. He is hands-down the best baseball coach in the area.
    Anyone who knows Al knows he wouldn’t discriminate against deaf kids. I don’t know about the other charges ( just kidding, Al ).
    Phil

  33. I wish Justin and others would come on here and step up to the plate so to speak, and set the records straight.

    If they don’t and things start to get out of hand then I will continue to try and keep the ball in the field of play.

    I have stepped up for Alan and many other coaches over the course of the last year and they know who they are. There were times when this site got out of hand, but I have made the effort to keep it out of the rough as much as possible.

    If I know who the readers are going after then I try and right the ship if necessary.

    Some of our coaches don’t mind it and they tell me to let it go after a period of time and they will just take it in stride.

    I am probably on the phone or by E-Mail with coaches many times throughout the week and they give me the heads up then I put out the watch if it’s needed.

    The coaches I look out for are the ones that keep in contact with us and ones that I have known over the years.

    I can’t start mentioning names because there is point of trust, but if you see articles then you know we are talking or I’m researching.

    Keep the comments coming, it appears to be a good release for everyone and we’ll try not to burn all of our bridges here so we can keep on getting info. I have a lot more that we are holding on to so some of local coaches will have a chance to stay in the game and also get back in the game. We will hold details until they get their irons in the fire…

    Also much of what you get here may not come directly from a certain coach per say, but maybe from one of his or her associates. We have a pretty good info stream and do want to keep it that way.

    You gonna get direct contact like this from other media sources, I doubt it. We are in the street and often times headed down a dirt road.

  34. Please do not worry! I checked all of the hospitals and the obituaries this morning and Justin must be OK. The only thing I can imagine is that he had already booked plane tickets and hotels in Pittsburgh so he decided to use them instead of wasting the money or he is just keeping a low profile since he has been “under the magnifying glass”. Hopefully, he has learned a lesson!!!!!
    KK

  35. just wondering what team eddie willis coaches he seems to know so much about the game what major league team did he play for what minor league team has he ever played baseball or does he just talk a good game if a player would make a good coach is major affiliate would have never let him go he would be with them i think everyone tries hard but unless youve tried coaching stfu

  36. Dear Jerry,
    20+ years of coaching and played college baseball @ a pretty high level. Couldn’t play today with what is considered to be average @ best speed. I had + power and a + arm but never played beyond college ( actually didn’t have an opportunity. I do love the game and besides that I know people well enough to know who’s FOS and who’s not. So, take your own advice! Please send any further questions to me my e-mail address. I give Andy permission to share it with you.
    Eddie W.

  37. wow u played college baseball musta been pretty good which college id love to see what their website says about you some scout musta really missed out i love the game too but dont pretend to know all about everyone in this city although ive lived here for 67 years but i can remember most of the good ones

  38. the lynnhave team benefitted from having the best catcher and cf from va on their team.all the players play very hard and they love to win.7 d-1 pitchers was tough road to go it.they knew they would have to fight the home cooking too.we have been their before.most of the coments were about what u didnt do.

Comments are closed.