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Murphy advances to State Championship Series

dogs definitely one of the most talented teams in the state regardless of classification. I saw Crest at reynolds on friday and honestly think Murphy would beat either. They have to be one of the most talented teams in smoky mountain conference history. Granted they are not all from murphy but sometimes a little extra is what it takes to climb the mountain.
 
dogs definitely one of the most talented teams in the state regardless of classification. I saw Crest at reynolds on friday and honestly think Murphy would beat either. They have to be one of the most talented teams in smoky mountain conference history. Granted they are not all from murphy but sometimes a little extra is what it takes to climb the mountain.

Nathan and Lucas Barolet were big additions to this lineup. Murphy has the pitching staff to win the Championship. I dont have any idea what West Columbus brings to the table, but Murphy should be favored in this series.
 
West Cumbus is in the same conference as Whiteville. Maybe a Whiteville poster will provide some insight. I can tell you that Colimbus County doesn’t have a shortage of baseball talent.
 
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dogs definitely one of the most talented teams in the state regardless of classification. I saw Crest at reynolds on friday and honestly think Murphy would beat either. They have to be one of the most talented teams in smoky mountain conference history. Granted they are not all from murphy but sometimes a little extra is what it takes to climb the mountain.


Maybe so but you haven't seen Ledford or Whiteville. I have seen Ledford and they will handle Murphy just fine. They got two pitchers that are heading to NCSU (which is division 1 and they are hosting regional NCAA tourney) and also have two other pitchers that are pretty darn good. I am sure Murphy is one fine baseball team and with baseball, you can have two high quality pitchers that will carry team a long way in playoff. Ledford beat Ardrey Kell 4-1 and AK is heading to 4A state final. AK is a heck of a baseball team that beat very solid East Forsyth team in Western regional finals. Whiteville is back in final and they moved up a class. I think Whiteville/Ledford will be a notch above Murphy.

Murphy just try to win 1A and leave it there. Big advantage that Murphy has is that the team had play in State Final last year and that is huge in any level. Just enjoy the ride!!!
 
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Maybe so but you haven't seen Ledford or Whiteville. I have seen Ledford and they will handle Murphy just fine. They got two pitchers that are heading to NCSU (which is division 1 and they are hosting regional NCAA tourney) and also have two other pitchers that are pretty darn good. I am sure Murphy is one fine baseball team and with baseball, you can have two high quality pitchers that will carry team a long way in playoff. Ledford beat Ardrey Kell 4-1 and AK is heading to 4A state final. AK is a heck of a baseball team that beat very solid East Forsyth team in Western regional finals. Whiteville is back in final and they moved up a class. I think Whiteville/Ledford will be a notch above Murphy.

Murphy just try to win 1A and leave it there. Big advantage that Murphy has is that the team had play in State Final last year and that is huge in any level. Just enjoy the ride!!!
The person you're responding to isn't from Murphy and isn't a fan of Murphy. I don't know if Murphy would or could beat Whiteville or Ledford and quite frankly don't care, and I don't think anyone else from Murphy cares either. The team, the coaches and the fans are only interested in one thing, a 1A state title.

With that said don't think they aren't a talented bunch. Murphy's top 3 pitchers are all going to play college baseball. Barolet to Gardner Webb (D1), Irwin to Lawson State CC (JUCO) and Curry to Western Carolina as an infielder (D1).
 
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The person you're responding to isn't from Murphy and isn't a fan of Murphy. I don't know if Murphy would or could beat Whiteville or Ledford and quite frankly don't care, and I don't think anyone else from Murphy cares either. The team, the coaches and the fans are only interested in one thing, a 1A state title.

With that said don't think they aren't a talented bunch. Murphy's top 3 pitchers are all going to play college baseball. Barolet to Gardner Webb (D1), Irwin to Lawson State CC (JUCO) and Curry to Western Carolina as an infielder (D1).
mbdfan this is a well thought out and excellent response. I have no dog in this fight and wish your team well.

I have not seen Murphy play but as you know I am very familiar with the players on Uwharrie squad. I know that both teams are excellent 1A representatives and could beat a lot of squads no matter the classification on any given day. That's what makes baseball great.

However asking small schools to beat much larger ones in a best two out of three is a tall order. Good luck to your team in the classification they play in. They only have to worry about beating who they are playing not who they are not.
 
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I don't believe either of Murphy's two stud pitchers had near their best stuff going in these two games but gotta give credit to West Columbus as well for that. In the end Murphy's offense was just so strong it didn't matter. Congrats Bulldogs on your first state baseball title, what a special group.
 
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Congrats on state dogs. I made it down to watch your last game it was a great come from behind win. Nice victory. Offense came up huge.
 
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Murphy fans did your really good pitcher Barolet, not get pitcher of year or player of the year?
 
Irwin was named player of the year and Curry was pitcher of the year
 
Murphy fans did your really good pitcher Barolet, not get pitcher of year or player of the year?

He did make Honorable Mention. Murphy had pitcher of the year, player of the year, 6 all conference and 3 honorable mention.
 
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Well charters and privates are already having a huge effect on Murphy baseball's future prospects. Garrett Clapsaddle: the Dog's stud freshman and the only underclassmen on Murphy's team (the kid who batted .350 and played the all important role of catcher as a freshman) has transferred to Christ School in Asheville.

To say that's a huge loss for Murphy's baseball program is an understatement. The Dog's 8th and 9th grade classes were very strong and had a chance to get them back to state title contention as upperclassmen, that task seems imminently more difficult with their best player no longer in the fold.

1A programs need to accept this new reality of top players moving on. If you have a kid that has a chance at D1 college future, he's likely to transfer out, be it to a private, a charter, or a bigger classification school. That's the facts and you can't blame the kids or their families for going this route, it's the future of modern small school athletics.
 
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Well charters and privates are already having a huge effect on Murphy baseball's future prospects. Garrett Clapsaddle: the Dog's stud freshman and the only underclassmen on Murphy's team (the kid who batted .350 and played the all important role of catcher as a freshman) has transferred to Christ School in Asheville.

To say that's a huge loss for Murphy's baseball program is an understatement. The Dog's 8th and 9th grade classes were very strong and had a chance to get them back to state title contention as upperclassmen, that task seems imminently more difficult with their best player no longer in the fold.

1A programs need to accept this new reality of top players moving on. If you have a kid that has a chance at D1 college future, he's likely to transfer out, be it to a private, a charter, or a bigger classification school. That's the facts and you can't blame the kids or their families for going this route, it's the future of modern small school athletics.

I’m not sure it was the private school influence. I think it may of been a desire to remain at a championship level. Murphy had 10 seniors and the youngest of the two brothers from Hayesville is apparently leaving. With this in mind the dogs chances of repeating is slim. I think it is the same reason two from Hayesville arrived, the chance to play on a good team. College exposure plays a part, but a tremendous amount of looks any player gets is travel teams. Make an impression there and coaches will travel to see HS games.
 
I’m not sure it was the private school influence. I think it may of been a desire to remain at a championship level. Murphy had 10 seniors and the youngest of the two brothers from Hayesville is apparently leaving. With this in mind the dogs chances of repeating is slim. I think it is the same reason two from Hayesville arrived, the chance to play on a good team. College exposure plays a part, but a tremendous amount of looks any player gets is travel teams. Make an impression there and coaches will travel to see HS games.
Where is the younger brother going?
 
With this in mind the dogs chances of repeating is slim.
That's being kind, their chances of repeating were zero. You don't lose that many top level players and get back to a title game, at least not when your 10th and 11th grade classes are shallow.

But everyone here always knew that was going to be the case, that once this big senior group left it would be followed by one or two down years, even if Clapsaddle and Lucas Barolet were on the team. But with Clapsaddle on the team they had an opportunity to be back in title contention his senior year with a strong group of current 8th graders and freshman. But now, unless he transfers back to Murphy for his senior season (probably not going to happen) that's probably no longer a reality.

I'm not saying I don't understand why Clappsaddle (and especially Barolet) are leaving, but it's definitely unfortunate for Murphy's baseball program moving forward. Clapsaddle could've been the centerpiece of another very good Murphy team his senior year, but waiting two years to be back to relevance is a long wait for a teenager. And in Barolet's case, he doesn't have two more years, just the one.
 
There may be some lean years in most athletic programs coming up for MHS. Maybe more so now than in the past.
 
There may be some lean years in most athletic programs coming up for MHS. Maybe more so now than in the past.
Murphy's rising 11th grade class is really weak, across all sports. But Murphy has some really good athletes in their rising 9th and 10th grade classes, boys and girls.

The rising 12th grade class is a mixed bag, on the boys side there is a lot of good football athletes in that class and on the girls side they have some really good basketball athletes in that class. But there isn't a lot of multi sport athletes, like this year's graduating class had.

I would say other than football, Murphy's best shot at a state title in the next couple of years is their softball team. Murphy's softball team should be really good next season and one of the best in the state in 2020 and 2021. The Dalton girl committed to UNC as a freshman and she will surrounded by a ton of talent the next three years.
 
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There may be some lean years in most athletic programs coming up for MHS. Maybe more so now than in the past.
I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that there was a huge void in Cherokee County as far as jobs for close to a decade and as a result there were a lot of families of kids in that age group that left this area.

There may be some lean years coming up because of that void but the long term future looks bright. Right now the Murphy area is doing as well as I've seen as far as jobs and overall economics since the '90s and I think you are seeing the effects of that in the smallest age groups, where there appears to be very good athletic participation numbers, as well as talent.
 
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Once again it was an excellent year for Murphy athletics. There were state championships for the baseball team and the girl's track team. And regional finalist appearances for the football team and girl's basketball team. Murphy was second to Mt Airy in the 1A Wells Fargo Cup standings for public schools (and 6th overall).

Gotta give it up for schools like Murphy and Mt Airy, always near the top for 1A schools when it comes to overall athletic performance. Last year Mt Airy won the cup and Murphy finished 3rd.
 
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