Patriots' Party

Patrick Henry's Explosive Offense May Be Too Much D4 Field
Patrick Henry comes in ranked #1 in the final coach's poll of the 2008 season. Rightfully so. Standing tall at 26-3, the Patriots have advanced to the Final Four once again. The question among the remaining 3 teams in D4 is can anyone stop this offensive explosion of the Patriots? Thus far, Patrick Henry has scored over 260 runs this season and sport a .380 team batting average. This translates into approximately 8 runs per game. That is spectacular. Bob Obenour, head coach for the Van Buren Black Knights who fell victim to PH in the regional final, stated, "There's not a weakness in their lineup, and there isn't a weakness in their hitting approach, either."PH sent 17 batters to the plate in just the 3rd inning, and collected 12 hits with each player scoring at least once. "We pride ourselves on being balanced throughout the lineup," Greg Inselmann, PH's coach, said. "We want to be able to hurt teams with any guy up at the plate. Right up and down the order, you have to give credit to everybody." The Patriots look to battle last year's D4 State Champion in perennial power Ft Loramie (21-11). Conquering the Redskins is no easy feat. Coming from the SW Region against MAC teams proves they have been battle tested and will provide a great game against the state's number one team. One thing is for sure with the Redskins is you can never count them out. They have had multiple games this season where they have trailed and then prevailed. In the regional semifinal against Franklin Monroe the Redskins trailed 7-1, to end up winning 17-7, and then trailed twice to Delphos Jefferson in the Regional final to rally late to upend the Wildcats. When the dust settles at Cooper Stadium this Friday, I expect Patrick Henry to advance to the state title game, although it may not be as easy as some believe.