{"id":105202,"date":"2018-07-27T06:55:47","date_gmt":"2018-07-27T11:55:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=105202"},"modified":"2018-07-27T06:56:29","modified_gmt":"2018-07-27T11:56:29","slug":"random-thoughts-baseball-wharton-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2018\/07\/27\/random-thoughts-baseball-wharton-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Random thoughts: Late July edition"},"content":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent sports editor<\/em><\/p>\n

Congratulations are in order, Crestview baseball coach Jim Wharton, and parents and fans are among this week\u2019s random thoughts.<\/p>\n

Van Wert Legion Post 178<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

What an incredible story this has been. After a 10-year break, Legion ball returned to Van Wert with a vengeance.<\/p>\n

Coached by Chad Ehrnsberger, this talented squad put together a more than solid season and qualified for the state tournament. Not bad for a team that didn\u2019t exist last year.<\/p>\n

Legion Post 178 lost back-to-back games at the state tournament in Lancaster, but that certainly shouldn\u2019t take away from what this team did this season.<\/p>\n

Congratulations to Coach Ehrnsberger and his team.<\/p>\n

Van Wert ACME<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Congratulations to the Van Wert ACME baseball team on an exciting season and an exciting state tournament run.<\/p>\n

The Cougars battled to advance to the state tournament for the third time in four seasons, but fell 4-0 to two time defending state champion Archbold in the semifinals.<\/p>\n

Thanks for a great summer of baseball.<\/p>\n

Van Wert County baseball<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

If you look back, you\u2019ll realize that Van Wert County teams did well during baseball season.<\/p>\n

Van Wert, Crestview and Lincolnview all enjoyed successful high school baseball seasons. Throw in ACME and Legion ball, and it\u2019s safe to say it was an extraordinarily fun year.<\/p>\n

Jim Wharton<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Crestview baseball coach Jim Wharton is now a member of two Halls of Fame, and deservedly so.<\/p>\n

Wharton was inducted into the Ohio Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame two years ago, and was inducted into the ACME baseball Hall of Fame last weekend.<\/p>\n

Wharton is a great coach, is obviously dedicated to the game and a pleasure to talk to. Yes, he has an outstanding record in terms of wins and losses, but it\u2019s deeper than that. He knows how to treat people right.<\/p>\n

Crestview high school guidance counselor Dave Springer said it best.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf all the things I could say about him, I will always admire how he treated his players. God gives kids different abilities and skills but Jim treats the All-State kids and the freshman the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe creates that environment with his staff and players. \u201cThat is why his relationships with his current and former players is so special.\u201d<\/p>\n

I wish more coaches at all levels were more like Jim Wharton.<\/p>\n

Fall sports<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

It hardly seems possible that football practice officially begins on Monday, but that\u2019s the case. August 24 is when the regular season kicks off.<\/p>\n

Practices for all other fall sports will begin August 1.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s wishing all area student athletes the best of luck.<\/p>\n

Parents and fans<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

With the fall sports season rapidly approaching, a note to parents of all student athletes \u2013 give coaches and officials a break.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve covered sports for a long time, and I\u2019m not alone in saying hostility has grown toward coaches and officials, not just at the high school level, but at all levels.<\/p>\n

Not every student athlete can be the quarterback, the running back, the basketball guard that averages 28 points per game, the pitcher that averages 14 strikeouts a game.<\/p>\n

If your son or daughter works hard and comes in with the right attitude, he or she will play. Regardless if it\u2019s at the varsity, junior varsity or middle school level, it\u2019s as simple as that.<\/p>\n

No, the coach doesn\u2019t have it out for your son or daughter. No, the coach isn\u2019t playing favorites. No, pressuring a coach to play your son or daughter isn\u2019t going to help. Look, coaches aren\u2019t perfect. None of us are. But don\u2019t be the parent that does nothing but complain about the coach or team. Don\u2019t be the parent that looks and sounds foolish in the stands.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not saying you shouldn\u2019t disagree or grumble. That\u2019s part of sports and part of being a fan. But let\u2019s face it \u2013 some people could take it down a notch or two.<\/p>\n

As far the officials, they\u2019re just doing their job. Do they miss calls? Yes. They\u2019re human. Are there better officials than others? Yes. Are they throwing a game? No, that\u2019s ridiculous.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve actually heard people in the stands complaining about high school officials being paid off to throw a high school game. Stop and think about this \u2013 does anyone really think an official is going to throw a Division IV non-conference regular season basketball game?<\/p>\n

It sounds like a cliche, but it’s true – regardless if your team wins or loses, the sun will still rise the next day.<\/p>\n

As always, if you have thoughts on comments on any of the above subjects, feel free to email me at sports@thevwindependent.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports editor Congratulations are in order, Crestview baseball coach Jim Wharton, and parents and fans are among this week\u2019s random thoughts. Van Wert Legion Post 178 What an incredible story this has been. After a 10-year break, Legion ball returned to Van Wert with a vengeance. Coached by Chad Ehrnsberger, this talented squad […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-31 10:54:28","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105202\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}