Chris Maxwell likes to tell the story about what longtime umpire and referee Doc Morris would do if he saw a football field lacking large patches of grass.
“People wouldn’t know this, but if he was doing a football game and he’d see a field that was kind of bare, he would go out and get seed and bring it and seed the football field without anybody ever knowing,” said Maxwell, who coaches baseball at Dixie Heights.
Morris, a civil engineer and Western Kentucky University alumnus, passed away in 1990, but his legacy lives. The 34thannual Doc Morris Invitational, a three-day baseball festival, runs from Thursday through Saturday. There are 33 teams – 21 in the large-school division and 12 small schools.
Beechwood coach Kevin Gray doesn’t remember a lot about Morris, except that he possessed a gregarious personality.
“When you got in the (batter’s) box he would talk to you,” Gray said. “He would talk to the catchers, he would mess around with the coaches. From what I remember, (he was) just a really good guy, well-respected by players and coaches in the Ninth Region.”
Maxwell added the small-school section two years ago.
“The small schools were getting slighted,” he said. “They can never get out of their district to play in the regional.”
Local large-school teams include two-time defending 10th Region champion Campbell County, Ryle, Conner, Holy Cross, Dixie Heights, Covington Catholic, Newport Central Catholic, St. Henry, Scott, Simon Kenton, Cooper and Highlands.
The small-school list includes Beechwood, Ludlow, Bethel-Tate, Lloyd, Bellevue, Villa Madonna, Holmes, Bourbon County, Lewis County, East Carter, Gallatin County and Owen County.
Conner, Ryle and CovCath are sixth, 18th and 19th, respectively, in the Prep Baseball Report’s Power 25. Campbell County is part of the “On the Cusp” list.
“Our pitching has been really good, which is something that obviously we expected from last year’s team that won a school-record 29 games,” Conner coach Brad Arlinghaus said. “Our defense is much better than last year, and our offense right now is doing just enough, it’s been getting us some wins.”
Conner (12-1) carries a .328 team batting average. Senior Cody Henson is hitting .500, and seniors Ayden Lohr and Brayden Stidham are next at .385 each.
The Cougars’ pitching is perhaps even stronger; Conner has a 1.77 team earned run average. Seniors Brody Mangold (23 strikeouts, three walks, 1.50 ERA) and Jackson Bucks (21 strikeouts, seven walks, 1.26 ERA) are both 3-0.
Out-of-town large teams include Batesville (Indiana), George Rogers Clark, Williamsburg (Ohio), West Clermont (Ohio), Louisville Trinity, Lexington Lafayette, Paintsville and West Jessamine.
Trinity brings the best record in the field; the 14-1 Shamrocks are second to St. Xavier in both the PBR and MaxPreps.com Kentucky rankings. Trinity meets Cooper at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at St. Henry followed by CovCath at approximately 3 p.m.
West Clermont (6-2) beat Campbell County, 5-1, last Thursday in Alexandria and squeezed past Beechwood, 6-5, Saturday in Fort Mitchell.
Proceeds fund three $1,000 academic scholarships, which will be awarded at the Northern Kentucky Baseball Coaches Association East/West junior and senior all-star games June 12 at Dixie Heights. The junior game starts at 5 p.m., followed by the seniors at around 7:30 p.m.
