The Best Seat in the House

The spring sports postseason kicks off Friday when the area’s girls tennis teams begin play in the 12th Region Tournament in Berea. The tournament runs through Sunday and will be followed by the boys tournament next weekend.

In the girls draw, defending singles champion CeCe Witten of Boyle County and doubles champions Lee Baxter and Lauren Yates of Mercer County are seeded No. 1 in their respective brackets, and Witten is going for her sixth straight singles title. Mercer, with five of last year’s six postseason players back, is favored to win its third consecutive team title.

On the boys side, two-time defending singles champion Kyle Jeffries of Casey County is again the No. 1 seed, and Casey appears to be well positioned to win a second straight team title. Ross Baeker and Blake Hobson, who won last year’s boys doubles title for Danville, did not return.

Here are the seeded players for the two regional tournaments:

Girls

(Friday-Sunday)

Singles

1. CeCe Witten, Boyle County
2. Casi Clark, Wayne County
3. Savanna Barnett, Mercer County
4. Charissa Burkett, Pulaski County
5. Rachel Wilder, Berea
6. Sarah Browning, Garrard County
7. Verena Stumpfle, Southwestern
8. Christy Ingram, Mercer County

Doubles

1. Lee Yates-Lauren Baxter, Mercer County
2. Tylyn Leigh-Allie Tinsley, Casey County
3. Celeste Hurst-Emma Richardsdotter, Boyle County
4. Jenny Tan-Kati Wilson, Somerset
5. Katie Ward-Aubrey Mojesky, Danville
6. Kayla Thompson-Shelby Phelps, Pulaski County
7. Kylene Williams-Catherine Miracle, Lincoln County
8. Caitlin Baer-Alli Grant, Mercer County

* * *

Boys

(May 21-23)

Singles

1. Kyle Jeffries, Casey County
2. Colin Hart, Lincoln County
3. Noah Polk, Somerset
4. Sam Jackson, Berea
5. Brad Jeffries, Casey County
6. Cole Keller, Mercer County
7. Spencer Anderson, Garrard County
8. David Weigel, Somerset

Doubles

1. Ben Lark-Stephen Compton, Berea
2. Justin Jones-Kyle Ball, Pulaski County
3. Jonah Johnson-Tanner Barrett-Garrard County
4. Matthew Neal-Austin Kirksey, Wayne County
5. Josh Lyons-William Harris, Boyle County
6. Justin Bivens-Mostafa El-Kalliny, Somerset
7. Cody King-Steven King, McCreary Central
8. Ryan Martin-Spencer Wright, Casey County

David Camic of Boyle County became the 33rd Kentucky high school baseball coach to reach 500 wins tonight when Boyle rallied to defeat Taylor County 5-2.

Camic is 500-156-1 in 20 seasons at Boyle and Danville. He is the eighth active coach with at least 500 wins, and his .760 winning percentage ranks in the top five among coaches in the 500 club.

He is the fourth 12th Region coach to reach 500 wins, and he is the second to get all 500 wins within the 12th Region.

Here’s the full list of coaches with 500 wins, according to records of the Kentucky High School Baseball Coaches Association for retired and active coaches and current season win-loss records from the KHSAA scoreboard (other active coaches’ records through Wednesday) and listed with their school(s), win totals and seasons coached in parentheses (x-active):

1. Larry Gumm, Green County, 1,006 (44)
2. Don Richardson, Madison Central, 952 (35)
3. x-Bill Miller, Pleasure Ridge Park, 909 (30)
4. x-Mac Whitaker, Harrison County, 906 (32)
5. Charlie Adkins, Johnson Central/Paintsville, 785 (33)
6. x-Bill Krumpelbeck, Covington Catholic, 770 (33)
7. Bob Mantooth, Apollo/Webster County, 757 (33)
8. Charlie Taylor, Somerset, 735 (36)
9. Tom McAnally, DeSales, 710 (32)
10. x-Jody Hamilton, West Jessamine, 705 (27)
11. Bill Tom Wayne, Henderson County, 702 (32)
12. G.J. Smith, Laurel County/South Laurel, 696 (28)
13. Gary Bartlett, Daviess County, 675 (28)
14. Ron Myers, Elizabethtown, 654 (30)
15. Greg Shelton, Franklin-Simpson, 643 (27)
16. Don Lee, Grayson County, 632 (27)
17. Jack Hicks, Owensboro, 606 (22)
18. Bill Dixon, M.C. Napier, 596 (23)
19. Jim Mizzell, Lone Oak, 594 (35)
20. Billy Anderson, Nicholas County, 579 (39)
21. x-Sam Royse, Glasgow, 573 (25)
22. Bob Tripure, Henry Clay, 558 (22)
23. Earl Driskell Jr., Male/South Oldham, 546 (34)
24. x-John Finn, Simon Kenton, 546 (32)
25. Gary Hammonds, Knott County Central, 545 (26)
26. Ralph Kimmel, duPont Manual, 535 (29)
27. Randy Keeton, Lawrence County, 523 (25)
28. Rich Rostel, Trinity, 522 (22)
29. Larry Conrad, Bourbon County, 519 (27)
30. Larry Hardin, Rowan County, 517 (26)
31. J.P. Kouns, East Carter, 514 (23)
32. x-C.M. Maxwell, Dixie Heights, 514 (27)
33. x-David Camic, Boyle County, 500 (20)

David Camic of Boyle County is already the winningest baseball coach ever at any Advocate-area school and has the second-highest win total among coaches who have spent their entire careers in the 12th Region. And today his Boyle team gives him his first chance for his 500th career victory.

Camic is 499-156-1 entering the Rebels’ home game today against Taylor County, where he could become the 33rd coach to reach the 500-win mark in Kentucky. As soon as he reaches that mark, whether today or this weekend or early next week, he will become the eighth active coach in the group, and his .760 winning percentage will rank in the top five among coaches in the 500 club.

Camic has spent the last 11 seasons at Boyle, where he has about 57 percent of his wins, and he spent nine years at Danville in the 1980s and ’90s. The only other 12th Region coaches who have won more games are Charlie Taylor of Somerset (who retired with 735 wins and is the only coach in the 500 club to spend his entire career in the 12th Region), Jody Hamilton of West Jessamine (who is active and had 705 wins through Wednesday) and G.J. Smith of Laurel County and South Laurel (696 wins).