Wolverines in prime position for WHC playoff chase

Ty Stott thinks Polk County is perfectly positioned in the race for one of the Western Highlands Conference’s two automatic playoff spots.

He may well be right.

With seven WHC games already played, Polk County heads into the second half of the league season facing a much less demanding schedule than some of its rivals. Every WHC school except Mitchell has seven league games left to play.

“We start playing two games a week instead of three games, and hopefully the weather is good and every day we can get practice in, the improvement is going to come,” Stott said. “We’re ready to improve.”

Polk County currently sits at 6-7 overall, 4-3 in the WHC race. Hendersonville again looks to be the class of the conference and may prove tough for anyone else in the league to overhaul.

That leaves Polk, Owen, Madison and Mountain Heritage fighting for the remaining automatic spot, all currently within a half-game of one another. Throw in an improved 1A Mitchell squad and the WHC may be as balanced as it has been in years.

How well the Wolverines do in that race may come down to offense.

“We have the ability to be a better hitting team,” Stott said. “But we’re going to be the kind of team that will be scrappy and beat you 3-2. We may not score 10 runs in a game all year.”

Helping ease some of the pressure on hitters is the Wolverines’ pitching staff. With junior Daniel Painter injured and not having pitched since a 6-2 win over Madison, seniors Konner Scruggs and Morgan Groves have carried the staff load. Scruggs has pitched three straight complete games and has four of Polk’s six wins. Groves has been effective in every start but hasn’t gotten the same level of run support as Scruggs.

“Konner and Morgan, both have done everything we’ve asked them to do as far as going late into games,” Stott said. “We’re also giving them plenty of rest between starts. They know they’re going to probably throw seven innings, but then we’ll try to give them several days off.

“There’s always a tough-luck pitcher, and Morgan has been that way this year.”

Stott thinks Painter will again be available to pitch once the Wolverines resume play after spring break. That will only bolster the rotation and should allow Stott to use one of the three pitchers in relief, if needed.

The Wolverines head to Mitchell on April 14, host the Asheville Trailblazers, then travel to Madison and Avery. That three-game road stretch could decide whether Polk will go into the season’s final days with a shot at the playoffs or not.

“This time of year you start improving the most,” Stott said. “Now we start having less games, a lot more practices. The time to improve is right now. The time to peak is right now.”