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High School Sports
All the high school teams are off for spring break this week, but get back to things next week. Although the county sports story of the week happens to deal with the R-S Central/East Rutherford rivalry. Softball and girls soccer were nail bitters last week.
On the baseball diamond, R-S Central stunned East Rutherford 9-5. Alina Chavez and Kenley Wilson scored in the Lady Hilltoppers 2-1 win in girls soccer. East Rutherford claimed it's only win in the rivalry this week when they stunned R-S Central 2-1 on the softball field.
R-S Central sits second in the SMAC among the baseball standing. East Rutherford and Chase are tied for third as Chase went 1-1 this past week.
East Rutherford has now taken the softball top spot among the SMAC with R-S Central in second. Chase is in a three-way tie for seventh. Chase has lost five in a row, but remains competitive.
R-S Central sits second in the SMAC among girls soccer, East Rutherford is fourth and Chase is seventh of nine schools.
Chase goes to East Rutherford in all three sports on April 5th. R-S Central goes to Burns on April 5th for softball and baseball. Girls soccer is on the 6th.
Meanwhile, Thomas Jefferson softball split in last week's games and sit fifth in the Southern Piedmont 1A. The Lady Gryphons soccer team has won two in a row and sit third in the Southern Piedmont 1A. Thomas Jefferson has struggled as of late in baseball and lost their last six. Girls soccer will host Highland tech on April 6th. The Gryphons won't have another home baseball or softball game until April 15th.
Final Four: Villanova, Oklahoma, Syracuse and North Carolina.
Nobody was surprised that Oklahoma beat Oregon, but Kansas losing was a big deal. The Wildcats defense was solid on Saturday, as they held Perry Ellis to five points. Villanova had six more steals, which was the difference in how many more turnovers Kansas had in the game. It was shocking that the #1 overall seed went down.
Just as surprising, Virginia holds a double digit lead for most of the game and ends up losing to Syracuse. Virginia never loses in the last five minutes of a game, but up tempo play and turnovers destroyed the Cavs bid at a championship. I like North Carolina chances now, but Syracuse and Villanova are playing unbelievable basketball at the moment.
NASCAR: This weekend the Cup Series heads to Martinsville. It's one of my favorite weekends of the year. Short track racing at it's best. I'm not sure if anything could top the trip back in October. Matt Kenseth taking out Joey Logano as the leader late in the race, eventually assisting Logano's championship bid for naught was a spectacle to see. It was a wild event and it cleared Jeff Gordon to win in his final race at Martinsville.
That's the Martinsville and NASCAR we all love! If any driver has payback wishes, here is your opportunity this Sunday to exact some revenge. Expect drivers to get mad, expect contact and expect the unexpected.
I have to believe that Joey Logano has the car to beat. No matter how much that might upset some people. Here is my watch List:
Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Say what you want, he is a legitimate threat. Matt Kenseth: He is always towards the front, but tire management issues have sunk has chance to win here previously. Brad Keselowski: He continues to improve at Martinsville and he is on the verge of finding a win at Martinsville. Denny Hamlin: He won their last year; heck he even has five wins here. Jimmie Johnson: I promise, he will lurking around the front of the pack. Last year was an off year at Martinsville. He is only won there...eight times.
Three drivers that wish to skip Martinsville. Greg Biffle, Kyle Larson and Carl Edwards. Biffle has never run well here. This has never been Edwards kind of track. Stenhouse has done well so far this season, but has just one top 20 in six starts.
Lastly, Tyler White is still doing well in spring training with the Astros. He continues to thank those who follow his time in the Major Leagues. I hope more people will continue to take notice. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity. I'm glad he taking advantage of it so far.
