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Baseball
It’s no shock that East Rutherford (4-1) is finding early success on the diamond. The only blip so far was a game in which they were outlasted by Cherryville. Most are feeling that Crest and Burns are the teams to beat in SMAC this year, but the Cavs have already picked up a statement win on the road against 9-4 to end last week. Two big games appear sooner than later as they will host Crest on March 25 and visit R-S Central on March 27.
R-S Central (4-2) went on a three game win streak to start the season and then went cold at the plate for two games. They recovered at the end of last week with a 7-1 win over McDowell. R-S Central might have the best pitching staff in the county, but if they can manufacturer runs when needed, it maybe a lot of close defeats this season?
Chase (2-3) maybe the most intriguing club of all. Long time Chase assistant, Tony Wall is the new coach and it seems like they are playing more competitive and having fun at the same time.
Thomas Jefferson (2-3) isn‘t into full swing yet, but they are coming around. However, this should be a tougher baseball conference then they were playing a season ago.
Softball
R-S Central (2-1) looks good through three games, beating a good Draughn club, destroying Shelby and losing 5-4 to a powerful Crest team of late. They will host Kings Mountain on Friday.
Chase (2-1) has rebounded nicely after falling to Draughn to start the season. They downed Shelby and then thwarted Crest to end the week.
East Rutherford (2-3) is getting back into rhythm as they ended the week with a 9-0 victory over Burns.
Thomas Jefferson (2-2) has already erased the memory of last year’s tough season beating Avery and Hendy to start out the season. They will host Community School of Davidson on Friday.
It’s that time of the year, the NCAA basketball tourney is here. Below are my thoughts and some maybe tough to hear
Games to watch: Friday’s Baylor/Nebraska. Both teams are red hot right now and by far it’s the most interesting early round match in my opinion. I like Kentucky/Kansas St. as well. If Kansas St. plays as they are capable, Kentucky’s tourney could end as soon as it began. North Carolina/Providence are the best three games. Upset alert, give me Tennessee over Umass, N.C. State over St. Louis. Harvard over Cincy.
Darkhorse to run the table: Baylor.
In the ACC, I like Virginia, but I believe they will get beaten by Michigan State in the Sweet 16. North Carolina won’t have an easy opponent in Providence, but I think they win that one and lose to Iowa St. in the round of 32. Pitt is set to go a long way…if they get past Florida, but they won’t in the round of 32. N.C. State just barely got in and I believe they win two games before being ousted by Louisville in the round of 32. Syracuse will do well, until they face Kansas in the Sweet 16 and get beat. Duke could win the whole thing, but I am forecasting them into the Sweet 16 and that’s it. Michigan takes them down at that point. Sorry, but I hope the ACC proves me wrong.
The toughest bracket overall and to decipher this year should be the Midwest. You have Wichita St., Michigan, Duke, Texas, Kentucky, Kansas St. and Louisville all in one region. Oh, where do you start in picking this region?
I will take Florida in the South, Michigan State in the East, Arizona in the West and finally Michigan in the Midwest. Michigan State and Arizona in the finals with Michigan State winning the national title.
