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Well, there is good news and bad news concerning baseball in Rutherford County.
The Forest City Owls have won six of their eight games and sit third overall in the Western Division of the Coastal Plain League. While (17-11), the Owls must turn to the second half of the season as they finished a game and a half out of first in the West standings. Thus, they must keep winning to earn a playoff berth. They can get it two way. One, win the second half of the season in the West or hold one of the highest win percentages when the regular season has concluded among the top four in the Division. Still 28 games to go and anything can happen.
Among Little League All-Stars, the Rutherford County qualifiers that will go to state: 7/8 Baseball Rutherfordton, 10/11 Baseball Rutherfordton, 50/70 Baseball Chase/Rutherfordton Combo, Senior League Softball Rutherfordton (This is the list I have so far). Congrats to all those teams who were District One Champions and good luck at state.
And now for the bad. Following more than a week off, Rutherford County Post 423 looked to make another legion playoff bid hanging in the final spot in the West of Area IV. Unfortunately they lost four in a row and will not make the postseason this year. They had won two of three before the break. It’s the first time in a quite awhile that they haven’t made the postseason.
So the Charlotte Hornets picked up two key prospects in the NBA Draft this past week. I really like the pick of Noah Vonleh, but to trade Shabazz Napier was sort of a heartbreaker. I think everybody knew once the pick was made, Napier was going to be traded to the Heat. On the flip side, the Hornets did nab P.J. Hairston, who had been lightning up the NBA Development League every night he played could make an instant impact for the Hornets as well. It was a better draft than a year ago, -A.
On the NASCAR front, we are halfway through the season and I have comprised the top ten drivers according to only the driver, but team wise as well at the halfway mark.
10)Kyle Larson, 9)Kyle Busch, 8) Carl Edwards, 7) Joey Logano, 6)Matt Kenseth, 5)Kevin Harvick, 4)Brad Keselowski, 3)Jeff Gordon 2)Dale Earnhardt Jr. 1)Jimmie Johnson.
So far, one through seven are very capable of winning a championship this season. Edwards and Kyle Busch are second tier at the moment, while Larson has put up a very exceptional rookie season with three top fives and seven top tens in 17 races. He is on the verge of winning this season if not more than once.
NASCAR visits Daytona on Saturday night.
And finally, I know that by the time this is printed the United States-Belgium game will already be over with. If they beat Belgium, I like our chances against Switzerland or Argentina in the Quarterfinals. Our time in World Cup Soccer has been good so far, making it to the round of 16 is an accomplished goal with a 1-1-1 mark not that bad in group play, despite it should have been 2-1. So, U.S. soccer is catching up. So far, we have played pretty well defensively, set up good plays on offense. A couple of untimely miscues have cost us, but now they can’t afford any untimely miscues. If so, the U.S will be going home sooner rather than later.
